There And Black Again

Don Letts OMNIBUS PRESS

The Don’s tale, upgraded, expanded, marinated in latelife wisdom.

Even before 2008’s Culture Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers, his first autobiography, Don Letts’s story had been told so many times it was embedded in modern punklore. To offer a fresh slant, here he provides his fullest, most eloquent account yet, written (with collaborator Mal Peachey) from the hard-won perspective of a happily settled 64-year-old reflecting with latelife wisdom on a remarkable life, against a backdrop of covid turmoil and Black Lives Matter.

It’ll always be a blast reading how Letts received life signals witnessing The Who live in 1971 and Bob Marley in ’75, then, always armed with fearless punk attitude, ran his pivotal King’s Road boutique, started the punky reggae party DJ-ing at the Roxy and got closely involved with The Clash, John Lydon’s bands and Slits, before joining Big Audio Dynamite, directing hundreds of music videos and superlative BBC documentaries before returning to spinning on 6Music.

With each chapter set by cinematic scenes, Letts expands on everything with deeper research and new details, even opening up on relationship roller-coasters to allow the fullest picture yet of the man behind the shades. And he’s definitely not done yet. ■■■■■■■■■■