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The NME on 12 January 1991 carried this review by Nicholas Wroe. A collection of almost fragmentary stories, The Party Dress is Kevin Coyne's first book and makes for extraordinary reading. As a musician he released 20 albums and gave the rock 'n roll lifestyle all he'd got. The rock n' roll lifestyle, of course, casually took all he had and left him for dead. He needed ten years and a move to Germany, where he joined an Alcoholics Anonymous (some anonymity) group, to prompt him into rebuilding his artistic career and the result has been a splurge of creativity which has seen him exhibiting his paintings in a Munich gallery and now the publication of this book. In many ways many ways the work represented here is a follow-on from his musical output. Quirky, highly personalised, engaging even when dealing with the bleakest of themes, he turns his acute gaze onto the minutiae of everyday life and starkly reveals his own peculiar vision. The title story is typical in that the apparently straightforward tale of providing friendship to lonely pensioners is sharply twisted into a mish-mash of mistrust, perversion and family recrimination within the two pages of its length. The book is peppered with 22 of his own drawings but the real invention comes from the writing. There are passages that have the self-conscious artistry of the creative writing class about them, but the essence of the man shines through. In this humorous, perceptive and occasionally painful book Coyne, like he always used to, puts it on the line.
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