A review of Life and Death was published on the Journal of Popular Music Studies (June 2017) by James Weissinger. You can read the full review here (pdf). An excerpt below!
“Dubbed out electronic handclaps crackle in space, their echoing digital delay moodily fading as a rubbery synth bass pulses into the mix. This is the haunting, exuberant, impossible introduction to “Don’t Make Me Wait,” the NYC Peech Boys’ 1982 12” record, famously produced by Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan. Melding disco, gospel, and rock, the song is one of the many genre-breaking works closely profiled in Tim Lawrence’s exhaustive Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980–1983. Building on his previous study of 70s dance culture in Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970–1979 and complementing his most recent book, Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973–1992, Lawrence ambitiously maps the many overlapping early-80s scenes—No Wave, NewWave, post-disco, early hip hop, 80s R&B—all at once.”
