Walls Come Tumbling Down

A triumphant oral history of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge . . . a tale of resistance: first, against a surge of racism and bigotry that an inspired group of activists and musicians played a key role in rolling back; and then against a government, as the same spirit of defiance quickly resurfaced in opposition to the social revolutions of Thatcherism . . . a vivid portrait * Guardian *
Charts punk, 2 Tone and then Red Wedge's subsequent battle for a multicultural Britain in a brilliant account of the period * Q Magazine *
By the Eighties rock had grown a conscience, and Walls Come Tumbling Down, charts how, in the late Seventies and Eighties, musicians became engaged in struggled surrounding race, gender, sexuality and class * Choice *
This incredible oral history tells the movement's story plus the rise of 2 Tone and Red Wedge, through a phenomenal range of voices - Billy Bragg, Jerry Dammers, Rhoda Dakar, Pauline Black et all all provide great insight * Mojo *
It's a testament both to the topic and to Daniel Rachel's organisation of the material that even at 640 pages Walls Come Tumbling Down feels like the opening volume of a much longer history. This majestic work at once confirms and opens up a familiar but often forgotten series of moments in the relationship between music and politics in the UK . . . as always, the delight is in the details, and, finally, the glory of something so amateurish yet passion-driven coming together to change hearts and minds * Wire *