PositivePopMattersMatthew Cutter\'s Closer You Are does a great job in making the unlikely success story of an elementary school teacher who accidentally becomes the first lo-fi icon an engaging read, even for non-devotees. It\'s the classic Hollywood tale of the rookie kid from the chorus (or in this case, the late 30\'s misfit with a penchant for Budweiser) rising from obscurity by overcoming obstacles with dogged persistency ... Cutter digs deep here and manages to make drunken high jinks by local musicians, prolonging their teenage years, sound interesting at the very least. He even unearths a revelation or two ... You don\'t have to be a Pollard aficionado to enjoy this book, but you certainly need stamina. Because of the enormous breadth of his output and the almost bewildering cavalcade of bands, solo projects, short lived collaborations and jokey pseudonyms, the reader will need all their wits about them. Cutter does his best to catalogue all of them, but the ever-changing roster of band members and record labels could lead to some head scratching and backtracking by the reader ... Cutter doesn\'t let his admiration of the subject get in the way of telling the truth. It may not be \'warts \'n all,\' but it\'s certainly an unvarnished story ... This is an exhaustive book ... For that alone, he should be praised. The fact that he makes it less than a tiresome chore, is admirable.
