Rob Reiner's hilarious "rockumentary" about an aging British heavy-metal group has reached legendary status since its release in 1984. Largely ad-libbed by lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer)-as well as a succession of drummers whose careers were cut short by spontaneously combusting, drowning in somebody else's vomit, or other untimely deaths- This Is Spinal Tap chronicles the band's latest American tour in a cunning satire of rock and roll culture.

Now, just in time for the theatrical re-release of This is Spinal Tap , as well as the ensuing video and DVD release, comes The Official Spinal Tap Companion , featuring:
Fully illustrated text
A complete transcript of the film (much of the film was ad-libbed, so an ordinary screenplay can lack entire scenes)
Never-before-seen stills from cut footage
A comprehensive A-to-Z Guide featuring everything you've ever wanted to know about This Is Spinal Tap

Don't miss the chance to see behind the scenes of one of the most riotous and memorable satires of our time!

The book starts off with a comprehensive timeline of Spinal Tap, followed by a meticulous transcript of the mockumentary, transcripts of the film outtakes, song lyrics ranging from goofy ballads to hard-rock fiascos like "Sex Farm." Finally there is an A-to-Z that lists not only stuff in "This is Spinal Tap," but all the rock bands that influenced it.

One of the problems with the book is the transcript. It's a good transcript (it includes ad-libs, stammers and stuff like that) but still only a transcript. It includes all the words but none of the action, which means you need to have seen the movie to understand anything at all. The song lyrics are pretty well-documented, but have some flaws. What's more, there isn't much background info to them. Why not tell us what's up with the kiddie ballad "All The Way Home"?

The A-Z reference is both tiring and informative. Wading through a sea of rock trivia that is half fiction and half fact can be a headache. But it offers more insights into the cut scenes from "This Is Spinal Tap," not to mention the influences behind it. (For example, Jeanine Pettibone was influenced by Anita Pallenberg as well as Yoko Ono)

It's not bad, but it fails to be good. Die-hard Tap fans may be interested in the lesser-known bits of trivia, and can use the transcript to identify what that drowned-out line was. But beyond that, it isn't a particularly useful guide.


Like Derek's trousers: Lacking solid, satisfying content   September 29, 2000
Dan Amrich (Bay Area CA)
25 out of 27 found this review helpful

This one's a mixed bag, and ultimately disappointing as an official reference.

While the transcript of the film (complete with stutters and stammers) is still a fun and funny read, it's the parts detailing the dialogue of the outtakes that fans will find most interesting. A lyrics section contains a few rare songs ("Back in Harness," "Just Spell My Name") but does not offer any information on them.

The A-Z portion is written not by the book's timeline & discography scribe Chip Rowe (author of the excellent 'Spinal Tap A to Zed') but instead by British TV/film critic Karl French, who seems to have compiled the list based on whatever source materials were in his house before the deadline. Most of his bibliography is British in nature, thereby ignoring some excellent American magazine interviews (Guitar World, Marshall Law, etc) and their respective anecdotes. While the A to Z section--the meat of the book--still contains some gems on Tap elements and personalities both real and fictional, it could be more logically organized ("Racism: see bass"; the entry for bass contains an obscure Derek conversation about Pakistanis but not, say, Derek and Nigel's thoughts on racism from the actual film), omits some things I was very eager to get the official word on (No mention of how the rare song "Goat Boy" came to be, what its lyrics are, or why it has yet to be released) and is just plain incorrect in some cases (From the entry for "Big Bottom": "I'd like to sink her with my *flesh* torpedo"?).

However, there is enough redeeming content here to make fans want to pick it up--the color plate sections, featuring rare photos, is appreciated, and Michael McKean's all-too-short "prepilogue" introduction is an enjoyable, heartfelt tale about the entire project's origin. More of stuff like that from the people who created Tap and less subjective noise from French would have made this "companion" not only "official" but comprehensive as well.