Shadows Across The Moon: Outlaws, Freaks, Shamans, And The Making Of Ibiza Clubland Paperback – July 14, 2017

One of the most gifted authors and journalists in Great Britain, Helen Donlon traces the Mediterranean isle of "Ibiza's evolution from a melancholic hinterland doused in malingering murk" to the hyper-party Hot-Spot of the Universe. Her prose is of such compelling thrust that I cannot put this book down for longer than it takes to flip a page. In Shadows Across The Moon: Outlaws, Freaks, Shamans And The Making Of Ibiza Clubland, no stone and no shell are left unturned in her miscroscopic examination of every wave, trend, and provisional psycho-social lifestyle that has innundated the island. She provides first-hand accounts of the circuitous club trail that winds from St. Tropez, to Goa, to Ibiza, to Singapore.Yes, the Outlaws, Freaks, Shamans are certainly there speaking in their own words - words that no author could begin to invent. Not only the cosmic, sensual, sunset-to-dawn and beyond party life, but the hidden Ibiza comes alive side by side with the most elaborate, grandest, and sensational club music agenda of events, runways, pageants, and art-actions the world has ever known. All this predicated on innnovative music, but not necessarily of the commercial garden variety type heard in mainstream media.Yet, rather than musicians, the first wave of modern interlopers were intellectuals of the 1930s: such as Walter Benjamin, Josep LLuis Sert, Albert Camus. Then came the actors of the 40s and 50s: Errol Flynn, Denholm Elliot and split-grin Terry Thomas. Jan Cremer followed and a slew of Beatnik writers, poets, and hangers-on arrived along with jazz musicians of the Coltrane/Mingus era. In their wake came hippies of the 1960s whose naturtal, tripped-out lifestyle and cosmic explorations, the island seems never to have shrugged off. NICO came to Ibiza and stayed a good part of her life until the end. Celebrities, nobility, royalty - Polanski, Prince Rainier have passed through along with scammers, hucksters, and gansters on the run - Elmyr de Hory, Clifford Irving, and Giancarlo Parretti.In the end, the allure, the magnetic attractiion of the sun-drenched isle of delights, is far more than the week long parties, the gigantic raves, the blinding laser lights, and the booming bass tones pounding the terra firma - it is the finer vibration of holy sunsets, ecstatic sunrises, gentle breezes, and the eternal smell of flowers that the sailors and the lovers know so well.Praise this gift of Helen Donlon to we mortals.- Tav Falco, Vienna 2017

Great book on all things Ibiza, music, beaches and history. You will not be disappointed with this book. Read it

Sadly I'll probably never make it to Ibiza, it sounds like a beautiful and endlessly fascinating place. Helen Donlon has clearly put an amazing amount of thought, work and research into writing it, covering the history of the island, its relations with Spain, and the development of the island's many alternative scenes. Starting with pre-WW2 "Bohemian" pioneers, and gaining momentum through the 50's and 60's before the scene started to really expand as the scene went global from the late 60s, with the island proving ideally suited to psychedelia and alternative scenes -and with spectacular sunsets and other natural wonders as a beautiful bonus.The island's probably best known now for the club scene - Helen Donlon describes how it all developed, starting from loose party nights before evolving into the world famous clubs that came later. It's interesting to read how some of the originators and idealists adapted to maintain their space between the twin pressures of mass tourism and a much more packaged scene on the one hand, and the increasingly alcohol/coke fuelled scene (rather than MDMA and psychedelics) with its emphasis on attracting big names, VIP areas & a bewildering mass of pre-party and after-party guest list extravaganzas. At times it gets hard to keep track of all the comings and goings as venues close, reopen under different names, DJ's and promoters club-hop.But that's a minor consideration really. I loved the Underground Resistance sounds and players in the 90s, and there are fascinating discussions with the likes of Sven Vath, Carl Cox and Richie Hawtin, and the book will definitely inspire me to revisit some of those sounds. There's a cool playlist for each chapter - although I wouldn't have minded a larger Further Listening section to help the reader go further in all the myriad musical forms that have evolved from House, Trance, and Techno.In addition this is yet another beautifully produced book from Jawbone - it's even got an index! Plenty of photos, many from the author's own collection. Other publishers take note - it's so good to read a book with clear print on decent paper that doesn't fall apart before the end. My only grumble would be the absence of a map of the island.A fascinating read for anyone who loves or wants to know more about Ibiza, past and present, and looking at its crucial role in the development of psychedelic alternative scenes since the late 60's.

Excellent read and is possibly THE definitive guide book to Ibiza and so nformative for anyone wishing to visit this wonderful island