Book Review: Vox 80–83 by Dave Clifford

Abstract

Vox 80–83, by Dave Clifford. Hi Tone Books, 2019. 417pp./€40 (hb). The difference between a riot and an uprising, a reaction and a rebellion or revolution, is control. One is wild and random; the other is focused, considered. A reaction lashes out. A rebellion is aimed. And that self-control makes it far more effective at toppling statues, palaces, and ideologies. Where a reaction breaks heads, a revolution can change minds. And Vox —an independent culture magazine from Dublin, Ireland, that published from 1980 to 1983—set out to revolutionize, not to destroy. Now the complete fifteen-issue run of the magazine has been collected in Vox 80–83 , published by Hi Tone Books and in conjunction with its original editor and chief photographer, designer, and writer Dave Clifford. Vox’ s pages were dedicated to post-punk music, radical art, and putting both back into the hands of the people, where they would be kept alive instead of rusting in art galleries and behind obscurity’s fog. The immediacy of Vox ’s aesthetic brings the art and music to life. Clifford’s black-and-white photography serves as a visual smack, while the uniformly lowercase text of the feature interviews, profiles, and reviews ties his candid shots into a coherent narrative. The two come together to …