Author:Barney Hoskyns

Subtitled ‘Unbridled Enthusiasms 1980 – 2020’, this book collects together the cream of the author’s work from the last forty years. Regular readers of Mojo, Uncut and, of course, The Word will be familiar with the dependably high quality of his articles, and he’s also written for the likes of The Times, The Guardian and The Independent along the way. This book is divided into two parts, covering shorter articles along with longer form essays – personally, although the former are interesting if brief reads, I much prefer the latter, where his obvious love of the artists and their music is given more time to develop and shine. There’s a huge range of musical styles covered – the ‘short cuts’ section has Sinatra, Bacharach, Bowie, Bjork and Burial to pick out just a few to highlight the diversity on offer, while the  ‘long players’, which comprise about three quarters of the book’s length, range from The Beach Boys to Steely Dan via Randy Newman, calling in at Scritti Politti, Spiritualized and The Cocteau Twins en route. Each article also reveals where and when it originally appeared, as well as when and how a specific album was first obtained, » Continue Reading.

Author:Darren Johnson, Georg Purvis, Graeme Scarfe, Richard James

The Sweet seem something of an odd choice for a book of this type, although the seventies was unarguably their prime period, well for a few brief years anyway. Admittedly a number of bands say they were an influence, Def Leppard spring to mind for one, but for me their career can be summed up in half a dozen songs – Blockbuster, Hellraiser, Ballroom Blitz (all in their golden year of 1973), plus, a few years later, Action, Fox on the Run and Love is Like Oxygen, the lyrics to the latter being quite brazenly ripped off from Hall and Oates. I suppose there are worse ways to be remembered than for having recorded that quite memorable run of tunes, but their albums don’t really stand up, and for me they were definitely a singles band that had a fleeting heyday and were gone.

I know lots of Afterworders adore Elvis Costello, but after his first three albums I really rather lost interest in him. This book takes a detailed look at his work up to 1986, and is actually very readable even for someone like me who has just a » Continue Reading.

Author:Robert Sellers

David Byrne may have been born in a house with the television always on, but I was born in a house with the radio always on, mainly, in my case, Radio One. Its seemingly constant backdrop of the latest pop music combined with the chatter of friendly familiar voices very much formed part of the scenery of my childhood and teenage years, so this comprehensive history of the station from 1967 – 1995 really struck a chord with me. I suppose the seventies was my peak listening time – Johnnie Walker, DLT, Simon Bates, Noel Edmonds and Fluff Freeman were all household names in their own right, with an almost ubiquitous presence spilling over into Top of the Pops on television, where you finally discovered what the faces behind the voices looked like! On into the eighties, and although my listening was by now more sporadic I still recall Mike Read, Mike Smith, Gary Davies, Peter Powell and Tommy Vance – and of course the ongoing annual event of the summer roadshow (anyone remember the mileage game and the Bits and Pieces quiz?). By the time of the great cull of the old guard in the early nineties, » Continue Reading.

Author:John Connolly

After last year’s diversion into the early years of Charlie Parker in The Dirty South, Connolly returns to ‘the present’ with this new novel. This isn’t really a Parker novel as such though – he makes only occasional brief cameo appearances as the book centres on his friends and accomplices Angel and Louis. The story picks up where the epic Book of Bones left off with the murder of their Dutch fixer and confidante and his family by Serbian war criminals. Seeking to avenge his death, Angel and Louis travel to Europe to seek retribution and exact suitable revenge. However, they unexpectedly find that they are also dealing with another being who has attached themselves to the gang, one who is only partly of this world. As usual with this author, the novel is a gripping crime thriller with elements of the horror and supernatural genres cleverly blended into the mix, although the latter elements are rather less prevalent this time around. I really like the way Connolly uses language, with a rather dry sardonic wit colouring his writing and often bringing a wry smile to the reader’s face. This is not really the place to start if » Continue Reading.

Author:Hamish Kuzminski / Andy Boot / Laura Shenton

I spy with my little eye something beginning with C – well, three things actually, Camel, Caravan and Curved Air, all bands who had their heyday in the halcyon years of the early seventies.

I have a lot of time for Camel – albums like Mirage, The Snow Goose, Moonmadness and Nude still make for some good listening. This book, which boasts an introduction from Steve Rothery of Marillion, takes an in depth look at the band’s fifty years and counting career, covering all fourteen studio albums, as they persevered against extreme adversity in the form of the dearth of founder Peter Bardens and the serious illness of Andy Latimer, to carve an enduring niche in British rock music. I really enjoyed relistening to the cream of their albums while gaining some interesting insight into the composition and recording of the key pieces of music. A good one for fans of this perennial band, and as the author mentions, it would be interesting to hear Steven Wilson tackle some of their early albums.

Was there ever a more English sounding band than Caravan? Their rather whimsical vocals and music often put me » Continue Reading.

Author:Geoffrey Feakes /  Peter Gallagher

I’ve had a somewhat on/off relationship with Steve Hackett’s music over the years. I loved his early solo efforts particularly Voyage of the Acolyte (still his best work for me), Please Don’t Touch and Spectral Mornings, but I lost touch with his releases for the next twenty years or so after a series of somewhat patchy efforts rather dimmed my interest. Dipping into them again in the course of reading this book, I have to say I didn’t really miss anything of any great import. I only really reconnected in 1996 with the first of Genesis Revisted releases, but since then he’s put together a run of very good and consistent albums of new material while continuing to keep the Genesis flame burning. From reading last year’s autobiography he seems something of a marmite character, but this is a good, indeed exhaustive, song by song look at all his numerous albums and the stories behind their creation.

T Rex is one of those bands that still immediately invoke memories of my early teens even after all these years. I had Electric Warrior (one of my first album purchases), together with The Slider and Tanx which, » Continue Reading.

Author:Russ Thomas

I do love a police procedural, so it’s always good to find a new series to get into, albeit one still in its infancy. Even better, these two novels are set in my hometown of Sheffield and recognising locations used gives an extra element of interest for me. The first book, the debut novel for this author, begins with a body discovered bricked up in the walls of a house, turning a years old missing persons enquiry into a murder case for the Cold Case Review Unit, presenting an opportunity for the main character to resurrect his stagnating career. Early on, he realises he is hopelessly compromised in this case, but presses on regardless of the consequences. Meanwhile, a series of arson attacks plague the area and a cryptic blog taunts the police. Want more – a sinister series of notes are sent to an elderly lady about a secret she is keeping. Alas the dementia that ravages her mind means she’s unable to remember what the secret is! A strong cast of characters are introduced in this gripping tale, which also takes a look, with a cleverly light touch, at bigotry and institutionalised racism within the police » Continue Reading.

Author:GD Praetorius

Growing up in the New York area, a mere stones throw from the Nassau Coliseum, the author was lucky enough to turn his youthful infatuation with rock music into a fledgling career as a rock concert promoter in the late seventies to mid eighties. As such, he’s in the perfect position to provide some behind the scenes insights and anecdotes featuring some of the biggest names of that time. Tull, Floyd, Yes, AC/DC and Rainbow all appear, but the main focus of the book is on two of the biggest US bands on the circuit, Van Halen and Aerosmith, with Steven Tyler in particular captured at a time the band was in decline while his own personal problems were spiralling out of control. The author’s tales are conveyed with a wry sense of humour as he sighs and raises an eyebrow as he panders to yet another random whim of the various bands, who need to be pacified so the show can go on. A really interesting read that gives you backstage access to the world behind the scenes of the shows.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Freddy Bannister’s Knebworth book ‘There Must Be » Continue Reading.

Author:Peter Braidis / Andrew Wild

If you were building a prog group from scratch, you may struggle to come up with a line up better than John Wetton, Carl Palmer, Steve Howe and Geoff Downes – indeed the originally proposed line up was perhaps even stronger with the latter two being replaced by Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman. This was very much 80s style prog though, the twenty minute epics of the previous decade being replaced by short, commercial, highly polished songs that would appeal to a mainstream rock audience. The first album delivered this agenda perfectly, but subsequent releases struggled to live up to its high standards, not helped by a revolving door of band members – Howe, Wetton and Palmer all leaving and rejoining at various times. Overall, their albums are a very mixed bag, and even when the original line up reunited in 2006 they never managed to reach the heights of their early work.(Incidentally, a box set of the albums from that era is imminent). This is a comprehensive look at the studio and live catalogue of a band that was defined by, and never bettered, their debut album (see also Boston), and the author gives » Continue Reading.

Author:Billy Billingham

Viewers of the reality television series Who Dares Wins will be familiar with ex SAS man and bodyguard to the stars Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham. Following on from his autobiography published last year, he has now tried his hand at fiction in this, his debut novel, which is the first in a planned series featuring the main character. The plot itself doesn’t really break too much new ground – hostage rescue in Yemen goes wrong, CIA involvement, tangled local politics, plenty of action, plot twists and double crosses along the way – but it’s the author’s first hand, been there done that experience that gives the book an authentic feel that brings the leading man to life and adds more plausibility to the plot than is evident in some novels of this genre. He keeps the story moving at a good pace, and it’s one of those novels that keeps you reading one more chapter just after you’d resolved to call it a night. Overall, a commendable debut effort.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

Action thrillers of the Andy McNab, Chris Ryan type.

One thing you’ve learned

Serving in the special forces these days seems » Continue Reading.

Author:Alastair Campbell

This excellent series of diaries is now in its eight volume. This period sees Campbell at something of a personal and professional crossroads, having departed in the main from day to day involvement in front line politics, although still acting as an ad hoc advisor to the Labour leadership. His main focus though has shifted to writing, public speaking and consultancy work, for which there seems to be no shortage of takers, as well as acting as ambassador to a number of mental health charities, an area which is very close to his heart. Inevitably perhaps, with the Cameron led coalition in power, he feels guilty at not doing more to help the Labour Party and Ed Milliband in particular, but is reluctant to be drawn back into the arena, and is also still embroiled in the Chilcot and Leveson Inquiries. The strongest and most poignant writing, however, comes when he writes of the upheavals in his personal life – the deaths of his mother and of his close friend and colleague Philip Gould, and the descent of his son into alcoholism, a problem faced by Campbell himself in earlier years. This first class (and lengthy) read, concludes » Continue Reading.

Author:Stephen Lambe / Per Nilsen

Both of these very different books are offshoots from the long running On Track series, hence the combined review.

The Focus title takes an in depth look at the decade in which the band produced its most influential work with a fine series of groundbreaking albums. My own Focus period runs from 1971’s Moving Waves set through Focus III, Hamburger Concerto and ends with 1975’s Mother Focus. Listening back to these in the course of reading this book, the band certainly produced some superb inventive music at their creative peak, with the epic Eruption rivalling Close To The Edge, Supper’s Ready et al as one of the defining side long pieces that were very much de rigeur in the prog world at the time. The author also takes a welcome look at the numerous solo efforts produced by Akkerman and Van Leer – I’m not particularly a fan of the latter’s almost light classical efforts, but some of Akkerman’s work is very good indeed and well worth investigating if you’re not familiar with it. A very well put together book, effectively a potted history of the band, which looks at each album on a song » Continue Reading.

Author:John ‘Drumbo’ French

This is the third edition of this mammoth tome, which actually has been out of print of late, and coincides with what would have been the good Captain’s eightieth year. It’s certainly comprehensive, running to over 800 pages of pretty small print and covering Drumbo’s career from joining the Magic Band at the tender age of seventeen in 1966 for the Safe As Milk album up to his eventual departure in 1980. As has been widely documented, Beefheart was a hard, bordering on abusive, taskmaster who appears to have ruled by fear at times. The book certainly pulls no punches in that respect, although of course Beefheart isn’t around to defend himself. There are extensive interesting interviews with most of the key players from the Magic Band and also from the Mothers of Invention – Frank Zappa, as you’d expect, turns up frequently throughout these pages, initially as friend and collaborator and later as musical nemesis. There’s certainly plenty of in depth detail on the records the author played on, and the book includes over ninety pages of detailed track notes on the individual songs, which leave no stone unturned in terms of composition and recording. The » Continue Reading.

Author:Richard Thompson

Subtitled ‘Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice 1967-75’, this is a book that really does what it says on the tin. By that, I mean it takes an in depth look at the author’s life over arguably his most fertile period creatively, namely the Fairport years and the records he made with his then wife Linda. The book begins with a brief look at his early years before moving on to meeting his future band mates and their adventures on the road and in the recording studio as they brought folk rock firmly into the public eye with their modernising of traditional songs and sounds. Thompson comes across as a pleasant, self-effacing sort of guy, who modestly underplays his own composing and playing talents, which were a huge part of the band’s sound. For someone who is such an accomplished wordsmith, he is sometimes a little reticent, but the best writing here is on those no longer with us, notably Sandy Denny and Dave Swarbrick, and of course drummer Martin Lamble and girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn, both tragically killed in a road accident in 1969, the occurrence and aftermath of which is movingly yet precisely described. The other » Continue Reading.

Author:Gerald Seymour

I’ve read every one of Gerald Seymour’s novels since his debut with Harry’s Game, unbelievably forty five years ago now, and I have to say he very rarely disappoints. His thrillers aren’t all action blockbusters, instead concentrating on constructing believable real world characters and plot lines, slow burners that inevitably and inexorably build to an exciting climax. This new one is no exception, introducing a George Smiley like MI5 man who has a reputation as a reliable but unspectacular desk jockey who never sees any front line action himself. He is tasked with tracking a British Jihadi returning from the conflict in Syria to commit a final headline-grabbing act of terrorism to avenge fallen comrades and pay back a society he feels has wronged him since childhood. The pursuit initially is more mental than physical as his potential movements are plotted and predicted, and it’s only really in the book’s final section that, as the tension mounts, the action springs to life after a long build up. You can probably hazard a good guess at the eventual outcome, although the ending has quite an ingenious turn of events that took me by surprise. A fine read if you » Continue Reading.