Author:Shaun Ryder

No, I’m not twisting your melon – Shaun Ryder has followed such luminaries as Kate Bush and Neil Tennant by having a book of his selected lyrics published. Not the most obvious of choices perhaps, but nevertheless this slim volume collects thirty three songs from across both the Happy Mondays and Black Grape eras. Each lyric is accompanied by some revealing reminisces from the author, shedding new light on the often previously obscure, impenetrable verses, which suddenly snap into focus and make perfect sense for the first time. It’s odd reading these lyrics without the musical accompaniment, and to be honest not all work without that missing element, but overall Ryder’s observations make a perfect replacement – indeed these are the most interesting, informative and entertaining part of the book. The lyrical style reminded me very much of that of Mark E Smith, and also (and here’s a left field comparison if ever there was one) of Jon Anderson of Yes, in that the rhythm and sound of the words is far more important than the literal meaning and sense of them. Indeed, Ryder himself says his lyrics are like captions to cartoons running constantly through his head, » Continue Reading.

Author:Philip Kerr

All good things come to an end, and sadly this is the final volume of the excellent Bernie Gunther series. Philip Kerr sadly passed away last Spring, and .a very warm and heartfelt tribute to him from friend and fellow author Ian Rankin introduces this, his final bow..

This novel doesn’t continue chronologically from the previous volumes, as Kerr didn’t want to end the series with a lonely,ageing Gunther adrift somewhere in Europe..Instead, and unlike recent novels which are mostly set post World War II, this tale takes us back to the beginning, to 1928, the era of the Weimar Republic, when a young Bernie is first seconded to Berlin’s homicide department. The Berlin of that era is virtually synonymous with decadence and debauchery, where the rich play while the dispossessed beg on the streets.When a series of prostitutes are murdered the authorities don’t give it the highest priority, until the next victim turns out to be the daughter of the head of the city’s major criminal gang, whose father wants revenge. As more murders follow, including those of disabled war veterans, it seems someone is intent on clearing the streets of anyone who doesn’t fit their image » Continue Reading.

Author:David Hepworth

David Hepworth channels Bryan Ferry for the title of his new book, coming hot on the heels of last November’s ‘Nothing Is Real’, and dealing with, as its subtitle suggests, how the LP ‘saved our lives’. Indeed, he dedicates the book to anyone who knows how it felt to carry an album down the street, something I suspect we can probably all relate to.

He classifies the era when the album was at its peak as a serious influential art form as beginning in 1967 with the release of Sgt Pepper and ending in 1982 with Michael Jackson’s Thriller, after which the coming of the Walkman, followed by cds, downloading and streaming, would gradually strip away the relevance and importance of the LP as a concept.(I can already hear dissenting voices!) For each of the intervening years, he picks out a couple of releases which he perceives as being particularly significant and influential (including some rather surprising choices it has to be said!), and puts them in the context of both then and now, covering not just the music and the artists, but also the way in which the music was actually listened to by its purchasers.

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Author:Eamonn Forde

The genesis of this book was a lengthy article in The Word way back in 2011, which some on here may well recall reading at the time. It’s now been extensively reworked and expanded to form the basis of this complex, interesting volume about the protracted demise of EMI.

It’s a book with lots of technical details about the intricacies of how big business, and particularly the music industry, works, and how takeovers happen – or don’t!. There’s an awful lot of information about the mechanics of the deal, which makes the book quite dry at times – having worked in law and finance for many years I could follow it, but I’m not sure how intelligible or indeed interesting it would be to a layman.

The gist of the book is how Terra Firma, a private equity firm specialising in leveraged buyouts of underperfoming companies, along with the help of their main backers Citibank, purchased the ailing EMI in a deal that was then unexpectedly hamstrung by the subsequent worldwide financial crash. An initially manageable deal was quickly made intolerable as interest charges, debt repayments and covenants imposed by the lenders soon became nigh on impossible » Continue Reading.

Author:Jacob Holm-Lupo

Another book in this excellent series, this time concentrating on the work of Long Island’s finest Blue Oyster Cult, put together by super fan Jacob Holm-Lupo. This is a band I originally encountered, as did many I suspect, in the mid seventies via Don’t Fear The Reaper, and it’s parent album, the excellent Agents of Fortune, together with the subsequent live album Some Enchanted Evening.. From that point I worked backwards to Secret Treaties (containing the epic Astronomy), Tyranny And Mutation and their self titled debut album, calling in along the way on their previous live set On Your Feet Or On Your Knees. I was disappointed though with the next two releases – Spectres and Mirrors — and rather lost track of the band at that point. In the course of reading this book, I have Spotified the subsequent albums, the highlights being 1980’s Cultosaurus Erectus and 1988’s Imaginos, but overall found them quite patchy as though the band had lost their way somewhat, not being able to decide on whether to pursue the heavier themes of their early work or the more commercial vein of ‘The Reaper’ era. It would be interesting to discover how any » Continue Reading.

Author:Brian Hiatt

When I first became aware of this book, I have to confess part of me expected it to be one of those unauthorised efforts you see in The Works a few months after publication at a fraction of the cover price, full of photographs you’ve seen a hundred times before and text lazily cut and pasted from old interviews and articles. I hold my hands up – I couldn’t have been more wrong! This is a first class read, rounding up all The Boss’s studio work from 1973’s Greetings From Asbury Park,NJ through to 2014’s High Hopes. It comes in a large format (roughly A4 size) on top quality paper, and has been authored by Brian Hiatt, a senior writer for Rolling Stone, and a man who has interviewed Springsteen on a number of occasions for that publication. He also spoke extensively with members of the E Street Band, along with other musicians and producers who have worked with Springsteen over the years. He goes through each album, song by song, and also adds to each set songs from the album sessions that didn’t make the final cut, but which were later released on outtakes sets such as » Continue Reading.

Author:Stephen Lambe & others

The concept behind this newly published series of paperback books is to take the works of the chosen artist, and go through each album, song by song, as well as providing some interesting background information on each release. They have been put together by a number of different authors (a couple with connections to the Classic Rock Society), but each one is very obviously a fan of the band involved, and these books seem to be something of a labour of love, written by fans for fans. I don’t see that much here that would particularly interest a casual reader or someone with just a passing interest in the featured music,but there’s plenty on offer for the dedicated devotee.

The Queen book is perhaps the most detailed, especially on the early part of their long career, even analysing a number of key songs on a minute by minute basis! That’s the exception, but all the books are extremely thorough, including information on songs that were recorded but ultimately left off albums. I would particularly single out the Yes one as it gives an in depth coverage to the various and numerous comings and goings in » Continue Reading.

Author:Alan Parks

It’s not that unusual to see a novel start with a song lyric, but until now I don’t think I’ve ever come across one that uses a line from an Alvin Stardust song! That’s the case in this new work by Scottish crime writer Alan Parks. This is his second novel, and I guess you’d describe this as tartan noir – a gritty police procedural set in the Glasgow of the seventies, with lots of drinking, drugs, swearing and ultra violence – all the ingredients you might expect in fact. Detective Harry McCoy, a man with a troubled past, is the main protagonist, and the novel is set against a background of rival gangs competing for control of the city as new drugs flood in to the market. With a strong supporting cast of colleagues and underworld characters, some of whom he has dubious connections with, McCoy has to track down a serial killer, whose calling card is to carve grisly messages into the chests of his victims. The policing is definitely of the ‘Life On Mars’ vintage, but the characters are well developed and there are some evocative descriptions of the city of Glasgow itself, which almost » Continue Reading.

Author:Gerald Seymour

One thing that never fails to lift my post-Christmas spirits is the annual arrival of a new Gerald Seymour novel. Full disclosure – I absolutely love his writing, and always look forward to a new book. Don’t make the mistake of thinking his novels are always espionage based, because many, including this one, are not. I will say though that as the author has got older (he’s 77 now), his novels seem to have become more dour, grim and unrelenting., and there are usually no happy endings on offer for the main players. This tale revolves around a terrorist plot, in conjunction with the criminal underworld, to bring an automatic rifle into the UK from France, and the undercover police operation to thwart and subvert it. Intertwined with this as a sub-plot is the story of the weapon itself, from its manufacture to the numerous hands it passes through over the years before reaching its present location. I’m not sure this is a totally successful idea as for me it doesn’t add that much to the overall story, and at times actually distracts attention from it. Nevertheless, I found myself immersed in the plot – not many of » Continue Reading.