Author:Steve Pilkington

I really enjoy the books in this excellent ongoing and ever expanding series, which analyses a band’s output album by album, song by song. This one covers The Stones from their 1963 debut right up to 1980’s rather disappointing Emotional Rescue set, which marked the start of a pretty average run of albums to come in the eighties and beyond. I think all would agree this seventeen year period encompasses the band’s prime era, their absolute imperial years when their music and indeed their image was right at the very cutting edge. Live albums and compilations from this period are touched upon too, but the emphasis is almost exclusively on the studio albums, and rightly so as what a sequence they produced in their heyday, one that was perhaps only paralleled by The Beatles. It also takes the opportunity to clarify the numerous confusing and irritating differences in content between the UK and US editions of their albums which persisted until 1967.

I was actually quite surprised at just how much of the band’s back catalogue I’ve never even heard, particularly from the Aftermath/Between The Buttons era. In fact, even on the classic run of albums from the » Continue Reading.

Author:Michael Koryta

American writer Michael Koryta is not a particularly recognisable name on these shores, but he has a long line of thrillers behind him, usually standalone novels, and they have never yet failed to provide a good few hours of entertaining reading.

The convoluted plot of his latest work begins with a woman being left for dead after a car accident in which the other occupant is killed. In fact, she survives, but when she eventually emerges from a coma it is clear she is suffering from locked in syndrome, fully aware of what’s going on but unable to move or communicate. Meanwhile, an insurance investigator has suspicions that the accident was not what it first appeared, leading to an exciting plot to recover a lost device that was being carried in the vehicle. I won’t give any more away, but suffice to say there are the usual twists and turns along the way in the plot, together with a somewhat surprising ending.

Definitely up to the author’s usual gripping, page turning standard.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

A good read for thriller fans.

One thing you’ve learned

Can there be a much worse ordeal » Continue Reading.

Author:Stuart MacBride

The latest volume in this long running and consistently first class series featuring Inspector Logan McRae, along with his usual cohorts, Steel, Rennie and Quirrell. The plot this time centres around the abduction of a high profile anti Scottish independence campaigner – but are radical pro Nationalists really responsible, or is it the work of someone trying to smear their campaign? There’s a war brewing between the pro and anti independence factions, not to mention infighting in the ranks of the police themselves, and the whole thing is being played out in the relentless glare of the media. Throw in an investigating officer with a chequered past and a turbulent present, who McRae, now working in Professional Standards, has his arm twisted to babysit, and you have all the ingredients for another great story, and one which covers some very topical and current themes.

No-one combines police procedurals with sardonic quirky black humour quite like Mr MacBride, and this excellent novel is certainly well worth your attention – another fine addition to this ongoing series.

Length of Read:Long

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

If you’re already a fan of these stories then you’ll love this new » Continue Reading.

Author:Stephen Morris

‘Drummers, Stephen, they all end up taking morphine and drinking absinthe. You don’t want to end up like that do you?’ Fatherly advice received by New Order drummer Stephen Morris, who has become the third member of the band to produce an autobiography. Actually though, this entertaining dual narrative is as much a childhood recollection of coming of age as it is rock star memoir. Morris seems a very likeable, self-deprecating character with a wry and dry sense of humour. His affable and engaging reminiscences of growing up in Macclesfield in the sixties and seventies make up the first part of this book, and he’s obviously someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously, recounting tales of schooldays, family life and working (in the loosest sense of the word!) for his father’s business. The second part deals with his introduction to the world of music and bands, first with Warsaw, then mutating into Joy Division and finally, in the closing chapters, New Order. Along the way, there are some very poignant memories of Ian Curtis and his gradual disintegration as the band were on the cusp of major success, as well as interesting insights into the recording process itself » Continue Reading.

Author:John Connolly

John Connolly celebrates twenty years as an author with this new work, a real doorstop of a novel, almost 700 pages in length, and a sequel to last year’s Charlie Parker tale The Woman In The Woods.

For this one, Parker has been taken away from his normal hunting grounds in rural Maine and transplanted to Europe, specifically Amsterdam and London. Again the story revolves around an ancient occult text known as The Fractured Atlas, the pages of which have been scattered around the world for safety. Gradually they are being reassembled with potentially apocalyptic consequences resulting, unless Parker and his cohorts can save the day. Connolly has never been afraid to include supernatural elements in this crime series, and that has never been more apparent than in this novel. However, for all that this still remains a crime novel with elements of horror rather than the other way round, with the epic length of this work allowing the author to fascinatingly explore ancient English folklore, myth and legend alongside the more traditional criminal investigation aspects of the story. The novel eventually, after many twists and turns, reaches an exciting climax, along the way pulling together all the » Continue Reading.

Author:Andrew Wild

I know, I know – does the world really need another Beatles book? Well, I suppose there’s always room for one more to add to the existing collection!

Unlike other books in the On Track series, this one eschews the album by album format, opting instead for an alphabetical listing. So what? Well it covers not only all the songs The Beatles recorded, but also those performed live, going right back to their earliest days in The Cavern and Hamburg. Throw into that solo tracks recorded prior to the band’s dissolution, together with songs they donated to other artists and those they simply guested on or produced and you have a very comprehensive work indeed. Each song has a brief preamble about its origins and musical content, but a formidable listing of details of each take and where it can be heard then follows. Details of any live performances are then added too. As you can gather, this is not a book that you would read cover to cover in one sitting as the content is often really quite dry. It’s far better used as a reference work to dip in and out of to research details of » Continue Reading.

Author:Ben Elton

Ben Elton returns with his first novel in five years, although to be fair he has in the intervening period scripted several series of the excellent TV comedy Upstart Crow.

This novel takes a jaundiced and satirical look at today’s society, and particularly the pervasive influence of social media. Ostensibly it’s a murder mystery, where an old school police officer attempts to investigate a series of killings to find that he simply doesn’t ‘get’ the modern world anymore. One suspects this may well be based on the author’s own views (Elton is 60 now), and at times the novel does read like a list of things he doesn’t like about today’s society thinly disguised as a story. Targets for his ire include Facebook and Twitter, politicians, referendums, trial by social media, historic sex crimes, politically correct language and a kaleidoscope of different identity groups. Elton is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but this is a decent and entertaining read, maybe not his very best but still well worth a look, and it does make some contentious, albeit tongue in cheek, points about the society we live in today, which the reader may or may not agree with » Continue Reading.

Author:Jordan Blum

With the Stormwatch deluxe set on the horizon for this summer, what better time to have a look at this next book in the excellent On Track series, dealing with the canon of the mighty Tull.

As with the previous books, this looks at each album song by song, including compilations and Ian Anderson’s solo efforts, giving a brief but informative summary of each piece. The author provides some interesting insights into both music and lyrics for this most quintessentially English of bands, whose catalogue veers from blues to prog to folk to rock as the years pass. I’m primarily a fan of their seventies work really, from Benefit through to Stormwatch, although that’s certainly not to dismiss the earlier and later albums – I have a lot of time for the Broadsword album, in my opinion the last great Tull record, although oddly the author is quite dismissive of it. He is quite good on the merits of the later albums from Crest onwards, which I must confess I haven’t listened to more than a handful of times each – indeed, the book has inspired me to give a second chance to albums like Catfish Rising, Roots » Continue Reading.

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.