Author:Daryl Richard Lawrence, Stan Jeffries. Duncan Harris

I’m not a big fan of the West Coast country sounds of Linda Ronstadt, but given that she’s sold over 100 million albums I’m obviously in a minority! This book covers the first twenty years of her career, which saw the release of 17 albums – a pretty impressive work rate. The only two records I really know are Living in the USA and Heart Like a Wheel, but dipping into her back catalogue in the course of reading this book confirmed my thoughts that pleasant as her music is, it all rather washes over me. Nevertheless, she successfully crossed over into both the rock and country markets and attained huge commercial success over a sustained period. Fans will enjoy the in depth track by track breakdown of the albums and might even rediscover some long forgotten gems, while it also provides a good introduction for newcomers to her music.

The Jam was a band I was quite a fan of back in the day. From 1977’s In The City single through to their last hurrah with 1982’s Beat Surrender they produced some fantastic music that still sounds as good today as it » Continue Reading.

Author:Sophie Hannah

A fifth instalment in the author’s loving recreation of Hercule Poirot and his famous little grey cells. A Christmas based mystery presents itself to the Belgian detective and his colleague Inspector Catchpool, who is a sort of amalgam of Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp. Set in the early 1930s in a crumbing mansion by the coast, the home of Catchpool’s overbearing mother, the pair investigate a murder in the supposed safety of a ward in a nearby hospital. When a friend is admitted to the same place his wife is convinced he will meet the same fate, but refuses to elaborate. Poirot must work fast to solve the case before the killer strikes again, or face the horrific consequences – having to spend the whole festive period with the Catchpools! There’s a large cast of quite eccentric characters with complex interrelationships, which are gradually revealed as the plot progresses, and of course there’s the usual quota of red herrings. Hannah nicely evokes the atmosphere of England and its inhabitants in that pre-war era, and expertly recreates Poirot’s familiar character with all its foibles. As with the earlier novels, my one grumble is I would have liked more Poirot » Continue Reading.

Author:Geddy Lee

The Rush vocalist and bass player gives the reader an in depth look at his life both in and out of the band in this fascinating lengthy autobiography. Initially we learn of his parents’ traumatic experiences as teenagers in World War Two and the murder of his grandfather in The Holocaust. Against this background, he describes a loving childhood environment and the introduction to music that eventually led to him dropping out of High School. However, it’s the time with Rush that most fans will want to turn to, going from their earliest days through the classic late seventies/early eighties albums and on to the very end of their long career with the vastly underrated Clockwork Angels album, one of their very finest efforts that for some reason often gets overlooked when assessing their music. The most interesting part of the book though is his close relationship with his two co-members in the group – they really were a band of brothers, as evidenced most in terrible times such as when Neil Peart tragically lost his daughter and then wife, and ultimately when he himself became terminally ill. Even now, it’s obvious Lee is still deeply affected by » Continue Reading.

Author:Terry Hayes

Ten years ago Terry Hayes wrote a novel titled I Am Pilgrim which went on to become a massive international bestseller. The Year of The Locust is a book that has been delayed so many times I began to wonder if it would ever see the light of day. It’s not a sequel but a standalone novel, although the subject matter is in broad terms in the same vein, ie a secret agent based action thriller. A CIA agent is sent into the badlands of Iran to uncover details of an atrocity being planned by a terrorist organisation – no spoilers, but basically it’s non-stop action from that point onwards. This is one of those books with short punchy chapters that beg you to carry on and just read one more even though it’s already way past bedtime. The pages fly by in this fast paced thriller, and the author never allows the pace and excitement to drop as the tension inexorably ratchets up. This is without doubt the best book of this genre that I’ve read for a very long time, and surely it’s crying out for a movie adaptation. If this type of action thriller is » Continue Reading.

Author:Terry Pratchett

When Terry Pratchett passed he decreed that all his unfinished and unpublished work be destroyed, emphatically achieved by symbolically running over his computer’s hard drive with a steamroller! However, if you can’t go forward then go back – and hence we have a collection of twenty recently unearthed short stories from the very beginnings of his writing career, written under pseudonyms, which have been excavated from the archives of the newspapers they originally appeared in during the 1970s and 80s. These are by their nature short pieces, constrained presumably by the word count imposed by the editors, so each story is by neccesity compact and makes its point without prevarication. They are very much the writings of a young author still cutting his teeth and seeking a direction, but they are none the worse for that. There’s nothing of Discworld here of course, although there are a few hints here and there of that epic comic universe that was to come further down the line. Nevertheless, there are some really good humorous stories here that will raise a smile – the discovery of fire by a caveman, defiant evicted ghosts haunting the local council, a clay golem developing » Continue Reading.

Author:Edited by Adrian Whittaker

Subtitled An Incredible String Band Compendium, this is a revised and expanded edition of the long out of print original book. It’s an epic 700 page melange of articles, memories, photographs, reviews, interviews, essays, anecdotes and general ephemera, and as such covers pretty much all you could ever want to know on this quite remarkable band, and more besides. If you have the original book then you may wonder what’s new given nothing really has happened in the intervening twenty years. Well for a start there are a couple of new articles by Rose Simpson that are well worth your time, and there are new writings by the likes of Joe Boyd, Neil Tennant, Billy Connolly and even the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williamson. All in all, this is a quite superb and comprehensive look back not just at the band members themselves, but at their recordings and the culture they existed and thrived in – they were indeed a flame that burned briefly but so very brightly. A real treasure trove for fans to delve into – if you don’t have it then you need to remedy that situation as soon as possible!

Length » Continue Reading.

Author:Tom Werman

Tom Werman wasn’t a name that rang any bells with me, but he was a leading A&R man and subsequently a sought after producer in the US, primarily in the seventies and eighties. Boston, REO Speedwagon and Cheap Trick were among the acts he signed up for Epic Records, and he later produced big selling album for the likes of Motley Crue, Poison and Twisted Sister, amassing no fewer than twenty three gold and platinum albums along the way. This very readable book gives an honest and engaging account of the recording of some of the best selling albums he worked on, covering the recording process and the role of the producer – and how to deal with the inflated egos of drug and alcohol fuelled rock stars. He seems a personable enough chap although obviously we are only hearing his version of events, and he subsequently seems to have fallen out in a big way with some of the major acts he produced. Nevertheless, he seems to be a work hard, play hard guy who made plenty of money along the way. An interesting read all in all that charts his career from the bottom of the » Continue Reading.

Author:Scott Meze, Paul O Jenkins, Matt Karpe

I am partial to a bit of Soft Machine when I’m in the right mood. Their Open Doors album earlier this year demonstrated that the passing years haven’t dimmed their light in the slightest. This very readable book takes the reader right back to their earliest incarnation featuring Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt, before trawling through all their releases for the next forty five years. Along the way the author examines the frequent comings and goings in the line up, as he guides the reader through the maze of releases, song by song. The band are certainly something of an acquired taste, but I think there’s no doubt they were at their best in their 1970’s heyday where they were on a winning run of top grade material, a heady mixture of prog, freeform jazz and seemingly whatever else took their fancy. Well researched and complied, this work is certainly worth checking out if you’re a fan as it covers not only the extensive studio and live catalogue, but also the various off shoots, side projects and extracurricular activities of current and former band members.

I confess my knowledge of Ralph McTell is » Continue Reading.

Author:Richard Houghton

A few year’s ago we reviewed books on Simple Minds and Free/Bad Company, where the history of a band was examined by collating people’s reminiscences of attending gigs over the years. This new book is of the same ilk, very comprehensive and detailed in its scope and presented on top quality glossy paper with plenty of colour photographs of the contributors. The book begins with the band in its earliest incarnation in 1966 and ends on a show by Saucerful of Secrets in 2019, before backtracking to add a post script with the Syd Barrett tribute show in 2007, and covers not only Floyd performances, which obviously make up the bulk of the book, but also, more briefly, solo tours over the years by Gilmour and Waters. Clearly these memories are recounted with the benefit of many years of hindsight, and recollections are occasionally and understandably a little hazy, as what were then young people or perhaps just teenagers are now usually in their sixties or even older. The most fascinating aspect of this lengthy volume is the stories of epic journeys to get to gigs as well as of the experience of the show itself, although the » Continue Reading.

Author:Daryl Easlea

Anyone who, like me, began listening to music in the early 1970s will have been very much aware of Slade, one of the biggest bands of that time and seemingly ever present in the charts and on Top of the Pops. The hit singles, three of which went into the charts at number one (when that was still an almost unheard of achievement), the big selling albums such as Slayed and Old New Borrowed and New and let’s not forget the Slade in Flame feature film – they really were everywhere. Then suddenly they weren’t. What happened? Well, this long and very comprehensive book will tell you all. It charts the band’s beginnings in the 1960s beat boom and the early years of struggle with a notable lack of success, through into their explosion in the glam heyday of the early 70s. There’s plenty of detail on those glory days, the hit singles including half a dozen number ones, the big selling albums and the sell out tours. Perhaps it was the hubris of the Slade in Flame film that began the decline, or maybe they spent too much time and energy trying unsuccessfully to crack the potentially » Continue Reading.

Author:Kevan Furbank, Peter Gallagher, Gary Steel

Thick as a Brick, Close To The Edge, Foxtrot, Trilogy – and that’s just scratching the surface of the glut of prog albums that appeared in 1972, surely one of the genre’s vintage years. The author has approached this by selecting 22 albums from the year, although of course this raises the question of what is and isn’t prog. For me, The Strawbs, Uriah Heep and Santana don’t really fall into that genre but each to their own I suppose. Each album is looked at in some detail, with added background on the bands themselves, although there is a trait of saying what key a piece is in and what chords are used, which I found quite irritating. It’s always interesting to read more about this era and its music, although being a big fan already of these albums I didn’t really learn much I didn’t already know. However, it would certainly make a useful guide to someone just investigating this music for the first time.

My SAHB period really went from Framed through Next and The Impossible Dream and the subsequent live set. I rather lost touch with them after that, although » Continue Reading.

Author:Robert Galbraith

Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott return in the seventh novel in this series, and it’s another blockbuster, running to almost a thousand pages. This time a sinister religious cult masquerading as a peaceable church campaigning for a better world is at the centre of the action. Robin infiltrates the organisation to try and locate a missing person, but is soon embroiled in an increasingly disturbing web of intrigue and unexplained deaths. What’s going on beneath the seemingly benign and respectable surface is gradually revealed, but I won’t spoil it here. As you’d perhaps expect for a book of this length there are a few occasions when the story meanders a bit, but overall there’s plenty of action, not to mention numerous red herrings along the way. Despite the daunting appearance (and weight!) when you pick the book up, the fast pace means the reader soon makes rapid headway as the plot, as they say, thickens, and the pages zip past without you really noticing and before you know it you’re 200 pages in. Another enthralling read in this series that seems to get better and better with each book.

Length of Read:Epic

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

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