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:Kenneth Womack

Even if you don’t recognize the name, you will have seen pictures with him in. According to Kenneth Womack, Evans was quite deliberate, sticking close to his charges, knowing there would be a very good chance he’d end up in the finally published picture. Hard to miss at 6ft 3, he’s ever present throughout the 8 hours of “Get Back”, the man with the guitar picks, tea and toast. Getting arrested at the end of the rooftop concert was a perfect encapsulation of his role – the friendly giant who always stood between the Fab Four and those that wanted to get to them.

Author Womack has written numerous books on the Beatles and was chosen by Evans son Gary and daughter Julie to tell their fathers story. Womack was given Evans diaries, the autobiographical manuscript Evans never managed to get published in his lifetime, and a treasure trove of memorabilia that he had squirreled away having worked with The Beatles from their days at the Cavern to beyond the split and the collapse of Apple into their solo careers.

Hired at George’s suggestion because of his imposing presence, Evans was unusual as a bodyguard and roadie » 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:Francis Spufford

A literary writer venturing into crime fiction for the first time. An alternative history featuring a heavy dose of First American vs African vs Caucasian ethnic struggle written by a white Englishman. A novel over 500 pages. All these are true, and all are reasons to think that Cahokia Jazz might fall flat on its face.

There’s also a lot to get to grips with upfront: two detectives, Native American Barrow and his sharp and wily senior partner Drummond. There’s a gruesome symbolic murder that requires investigation, and there’s the city of Cahokia in an alternative twenties North America, one in which money, religion and politics are all negotiated between the three races.

Spufford’s alternative history – based on the idea that the smallpox which wiped out 95% of the original inhabitants of North America arrived in a less venomous version, leading to a continuing mass population of Native Americans – is dense at first. Though he can’t avoid the narrative dumps completely, on the whole he shapes his narrative so that the reader finds out how and why Cahokia came to be the way it is, as the detectives search for the conspiracy that lies behind the » 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:Kevin Armstrong

I’m not sure of the date – middle of 1974 possibly. I was back in Orpington spending time with my mate Mark, on the street where we’d both grown up, now aspiring rock stars at the heady age of 14. Mark had upped the ante by getting a black Les Paul copy, a 15w amp that had dire mains hum, and a Cry Baby pedal. The only thing holding either of us back from stardom was a total absence of talent plus in my case, a total absence of an instrument. Several of Mark’s mates had formed a band, and we spent a day watching them practice. Mark seemed enthralled no doubt hoping to be asked to “sit in” whilst I was bored out of my gourd, manifesting a thumping headache born out of becoming massively de-hydrated (refreshments were only for the band, OK?). The only thing that made it interesting was the presence of a local guitarist called Kevin who had agreed to watch, play a little and offer a few tips. He was slight, friendly if a little distant, perking up when I mentioned Frank Zappa. It was clear that Kevin could really play and keep » 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…

» Continue Reading.

Author:Nick Banks

Subtitled From Punk to Pulp, this is the autobiography, written during Lockdown, of the band’s drummer going all the way from his early family life in Rotherham through to hitting the big time (after a very long wait) with Pulp. It’s always enjoyable to read something about the area you grew up in. as there are so many familiar places name checked, be they schools, pubs, clubs or even local record shops. Indeed, the whole feel of the early parts of this book evokes so many great memories of times and people and places, so many of them now long gone. I found the first half of the book the most interesting, growing up in South Yorkshire, playing in a few local bands before eventually joining Pulp – tales of their early struggles and a long, long period in the wilderness make particularly good reading, and are by far the best part of the book. I was less enamoured of the latter sections where, once the band finally broke through in a big way, it’s a treadmill of record an album, tour, record another album, tour, split up, reform etc, you get the picture. There are though some » Continue Reading.

Author:Duncan Hamilton

“They think it’s all over….”

Former RAF pilot Kenneth Wolstenholme’s inimitable lead up to Geoff Hurst’s third goal on that glorious, long-ago Wembley day are probably the five most famous words in the history of English football.

Of course, the intervening 57 years of hurt show that it’s far from over. Sadly, given England’s habit of choking in the knockout stages of big tournaments and current manager Gareth Southgate’s lack of tactical nous, nor is it likely to be over any time soon.

The latest writer to step in the time machine and travel back to join the other “people on the pitch” on Saturday July 30, 1966 is the reliably entertaining Duncan Hamilton (Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough, Harold Larwood). Problem is, as DH himself points out early on in this absorbing and hugely enjoyable book, pretty much every one of the 100,000 plus attendees and participants at Wembley that day have pretty much strip-mined the match of every possible insight:

“No game that has been staged in this country – and very few that have been staged elsewhere – have been picked apart and then put together again » Continue Reading.

Author:Kevin Jon Davies

It’s been over twenty years now since Douglas Adams passed. As Stephen Fry points out in his introduction, it’s odd to think someone so invested in the technology of the future never saw a smartphone or a tablet, never used Facebook or Twitter and never even got to say Hi to Alexa. When I think of him, I think of the Hitchhiker books (oddly I never got into the TV and radio adaptations), the Dirk Gently novels, the book he did with naturalist Mark Carwardine and the Starship Titanic computer game that I played to death at the time. Happily all these aspects and more are covered in what is effectively a scrapbook complied from the treasure trove of notes, drafts, letters and memorabilia that was left behind after his untimely premature passing in 2001. These range from his earliest attempts at comedy sketches, his work on Dr Who, early drafts of Hitchhiker material and on to his later work on new technologies and The Digital Village. There’s a frustratingly brief section on Pink Floyd’s Division Bell album, comprising a letter to David Gilmour giving his reactions and suggestions after hearing an advance tape of the record » Continue Reading.

Author:Kevin Mulryne

Sporting an introduction by Oliver Wakeman, this excellent book, written by the producer of the Yes Music podcast, takes an in depth look at the 1978 Yes album, Tormato, their final studio effort of the seventies. This may not seem an obvious choice to examine in such a detailed fashion – it certainly doesn’t rank that highly among my favourite albums by the band, not helped by the poor sound, and consequently it’s not one that gets much listening time. If I had to choose the stand out tracks I suppose I would go for Don’t Kill The Whale and On The Silent Wings of Freedom, but that’s by the by really. I have to say though that this is one of the most comprehensive, detailed and meticulously researched books I’ve ever read on a particular album. You want to know about the construction of the songs themselves, the individual instruments and set ups used, the recording studios, the artwork, the press reviews, the subsequent tours – well, it’s all here for your delectation, running to almost three hundred pages in fact. There’s even a separate colour supplement containing some great rare photos from that period. This whole » Continue Reading.

Author:John Niven

John Niven’s novels were described to me once as ‘an acquired taste,’ as if that was a uniquely bad thing. Yet isn’t the work of any author a taste you either acquire, or don’t? Surely the only criteria which really matters when recommending a book to anyone is that it is entertaining or thought-provoking? On that count, Niven’s novels score top marks. He is an entertaining and thought-provoking novelist.

However, O Brother is not a novel.

This new Niven book is the story of his younger brother and his struggle with health, both physical and mental, up to the point at which his life ended at his own hands. Yet it is much more than that. It is the story of the Niven family, of poverty, of inadequate social care and of a section of society marginalised by simply being forgotten.

It is also the best thing Niven has ever written.

I read it in just a few sittings and found myself yearning for another gap in my schedule which would allow me to pick up with Shades and his inexorable journey to a side-room in a hospital, a distracted and overworked staff and a horrible, horrific end.

» Continue Reading.

Author:Richard Osman

The elderly amateur sleuths that comprise the Thursday Murder Club return for a fourth outing in this thoroughly entertaining murder mystery. There’s something quietly reassuring about these novels, the plotting of which has got tighter and tighter as the series has progressed. Here, an old friend is murdered and a package that was in his possession has gone missing. As the team investigate, they encounter art forgers, drug dealers and online fraudsters, and all the while the body count rises in this utterly engaging and engrossing read. The short snappy chapters keep the (fairly outlandish) plot rolling along at a swift pace, and you just have to suspend disbelief for a while and go along for the ride. The book is in turn thrilling, funny and poignant, and reading it is as comforting as a cosy cup of tea by the fire on a cold winter’s day – and by the way, it will undoubtedly be one of the year’s biggest sellers.

Length of Read:Long

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

The previous books in he series, gentle unthreatening thrillers.

One thing you’ve learned

This is the last we’ll read of the Thursday Murder Club for a while » Continue Reading.

Author:Mick Herron

Although this isn’t a Slough House novel as such, it does have many links to that superb series. The Monochrome enquiry, set up by an unsympathetic government to look into possible Secret Service overreach and misconduct, is busy going nowhere, spinning its wheels due to lack of cooperation, its progress blocked at every turn, when suddenly it anonymously receives a vital file that threatens to blow apart a whole can of worms. Meanwhile, a long retired agent living in obscurity is subject to an abduction attempt in the leafy lanes of Devon. Are the two events connected? I don’t want to give away too much of the plot here, but suffice to say that although this is a stand alone novel, it also acts as a secret history of one of the main Slough House characters and explains their relationship with another character – the names differ but it quickly becomes apparent who they are in this tale told partly in the present day and partly in flashback to the Berlin of the mid nineties. This is a superb book, one where I absolutely relished every single page – laced with the author’s trademark mix of tension, intrigue, » Continue Reading.

Author:Caroline and David Stafford

I saw Ronnie Lane live just once; January 2nd 1976 at the Great British Music Festival held at Olympia in London. Sandwiched mid bill, on before Nazareth and Bad Company, but after The Pretty Things and Be Bop Deluxe, their country flavoured, good time rock n roll wasn’t done any favours by the aircraft hanger acoustics, or the harder rock tastes of the crowd. The only memory I have of their set were the can-can dancers (led by Ronnie’s then wife Kate) that took to the stage towards the end.

By the time I saw him, Lane was fully invested in performing and recording on his own terms, a wandering troubadour who had eschewed the glitz and glamour that had been the hallmark of his time with the Small Faces and Faces, swapping limos for caravans and stadium gigs for a tent. An act that was the very embodiment of what Glastonbury would subsequently become but never got the chance to be part of.

Authors David and Caroline Stafford have written quite a catalogue of music / media biographies, including Kenney Everett, Lionel Bart, The Police, Billy Fury and Adam Faith but this isn’t cash for » Continue Reading.

Author:Ethan Roy, Barry Wood, Andy McArthur, Stephen Lambe

I think everyone would agree that 1972 – 86 captures Lou Reed’s best work. I remember buying the Transformer album, mainly due to Walk on the Wild Side and the Bowie connection. I still dig out the Berlin album too, even though it’s not an easy listen, and the Rock n Roll Animal live set has my favourite version of Sweet Jane. His masterwork for me though is the epic title track to the Street Hassle album – just stunning. Of course, there were also quite a few duds during the period, so for me it’s very much a case of cherry picking with his back catalogue, and listening to the wheat rather than the chaff. This is an interesting read though, ideal for the newcomer to Reed’s music, and it got me digging into albums I’d not heard in a long time.

I am partial to Metallica so it was a real pleasure to read this book while rejoicing in the likes of Master of Puppets and For Whom The Bell Tolls. The run of albums up to the Black Album is still essential listening, although over the years their sound » Continue Reading.

Author:John Connolly

Once upon a time John Connolly wrote a novel titled The Book of Lost Things. While this isn’t a sequel as such, this standalone work does use the same overall conceit, a story of good versus evil set in a fairy tale world that may or may not be real. A woman finds herself drawn into this mysterious place where she hopes to find a cure to return her comatose daughter back to consciousness. She is aided on her quest by The Woodcutter, a figure who reminded me a little of The Gunslinger from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, and is pursued by a Gollum like creature, while the sinister Crooked Man looms large over this world, seeking with his new found allies to thwart her mission at every turn and become ruler of the land. In more general terms, this is a book about hopes and dreams, about yearning and loss, and about the power of love and the place books and folklore tales still have in our lives. This is a dark but beautifully crafted fable that explores loyalty and the sacrifices a parent is prepared to make for their child, and even though it’s rather » Continue Reading.