Keeping Up With the Germans (Philip Oltermann)

Philip Oltermann
Keeping Up With the Germans



I hesitate to read books written by foreigners about British culture, or indeed books written by Brits about other cultures. They are often lazy caricatures and at best reinforce why you think you have a great culture with inane positive generalisations. Also I often  pick holes in what is written, not surprisingly as I have always lived in England bar a year or so travelling / bumming around the Americas. Although this book has all of the above in parts I guess that goes with the territory and the author understands that and has made a real attempt to analyse both German and British cultures by the innovative instrument of various meetings between both nationalities from the last couple of centuries.

I wasn't sure whether the book was by a German noting British oddities which is apparent when Philip first comes to live in London's suburbia noting bathrooms with carpeting and separate hot and cold taps (something which my German friends just cannot get their heads around). Or by a truly anglicised German looking at German customs such as new year walks up the Brocken in the Harz mountains which is somewhere I've had the pleasure of visiting. The book goes into much deeper analysis of both cultures and the national psyches and how each look at each other and is both intriguing and compelling.

A couple of notable sections are the impressive build of sash windows with their perfectly balanced counterweights hidden from view (ever opened one up?) but ultimately being either draughty or painted shut and therefore needing to be replaced. And the German obsession at new year with an English sketch from the music hall era called Dinner For One which I'd never heard of until my German friends showed me it a few months ago whilst visiting Berlin. To me it's an amusing sketch with little dialogue in the style of Norman Wisdom or Eric Sykes when TV was B&W and shut down at 10.30 with the national anthem. To the Germans it's a national institution. Go watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lzQxjGL9S0  Going back to my hesitation in reading books like this the sketch is everything you would expect a foreigner to think about Brits - class separation (butler with my name James), empire artifacts, eccentricity, heavy drinking, slapstick and finally crude innuendo but of course nothing explicit. But to be fair funny all the same and may sum up the public face of Britain from the 1950s although obviously not now.

In conclusion an enjoyable book that made me think about both German and my culture, and how both are perceived. Interested in how it comes across to a German very interested in British culture and how to a Brit who's married to a German and works regularly over there. Let me know boys.

Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance (Johnny Rogan)

Johnny Rogan
Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance




This book was written just after The Smiths split so is pretty old but came highly recommended and therefore I thought worth a read. I was never a big Smiths fan having seen a massively overhyped show in the early 80s. Admittedly it wasn't them doing the hyping but a few of my mates raved about this new band that were the saviour of post punk indie rock and pop with a singer who had the detached attitude of Johnny Rotten. So I went along to see them at Birmingham University (gigography in the book says 30/9/83) and was somewhat disappointed watching a band with very little audience engagement and a fey singer sneering at the audience with gladioli affectedly hanging out his back pocket singing and screeching. I remember that the music wasn’t as astoundingly innovative as my mates had made out with a fairly competent rock rhythm section and bluesy guitar. If I’d seen them cold without warning and Morrissey had said hello to us then maybe I’d have appreciated them more. Maybe he wasn't into playing to a load of students at what would have been a freshers week gig. Henceforth I was never a fan although liked a few of their more upbeat tunes and obviously danced around to them at the ubiquitous indie disco. I probably saw them at Glastonbury too as when they played I think I was there and there weren't as many stages as now to choose from. Looking back I can see the brilliance of some of their songs but there's still a hell of a lot of miserablist whining to scour through before the gems.

So to the book rather than my musings. It's put together mainly through interviews and the only Smith who seems to have cooperated is the drummer Joyce. I read that Morrissey hated the book but he's a cantakerous old git so not sure that means a lot. It's well written and although at first it seems a bit thrown together with odd memories of those he's interviewed as time goes on the storyline becomes more coherent soon giving us a rich insight into the band and their challenges. The early days of Morrissey at school are very reminiscent of my schooldays although perhaps my school was a little more interested in teaching and less in corporal punishment. But not a lot. As ever when reading these band biographies I regret not taking the time to learn the guitar and become a rock and roll star but guess many do learn and few make a living out of it. The Smiths come over as a fairly dysfunctional group. Brilliantly gelling as musicians, which I guess it's all about, but communications between themselves and certainly with others outside the group were appalling eventually leading to their demise. The Morrissey / Marr team's independence, or control freakery, seems a major contribution to stress as nothing was contractually agreed and in trying to keep control of management they just had to do too much. Or disappoint people who were trying to help them. The author seems to have a genuine respect for all the group and the book reads fairly. A few very interesting snippets especially the close involvement of Grant Showbiz of Here and Now fame (look em up). Ironically it was the punk meets hippy psychedelic dance funk crossover bands that Here and Now preceded that made me think that The Smiths, pretty early on in their career, were the last of the indie popsters who would be swept away with richer soundscapes. Acid house and the rave scene did indeed seriously damage indie guitar bands but they reemerged with Brit Pop.

Overall a good read and of interest whether you're a Smiths fan or simply want to read the life story up to the demise of The Smiths of admittedly two of the great songwriting duos and one of the more interesting and controversial characters from British popular culture from the last few decades.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne)

John Boyne
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas



A very tenderly written book in language as if for kids which it probably was. I'd never fancied reading it as tend to avoid distressing subjects if sentimental which I thought it may be. As both my daughters (16 and 11) have read and raved about it I thought I'd give it a go. Glad I did and finished in two sittings. It has an innocence reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (which I really should read again) but maybe that's a lazy comparison. The worries and pains of the main character are both sharply contrasted with but at the same time sympathetically compared with those of his imprisoned friend. On one level it's a story about loss, friendship and being a child. That's the way it's written and it's only when I stop to think about the context does the horror of the situation make itself felt. That dark side of the relationship is brilliantly understated and even obviously violent episodes are explicitly not described to us keeping us in some ways more innocent than the children themselves. My second session was at midnight in bed and a feeling of dread washed over me not wanting to know what happens but rushing towards the end. The ending is so delicately described that I had to read again thinking about what was happening rather than what was described. Even the very last scene has a pathos that suggests empathy rather than hatred. The last lines bring us back to the context and how this world really isn't as innocent as the story is written. This morning I asked my 11 year old daughter if she knew what happened at the end and she described quite mechanically the horror and said that they were told at school and also by her 16 year old sister. Definitely written for children who maybe don't read it with the sentimental eyes that I did cos they are themselves going through the pains of being young and made to do what others (myself included) tell them to often without any real understanding as to why. Maybe that's what ultimately unites the two friends despite the obvious difference between their situations. In the end their friendship brings them together united in their inability to decide their fate.

News of a Kidnapping (Gabriel García Márquez)

Gabriel García Márquez
News of a Kidnapping

I usually find GGM very readable and love the way he richly builds up characters and situations making you feel part of it. However although this is meant to be his best book I found it really difficult to get into. He brings so many characters in to play and has a seemingly scattergun approach as to who you get to know and who not. Added to this anyone without the advantage of being in power or with influence is seemingly dismissed by him as if their or their family's pain is nothing. Maybe this is deliberate as I guess in Columbia at this time life was very cheap and no one cared about the working class. The dead driver is dismissed with a sentence whereas we are told to feel sorry for our privileged kidnappee as she's roughly manhandled into a car. He also bangs on about the poor food and conditions that his privileged characters have to endure and it's only at the end of the book that one of the "bad guys" points out what I was thinking all the way through - i.e. that this is how most people live in the Columbian slums anyway so stop complaining. And as a veggie lentils don't sound so bad anyway and pulses are the staple diet for most in South America.

The narrative lurches from kidnapped to political workings all the time without really going into any context but maybe it was written for Columbians who'd lived through this period. I was in Columbia in the late 80s and so followed the disastrous times then and into the 90s but even so I could have done with a quick recap as to who Escobar was and how the situation with him, other drug cartels and the para military / police militias had come about and their atrocities in the slums.
I felt little sympathy for the main characters especially as they came from the social and political elite and had access to power including the president and indeed Escobar too. Maybe also it's because we don't get into the prisoners' personalities and the mental stress is reported as if in a news bulletin rather than in an empathetic way which is odd for Marquez as he's very good at that in other books I've read. I also wondered if something was lost in translation although the translator is Edith Grossman who I've read and though did brilliantly for Don Quixote and The General in His Labyrinth.
I got more into the book when it moves to less prisoners so you get to know them better and when it goes into the mechanisms of political influence and the governments way of dealing with Escobar and then learning about him. The release of the last two and Escobar's surrender were interesting although sometimes a little unbelievable and again could have had more context (written for Columbians?) as to who he was and how built up such an empire - cartels and the govt war on narcotics and police atrocities in the slums. The ending feels a bit rushed with nothing on the aftermath except for Escobar's fate.

In the end I was glad I persevered and enjoyed the 2nd half more than first. Not at all sure it's his best book though...

A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)

Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities



A book starting and ending with two of the most evocative and well known quotes in the English language:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity...

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

They sum up this brilliantly told story. It has a brutality beyond any other I've come across in Dickens. It has his usual pathos for characters, good and bad combined for many of them, evoking both sympathy and malevolence during the book. His commentary on the French Revolution displays Dickens' usual trick of having us in two minds as to whether it is right or not - or rather getting us to understand the source of brutality and why it is inevitable. At times the pathetic nature of the characters reminds me of Jane Austen but I guess she was a little more genteel. There's an obvious link to the Scarlet Pimpernell story that I've found out was written later.

It's a truly gripping story which as it gets to the end is impossible to put down. Descriptions of the terror of the time are remarkable. No wonder people queued to get their hands on the latest installment.

Charles has to give us a little light relief and amongst the grimness there is some fun had at the expense of the working class supporting characters. The climax has reference back to earlier domestic strife which brings a bittersweet comedy at the height of tension for the reader.

For me, as I suppose many others, the focus on the rich and privileged compared to the poor and downtrodden is brought together in the final scenes when the poor frail girl is supported by one of our privileged heroes.

Like Thomas Hardy and John Irving I've come to the conclusion that I should really read all Dickens' novels.

Instances of the Number 3 (Salley Vickers)

Salley Vickers
Instances of the number 3



I found this a slightly contrived read with mild titillation a bit like M&B. To the uninitiated that's Mills and Boon which I've dipped into due to living, not in the M&B sense, with an English graduate who devoured them and swore by them. It's nothing like Mitchell & Butler mild. I digress, but it's the sort of digression and unneeded fact that peppers this book. The themes give me something to think about after I've finished the book but it's the getting through it that's hard given the unexplained discrepancies, mild prejudices (why is it improbable that oriental's run hotels in France?) and inaccuracies (Turnham Green name origins, was that an in joke?). I guess that given it was food for thought then it was worth the read even if unlikely to read more of Salley.

Cannery Row (John Steinbeck)

John Steinbeck
Cannery Row



I've read this a few times and it's one of my favourite books. A brilliant mix of philosophy and a heart felt observation of the human condition and down right hilarious in parts. Such beautiful characters you feel like you know them. It's food for the soul and the possibly the best opening paragraph written in some ways summing up the whole book if not Steinbeck's works. It's on a par with Pride and Prejudice's first sentence for humour. A short book that can be read and read again and I'm sure enough has been written about Steinbeck so I'll simply give a taster...

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, ‘whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,’ by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, “Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,’ and he would have meant the same thing.”  Simply beautiful.

The Progressive Patriot (Billy Bragg)

Billy Bragg
The Progressive Patriot



In great anticipation and with plenty of time on holiday I settle down to read one of my heroes much admired for both music, passion and politics. I very rarely leave a book unfinished but in this case I struggle through to page 100 and then just can't continue giving up before the mid book photos which I've sneaked a preview of already. I accept the detailed history of both Barking and it's bard's family (as our Billy is affectionately known) but I find it hard to believe that Bragg's ancestors were responsible for the modern labour movement and the 8 hour working man's day. The potted history of English radicalism is, well, potted and light failing to mention Cromwell's much darker side which is part of him whatever you think about whether he was a man of the times and the ends justified the means. The flights of fancy about Rudyard Kipling's potential roaming around Barking was acceptable but the straw that broke my willingness to carry on was Billy banging on about how Simon and Garfunkel are the most insightful lyricists of our time. I just couldn't carry on with the duo's mournful wailings running through my head. It's alway's dangerous reading the autobiographies, for this is what this is at least the first half, of your heroes and I've gone off certain Arsenal players due to this. There again others pull you in and you want to explore their works, whether music, writing or sport, all the more. In this case I'd prefer to remember Billy by his performances rather than his writing. Must go see him again and refresh my mild adulation of him. For me he's still the guy who shouted out updates to England world cup ties during his Glastonbury sets back when no one much who pretended left wing views could like football much less scream at players of any one country to score against the other. Back before it became so trendy that large screens were needed at Glastonbury to show England getting beat by the Germans. Again. Oh god, I've strayed so far from BB's internationalist views - but I guess that's what this book is about - being patriotic and having a sense of pride in your country without being prejudiced and xenophobic. Hmm, maybe I should've persevered...

Conversations in Sicily (Elio Vittorini)

Elio Vittorini
Conversations in Sicily



Read whilst on holiday in Sicily this is a short novel about a voyage through Sicily ending with time spent with the traveller's mother. Written at the time of Mussolini it has hidden meaning and even though written over 50 years ago it invokes some of the Sicily that is still apparent. The prose is repeated and the cadence flows like verse. Shakespeare is name checked a lot but it seems earlier in style as it's near fantasy, delusional and enchanting reminiscent of Don Quixote. It's very rare that I read a book in a day but as I'm on holiday and it's such an engaging read and the style of the translation so authentic that I tore through the 200 pages pausing only to eat and wander down to the beach. I left it for the next holiday makers to read hoping that they are English speakers.

The Time of Our Singing (Richard Powers)

Richard Powers
The Time of Our Singing




Complex and rich story by a strong story teller which is a compelling read. For me though the wrong characters are followed who have, for me, the least interesting lives and are the least likeable. The ending leaves some chunky loose strings as there are too many important characters that are cut short. It's very technical which it part of it's charm. But at times I felt like I was missing some of the meaning given that I'm not an expert in nuclear physics and chamber music - and the detail that was there seemed a little over researched rather than a natural flow. Ultimately I felt that it was too rich a story for a albeit thick best seller and should have been an epic trilogy. There were some unlikely scenarios in the book which to be fair are never a bad thing if you only realise this after the fact and as I was engaged by the stories and at times enthralled it must be a good book. Not sure I'll search out others by Richard though.

Mysore (R. K. Narayan)

R. K. Narayan
Mysore



A travelogue by a great Indian author about an area he obviously know very well. Very engaging accounts of local towns, villages and tourist sites plus of course temples and other religious places. A lot of history is thrown in amongst these accounts. I read this on my phone and took about 3 months as only read on the tube when I'd forgotten paper books. Narayan's novels are well worth reading and really place you in the India that he describes. This travel book captures some of that vivid description but at times can be a little rushed and dry. But it does make me want to read more of him.

Simon Bolivar and Spanish American Independence, 1783-1830 (John J. Johnson)

John J. Johnson
Simon Bolivar and Spanish American Independence, 1783-1830



I won't go into how El Libertador freed (most of) South America from the Spanish mainland as you can wikipedia it. This book goes through that process with a critical eye including Bolivar's initial failures and the not so great bits of his legacy. What makes this book interesting is the analysis of Bolivar's view of how to run government in the Americas which seems to slide from democratic through to dictatorship over his (short) lifetime. This seems to have been due to failures of the revolution and reversion to Spanish rule. He concludes that the only way to liberate South America is to have a dictatorship backed up by the army. His idea was to replace Spanish rule with American born dictators but that seems to be restricted to those of European descent. He views slaves of African descent and native Indians as to unsophisticated and uncivilised to entrust to power and would cause anarchy if given any power or the vote. He frees slaves reluctantly as he promised that to the Haitians when they helped him out early on after one of his knockbacks. The other shock (to me anyway) was how Bolivar brutalised the continent by declaring a take no prisoners policy in the wars which he seems to have regretted later in life and was certainly regretted by his peers. Although undoubtably a great war time hero the failure seems to be the cult of Bolivar and his being invited to be president of much of South America.

The second half of the book is a series of papers. Some written by Bolivar and some critiques of him. The last ends with the depressing thought that South America has become a colony rules by Spanish descendants rather than from Spain. The vast majority of the populations are forced under the yolk of dictatorships and military juntas. The latter were Bolivar's preferred form of government. Given that he came from the richest family in Venezuela perhaps the result of his "liberation" was no true liberation of the masses. After starting this book thinking Bolivar was a hero I ended it thinking that he was a tyrant who put in place the form of government that still lasts today. After 300 years of Spanish domination the masses have endured another 200 years since Bolivar's liberation. Overall a depressing read for myself. I travelled in South America and was somewhat surprised that every town in the northern countries had streets and monuments dedicated to Bolivar. I was surprised because I didn't think that the current despotic rules would appreciate celebration of a liberator. Now I know why they did. He liberated the ruling classes from the Spanish mainland but the freedom stopped there. The struggle for freedom continues for most of the continent.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Simon-Bolivar-Spanish-American-Independence-1783-1830-John-Johnson/9780894646874?utm_source=SV-Body&utm_medium=email-Service&utm_term=Simon-Bolivar-and-Spanish-American-Independence-1783-1830_title&utm_content=order-details&utm_campaign=Order-confirmation

Arthur Lee: Alone Again Or (Barney Hoskyns)

Barney Hoskyns
Arthur Lee: Alone Again Or



A book about Love's main man who seems like he was anything but. In the book someone refers to them as Hate. Pretty hard read mainly because not especially interesting and a mishmash of references to interviews and seemingly random journalist pieces. Not a lot of real insight from the author himself into either Arthur, Love or the 60s. One irritating aspect of the book is that Barney keeps on saying Love were the punks of the hippie era as if punk was about being an egomaniacal arsehole which it wasn't. Confrontational yes but not backstabbing idiots. And the album raved about in the book (Forever Changes) sounds nothing like either 60s garage or punk - more like uninspiring 60s west coast folk with the best tracks sounding a bit like The Who but not nearly as good. Some are a straight rip off of The Who. Saying they were revolutionary seems crazy as others were properly out there. Maybe live they were better but not recorded. Their 1st recording Love has a couple of more raw and garage like tracks but that's being generous as they sound like they were recorded in a garage. Having said this lots of other bands that I respect seem to respect Lee and Love so maybe I've missed the point. But coming back to the book it hasn't inspired me to listen further.

http://www.abebooks.com/Arthur-Lee-Alone-Again-Barney-Hoskyns/8472018712/bd

Freaky Dancin’ (Bez aka Mark Berry & Deborah Faulkner)

Bez
Freaky Dancing: Me and the Mondays

Original

Reissue

Brilliantly written account of Bez’s early years and how he came to be the maraca shaking freaky dancer of the Happy Mondays. Full of hilarious anecdotes and perceptive musings on his upbringing and life. We see how he falls out with authority early on in his life despite or maybe because he’s the son of a dibble and a very straightlaced mother. Bez soon runs with the wrong crowd and gets an early taste of bird but also travels through Europe and Morocco sampling a life of more possibilities than he found in Salford and Manchester city centre. His drug taking must give Keith Richards a run for his money if all is to be believed and it’s this that really gets him in with the nascent Happy Mondays and their drug fuelled new sound. The way he writes really brings you into his life and hopes completely immersing me in the story and the late 80s Manchester scene as it develops. As the Mondays start to break E hits the streets and helps form the Mondays classic rock clubbing dancehall mashup sound (with a little help from Oakenfold) that takes them stratospheric. As they make it big the pranks and drugs follow suite but as the latter get heavier and more addictive the band spiral downwards along with Factory Records to the well documented ending in the Caribbean island that others have said was to get X off the smack but put him smack onto crack island. That Bez survived his story intact seems either unlikely or a miracle and to come out of it with two kids even more so. I’ve read this 15 years after it was written and would like to see the next instalment if there’s one out there. Must search for it. He says he wants to write like he speaks but it doesn’t read like it’s in a Manc dialect which isn’t necessarily bad but he does throw in a bit of street jargon (dibble for copper) and a lot of four letters. The main gripe is insisting on dropping the d for every and and the g for every ing which makes it hard to read and is just plain daft given the eloquence of some of the sentences and even putting the right accents over the e and a in debacle. It looks like they’ve gone through the whole text with a spell checker but cutting the d’s and g’s out. Tres pretentious. Anyways apart from that irritation it’s a great read that draws you into Bez’s world and makes you think about the bits that you’ve been through like pubs, teenage scraps, gigs and clubs. And some of the best descriptions of gigs and dancing at clubs I’ve read including the joys of Freaky Dancin’ and gets me wondering how the hell someone managed to make a career of it.

http://www.cerysmaticfactory.info/freaky_dancin.php

Stoner (John Williams)

John Williams
Stoner


Firstly this isn't a novel about weed but a guy called Stoner. A compelling read of someone who had his seemingly futile life mapped out but changed completely and irrevocably by an enlightening moment. The potential of life is boundless but as each goal is met the potential falls away and becomes another bar to the prison cell window. Determined yet picking the wrong battles we can see how his life is failing until he reaches that same conclusion and a contentment or acceptance is reached. Lastly as life ebbs away the regrets of an ultimately loveless life grate and the unrealised youthful potential is fully understood and how it's perpetuated in others around. Ultimately it seems that his life has been futile and you're left wondering whether his first path may have been the better choice albeit impossible for him. And it wouldn't make a good novel, of course. Oddly the books subject matter and ending is very similar to the last I read (The General in His Labyrinth). A great read and, as I said, compelling which is why I'm writing this past midnight. Makes me want to read the couple of other books that William's has written but maybe I need something a little lighter after the last two books. Something easy to read to cheer me up, like The Gooner fanzine. On second thoughts I don't want another treatise on failed potential do I. But I do recommend this book. Good call Debbie.

http://www.vintage-books.co.uk/books/0099561549/john-williams/stoner-a-novel/

The General in His Labyrinth (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The General in His Labyrinth


Having read GGM before going to Latin America (100 years of solitude) I've dipped into him over the years and although liking his stories feel a little removed from them. This book is about the mighty American liberator Bolivar who successfully united the south american continent albeit temporarily. This book doesn't dwell on Bolivar's fantastic feats of rebellion and politics but on his memories as he's passing into a self imposed exile that he never achieves. We follow him travelling down rivers staying in insufferably humid towns and villages alternately lauded and abused by the public whilst his dwindling retinue attempt to get him to exercise his undoubted influence across the continent whilst attempting to make the great leader as comfortable as possibly as his health and mind fail until reaching all our destinies. Brilliantly written and more compelling that the other books by GMM I've read maybe because I spent a few days on a crowded passenger boat on the Amazon in intense humidity and heat. Not quite the same as Bolivar's experience of this book but a little way there! This is a story and not purporting to be factual but it's very believable. Having read a bit about Bolivar the liberator many decades ago in trying to understand the continent I was about to visit and seeing streets with his name in every town I visited this book has given me the urge to read a factual account of his life. I doubt I'll find one as engaging as The General but I guess that's the advantage of not having to stick to the fact. Recommended.

http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141032528,00.html#

Bedsit Disco Queen (Tracey Thorn)

Tracey Thorn
Bedsit Disco Queen: How I grew up and tried to be a pop star

Having been introduced to Tracey Thorn and Ben Watts' solo albums in the early 80s I played the C90 cassette with them both on to destruction at times when I wanted release from punk and psychedelic space rock. A couple of the most soulful collection of tunes ever put on vinyl they are a couple of the few older albums I've bought on CD. Still sound as great as they did when first heard. However the jazzy meanderings of Everything But The Girl didn't grab me quite as firmly despite Tracey's wonderful vocals and although appreciating her more recent dance forays I wouldn't say I've followed her career too closely. So on the promise of what made her first solo album I bought Bedsit Disco Queen. Firstly I find out that she's my age and her early life struck a real chord from the conservatism of suburban curtain twitchers to the early steps into music. Tracey brilliantly reflects the excitement of punk even if not in at the very beginning and could have been describing my early gig outings from wearing clothes my parents hated through to dabbling in drink  and the energy absorbed at your first few gigs which is like nothing else you've experienced before. The darker side is broached from alienation at school, real or imagined, and having to find your place as a teenager intertwined with the tribal violence that was always just beneath the surface and often rising up in a flurry of fists and DMs. Experimenting with fags and dodos cemented my view that Tracey's story was both mine and thousands, if not millions?, of other spotty teens across the country.

I guess that's where our shared story splits as I never joined a band but if only I'd read this book at the time I may have persevered with my poor guitar and bass playing. Tracey's writing is extremely engaging and has a real ring of honesty. I wondered how I'd missed the Marine Girls having vaguely heard of them but don't think I linked them to Tracey at the time. The book also made me regret not following EBTG and seeing their varying styles develop rather than just dipping in to see the odd live show during the 80s just to hear that voice. Whilst at times when Tracey is bemoaning the trappings of fame I often think do you want to swap places but she realises this and writes it from the view of someone without that fame. Her descriptions of life with Ben are believable and honest without being too cute. Her ups and downs are documented well and becoming the darling of the dance scene shows that she is appreciative of the career boost and the options it gives her. Tracey's motherhood rings true with both the nitty gritty and the mindset change to become less glam and more homebound and the resulting lifestyle change implied. Then her coming back into the world of music and it's trappings. I can just imagine the George Michael at the school gates incident.

Overall a gripping read written passionately and surprising that it was buried for a few years. Shows Tracey's brilliant lyrics and has got me feverishly scouring a certain music streaming site for Marine Girls, EBTG and the various dance tunes. Adoring Paul Weller is also shows Tracey's great taste - lucky girl collaborating with him. I like the ending  but won't give it away as the start of the book is a teaser for it...

http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Books/detail.page?isbn=9781844088669