Book Learning #95 Yeah Yeah Yeah- The story of modern pop by Bob Stanley.

   A couple of years ago I requested (and received) such a lengthy list of 'Christmas books' that I was never able to read them. They still sit upon my shelves waiting for the right time.
   Last year I changed my policy and requested one book.
This book.
   It started slowly, with a distant observer's eye over the 1950s and early 1960s. It warmed up with the familiarity of the counter culture and the bands, music and wider references that the period threw up.
   I will be honest, the first few chapters were hard work, Like walking through a large party hoping to find someone you knew, who you could relax with. Instead you keep bumping into old family friends who you either cant stand or who bore you senseless. And then you bump into Buddy Holly but its only for a fleeting moment as Stanley devotes not much more than a couple of pages to his genius.
   By the time the 1970s roll up, it's comfortable and engaging territory. You recall the sounds and some of the faces, It's a devil of a book in the sense that you frequently reach for Youtube to check out videos and performances from 'Top of the Pops'.
   I enjoyed the way Stanley lets his views slip from time to time, sometimes validating an opinion or a rumour (The Stranglers- genuinely nasty people?, UB40- crap and lazy!) and also challenging lazily held prejudice (Michael Jackson- He really was the Prince of Pop!)
   As Stanley reflects on the 1980s and 1990s its clear he's in deep home territory, he knows his stuff, the people and in some respects, so do I. Its where history meets nostalgia, but in a good way.

Well worth struggling through the first few pages.

Book learning #74 Chronicles Vol 1 by Bob Dylan

Oh I just loved this book.

It felt like a novel written by a quirky poet, an adventure through a not quite specific time and a New York I can still recognize. I loved reading about the Village and reminiscing about the streets and the places he started out in. There was a 40 year gap between our experiences but, as any New Yorker will tell you "the city changes and it doesn't change".

I found philosophy on almost every page, poetry, wisdom, a love of music and of life.

This was a perfect start to 2012.

Book learning #68 Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie

I was surprised by how short Maconie's music journo career had been. The thing is this, he was writing the words I was reading about most of my favourite bands in the late 80s and 90s. Therefore I had always just assumed that he had been jotting things down about music, and indie in particular since Lennon met MacCartney at the vicarage fete. Of course, a career stretching back to the late 1980's isn't actually a short one.

An amusing stroll through teenage musical fads and then into the final quarter of the book when he emerges into the world of rock journalism and radio. All this made more enjoyable by the fact that he's on the radio about twice a day these days and good value he is too.

I'm not sure how I described Maconie when I made notes about the last book of his that I read. all I will say is that this was an engaging and approachable summer read. Just the tonic for another summer of mayhem and very small children.

Book learning 62: 'The complete polysyllabic spree' by Nick Hornby.

Oh Nick Hornby.

You have been a good friend to me down the years.
I purchased 'Fever Pitch' on my twentieth birthday and devoured it in hours (those were the days, one had time to read a book from cover to cover in virtually one sitting)
You have churned out some sub par work, but one or two of your books have scarred me for life. I suppose if I were more Hornbyesque in my outlook I would probably list those books right here. I'm not so I wont, except the temptation has now overcome me so I will change my mind and give you that list.
My favourite Nick Hornby books.

1. Fever Pitch. Spawned lots of 'nowhere close' imitations and helped to put footy into the middle class consciousness (where it simply doesn't belong) but I loved it, it was so close to the bone it hurt.
2.High Fidelity. Listmaker once asked me which fictional character I though he most resembled (or something like that) My instant response was 'Rob from High Fidelity'.
3. About a boy. I can't quite remember when I read this or what I liked about it but I do remeber being delighted by it.
4. The complete polysyllabic spree. This book has seen me through the most recent few weeks, the last few weeks of tired phonecalls, emails, huge cheques, last minute hitches, scared phonecalls, happy phonecalls, rearrangements and finally a move to a bigger, more elegant and civilised new home. I actively stalled on the last few entries as I was hoping to carry this book across the threshold of the new place. Needless to say I am now exploring many of the books that Hornby reviewed.

book Learning 36: A bit of a blur by Alex James.

A bit of a blur by Alex James.

I think I read this in August. I've been so busy/tired lately and have completely fallen off my 'one book at a time' monogomy trip.
As far as I recall this was a fun read full of tales of rock n' roll hedonism and then redemption in the arms of a true love and an organic farm. hey everybody needs a dream right?

Yeah, light and engaging with lots of sex, drugs and booze.

Book Learning 33:Perfect from Now on. By John Sellers.

Perfect from Now on. By John Sellers.

It's strange that I was waiting for a book to rescue me from the perma-fatigue of new dadness/reading deprivation. I knew that such a book would not be found by browsing a bookstore or Amazon. This one came to me via my indie obsessed boss, dropped on my desk one day while I was out watching the kids at yard.

I'm still not sure I enjoyed this. I mean, I read it through and found parts of it fascinating, parts of it highly amusing and parts of it intensely annoying.
Sellers has a habit of completely overdoing footnotes. Half the book is footnotes and it derails your rhythm, at least it derailed mine. Having said that, many of the footnotes were great, amusing and interesting. The whole Joy Division/Ian Curtis footnote (which ran to something like 10 pages)woulda,coulda,shoulda been a chapter in it's own right (as promised by the author earlier in the book).

I understood his outlook, the pop kid who becomes an indie kid as those mildly tortuous teenage/college years progress. I guess I had the benefit of an older brother who was able to drag me to gigs, as well as said gigs being played in the safe(ish) environment of the local University. This put my Indie experiences at an earlier age than Sellers. Also, my brother was pretty hardcore in his tastes when I was 14, If he wanted to go and see That Petrol Emotionthen I went too. The best kind of babysitting. If I recall correctly Sellers didn't go to his first indie gig until he was 18?

And he writes about falling out of love with U2 after the album 'The Joshua tree'. By my indie reckoning U2 were never anything indie whatsoever. It's by virtue of timing but by the time I was going to gigs U2 were already pretty global super rock. Even their better albums (achtung baby?) were enjoyed but enjoyed on the understanding that they were never going to be anything other than stadium fillers.

Then there is Guided by Voices.

It has been pointed out to me that I should have heard GBV. But I havent, not until this morning.
So I'm not obsessed with them. John Sellers clearly is. That's great, he should write a book about them. Oh, look, he did already.
The second half of this book is almost entirely devoted to GBV. Which, as I have said is fine. It's just that his devotion to this band then overruns all other consideration of the rest of indie music and the rest of the book is a homage to his #1 all time fave band. This would have mattered more to me if he'd written about one of my #1 all time fave bands rather than some blokes I'd not heard until 8.15 this morning.

Sure, it's an amusing read but I know that Nick Hornby did this better in High Fidelity.
In many respects this book got to me the way a heated conversation about music should get to you. Sellers has his taste and for the most part it's not mine, or at least what he has chosen to write about is not wholly compatible with my ideas about indie music. I like the fact that he provoked me to listen to some old stuff, ask friends to borrow some new stuff and, in short gave me a bit of a kick up the arse.

But no mention of The Wedding Present?