Current Music Books

[Satchmo Distel]

A new biography of Nick Drake came out last year. It tries to humanize him (not a saint, not a virgin nor asexual, not particularly unusual - except very quiet - until his illness took over in 1970) and is approved (but not censored) by his sister. It also treats his parents well, and anyone who's read his dad's previously published letters will know how unselfishly they cared for him and tried to get him treatment and a new career.

I'm saving it for the summer, for an uninterrupted deep dive.

The letter from his father extracted here, which begins “Obviously it is a step which we have to consider carefully, because it is an irrevocable one” is immensely perceptive and insightful and sadly makes the correct prediction: "you may well find that you have thrown over Cambridge simply to continue indefinitely on the outskirts of what you are looking for."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...raphy-extracts

[diggedy derek]

Here we need to mention the other big Drake book out at the moment: Unsung Unsaid, Syd And Nick In Absentia. It’s a fictionalised fantasy of Nick and Syd Barrett meeting in London during their respective doldrum years. It could've happened, no?

OK, I'm biased, as I helped him with it, but the discussion of Syd's final studio sessions, and Nick's abortive ideas for songs to record a comeback album, are really powerful and poignant and based on deep knowledge of them. Rob Chapman wrote the best book about Syd Barrett out there, A Very Irregular Head

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unsung-Unsa.../dp/B0CND5T5QN

[imp]

I've still got John Murray's Nick Drake: Remembered For A While (2014) unread on my shelf. Thirty-five quid ten years ago - a Xmas present I asked for, so I really should get round to it before I even think about the two above. That's as many Nick Drake books as he had (proper) albums out.

[danielmak]

The Albertine book's not really a music book, it's a book about her relationships with men and her family (mother, father, sister, daughter) but as I've flagged it on here I'll keep discussing it because in 'current reading' it'll just get lost. Here's a striking passage I read this morning:

"You have no idea how grief will take you. The same with severe illness, motherhood, and profound experience. You don't know yourself. Others don't know you. Those events show you who you are. And you'll be surprised, shocked even. You'll feel the way you've done when you've done a particularly offensive-smelling shit - that couldn't possibly have been me - and start to rationalise it - must be that whole bag of pistachios I ate earlier, or perhaps I'm unwell. You can't believe you could do something so foul and unrecognisable. Something so outside of yourself."

She's talking about physically attacking her sister literally on their mother's deathbed, because her sister wouldn't let Albertine's 15-year-old daughter have a few final minutes in the seat right next to her grandmother. Albertine asks nicely, and her sister tells her to fuck off. So she loses it and grabs her sister by the hair, "bunched up in my fists, twisted round her fingers and clamped between my knuckles". Fucking hell.

Punk rock now is different than punk rock in the past, but I would say there are two central reasons that people *integrate* themselves into punk scenes (versus just being a fan of the music): 1. They are pissed off at the world and need an outlet. 2. They are attracted to a DIY community grounded in aggressive music. Sometimes those two can overlap. Sometimes folks who fit into #2 don't like the ways folks linked to #1 bring a "let's fuck shit up" attitude. I haven't read Albertine's books but the passage you quote seems to show that she fits 1 and 2 (using my own knowledge of The Slits to link to #2).

[Benjm]

It turns out that last week's Jah Wobble compere, Ted Kessler, has a Billy Childish biography coming out later in the year. I'm looking forward to that, as well as to Kathleen Hanna's memoir.

[steveeeeeeeee]

I read the Patrick Humphries biography of Nick Drake a few years ago. It painted a decent picture of his life, but without any input from Drake's family, it didn't give you much depth, largely because socially he didn't do very much other than progressively withdraw from society.

I read 100 pages of Miki Berenyi's autobiography on the flight home yesterday, and it is a great read, so far. Those 100 pages have been about her childhood and parents and the unusual circumstances she was delivered in life. She touches on some pretty harrowing sexual abuse she suffered, while not going into full detail with aspects she still feels unable to share. The contrast in her living arrangements between her Windsor and LA based Space 1999 starring/directing mum and step-dad and her weekends with her mad Hungarian grandmother and occasionally present philandering father in a house filled with lodgers. She holidays in Hollywood or communist Hungary. Great reading, but the overall message is she would have given anything for some stability in her life.

[diggedy derek]

It's an odd one with Nick Drake isn't it? His music is so gorgeous and resonant. But was he actually an interesting person to read about? Dunno.

Glad to hear that the Miki book is good. I suppose it must deal with the tragic break-up of the band, too. They're not a band I was deeply into but they were sure in the thick of it.

[steveeeeeeeee]

The Humphries book is an extension of a feature he wrote for Mojo and he doesn't hide from the fact that it was hard to get a book's worth of material without the cooperation of Drake's family. It served its purpose for me, clearing up any mystery related to his life and making it clear that what you see or hear from Drake is really all there is to share of him. I personally wouldn't be interested in reading much more about him, even with his family's involvement.

[Satchmo Distel]

The latest biography is worthwhile because it shows the scene into which Drake was trying to fit. It's a contextual history of a particular milieu. It's also detailed on how deeply Drake impressed his contemporary musicians but couldn't get an audience beyond those who understood what he was trying to do because they had the technical language. He was on a futile quest because he was trying to get on the LP charts at a time when they were being taken over by James Taylor, Carole King, Pink Floyd and subsequently Bolan and Bowie. It wasn't his time.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Half-way through the Miki Berenyi book now, it's one of the best music autobiographies I've read. Billy Childish gets a going over, while Tracey Emin is given far more sympathy, even though she knows Berenyi is having an affair with her partner. Childish publishes 2 poems about Berenyi, one was called "Hungarian Jap". She makes strong suggestions about Childish's preference for teenage girls and having checked online, she doesn't hold back on Twitter, making suggestions related to this (I won't use the p word, but she does).

Some of it is harrowing reading, self-harm, bulimia, sexual abuse and sexual aggression. I think there have been some claims that she exaggerates, Emma Anderson is reportedly unhappy with Berenyi's version of history, but I get the impression she is actually holding a lot back.

It's a very fine tribute to Chris Acland, as well, who seems like the nicest guy you could hope to be friends with and his devotion to Spurs is incredible, choosing North London Poly so he could watch them play and living in Tottenham to be as close as he could to White Hart Lane.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Finished the Miki Berenyi book this afternoon. The first half, about her childhood, is better the the second half about Lush, but it's a great read. I can see why Emma Anderson wasn't pleased with it, Berenyi portrays her as a uptight spoilt kid and hammers it home repeatedly, whilst she herself gets upset easily at incidents she may have interpreted badly. The Lollapalooza stories are surprisingly dull, but it sounds like the experience of a lifetime. Most of the second half could be summed up in a sentence like "Emma was uptight, we didn't get along, but I tried "

The Alex James biting her arse part is a bit of a non event. She takes far worse abuse from an associate of Primal Scream, who she refuses to name. There's also a good description of britpop being "mutton dressed as mod", which made me giggle.

[Tony C]

I've still got John Murray's Nick Drake: Remembered For A While (2014) unread on my shelf. Thirty-five quid ten years ago - a Xmas present I asked for, so I really should get round to it before I even think about the two above. That's as many Nick Drake books as he had (proper) albums out.

One of my children bought this for me a few years ago and I really like it. Mine is in original hardback and having read it a while ago it’s just a lovely thing to pick up and flit through every now and again. I think it would have been categorised as a ‘coffee table’ book at one time (the expression still may be used, I don’t know) which kind of undermines the pleasure out of just having a book like this around. I still like the smell of it.

Anyway a writer named Richard Morton Jack published a book on Nick Drake last year which I have some interest in acquiring because the writer has come over so well in a couple of podcasts I have heard him on.

[RobW]

Just started John Robb's 'The Art of Darkness: A History of Goth' - I think this may take some time to get through, as I have to stop and search for songs mentioned, or add them to a playlist. I'm pretty lazy at reading endnotes, and as Robb has added footnotes instead, i'm going to have to read all of those too.

[Satchmo Distel]

One of my children bought this for me a few years ago and I really like it. Mine is in original hardback and having read it a while ago it’s just a lovely thing to pick up and flit through every now and again. I think it would have been categorised as a ‘coffee table’ book at one time (the expression still may be used, I don’t know) which kind of undermines the pleasure out of just having a book like this around. I still like the smell of it.

Anyway a writer named Richard Morton Jack published a book on Nick Drake last year which I have some interest in acquiring because the writer has come over so well in a couple of podcasts I have heard him on.

You definitely should acquire it because it puts Drake in his cultural context in a very vivid way.

[Lang Spoon]

Finished the Miki Berenyi book this afternoon. The first half, about her childhood, is better the the second half about Lush, but it's a great read. I can see why Emma Anderson wasn't pleased with it, Berenyi portrays her as a uptight spoilt kid and hammers it home repeatedly, whilst she herself gets upset easily at incidents she may have interpreted badly. The Lollapalooza stories are surprisingly dull, but it sounds like the experience of a lifetime. Most of the second half could be summed up in a sentence like "Emma was uptight, we didn't get along, but I tried "

The Alex James biting her arse part is a bit of a non event. She takes far worse abuse from an associate of Primal Scream, who she refuses to name. There's also a good description of britpop being "mutton dressed as mod", which made me giggle.

Isnt the associate Geoff Travis?

[steveeeeeeeee]

Can't be, I got the impression it was the son of a recently deceased radio DJ. However, there is nothing online to suggest this is the case.

[Lang Spoon]

Ah, their former tour manager.

[Exiled off Main Street]

I'm sure it's likely been mentioned already, but Tracey Thorn's Bedsit Disco Queen is a terrific read. Her detailed account of how groups fall into their allotted positions in the music machine - getting worn down by constant negotiations with record companies on singles, artwork and all the other little things that make the whole - is fascinating. It's so well written, as I guess befits someone who read an MA in Literature on the side of being a pop star

I think I'm going to get into Everything But The Girl now. Previously I thought of them as 'what Tracey did after Marine Girls', but I would appear to have under-regarded her as an artist. I never realised it was her singing 'Protection' either.

She's a regular contributor to the New Statesman 'n all. Her columns are always a good read.