Mike Pattenden’s Last Orders at the Liars’ Bar (The Official Story of The Beautiful South) is much more the biography of Paul Heaton than the title (although perhaps not the cover picture) suggests. He’s the architect and driving force behind both The Housemartins and The Beautiful South. Last Orders charts the rise and break-up of the former and the enduring presence of later on the album charts – all the way to the release of their seventh album, Quench.

Pattenden does seem to get underneath the band and the talent that brought the world Perfect Ten, Rotterdam and Song For Whoever. In places it does seem a little (although not overly) sycophantic but it reads well and provides interesting detail on life behind the scenes, and in the pub, with The Beautiful South. Reading it a couple of years after it was published will leave you wanting more for you will know where the band went next – they definitely did not stop recording – which is a little disappointing although hardly the fault of the author.

On this day…

2005: Tracking The World
2004: Grid Lock
2002: This Is How A Thriller Should Read

I’ve decided to re-read The Return of the King in advance of the movie coming out at the end of the year. It is, of course, a fantastic tale of the battles of men and the quest to destroy the ring. I had forgotten the multiple endings – which will be interesting to see in the film – and I had also forgotten that a large part of the final tale (as released in separate book form) are the appendices. I have never been able to read any of the appendices. Does that mean I haven’t read the trilogy properly?

UPDATE: My review of the film has also been posted. I did enjoy it but I am not sure if I was disappointed or not.

On this day…

2004: Forgotten Projects?
2002: Donnie Darko

Following on from reading Rory Cellan-Jones’ ‘Dot Bomb’ which focussed on the ‘dot com’ bubble in the UK, I’ve read Po Bronson’s ‘The Nudist on the Late Shift‘ which looks at a similar time from Silicon Valley. Also reviewed at Amazon.

Po Bronson has produced a very well-written and extremely readable insight into the craziness of ‘dot com’ fever in Silicon Valley. Clearly spending a great deal of time with both the entrepreneurs and employees involved ‘The Nudist on the Late Shift’ gets behind the ideas, the passion and the money.

The madness that meant people spent every waking hour in the office (some even sleeping under their desks) and meant that companies provided on-site laundry facilities for workers without the time to do their washing, is reflected well in the stories of the individuals involved.

The book tells of a time of optimism where the future can be changed by technology and wealth can be earned on the back of an unproven idea. Bronson concludes the book questioning if it’s too late to join the party or not. Reading it now, with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of the crash that came, makes the book all the more entertaining. The reader is drawn into the individual stories and wants to warn the visionaries that it’s all about to go wrong for them.

A recommended insight into a unique time in business history.

Available at Amazon.

On this day…

2005: Catherine Tate
2002: Not Hilarious or Surprising

Finally, I’ve just uploaded my review of the ‘Dot.Bomb: The Rise and Fall of Dot Com Britain‘ and posted it to Amazon. We’ll wait and see if they publish it.

For a couple of years, so-call ‘dot com’ fever landed on Britain’s shores. The city money men went mad for anybody with a web-based idea: it was the future. By the middle of 2000, this future was collapsing in recriminations and losses. There do not appear to be many authors who address this from the British standpoint but BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones does just that and brings an interesting take on the events of those years.

Watching the bubble grow and burst from his journalist viewpoint, Cellan-Jones saw the rise (and fall) of Boo, lastminute, Firebox and First Tuesday. With a little distance he is able to get some of the founders of those organisations to speak of the madness of those times.

Dot Bomb is an interesting tale of new business where, almost to a person, the CEOs were under-forty with little or no experience running multi-million pound ventures. Cellan-Jones observes that, in Britain, ‘many of the people who leapt on the bandwagon had a head-start in life’ and that they key skill was not the software – or even the idea – but ‘it was the networking skills of the old establishment that flourished’.

I’m not sure that the books really gets to what was happening behind the scenes and time has allowed people to find convincing reasons why events happened. It is, however, written by a journalist who was covering events at the time and witnessed some of the ups and downs at first hand.

If you’re fed up reading about entrepreneurs from the West Coast of the US and want to see how the ‘dot com’ money hit Britain then this is the book that, refreshingly, puts events into a British context.

On this day…

2002: We just want to stop being ripped off

Paul Burston’s Shameless is a witty look at contemporary urban (read London) gay life: the gym sessions, the muscles, the drugs and the clubs – it’s 300 pages celebrating hedonism in the metropolis. Paul plays the gay stereotypes well, there are clever and amusing moments and the essence of the London club-scene jumps from the pages. Characters are, generally, engaging and it’s easy to empathise with Martin (whose boyfriend has just dumped him) whereas John (dating the dealer) is a fairly one dimensional portrait (I am not sure if his lack of depth is intentional or not, clearly the character is intended to be superficial). It’s an easy read and although the stereotypes portrayed are well-known they seem to fit too well and are – occasionally – predicable. An enjoyable, amusing read.

On this day…

2005: Stories And Rumours
2004: Why Would You Be Interested?
2004: Entertainment Trivia

The preface to the paperback edition of Open Secret talks of the challenges the security forces face combatting global terrorism. It’s an interesting analysis of the problems facing governments and democracies worldwide but, unfortunately, it doesn’t really set the tone for the rest of the book. The remainder is less threat-analysis and much more biographical.

The very personal nature of the book, and thus the lack of James Bond style bad-guy chasing, is only a disappointment to those who haven’t read anything about it. Open Secret does not set itself up to be a great spy catcher novel. It is the truly fascinating tale of a woman who appeared to join the Secret Service because she couldn’t really think of anything else to do and became the “housewife super-spy”.

Stella Rimington nicely touches on some of the history of MI5 and its role during the wars (world and cold) without turning Open Secret into a detailed historical work. It’s not a technical manual for sleuths either, nor does it contain the great revelations about our Secret Services than some have made out. It is a wonderful insight into the workings of a world that, at least for the part of her time, Stella could not admit existed. She tells of the struggles to bring up a family single-handed while battling the internal workings of a Service that did not expect women to rise to the top. It’s a fascinating insight and, perhaps, inspiring to some. Certainly it’s a book that, this reader at least, is very glad made got through the censorship.

On this day…

2004: Troy
2004: Polo Shirts: A Fashion Idea For 2004
2003: Crossroads ‘was all a dream’
2003: Pop Life
2003: Unfortunately There Are Effectively No Funds Available To Pay The Salaries
2003: No Consensus In Support Of Same-Sex Unions
2003: Dr Kildare is a Sissy

Inspired by Stupid White Men to read another of Michael Moore‘s books, I came away thinking that Downsize This was actually a better work. Sure, some of the scenarios are silly (‘What America Needs Is A Makeover’) and many of the examples a little dated (some have been overtaken by world events). It’s also true that some of humour doesn’t seem to sit well with the subjects but it is, nonetheless, a very welcome voice in the sea of opinions.

Moore does attempt to be humorous with his staple subjects: corporate greed and accountability, right to freedom/life and social and environmental responsibility. Like Stupid White Men the book makes subjects accessible that are often not covered by mainstream media.

If Stupid White Men has made you think about reading more then this is a good start if you’re happy to have many more American examples as the main topic. If you’re looking for something a little more British then this is not the book for you.

Read other people’s opinions at Amazon UK.

On this day…

2004: PMOS Says Nothing At All

Probably the most famous of America Liberal thinkers at the moment, Michael Moore is a US treasure and they should treat him as such. Instead, the land of free speech tried to prevent this book being published following the attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Thankfully, this book made it out. It’s certainly very US centric (it was, after all written for that market) but many of the points apply too much of the western world. While suggesting that “we live in a society that rewards and honours corporate gangsters”, Moore does it with a humour that’s accessible and easily read.

Much political writing is hard to read whereas this written in small chunks and is easily digested. For those familiar with liberal writings much of Moore’s work may appear superficial but that’s to do with the style rather than the content. It is Moore’s style that has made this book number one on so many book lists but it’s the content that people will remember. For the British reader the challenge is to see where our democracy is following the US lead.

Why should you read this book? Because it puts the greed of the consumption society into perspective and genuinely makes you think about the society in which we live.

You can read other people’s opinions of the book at Amazon UK

On this day…

2004: The New Europe

I’ve just finished Blitzed! The autobiography of Steve Strange and posted my review to Amazon:

Steve Strange was an icon of the Eighties music scene, a visionary and a leader. I suspect he’s often over-looked but his contribution was vital. His clubs kick-started a movement and the band he fronted, Visage, were pioneers of – what became – the New Romantics: make-up, big hair, big hats and even bigger shirt lapels and cuffs. From the beginning of the decade, and out of the punk movement, came the classic Fade To Gray. Visage and Steve Strange were combining fashion and music in a radical new way.

Blitzed has an informal style which makes it quite readable. Strange name-drops his way through a decade and apologises quite a lot for his behaviour. It’s a cautionary tale of a rise to fame, money mis-management and drug addiction. It’s the story of London squats and club-land rivalry and of a community who knew they were changing nightclubs, the fashion scene and music – and doing it all in a few short years. It is a struggle to stop a man falling over the edge and trying to make sense of a life where once his name was in lights but the money is long gone.

In some respects it’s a fascinating tale of fame and hedonism. If, however, you’ve read biographies of other Eighties pop stars then you’ve heard a lot of it before. The story seems to have been repeated: humble beginnings drive creativity which lead to fame and then there is a some-kind of fall (usually, drink or drug induced). Blitzed is an enjoyable read but Boy George will give you more and Marc Almond will take you further. If you knew the club scene of the time there’s an insight into the door policies of the new breed of Eighties clubs and how they worked. If you are looking for the story of Visage then, obviously, it’s covered here and this will be a valuable reference – but it’s more about the man than the band.

If you remember the decade then you’ll read this book regardless but, sadly, I felt there could have been a little more. Nonetheless, Blitzed reinforces Steve Strange’s rightful place as a leader of a movement who’s certainly not about to fade away.

You can buy Blitzed!: The Autobiography of Steve Strange at Amazon now.

On this day…