I adored this book from the first page to the last and missed the ebullient, foppishly theatrical, heartbreaking, and inspiring Sancho when he was gone.
It’s an important story—the true tale of the first black Briton to have the vote—but it’s also a supremely well-told story, following Sancho, via letters and diaries, from his birth on a slave ship through the often dangerous streets of 18th-century England.
Sancho, his contemporaries, and their environment are vividly brought to life. I was particularly delighted by Joseph's language—virtually every line contains an arresting image or a poetic turn of phrase.
I love the simplicity of Tassell’s idea (to track down members of every single band featured on the ‘C86’ cassette compilation issued by UK music paper NME in 1986) and, even more than that, the enormous variety of stories he uncovers on his dogged quest.
It becomes a story about British life itself as Tassell’s hunt takes him across the UK in search of music megastars, bike shop owners, birdwatchers, and academics. He finds out where life has taken members of Primal Scream, the Wedding Present, Mighty Mighty, Stump, and the rest, nearly 40 years on from their—in some cases brief—musical careers.
Wry, moving, laugh-out-loud-funny, illuminating…this book is all these and more.
Shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize A Rough Trade Book of the Year A Resident Book of the Year A Monorail Book of the Year A Virgin Radio Book of the Year
In 1986, the NME released a cassette that would shape music for years to come. A collection of twenty-two independently signed guitar-based bands, C86 was the sound and ethos that defined a generation. It was also arguably the point at which 'indie' was born.
But what happened next to all those musical dreamers?
I’ve been a devoted fan of Nick Drake’s hushed, melancholic music for decades now, and Richard Morton Jack’s superlative biography—the first produced with support from the late singer’s family—sensitively brings to light the real man behind the music.
Drake’s slide into mental illness and early death has been extensively covered, but this book steadfastly avoids glamourising the ‘doomed artist’. The pain Nick’s illness caused himself and his family is depicted delicately but unflinchingly, and without overshadowing his sublime talent.
From the wealth of friends, family, and colleagues interviewed, it seems Nick was always, in part, unknowable. Richard Morton Jack’s book brings us as close to understanding him as anything ever will, outside of those three perfect albums.
'This is the book we've been waiting for . . . It is a biography to be treasured' Joe Boyd
'The Drake completist could ask for nothing else' Daily Telegraph
'Illuminating. The definitive word on Drake' Observer
In 1968 Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK's hippest record label, Island.
Three years later, however - having made three well-reviewed but low-selling albums - Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental…
In my book, troubled ex-journalist Luke Seymour embarks on a perilous mission into his own past after being recruited into the ranks of The Nostalgia Club, an eccentric group of time travelers who meet in the back room of an Edinburgh pub.
As he hones his newly discovered—and dangerously addictive—talent for time travel, he learns the stories of the club’s members and plunges ever deeper into his own history, where the terrible mistake that scarred his life is waiting…
This is a gripping and powerful exploration of time, memory, and love, loaded with mysteries and dark secrets.
