Stuart Maconie

I loved this book. It made me feel nostalgic and homesick for the place I actually live and work in, which is no mean feat!

Maconie is unashamedly prejudiced about his love for the North, but his humour and "warts and all" approach saves him from being bigoted or boorish.
I spent the middle third of my life as an economic migrant to The South, which has many attractions, but home is where the pies and gravy are 🤎🥧🤎 and coming home is a decision we've never regretted.

I was surprised by show more how bookish Stuart is, and his references to his literary favourites was endearing. He also has me hankering for a quiet pub corner where I can nurse a pint for an hour over a book, though in reality I usually find pubs too noisy and distracting an environment, so, again, a testament to his ability to evoke a mood.
A delightful surprise of a 5⭐ read. show less

Following the footsteps of JB Priestley, Stuart Maconie once again produces an excellent book that can be enjoyed on so many levels. The book is firstly a travel story and it has inspired me to visit places we haven't been to. His affection and enthusiasm for places not necessarily on the tourist trail is refreshing in a world of so much cynicism. But underneath this is an exploration of the English, the national mood and the state of the nation. I imagine him being charming, sitting in a show more pub engaging the locals in a discussion and he seems to have a gift for listening. He also, like me, enjoys eavesdropping and we hear snippets of overheard conversations. The final chapter is a discussion about an England that hasn't grown out of doffing caps to the rich and privileged, 'England regularly retreats into stupidity and deference, still in thrall to the vain, the dim and the laziest loudmouth in the workshop.' If you are one of those who are deferred to, then this isn't the book for you, but then you probably already dislike Stuart Maconie. show less

This was fab! I really like Stuart Maconie - I even made hubby buy me a digital radio when he moved over to 6music, so I could continue to listen. He has a really good turn of phrase, is funny without being silly and it generally a lot more erudite than being a DJ might give him credit for. It's an observational book, based on the surmise that the north has to start somewhere and he goes in search of where that might be (the answer seems to be Crewe - as an unrepentant Southerner that seems show more a bit far north to me; Watford would be better). He travels the north, meeting people, seeing what makes then tick, discussing the different cities and regions of the north and how they loose out simply because they are in the north. In all it's a love song to region that has it's issues (and its chip on its shoulder) but has great beauty, warmth and a lot to admire. The cover blurb has this as being in the style of Alan Bennett, and I can see what they mean, although I find this more direct than Bennett is usually. I found it interesting, with lots of pop culture references that I got in an instant as well as funny, sweet and occasionally really very right. show less

I have never really come across Stuart Maconie very often - he started writing for the New Musical Express after I stopped reading it regularly, and over the last twenty or thirty years I have very rarely listened to music radio, where he has carved out his own niche. I had seen him a few times in talking head role on music documentaries, and had always found him amusing, and had also noticed that his judgement on whatever artist was being discussed seemed close to my own.

Then I read his show more book, Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, which I enjoyed - in this he managed to eulogise many aspects of living in the northern part of England without falling into the easy option of simply slagging off those in the "poncey south". I also appreciated his wry, observant humour.

I was, therefore, looking forward to this music-based memoir, though I was also conscious that too often recently I have found myself disappointed after allowing myself high expectations. Happily, that was not the case here. This book is very amusing yet also informative. I think that Maconie is perhaps a couple of years older than I am, and I identified very closely with his own story, and could claim many shared perspectives. He grew up in Wigan, often seen as something as a backwater by people from the south of England, though it should be remembered that the Wigan Casino was voted the world's best nightclub during the Northern Soul era in the late 1970s (and that was up in competition with venues as widely-lauded as New York's Studio 54). I grew up in North Leicestershire which was then (and is now, to be honest) a bit of a musical backwater, too, with Kasabian the only local band to make it big in any worthwhile manner (well, I am NOT going to dwell on Showaddywaddy!), so I could appreciate his feeling that he was sometimes away from the main flow. Both of us encountered bands and artists that would become firm favourites through the medium of John Peel's show.

Maconie seemed to have had an early start to his music-listening career. One of his earliest memories was of hearing The Beatles on the radio, and he even went to see the Fab Four while still not more than a toddler when they played a gig in Wigan shortly after their first tour of America in 1964. in fact, they played two gigs - in those days bands generally did two shows each night! That is two more Beatles gigs than Loughborough can claim!

I was surprised to read that he had gone through a progressive rock phase early on. I … or, rather, "a friend of mine" … may have dwelt in Yesland or Camelville for a while too, before passing through punk and new wave to a clearer understanding of the multiplicity of rock and roll genres.

Maconie writes very engagingly and laconically, and when he pronounces judgement on musicians he does so from an informed perspective. He has been a professional journalist for many years now, and writes with an economy that does not impinge upon his message. I was particularly intrigued to learn that it was Maconie who started the now endemic urban myth that Bob Holness played saxophone on "Baker Street". Holness seemed to take this in good part - I once saw him asked about this in an interview. Staring straight at the camera Bob denied it, adding, with a wry grin, "… but I did play lead guitar on Layla!"

All in all this was a very enjoyable read, perhaps of particular interest to those born in the early 1960s. show less