Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Entertainment]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Thomas DolbyPatti Smith|title= The Speed Year of Soundthe Monkey|rating= 4.5|genre=EntertainmentBiography|summary= From struggling postOn the coast of Santa Cruz, Patti Smith enters the lunar year of the monkey -punk musician to pop starone packed with mischief, from Silicon Valley innovator to university professorsorrow, Thomas Dolby has had and unexpected moments. In a remarkable if not unique careerstranger's words, often reinventing himself on ''Anything is possible: after all, it's the year of the waymonkey''. This memoir is based As Smith wanders the coast of Santa Cruz in solitude, she reflects on his extensive notes a year that brings huge shifts in her life - loss and journalsageing are faced head on, as it the shifting political waters in America.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785781952</amazonuk>1526614758

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anna KendrickWalton_Ask|title=Scrappy Little NobodyAsk For Blues|author=Malcolm Walton

|summary=Celebrity autobiographies. ItMalcolm Walton's book is clearly a genre long tainted by memoir about his introduction to the examples Trad Jazz scene of people who clearly didn't deserve to be a celebritythe late 1950s and early 1960s, let alone have a ghost-writer create their book, and by those who did so little but managed he has chosen to churn out five memoirs before they were even thirty. But more recently write it's become a way in the form of staking a claim to importance for female comics. They've not all written autobiographiesnovel, as Bridget Christie proved, but enough have claiming in his prologue that this would give the book a different approach to provide for a rapidly-filling shelf at the bookstoremusic memoir. 2016 we had Amy Schumer winning a GoodReads award, Lena DunhamHis protagonist 'Martin' takes on Malcolm's been at it, mantle and we've also got Anna Kendrickbegins with his first discovery of the Salvation Army band with his grandfather. Now she's not This catapults him into a strict comic – not all love of her films are designed to make you laughmusic, initially taking piano lessons, and some of them that are just don't later delving into his true love – but this has to be in the same brackettrumpet.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471156834</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Dan RopekMoore Bientot|title= Tragic Magic: The Life of Traffic's Chris Wood A Bientot...|author=Roger Moore|rating= 4.5|genre= Entertainment|summary= Chris Wood was a member The news of Traffic, the group formed by Steve Winwood death of Sir Roger Moore in 1967 after May 2017 came as a great shock: he left The Spencer Davis Groupwas one of those people you knew would go on forever. A gifted musician best known for his flute and saxophone work, he also played keyboards, bass guitar and contributed backing vocals as well as having a hand There was just one small glimmer of light in writing several of the songs and one or two instrumentals. This biography takes its title from sadness - the name news that a matter of one days before his death he'd delivered the finished manuscript of his compositions for their fifth albumbook, ''À bientôt…'', to his publishers. Just a few months later a copy landed on my desk and I didn't even bother to look as though I could resist reading it straight away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910773190</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jon MorrisMaslanka Sherlock|title=Sherlock: The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains: Oddball Criminals from Comic Puzzle Book History|author=Christopher Maslanka and Steve Tribe|rating=54|genre=Graphic Novels Entertainment|summary=As much as I like comics – and I doWho doesn't love a good puzzle, whether superhero especially those really fiendish ones or not – I have to admit one thing, namely that get the villains in them are a bit pants. What brain working extra hard? There really is The Penguin but nothing to compare to that buzz we get from the world's worst Mafioso, with a hobby of waddling along like his pet birds? Where else do you win an Oscar of all things by playing a two-bit killer who just fell in a vat of random chemicals and changed colourAha! moment, when everything falls into place and got mardier as a result (although recently he's become a nanotech genius – but let's not go there)? And what is it with the gimp in solution reveals itself. If puzzles are your thing then you may wish to put your grey cells to the see-through plant pot because he is the embodiment of cold? And thattest with 's just some of the better-known enemies of ''BatmanThe Sherlock Puzzle Book'', one of based on the better goodiespopular TV series. You can imagine how awful the baddies related to the bad goodies can be. And if you can't, this is the perfect primer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594749329</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Theo GuignardCorcoran_Dylan|title=LabyrinthDo You Mr Jones?: Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors|author=Neil Corcoran

|genre=Children's Non-FictionEntertainment|summary=Of all the books published for people's paper-based hobbies when I was a youngster, itBob Dylan's remarkable that all award of them have been revisited and revamped. I say this because they certainly weren't exactly brilliant fun back then. No, we didn't have quite the modern style of colouring-Nobel Prize for Literature in books, but they were available, if you2016 'd gone beyond 'join for having created new poetic expressions within the dotsgreat American song tradition'proved highly controversial. I read only recently that origami is allegedly coming back – and I remember how every church book sale for years had ''Origami'', ''Origami 2'' or ''Origami 3'' paperbacks somewhere for ten pence. But the ultimate It inevitably led some people in paper-based fun back then was the use-once format of the maze bookliterary world to take stock and look at his work and reputation with a fresh eye. This volume of essays was first published in 2002, and is the modern equivalent – but boy, hasn't the idea grown up since then…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809987</amazonuk>now reissued with a new foreword by Will Self.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Tony FletcherKyncl_Stream|title= In the Midnight Hour: The Life & Soul of Wilson PickettStream Punks|author=Robert Kyncl and Maany Peyvan|rating= 4.5|genre= Entertainment|summary= Tamla Motown groups and singers apartI watch quite a lot of YouTube. I play music videos when I want to listen to a particular song I don't already have in my collection. I use it to find out how to do things, in the mid-sixties there were three major names in with the soul music field who mattered above allinstruction videos they seem to have for pretty much anything. James Brown was something of a cult name who rarely bothered about or troubled At the singles chartsgym, I'll stick it on on my phone, prop it up on the cross-trainer and Otis Redding was on watch some behind the scenes interviews with the verge cast of shooting into the stratosphere when he died my favourite shows. And sometimes I'll treat it as if it is Netflix, to watch series with new episodes releasing every few days, exclusively on YouTube. Having a new smart TV adds an extra, easy way to watch without having to plug in an aeroplane crashmy laptop or squint at a small phone screen. The other was the man from AlabamaSo yes, I like YouTube and I use YouTube. But I didn't know a whole lot about the wicked Pickett'site it until I read this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0190252944</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Chris PalingJVDK_Swing|title=Reading AllowedWe Can Swing Together: True Stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial LibraryThe Story of Lindisfarne|author=John Van der Kiste

|summary=I once made It all began with a comical faux pas group of youngsters in a library when I was youngerNorth Shields. Rod Clements, but it certainly didnSimon 'Si't put me off returning. I once declared in a self-important way that I would start at the beginning of the books for young children and not stop til the endCowe, then do the same for those for the older children – Ray 'Jacka'Jackson and then do it all over again with themRay Laidlaw formed ''The Downtown Faction'', I said, pointing at soon changing the largename to ''Brethren'' when they were joined by singer-print shelvessongwriter Alan Hull. As a US-based group had a similar name they opted to change the name again - and ''I hope notLindisfarne'', was (with the name taken from an island off the response – but little me Northumberland coast) was only aware of a need for large font for my fellow whippersnappers, and not for any other reason. Since then I've needed libraries, and going to them has been second natureborn. On the dole I made sure I could use the free Internet they provided to pay me back for my council tax; later I was intent More than forty years on finding out if a Senior Library Assistant girl was worthy of her title; and with numerous changes of course it saved a fortune on books for study and funpersonnel the band is still very much around. I'm They might not alone be touring or producing much in sharing the warmth way of both their heating system and the very thing they were born to provide – booksnew material, but there was they still a huge step up between my level perform, with Rod Clements, one of use and knowledge of them to actually working in one. Which is where Chris Paling comes inthe original members on his fourth stint with the group. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472124715</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Bruce SpringsteenJVDK_ELO|title= Born to Run|rating= 5|genre= Autobiography|summary= No you haven't stumbled into a music review from the 1970s, I'm talking about The Boss's autobiography. Lots of books have been written about Springsteen by folk who knew him, worked with him and Electric Light Orchestra: Song by others who have only read the cuttings. Over the last seven years he has been going about – not putting the record straight, exactly – but telling it from his own perspective. As he puts it: ''Writing about yourself is a funny business''. By his own admission, it isn't the whole truth, discretion holds him back but ''in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind.'' ''In these pages, I've tried to do this.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471157792</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewSong

|title=A Beatles Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Beatles but Were Afraid to Ask|rating=4.5|genre=ReferenceEntertainment|summary=You might have thought that just about everything which could be said about My memories of pop music in the Beatles had been said early sixties revolve around guitars and certainly there's been no shortage of books about what went wrongdrums, what happened to sometimes the money piano with only occasional excursions into strings and even what went rightbrass. But what IPop music rarely stands still and it wasn've never t long before the basic instruments were seen before is a 'miscellany' - all those little facts which are so hard as constraints and The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys began to track down experiment, with other groups following where they led. Amongst these groups was The Move and their lead guitarist and this is where historian John Van der Kiste comes into his own: hesongwriter, Roy Wood. Wood wanted to develop the group's a man with an eye for detail sound by adding more instruments but was prevented from achieving what he wanted by cost limitations and because the ability to bring everything together into a very readable whole. It's a wonderful collection rest of the small factsgroup didn't really share his enthusiasm.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781555826</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Julian PalaciosWatkins_Lets|title= Syd Barrett & Pink FloydLet's Make Lots of Money: Dark GlobeMy Life as the Biggest Man in Pop|author=Tom Watkins|rating= 4|genre= Entertainment|summary= There were few sadder casualties Who on earth would be a manager in the larger than life, here today gone tomorrow world of pop? Anybody with an ego, a ruthless streak, an opportunity to embrace the sixties music scene than Syd (real name Roger) Barrettchances and accept that it's not going to last, evidently. The original songwriting genius Tom Watkins is just one of several to have walked the fine line and front man , for part of Pink Floydthe time, he burnt out all too soonquite successfully. A few months in As his memoirs suggest, part of the spotlight were followed all too soon by a pathetic postscript of a stuttering solo career, and over three decades as a largely housebound reclusetime was achievement enough.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0859655482</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jason FryKendrick_Scrappy|title=Star Wars Rogue One: Mission Files|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Out of several books I've seen to tie-in to the seventh official cinema movie in the ''Star Wars'' universe, this – and the resulting review – is the greatest source of spoilers. What you get is a surprisingly mature look at the background and events to ''Rogue One'' for such a juvenile book, with some fine stills photographs, and a volume that introduces all the main characters and gears you up to understand and enjoy a lot of the events of the film. So if you don't want to know those in advance, look away now. But certainly consider this as a purchase for reading once you've watched it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405285036</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewScrappy Little Nobody|author=Lucasfilm|title=Star Wars Rogue One: Art of ColouringAnna Kendrick

|genre=CraftsEntertainment|summary=Colour me happy that ''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' is aroundCelebrity autobiographies. While IIt've not had s a genre long tainted by the chance examples of seeing it yetpeople who clearly didn't deserve to be a celebrity, I'm dead chuffed it takes place at let alone have a central point of the main arc of films' storylinesghost-writer create their book, and not some nebulous place elsewhere in [[Star Wars: Galactic Atlas by Emil Fortune and Tim McDonagh|that galaxy far, far away]]those who did so little but managed to churn out five memoirs before they were even thirty. Yes, But more recently it does do what the 'new trilogys become a way of staking a claim to importance for female comics. They' didve not all written autobiographies, and have much more gloss and many more technologies than the films set after itas Bridget Christie proved, but what is not enough have to like? Well, provide for a rapidly-filling shelf at the expected expenditure on tie-in books and articlesbookstore. 2016 we had Amy Schumer winning a GoodReads award, I guess – several hundred pounds on Lena Dunham's been at it, and we'one'' collectorve also got Anna Kendrick. Now she's card is not a little steep. But seeing as I handily mentioned colouring above, in the vernacularstrict comic – not all of her films are designed to make you laugh, why not take it literally and use some of them that are just don't – but this large format paperback, promising ''100 Images has to Inspire Creativity''?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405286377</amazonuk>be in the same bracket.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Van der KisteRopek_Tragic|title=Pop Pickers and Music VendorsTragic Magic: David Jacobs, Alan Freeman, John Peel, Tommy Vance and Roger ScottThe Life of Traffic's Chris Wood|author=Dan Ropek

|summary=You know those questions you get Chris Wood was a member of Traffic, the group formed by Steve Winwood in celebrity interviews - 'which extinct being would you most like to see brought back to life?' Well, I'd like to see Jimmy Savile brought back, so that 1967 after he could get left The Spencer Davis Group. A gifted musician best known for his comeuppance. It's not just the damage he did to children flute and young peoplesaxophone work, dreadful as that was - it's the shadow he cast over the entertainment industry. We know that he wasn't alone in what he didalso played keyboards, but somehow there's bass guitar and contributed backing vocals as well as having a whole era hand in writing several of entertainment which has been tarred by the same brushsongs and one or two instrumentals. John Van der Kiste has turned This biography takes its title from the spotlight away from Savile and on to five name of the great DJs one of the music industryhis compositions for their fifth album.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781555443</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Emil Fortune and Tim McDonaghDolby_Sound|title=Star Wars: Galactic Atlas|rating=3.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=At the time of writing this review, people are eagerly tapping away at phones, laptops and screens everywhere to find out what they can about ''Rogue One'', the ''Star Wars'' film that's the first live action cinema effort to be off to one edge of the canon, and is five whole weeks away. Perhaps, however, there is a chance that all the many books being released that mention the ability to tie in to ''Rogue One'' will let slip something important. The volume at hand ''includes a map from…'' said movie, and all the maps here initially seem to feature a huge amount Speed of information. Could valuable secrets be herein?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405279982</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewSound|author=Marc Myers|title= Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and PopThomas Dolby

|summary= This book developed From struggling post-punk musician to pop star, from Silicon Valley innovator to university professor, Thomas Dolby has had a series of columns of the same title which appeared in the ''Wall Street Journal'' over a period of five yearsremarkable if not unique career, in which forty-five songs (what an appropriate number) from often reinventing himself on the years 1952 to 1991 were put under the microscope and examined through interviews with the artists, songwriters way. This memoir is based on his extensive notes and others who created themjournals.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>080212559X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephen MossMorris_Legion|title=Planet Earth IIThe Legion of Regrettable Supervillains: Oddball Criminals from Comic Book History|author=Jon Morris

|genre= Animals and WildlifeEntertainment|summary=''Planet Earth II'' is the official companion As much as I like comics – and I do, whether superhero ones or not – I have to admit one thing, namely that the upcoming BBC wildlife documentary series of the same namevillains in them are a bit pants. Our understanding of What is The Penguin but the world around us has reached 's worst Mafioso, with a new level, courtesy hobby of waddling along like his pet birds? Where else do you win an Oscar of groundall things by playing a two-breaking technology that gives us unparalleled access to bit killer who just fell in a diverse range vat of environments random chemicals and changed colour, and got mardier as a result (although recently he's become a nanotech genius – but let's not go there)? And what is it with the gimp in the see-through plant pot because he is the embodiment of cold? And that's just some of the better-known enemies of 'sneak peek'Batman' into previously hidden worlds', one of the better goodies. The book looks at six vastly different environments: JunglesYou can imagine how awful the baddies related to the bad goodies can be. And if you can't, Mountains, Deserts, Grasslands, Islands and Cities and showcases some of this is the amazing creatures that live in each oneperfect primer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909652</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John SeabrookFletcher_Midnight|title= In the Midnight Hour: The Song Machine: How to Make a HitLife & Soul of Wilson Pickett|author=Tony Fletcher|rating=4.5

|summary= The popular music business has always been about – wellTamla Motown groups and singers apart, business – and some might say that in the mid-sixties there were three major names in the soul music comes a poor secondfield who mattered above all. Ever since the advent James Brown was something of a cult name who rarely bothered about or troubled the 78 r.p.m. discsingles charts, record companies have competed with each other and sought new ways Otis Redding was on the verge of marketing their goodsshooting into the stratosphere when he died in an aeroplane crash. The songwriter, or if you like the person or partnership at other was the controls of ‘the song machine’man from Alabama, has long been a vital link in 'the chainwicked Pickett'. In today’s climate of increasingly free music, how much does this still hold true?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009959045X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rod Green|title=Only Fools and Horses: The Peckham Archives|rating=4|genre=Entertainment |summary=We are in the world of one of the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003. Yes, there have been specials since, and more repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to its charms at one time or another. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of ''that'' drop through the open bar hatch, and ''that'' chandelier scene, but this is much more meaty. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for their social history worth. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849909245</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mojang AB|title= Minecraft Exploded Builds: Medieval Fortress|rating= 5|genreisbn= Entertainment|summary=If you have ever marvelled at the creative architecture designed by the talented members of the Minecraft community and been inspired to give it a go yourself, then ''Exploded Builds'' might be the perfect book for you. It is aimed at those of us who have the ambition but lack the necessary expertise to design such stunning buildings. ''Medieval Fortress'' will guide you every step of the way with detailed diagrams and customisation options, allowing you be king of you own castle in no time at all.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140528417X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Bruno VincentPaling_Reading|title=Danger MouseReading Allowed: Declassified|rating=4|genre=Entertainment |summary=There is nothing else for it but to declare my love for ''Danger Mouse'' (True Stories and no, I don't mean the musician/producer, or the remake, which I've not sampled). What I didn't know at the time to call 'breaking the fourth wall', the chutzpah and energy of the storytelling, and primarily the simple and simply brilliant character design made it one of my go-to sources for entertainment, and about the only thing that would get the TV switched to ITV, apart Curious Incidents from ''Blockbusters''. The dates on the front of this volume prove we're referring to the genius original series, but these contents seem to me fully new. Taking it that they are, has the idea stood the test of time, and will people be on board for what is surely a much-belated tribute gift book?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753545225</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewProvincial Library|author= Simon Callow|title=Orson Welles, Volume 3: One-Man BandChris Paling

|genre=BiographyEntertainment|summary= Orson WellesI once made a comical faux pas in a library when I was younger, but it certainly didn't put me off returning. I once declared in a self-important way that I would start at the beginning of the books for young children and not stop til the noted actorend, director then do the same for those for the older children – ''and producerthen do it all over again with them'', I said, pointing at the large-print shelves. ''I hope not'', was one of those larger than life characters whose impact on the world response – but little me was only aware of stage a need for large font for my fellow whippersnappers, and screen during his lifetime was inestimablenot for any other reason. Simon Callow Since then I've needed libraries, and going to them has found been second nature. On the task dole I made sure I could use the free Internet they provided to pay me back for my council tax; later I was intent on finding out if a Senior Library Assistant girl was worthy of her title, and of condensing his story into course, it saved a single volume is impossiblefortune on books for study and fun. I'm not alone in sharing the warmth of both their heating system and the very thing they were born to provide – books, but there was still a huge step up between my level of use and this knowledge of them to actually working in one. Which is the third of three solid instalmentswhere Chris Paling comes in.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099502836</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter DoggettSpringsteen_Born|title= Electric Shock: From the Gramophone Born to the iPhone - 125 Years of PopRun|author=Bruce Springsteen

|summary= For many of usNo, it must be difficult to imagine you haven't stumbled into a life without recorded musicreview from the 1970s, I'm talking about The Boss's autobiography. Millions Lots of us must books have grown up been written about Springsteen by folk who knew him, worked with, even to, a very varied soundtrack consisting of one genre after anotherhim and by others who have only read the cuttings. In this book, Peter Doggett takes a marvellous broad sweep through Over the history of popular music from last seven years he has been going about – not putting the end of the nineteenth century to the present dayrecord straight, exactly – but telling it from wax cylinders to streaming serviceshis own perspective. A rather maudlin ditty As he puts it: ''Writing about yourself is a funny business'After The Ball', by Charles K. Harris By his own admission, is regarded as it isn't the first modern popular song (wellwhole truth, it was modern discretion holds him back but ''in 1891) – a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the first of millionsreader his mind.'' ''In these pages, I've tried to do this.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184792218X</amazonuk>''

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= John LydonJVDK_Beatles|title= RottenA Beatles Miscellany: No Irish, No Blacks, No DogsEverything You Always Wanted to Know About the Beatles but Were Afraid to Ask|author=John Van der Kiste|rating=3.5

|summary= Picking up this book immediately makes you wonder what exactly you make of John LydonYou might have thought that just about everything which could be said about the Beatles had been said and certainly, the man who became notorious in the late 1970s as 'Johnny Rottenthere' s been no shortage of the Sex Pistols. Was he the iconoclast who if some of the tabloids were to be believed was books about to destroy western civilization almost single-handed? Had he really come to destroywhat went wrong, or merely what happened to use the showbusiness system money and end up becoming part of even what went right. But what I've never seen before is a 'miscellany' - all those little facts which are so hard to track down and this is where historian John Van der Kiste comes into his own: he had set out 's a man with an eye for detail and the ability to fight, or both – or what?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0859653412</amazonuk>bring everything together into a very readable whole. It's a wonderful collection of the small facts.