Cider With Roadies

This is a delightful memoir – the story of Stuart Maconie’s love affair with music. It takes us from his first concert at the age of three (The Beatles, which is unbeatable by any standards), through Northern Soul, progressive Rock, the arrival of Punk Rock, a short lived attempt at playing in a band and his later career as a rock journalist. Maconie is always humorous and slightly self mocking, but his enthusiasm is unfeigned and always honest. This will make you dig out obscure albums as well as listen to old favourites with fresh interest. All music lovers will enjoy this and, as an added bonus, Maconie is charming and excellent company, who will make you laugh out loud. A joy to read – but why it is not available on kindle I have no idea. It is surely deserving of re-release. However, for now, dig out a paperback copy and discover the highs and lows of fandom and working for the NME.

Stuart Maconie was one of the great writers for the NME in its best or second best era. While it is true that he was maybe not such a persona as Nick Kent or Paul Morley, he was on the staff of this journalin some of its more exciting years: the post-punk years and he managed to stay along for a while. This book that is really nice to read is made up of a few sections: at first he explains his musical heritage and how he became a music lover. Then in the last third of the bok he manages to give an excellent account of his years at the NME. It is somewhat unfortunate that this part of the book is not the longest since it is the most interesting one; this is also a shame because it is during that time that Stuart Maconie was writing some of the most exciting rock journalism available. What is also interesting to notice is that here one has a music journalist who is actually a music fan and he does not really spend hours writing about himself (even if some of the best rock journalism has been exactly that: people witing not about the music but themselves). So overall it is a fun read and I got it very cheaply at Glasgow airport.

Fantastic writing from Stuart Maconie