I was fortunate enough to have a copy of Stuart David's book waiting for me on the doorstep the other day. Needless to say it immediately went to the top of 'to-read' pile. Needless to say too, having polished it off last night, I thoroughly enjoyed every last moment of it. It connected with me in a number of ways, not least in being a vivid portrayal of being on the dole in the West of Scotland in the early '90s, looking for ways to avoid the attentions of the DSS and effectively using benefits as an arts subsidy - bloody scroungers the lot of us ;) I think anyone of a certain age will certainly find that evocative. Certainly for me too the whole notion of everything taking place in Glasgow helped connect with me - does knowing the places make it feel more real? Maybe. I think anyone who knows/knew Glasgow in the '80s and '90s will find the book as a comfortable friend, and anyone who's yet to experience the city will certainly want to visit it, even if only to see if the sun really does shine as rarely as Stuart suggests (in my experience, yes it does). I guess the real reason any B&S fan will want to read the book though is to discover lots of juicy stories, and if that's the case then I think they'll be pleasantly disappointed. By that I mean there are no revelations, at least for anyone who's a long-time Sinister dweller, but that's okay. Rather it kind of cements in place what you already knew, or felt you knew, or knew you felt. And that's a good thing. If the book does challenge anything, it's in the way that Stuart David's own notions of how to be in a band and how to 'make it' in the music industry are challenged and shaped by meeting Stuart M - and in itself it feels like this is a document that kind of lays out the blueprint for how an 'indie' scene could/would be established in the nineties and beyond. The sense of having a clear vision and being pretty uncompromising in chasing that vision, regardless of what 'experts' might think you should do. That tension between assuredness and shyness that Belle & Sebastian records certainly seemed to embody comes over well, I think. There is a charming warmth that pervades the book, and the characters are sympathetically drawn. The ones you think you know feel like you think they ought to, and the ones you don't feel like one' s you at least kind of do. It helps that Stuart is a Proper Writer too. He'd make that previous sentence of mine make sense. I think the Tigermilk launch party is absolutely the right time to end the story because you do sense that because this is Stuart David's story, it is inevitably just about to head off in other directions. Not that it's about to get messy or anything, but you know the rest of the story is going to be more about the history of a Pop Group, and I know some people love those kinds of things, but personally I find them a wee bit dull. Finally, maybe it's just me, but I couldn't help but hear the two Stuart's voices reading the text to me in my head. That's a good thing too. It's officially released (do books have release days like records?) the day the day after my birthday and even though I have this proof copy I'll happily spend some of my birthday money on a copy of the hardback. You should to*. I think you'll enjoy it. The Duke *it doesn't have to be birthday money +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+