I have not read anything by David Hepworth before, but I quite liked this. It is various columns on mostly rock music, grouped into themes. I really liked the first chapter on The Beales. I also like lists of good songs or albums, like The Great Accidental Trilogies, The Greatest Hot Streak in Pop (Kinks), and the columns about what to play at weddings and funerals. Not everything was great, but the interesting bits were well worth it for this quick read. ( )

I would be hard pressed to decide whether books or music are more important to me, and I am always pleased when those two pleasures merge, as they did with this collection of articles and observations by David Hepworth. He is certainly well qualified to talk about rock and pop music having spent most of his working life in that field, whether behind the counter of record shops, or later as both a journalist and presenter on programmes such as (The Old Grey) Whistle Test.

As a teenager, The Old Grey Whistle Test was a fundamental part of my life, and the post mortem of the various acts at school the following day was just as earnest as our Monday morning discussions of the weekend’s football results. David Hepworth understands all that because, as is clear from the pieces in this book, he went through all that himself. His extensive, perhaps even encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music, acquired through his professional involvement, is matched by his enthusiasm as a fan.

In this collection Hepworth addresses a number of issues, including explains the changing nature of the role of the drummer within a band, and how the development of regular and reliable drum machines has affected the whole process of compiling a single. He also offers up a thoughtful piece on why so many veteran bands and solo performers carry on despite their advancing years, and more particularly why they continue to tour. For big bands, life on road has become almost an industry in itself, with implications for a considerable number of interested parties whose finances are also inextricably linked with those of the headline act.

Hepworth’s insight in informed, informative and engagingly written. ( )