I adored this book. Let me say that straight off. Here’s why.
First of all, you have to know who Tracey Thorn is. She is possibly the voice of my adolescence, being that hers was the one I loved most. Though she is best known as the singer for Everything But the Girl, that’s not where I was introduced to her. I first came across her voice when she did a collaboration with Massive Attack on the song “Protection.” That song, it’s safe to say, is in my top five of all time. It is the song I listened to on repeat, put on every mix tape (yes, I’m that old, move along) and never got tired of. Her voice haunted me and soothed me, it seemed to reach into my very soul. But for years I had no idea who she was. It didn’t much matter to me; her voice was what mattered.
Then recently I started to hear a bit of buzz about her – this time not for her spectacular vocal cords, but for her writing. Her newest book, Another Planet, just came out, and was being widely reviewed with nothing put praise. It’s always a bit hard for me to jump in and read a book that feels like it’s not the first one in a series, and though it definitely doesn’t require the reader to have read Bedsit Disco Queen or Naked at the Albert Hall, it felt to me like I needed to at least give one a try. So I started here, at the beginning.
It quickly became apparent that the hype had not been erroneous.Tracey gripped me from nearly the first page, and though I didn’t feel like I couldn’t put the book down (it’s not that kind of story), I definitely kept wanting to pick it back up again. And I’ll say this for her – not only can the lady sing, but she can write.
There are several things I loved about this book. The first is that it’s set not far from the part of England I’ve spent the most time in. And while I don’t know it well enough to say I recognized the places she talks about, I have enough of a sense of it to be able to picture the type of places she’s talking about. Then there’s the fact that she knows how to write, in the sense that she knows pacing, she knows how to vary her tone and material so as not to lose interest, she knows how to draw in just enough humour to keep me on the brink of laughing out loud, but not so much as to become distracting. The book didn’t lag anywhere. It didn’t lose me, and even the parts I wasn’t very interested in were interesting. Her tone is that of a beloved friend sharing some witty banter over a cuppa or a pint. She never once comes across as an entitled pop star, and seems throughout constantly surprised and bemused to find herself wherever she was – be it singing in a closet (literally) or in a swanky hotel suite having just been offered a gig opening for U2. She’s just so goddamn likable. By the end of the book I was left with the impression that here is someone who has not let success go to her head, has never stopped trying to grow and learn as a person, and who deserved every break she got.
I don’t think this book will be for everyone, obviously you need to have some interest in music or Tracey Thorn or suburban England of the mid twentieth century. But if you have even a modicum of interest in any of those, I’d highly recommend giving this book a try. I loved it so much that I immediately went on to read Naked In the Albert Hall, her memoir about singing as a craft and profession, and I’m not even that interested in singing.
I’d further recommend the audiobook. It’s read by the author, and I love her reading voice as much as her singing voice but for different reasons. I found it soothing (I may have fallen asleep a couple of times when listening at bedtime) and it also sounds just like she comes across in her writing. Humble, introspective, thoughtful, and very very smart. I didn’t think I could adore Tracey Thorn any more than I did based on that one song, but now I do. I really, really do.
I was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records.
Then, for eighteen years, between 1982 and 2000, I was one half of the group Everything But the Girl. In that time, we released nine albums and sold nine million records. We went on countless tours, had hit singles and flop singles, were reviewed and interviewed to within an inch of our lives. I’ve been in the charts, out of them, back in. I’ve seen myself described as an indie darling, a middle-of-the-road nobody and a disco diva. I haven’t always fitted in, you see, and that’s made me face up to the realities of a pop career – there are thrills and wonders to be experienced, yes, but also moments of doubt, mistakes, violent lifestyle changes from luxury to squalor and back again, sometimes within minutes. – Goodreads
Book Title: Bedsit Disco Queen
Author: Tracey Thorne
Series: No
Edition: Paperback/Audio (narrated by author)
Published By: Virago/Audible
Released: May 6, 2014 (First published February 2013)
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Music
Pages: 320
Date Read: February 5-March 3, 2019
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.09/5 (1,885 ratings)