When I appeared on the Oh! Brother podcast hosted by ex Fall members Steve and Paul Hanley last year I hadn’t read The Big Midweek, Steve’s brilliant book about his time as bassist with the band. I’d read a couple of other books about The Fall years ago and must have decided I didn’t need another one, despite the rave reviews The Big Midweek earned on publication in 2014, but seeing that Stewart Lee had done the audiobook recently, I was induced to take the plunge. Once I’d got used to Stewart apparently reading at double speed (though his delivery is otherwise terrific throughout) it turned out to be the best book about music and being in a band I’ve ‘read’ for years - up there with Ian Hunter’s Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star and Viv Albertine’s Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. And as with those books, you don’t need to be a fan to be drawn in by the stories and the writing, but if you do like The Fall it’s even more riveting.
