Mark Radcliffe

Mark Radcliffe takes his reader to crossroads, points in time when musicians stood at a junction and chose a particular route that changed their music and fortunes. Dotted with the personal tales of someone who has been involved in the music industry for many years, particularly in Manchester, this is a light and often amusing book. There is plenty of interest here for music fans, from Nirvana to Elvis Presley with stories about Black Sabbath, Fairport Convention and Bob Dylan among others. Mark Radcliffe knowledge of the music industry is vast and this means he digresses often and gives his readers additional facts and stories as asides. Each chapter stands alone and this makes it a great book to dip in and out of.… (more)

On the cover David Bowie states "Steal this book". Reason enough to read it. I also recently read and enjoyed Reelin' in the Years: The Soundtrack of a Northern Life another autobiographical book by Mark Radcliffe.

Mark Radcliffe is one of the good guys - a man who is passionate about music, down to earth, humorous and someone I would love to meet. This book is as predictably enjoyable as I knew it would be. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Reelin' in the Years: The Soundtrack of a Northern Life. I'm not sure why, perhaps I am becoming blasé about Mark's style, or perhaps it's just not as good.

One part that really struck was when he goes back to his halls of residence at Manchester University as a fifty year old. He states: "Standing in my old bedroom, as alone as I'd been when my mum dropped me off there in September 1976, was a bittersweet experience. I've never felt my age more keenly that I did at that moment. My spell at Uni was such an exciting and absorbing time, and one I felt a real sense of privilege at having experienced. There was no one telling you what to do or what times you had to come in or go out. The freedom came without much responsibility though, which made it all the more delicious. You had no bills to pay or job to worry about, and everybody wanted to be your friend. Even some girls. It was heaven from the very first day, and standing there as a middle-aged man I was forcibly struck by the realisation that I would never be as free as that ever again, or as intoxicated by the limitless of possibility." I could have written that. Not the bit about Manchester University as I didn't go there - but the rest of it.

So there you have it, Thank You for the Days: A Boy's Own Adventures in Radio and Beyond by Mark Radcliffe is quite good, and definitely worth reading if you like music and/or biography.… (more)