Sixteen Again: How Pete Shelley & Buzzcocks Changed Manchester Music (and me) by Paul Hanley
Sixteen Again combines biography, interview, critique and social history to fully explain Buzzcocks’ unique and enduring appeal. It examines why Pete Shelley’s influence was as central to Manchester’s renaissance as it was to Manchester music. The book also explores the unique relationship between a young fan and his favourite group during their most successful phase – and why that intense interdependence can never last forever.
The official book of the major motion picture, The Old Oak, the third in a trilogy of films set in the northeast of England that includes the Palme d’Or winning I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You.
The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community. The landlord, TJ Ballantyne, is hanging on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when the pub becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees into the village. In an unlikely friendship, TJ encounters a young Syrian, Yara. Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama about loss, fear and the difficulty of finding hope.
Features original screenplay, photos from the film and production notes from cast and crew, including Paul Laverty, Ken Loach and Rebecca O’Brien.
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You Must Get Them All is the first book to capture the full, incredible story of The Fall, from Live At The Electric Circus to New Facts Emerge. It covers every release – album, EP, single, compilation, live album – every line-up change, every setback and every triumph. It is a comprehensive chronology of the life and times of Britain’s most remarkable group, based on contemporary accounts, the recollections of Fall members and the experiences of the Fall community – the gig-goers, the record-buyers, the lyrical analysts and the factual obsessives.
It’s a book that challenges the clichés, lazy assumptions and common misconceptions about The Fall. But above all else, it celebrates the astonishing and significant body of work that the group created over their 40-odd years of existence.
People write to me and say, ‘I heard The Fall, which record should I get?’ And I never have any hesitation in telling them: you must get them all, because it’s impossible to pick one… and in fact I’ll go further. I say: anybody who can tell you the five best Fall LPs, or the five best Fall tracks, has missed the point, really. It’s the whole body of the work that is to be applauded.John Peel
It should no longer be our job to explain to people why The Fall are the greatest English rock band of the last 40 years. In fact, I’d politely suggest the onus is now on others to find out for themselves instead of us having to draw them a f***ing map.John Doran, The Quietus
Route is delighted to announce the acquisition of Helen O’Hara’s memoir, What’s She Like – the first memoir by a member of Dexys Midnight Runners.
The book recounts O’Hara’s Bristol upbringing, playing a mixture of classical and popular music, before embarking on a music degree at Birmingham Conservatoire where she was headhunted by Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners who was looking to add strings to the group’s previously horn-heavy sound. The resulting album Too-Rye-Ay included the global smash hit record ‘Come On Eileen’, and lead to O’Hara turning down a contract with Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in order to join Dexys full time. O’Hara and Rowland started a romantic relationship and were due to be married, but their relationship broke down during the making of what many believe to be Dexys’ masterpiece album, Don’t Stand Me Down, which included Rowland’s song for O’Hara, ‘This is What She’s Like’ from which the memoir draws its name. O’Hara also has a long working relationship with Tanita Tikaram, and the memoir covers her work with Nicky Hopkins, Graham Parker and Tim Burgess amongst others.
Route Editor Ian Daley acquired the rights from agent Daniel Scott.
Daniel Scott said: ‘I was contacted by my friend Kevin Rowland, who told me about an astonishing memoir Helen had written, which, among other things, totally got to the heart of Dexys. Knowing how Kevin often feels underwhelmed by writers trying to convey the spirit and soul of this idiosyncratic band, I suspected Helen’s book might be rather special. It exceeded my expectations and I am thrilled that Route are bringing their customary passion and energy to this wonderful book.’
Ian Daley said: ‘Dexys Midnight Runners have a very special place in the history of British popular music, and we can’t wait to share Helen’s story; not just with the legion of Dexys fans, but with the wider world too. Short of role models of female instrumentalists in pop music growing up, Helen became one herself, inspiring young women to take up the violin and embark on a career in music themselves. We hope this book, and Helen’s beautiful attitude to life, will inspire many more.’
What’s She Like will be officially released on 19th August 2022. However, if you want to be amongst the first to read it, signed and numbered advance copies will be made available in late June exclusively from Route at standard cover price. To secure a copy, click here to pre-order.
In the autumn of 1972, Plainsong released their beautiful debut album In Search of Amelia Earhart. It was the height of the golden era of English folk rock. The record received universal critical acclaim for its musicianship and sublime singing, but just three months after its release the group disbanded in acrimony. How could a group capable of such exquisite harmonies disguise such disharmony within themselves?
In the fifty years that have followed the album’s release, what we know about the original incarnation of Plainsong has been shrouded in myth and misinformation. In Search of Plainsong tells the true story of the group and their classic album for the first time. It is a cautionary tale told through the voices of the key protagonists and those who were lucky enough to see Plainsong in full flight or bought the album first time round.
In Search of Amelia Earhart remains a folk-rock classic. For those who don’t know it, it might just be the greatest debut album you never heard.
‘A group that doesn’t come up and sock you in the eye, all decibels blaring, but kind of sneaks up and insinuates itself into your psyche almost before you have begun to notice it. By that time you are hooked by its gentle genius.’ – Karl Dallas, Melody Maker
‘In Search of Amelia Earhart is, and let us not mince words, the finest display of gentle, sometimes liltingly so, English folkiness and rockabilly to surface in a long while.’ Cameron Crowe, San Diego Door
‘A startlingly fine album.’ Charles Shaar Murray, NME
This book will go on general release in Autumn 2022, but we will be releasing advanced copies of special signed and numbered Deluxe Edition in Spring 2022 exclusively from this website. The Deluxe Edition comes with a CD of a previously unheard Plainsong concert, recorded at the Folk Fariport cafe in Amsterdam in April 1972.
This book will go on general release in Autumn 2022, but advanced copies of special signed and numbered Deluxe Edition in Spring 2022 exclusively from Route. The Deluxe Edition comes with a CD of a previously unheard Plainsong concert, recorded at the Folk Fariport cafe in Amsterdam in April 1972.
Author signed books make for great gifts. Give the stories behind the music. A selection of first class books that take you closer to the music, critically acclaimed, independently published and great value. _____________________________________________________________
You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide Simon Wolstencroft Of all the iconic musicians and scenes that emanate from Manchester, Simon Wolstencroft is the one who joins up the dots: The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Fall and everywhere inbetween. SIGNED EDITION
Leave The Capital: A History of Manchester Music in 13 Recordings Paul Hanley A brilliant refashioning of the story of Manchester music, paying proper tribute to the pioneers of the 1960s who not only had worldwide smash hits in their own right, but built the first world-class recording facilities outside of London that later empowered a whole new generation of punk and post-punk bands to take on the world free of intervention from the capital. SIGNED EDITION
Outtakes On Bob Dylan: Selected Writings 1967-2021 Michael Gray A compendium of over five decades of writing on Dylan for newspapers, magazines and journals by the pioneer of Bob Dylan Studies, plus a new extended essay on Rough And Rowdy Ways. SIGNED EDITION
JUDAS!: From Forest Hills to the Free Trade Hall Clinton Heylin In 1966 Bob Dylan and The Hawks found themselves at the epicentre of a storm of controversy. Their response? To unleash a cavalcade of ferocity from Melbourne to Manchester, from Forest Hills to the Free Trade Hall. SIGNED EDITION
Trouble In Mind: Bob Dylan’s Gospel Years – What Really Happened Clinton Heylin In 1979 Bob Dylan shocked his fanbase when he weas baptised a Christian and took an evangelical message of armageddon and the second-coming on the road with a full gospel show and a trio gospel-tinged albums. With access to a wealth of new material, Dylan expert Clinton Heylin brings a wholesale reevaluation of this period and reminds us why this may just be the greatest creative period of Dylan’s long and eventful career. SIGNED EDITION
Thro’ My Eyes: A Memoir Iain Matthews Iain Matthews’s compelling memoir of a life on the road, in the studio and at home, through the eyes of one of our most enduring singer-songwriters. Choice of Signed Paperback or Signed Hardback Deluxe Edition complete with an accompanying double CDs. SIGNED EDITIONS
Clinton Heylin In June 1968, Fairport Convention made their official album. In the next fifteen years, those founding Fairportees would form a veritable dynasty of English folk-rock. Drawing on interviews with all the musicians and key figures. Clinton Heylin has produced the definitive history of a folk-rock family in its golden era. SIGNED EDITION
Bringing It All Back Home Ian Clayton A breathtaking musical odyssey that reveals the secret that connects music to our heart. New updated edition. SIGNED EDITION
Song For My Father Ian Clayton A lifelong search for a father figure, skipping across the generations to weave a tale of how we relate, what we do with what we’ve got and what happens when some things just don’t work out the way we want them to. SIGNED EDTION
King of Clubs Maureen PrestThe only insider’s account of what really went on at the world-famous Batley Variety Club, an audacious and outrageous venture by the great James Corrgian and his wife Betty. This is a story full of love, lust, voodoo, glamour and gossip, with the A-Z of the showbiz stars of the day waltzing through the doors of this enormous club in the most unlikley settings.‘What was special about Batley was James SIGNED EDITION
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