I put The Sound of Being Human on my birthday wish list because I really enjoy books about music. It turned out that being a book about music was just the start of its appeal. It is by turns a heartfelt autobiography, a flick through Jude Rogers’ record collection, an introduction to the structure and chemistry of the brain and a psychological journey into the phenomenon of this amazing gift called music. Any one of those parts would have made this a very interesting read, but put together it became a book that me laugh, made me emotional and made me think in a way that few other books have done. It was written with humour and beauty that made me take Jude Rogers to my heart in a way that I was quite unprepared for.
Let’s start with the autobiography. It details Jude’s journey from her childhood as she discovered the power of music. The death of her father, who is a continuing presence in her musical life, is dealt with beautifully, sensitively and with quiet courage, both in this book and in her life. We learn how she discovered Wham’s greatest song – Freedom of course! – while tying her shoelace, her introduction to Abba whilst standing at the sink in her grandmother’s house and her love for Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance alongside her love for Smash Hits. In many 80s set books these cultural touchstones seem like a checklist of the songs, groups and magazines that have to be namechecked for the purpose of the audience. Here, Jude Rogers cleverly both foregrounds and backgrounds the songs so that her own stories become the focus of the reader’s attention. By doing this, she is able to bring fresh life to them. She explains her reaction to hearing Freedom for the first time by looking at it in musical terms, and her reaction as a 6 year old infant school pupil absolutely mirrored mine, even though I was hearing it as a 19 year old just about to go into the Royal Air Force! It brought home to me the universality of music where age upbringing and personal circumstances are of little consequence once a song has captured your imagination.
The chapters are arranged as a playlist and each song is considered in depth as its importance in her life. However, it is also considered in term of its effect on the physiology of the brain and its psychology. Although she is not an expert, as she freely admits, her reading and her contacts are both wide-ranging and the way she puts some of these difficult concepts across is an object lesson to writers in terms of making them accessible to a non-expert audience. For example, she introduced me to the term anhedonia, a word and indeed a concept I was completely unfamiliar with, and within a few sentences outlined what it meant. Oh, and she included a joke that made me laugh on the train – a rare feat! She also reflected on the time when music stopped working for her, something I have been trying to explain to myself in vain, and a subject I reflected on myself only this week, far less eloquently. https://davidgpearce205.wordpress.com/2023/03/30/reviewers-block/
I have rarely read a book that has affected me in so many ways. I followed Jude’s journey with her, feeling the highs and lows keenly as, in some ways, the events reflected my own. Even when they didn’t I was emotionally involved throughout. It was also endlessly fascinating on an intellectual level, to the extent that I even started highlighting parts of the text to investigate the concepts and the academics involved! Finally, it introduced me to songs that I have never heard before and which I will definitely be listening to in the near future once music starts working again.
I would usually say that this book will appeal to one audience or another depending on their interests. In the case of The Sound of Being Human I will, instead, say that this is for anyone who is human as it simply speaks to all of us.
This is a short and sweet blog post to reflect on the last few weeks. Well, it’s nearer a couple of months actually. OK, enough of the internal arguments about time, let’s get on with the post.
As a reviewer I pride myself on being able to listen to, support and review independent artists in particular. Recently, however, my reviewing has slowed to a trickle due to the sheer mental and physical fatigue I am suffering. This is work related, or ‘real life’ related as it is often expressed by people on social media. Now, that doesn’t make me unusual, but what it has done is to remove one of my most fulfilling outlets on the internet. It is not just about being unable to review the tracks, it is being too tired to even listen to them. That is completely new to me.
When I was younger and I was fatigued I would just listen to music until I felt better. I noticed the change in my listening habits in the last few weeks, and wondered why that was. I came to the conclusion that I am now programmed to listen to music actively whether I am reviewing or not! Music is still enjoyable, but I can no longer let it wash over me. I realise that this is what makes me, I hope (though it is for others to say), a good reviewer, so I can’t really complain, but it has meant that my life is no longer as full of music as it was, at least for the moment.
I have put this short post down as something of an aside, but I hope it might explain a couple of things and be of interest to one or two of you. Things will improve and I have no doubt I will be back reviewing soon. In the meantime, here is a song that is in my head thanks to the current Lloyd’s Bank advert. It’s a track that pretty much passed me by when it was released, but I absolutely love it. Yes, I sit and analyse the music, lyrics and vocals, but it’s the first song in a while that has transported me to that place where all good music takes you. It’s definitely a step in the right direction.
On Saturday March 18, 2023 I went to the Harry Potter Studios at Leavesden near Watford. There were eight of us on the trip with my Mother being the oldest and my daughter’s best friend being the youngest. As all of us were adults – well age wise anyway as I am just a big kid at heart! – it was an interesting dynamic. We last went to the studios ten years ago, so there were definitely a lot of new exhibits, but more of those later!
Tickets, getting there and getting in
I bought the tickets over 6 months ago for a 12:30 entry time. They were £50 each for adults which I felt was likely to be good value, although obviously £400 is a lot to spend in one go. Given the fact that I hadn’t been with the family for a decade I thought it was fair enough. On a normal day we would have gone by train to avoid a 3 – 4 hour round trip drive, but due to the train strike it was two cars between the eight of us. The signs from Junction 20 of the M25 are very easy to follow, and your ticket price includes free car parking, so it’s a really good option if you are driving. If you go by train there is a shuttle bus from the station. The entry process is very straightforward even with the obligatory security check. When my wife’s bag was checked my camera was inside in it’s case – I wanted the photos to be as good as they possibly could be – and a rather bemused looking security guy checked to make sure it was a camera in there! Naturally, these days, very few people take pictures on anything other than their phones, but the quality I got was well worth the complications of going through the download process on my social media!
Tip Number One – Ask someone in your party to bring a good quality camera if they can, as well as a phone.
The start of the tour
There were definitely more people in our timed half hour entry than there had been a decade ago, as you might expect, but there was never the feeling that you were in a crush because of the way that different groups went into the first room of the tour in smaller cohorts. The guide in charge of the first part was very bubbly, but had the unenviable task of trying to get her largely British crowd whooping and hollering! The introduction to the tour from the three main actors, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, was the same one they used 10 years ago but still a good start. The first set you go in to is the Great Hall. Now, I was quite disappointed and underwhelmed. Why? Well, the last time I had been was December 2012 with the Great Hall dressed up for Christmas, but on our second visit it was set up for OWL and NEWT exams, which was never going to show the set off to equal effect. If it had been our first visit though, I think we would have been suitably awed by our first view of such a massive room.
Tip Number Two – The Great Hall looks different at different times of the year with Hogwarts at Christmas being the set with the biggest ‘Wow’ factor between November and January.
My Highlights
When I looked at the new attractions before I went I was really looking forward to the Hogwarts Express. Well, that more than lived up to expectations. I didn’t know where it was on the tour so I actually said ‘Wow!!’ when I walked onto the set. It is an incredible sight, seeing the full size engine with the carriages behind, and the fact that you can board the train and walk through the corridor looking at the compartments is a great bonus. There were 8 compartments, one for each film, with props to bring back loads of memories. There is a bit of a queue, but it only took about 15 minutes before we were on the train which is testament to the Studio Tour’s organisation.
Tip Number Three – Look at the props on the train very closely as they are absolutely fascinating. My favourite props were the Quidditch programmes and the copies of The Quibbler.
The other literal ‘Wow’ moment was one I wasn’t expecting. When I walked into Gringotts Bank I was absolutely blown away by the scale, the beauty and the marvellous details. It is a superb set that will be much more of a focus for me next time I watch the films.
Behind the Scenes Demonstrations and Insights
This is something that has improved in leaps and bounds in the last decade. The behind the scenes demonstrations and videos are simply brilliant and they enhance the magic in many ways as you learn just how much imagination and work went in to creating the scenes. There are a number throughout the tour, but I want to pick out two highlights. The first is the ‘walk through’ video that demonstrates the amazing attention to detail and huge work that goes into creating the goblin masks. It is in the second half of the tour, so if your children (or adult fans) are tired or overhyped (!) you may find it difficult to corral them but those children who were watching the videos were just as fascinated as I was. The other video you simply must watch was the explanation of the scene in the Lestrange vault in the final film. In itself, I found that to be just as big a ‘Wow’ moment as the massive sets. The combination of real effects and CGI was mind-boggling.
Food and Drink
I am famously vocal about food and drink at the different places I go to, complaining about price, taste, quantity, quality – you name it! My family turn a deaf ear to me and quite rightly. However, the Harry Potter Studios get a very rare thumbs up from me. Our car arrived a bit earlier than the rest of the party so four of us made our way to the Chocolate Frog Cafe. The Hot Chocolate there was the best I’ve tasted in ages, although it was perhaps a little smaller than expected. The prices on blance, however, are pretty fair for a monopoly provider!
Our other food and drink stop was halfway through the tour in The Backlot Cafe. My son and I headed for the Butterbeer section where there was a short queue, because I wanted the souvenir sundae dish and he wanted the souvenir mini-tankard that were included in the price of £6.95 for the ice cream and the drink respectively. When we got our respective plastic containers we were both expecting to give the contents to someone else remembering the horribly sweet concoctions of ten years ago. Instead we both finished the contents ourselves, since someone with an idea of how to develop the ingredients for anyone who doesn’t spend their lives downing neat Golden Syrup! The ice cream was like a sweet but not overpowering version of Cornish ice cream that I loved. My family who were happier to push the boat out for their lunches (!) were all very happy with their food. The hot food portions are hearty enough to get you through the second half of the tour and beyond.
Tip Number Four – Perhaps budget for at least £10 a head for food and drink at the halfway point as you’ll need it by then, but you do get your money’s worth.
The Gift Shop
Now take it from me, this is a very dangerous place for you and your bank card to enter! The sheer volume of appealing souvenirs throughout the store is just incredible, and the quality of everything is way better than you would expect from pretty much all comparable shops in other attractions. I will get to my (nearly) fool proof tip soon, but suffice to say it is a gift shop that will turn even the most miserly Scrooge into Uncle Ebenezer after he has met the Three Spirits! With young children in tow this will be a shop that will require a huge amount of parental negotiation! Even for adults the sheer amount of choice is almost overwhelming. I spent somewhere near £100 on various items for myself and others and could very easily have doubled that without preparation. What preparation did I do? Read on.
Tip Number Five – Take the time to walk through the gift shop before your tour starts, as that will give you the opportunity to pinpoint the favourite items, leading to less chance of a huge blowout at the end of the tour when you and your children may well be over-excited!
Final Thoughts
This attraction is a must see for all Harry Potter fans, and may well convert those yet to fall under its magic spell. It isn’t an inexpensive place to visit, but you get full value (and more) for every penny you spend.
Today, it’s the completely over the top costumes and music of the 1970s, brought to you by Glam Rock. Now, the whole point about these blog posts is the honesty about what I really listened to. I am happy to admit to boybands as I did in the last post in this series, so there is nothing I am going to hide from. Accordingly, I will address the foil covered elephant in the room before going on to my five choices. As a child, like so many others, I was a massive Gary Glitter fan, and he knew how to put a song together that would appeal to a huge audience. With songs like Leader of the Gang, Always Yours and Oh Yes, You’re Beautiful he made a massive impact on music and popular culture. His crimes are clearly heinous and have justifiably made him a musical pariah, but it is only right that I acknowledge his central role in my childhood music development.
I have decided to go chronologically on this journey, so our first stop is in 1973 which was the real start of glam rock for me. At the start of that year of three day weeks and strikes, The Sweet who had a hard rocking style on their albums put that together with the trappings of glam rock. Their image was far tougher than later glam rock icons, which sometimes led to them being described as resembling a group of ‘brickies’ and put them in the same type of category as Slade. However, their bassist Steve Priest decided that he wanted to experiment with a more androgynous look and make-up, and one of the most iconic and controversial musicians of the era came into the public eye. With eye shadow, glitter and outrageous costumes, including an incredibly ill advised (even by the standard of the 70s!) military uniform complete with Hitler moustache and swastika, he was prepared to do anything to get The Sweet talked about. Like Dave Hill of Slade, he pretty much always succeeded. On occasions this overshadowed quite what a brilliant band they were. The first glam classic that made the crossover into the playground was their million selling classic that stayed at Number 1 for 5 weeks. It was, of course, Blockbuster.
1973 was also unquestionably the high point of the magnificent Slade with their incredibly catchy and full blooded rock songs. Noddy Holder had one of rock’s great voices and was actually offered lead singer duties by AC/DC in 1980 after the untimely death of Bon Scott. He decided to stay with his Wolverhampton bandmates and never regretted it, but it is beyond question that he would have absolutely smashed it with the Aussie heavy rock icons. Anyway, 1973 was Slade’s Annus Mirabilis with three tracks that went straight in at Number 1, Cum On Feel The Noize, Sqweeze Me Pleeze Me and, of course, Merry Xmas Everybody. So which of those makes my list? None of them! My choice for the first glam rock singalong that I took to my heart is their third release of the year which stalled at Number 2. It was a chorus made for belting out in the playground, the overlooked but rather brilliant My Friend Stan from October 1973.
The rather lovely New Seekers song, You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me interrupted a run of stone cold glam rock classics that started with Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody, and featured a simply outstanding trio of hits from the first two months which all earn a place in place in my personal countdown. The first of these featured a group from Carshalton who had the seemingly obligatory publicity savvy musician. The band was Mud and the musician was guitarist was Rob Davis whose earrings became a familiar feature of Mud’s Top of the Pops appearances. 1974 saw them at their height, finishing the year with the Christmas Number 1, Lonely This Christmas, but no other song, or dance routine matched the impact of the insanely catchy Tiger Feet. Performances of the song saw the group wearing tiger slippers and being joined by their roadies, whose dance was definitely part of the appeal. It was a dance that was copied, usually badly, in classrooms and playgrounds and along with the brilliant singalong chorus it was an absolute favourite for the whole of 74 and indeed beyond.
For the most part, glam rock was an all male preserve, as indeed most rock music was at the time. However, one artist set the pulses of boys and men racing in her all leather jumpsuit. Suzi Quatro had bags of attitude and the air of a prize fighter, unsurprisingly given the sexism she faced. Against the odds, however, she became the first lady of glam rock and is still playing to adoring audiences five decades later. Her fourth hit was her second Number 1 and her signature track. Devil Gate Drive was a song that just exploded out of the speakers and caught you in a wave of sound. There was no defence against such a great record from such an iconic artist. Her bass playing was urgent and pounded through all her songs. If you’ve never heard it before you’re in for a treat, and if you have, ‘Let’s do it one more time for Suzi’!
The final glam icon was a leather clad 60s rocker called Shane Fenton. Not ringing a bell? Well perhaps his alter ego with huge rings on his gloved hands and tons of moody attitude might be more familiar to you. He went by the name of Alvin Stardust and, for a year or so, he was at the forefront of many minds with his stage presence and his, sometimes unsettling, songs. The one I have fondest memories of was released in February 1974, the follow up to My Coo Ca Choo, his first record as Alvin Stardust which reached Number 2 and spent an amazing 11 weeks in the Top 10. Jealous Mind was his only Number 1, but he was to visit the Top 10 again on a number of occasions with Pretend in 1981 reaching Number 4 and I Feel Like Buddy Holly and I Won’t Run Away both getting to Number 7 in 1987. So, check out a sometimes forgotten giant of glam when you have a chance. Jealous Mind showcases his vice perhaps better than any other song, a mix of Elvis like sections and a sudden skip up the octaves which gave his records their unique character.
I hope you enjoyed this tour through some of the highlights of glam rock. See you next time!
When you sit down to a new book, especially an autobiography of someone whose public persona you are familiar with, you have pre-set ideas of what the subject will be like. Accordingly, I sat down with Baroness Floella Benjamin’s autobiography expecting a funny and warm read. Now I certainly got those emotions in places, but I got other emotions I definitely wasn’t expecting, like anger, shock, disbelief and passages that affected me so deeply that I had to put the book down to compose myself before I was able to carry on. In every way, this autobiography gave me deeper feelings than I had ever felt from any other life story. Is that because of Play School, Play Away and her other appearances during my later childhood? Well, that’s why I put the book on my Christmas list, but no not really. I got these feelings because of the power of the writing and the absolute honesty Floella put into every line. It is no exaggeration to say that I have never been so moved by any other book in years.
The Story
Floella’s early years on the island of Trinidad were days of fun and laughter with her beloved Marmie and Dardie and her five siblings. When her parents moved to Britain, leaving the four older children in the care of family and friends, what had been idyllic became a nightmare. She eventually moved to England to join her parents and settled in to her new life with positive expectations and a heart full of love for those around her. This was met with anger, racism and daily discrimination from neighbours, fellow pupils at school, racist gangs and the police. When you read how this young girl and her family were treated it makes you burn with anger, but from her adult perspective Floella shows the most incredible forgiveness to those who treated her so appallingly. It wasn’t always that way, as she admits, and unsurprisingly so.
That Question
The title reflects the question that Floella and every other non-white person gets asked when they are in a place where they aren’t expected to be. It’s a question that has dogged her throughout her life in England, and it hasn’t been asked only by people you might be expecting, but also by the ‘great and the good’ of politics, media and even the august members of the House of Lords itself. The way that Floella brings it to life and its horrible effect on her and many many others, makes what can, too often, be an abstract idea for those who have never been affected by racism and the questioning of your very self, deeply and shockingly powerful.
Love and Loss
The whole autobiography is full of love. Love for her parents, her siblings, husband Keith, her children, her Play School babies, her students and her fellow actors and performers. The fact that her love is so present at all times is the reason why people have loved her in return all through her life and career. Her overwhelming goodness and compassion is at the centre of this book, and it is this that makes the losses that she faces so upsetting. On a number of occasions in this book my eyes filled with tears and I had to put the book down to process what I had just read.
Final Thoughts
Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, to give her her full title is quite simply one of the most important figures in this country. Her work for children, charities and equality has been indefatigable for half a century and more. She has given herself fully to everyone who has needed her help throughout her life and she is incredibly inspiring. She is full of Consideration, Contentment and Contentment. If you only read one autobiography this year you must make it this one.
