43 - MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 - Street Level Superstar - A Year With Lawrence with Will Hodgkinson (Felt, Denim, Mozart Estate)

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmapsJoin us to discuss the music book of 2024 & one of the best music books of all time - Street Level Superstar - A Year With Lawrence has swept the board in the end of 2024 charts. Sunday Times writer Will Hodgkinson spends a year with Lawrence from Felt. Our starting point is the West Midlands suburb of Water Orton - Television, Subway Sect & T-Rex proving formative influences of Lawrence's earlier years. Eventually he forms Felt & they achieve a degree of success with their debut 7", Index. The band achieve a degree of success with 10 albums across a 10 year period including a stint on Creation Records. However their success was limited by the many rules Lawrence enforced upon the band including a specific type of plectrum only, rectangular guitar cases only, specific clothing & others. Lawrence's next project in the early 90s was Denim - while seemingly on the cusp following a tour with Pulp in 1996 the band did not achieve the success Lawrence long craved. His complete lack of compromise at some points of his life more of a hindrance. The books is not a typical music biography & is more a character study & an examination of Lawrence's eccentric life. Will spends a year in Lawrence's company as they travel to Waltham Cross, Chelsfield, Welling, Beckenham & Temple Fortune. We cannot describe how engaging this book is & really could not recommend it any higher. It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/live/Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17Blue Sky: @musicmaps.bsky.socialX: @simonmusicmapsFacebook: E17rockbookclubHosted by Mark Hart & Simon CardwellWritten & Produced by Simon CardwellEdited, mixed & spruced up by Andy Maxwell  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.