Viv Albertine

One of those books where you read it and think, "How have I missed this in all the years since it came out?"

The chapters are all very short, 2:45 long, and it's one of the fastest and best flowing memoirs I've read. It's even labelled as "Side One" and "Side Two". The stream of consciousness style suits it well and she's good at doing it (maybe that time in film school is showing?). No ghost writing or over-editing here.

If you ever wondered, "The Slits were good, why wasn't there more of it?" or "What happened to Viv Albertine?" then here you are. Unless you're chasing that "happy and deadly dull life as a housewife" line from too many bad interviews, then you can get in the sea.

But mostly it's about middle age. When your bright young career didn't, then your body falls apart and what do you do about it? That second half doesn't have the name-checks for every obscure punk musician, but it's the more memorable read.

Also one of the few books with anything good to say about Sid Vicious.… (meer)

A wonderful voice: humble, humourous, contentious, thoughtful. Albertine is unpretentiously aware and attentive to our urban and everyday objects, our very real world. Her story is gradually unrolled, assembled from memory, the barely preserved records from her parents’ divorce, and a recent kerfuffle at her mother’s deathbed. The disadvantages and low-expectations that trammelled women, our mothers’ generation and beyond, including the expectation to be “nice” are roundly disdained, confronted at every opportunity by the author’s feisty approach. (Of course: see punk, Skids, etc). That challenging disposition is a huge part of Albertine’s style, but her telling never becomes wearing. What could have become a harangue is always tempered by her humour and humanity.… (meer)

A most excellent book. She holds very little back in describing her life, what she felt at the time and, of course, what she was wearing from teenage years to now, now being 2013.

Autobiographies are strange things. You can never really be sure what's the truth and what is an affectation. Pretty much any political autobiography is a lesson in spin. This, though, reads true. And although she never says so, she must have kept a contemporary diary. Do you remember what you were wearing at any point in time? Perhaps for a big event like a wedding, but not any random day. It's either that or she has a remarkable memory, to recall 50 years later what you were wearing. She's very candid with her ambitions, the successes, her disappointments, and her regrets.

But people like Viv Albertine fascinate me. People who are seeming afraid of nothing, have a vision of what they're trying to do, don't compromise on that vision, and still are internally wracked with insecurity and inadequacy. It's fascinating to see her progress from teen to adult and and see the ideas and attitudes that change, and, even more interestingly, what attitudes don't and why.

I have to admit that, although I knew at the time of Sex Pistols (how could you not?), the Clash, and others, I was unaware of the Slits. Listening to some of their stuff on YouTube, I agree with Viv, that Ari had an extraordinary voice. The music is generally good, but, something I have to be in the right mood for.

In some ways, reading this, I felt the way I did reading Patty Smith's book about Robert Maplethorpe. There are just certain times when there's a critical mass of creative energy in a very specific, and often small, place. When you live in a squat and "run into" Mick Ronson just walking down the street, those things just don't happen, do they? I've had celebrity sightings on occasion, but it's hardly the same thing.

I'm not quite sure why I have this four rather than five stars. I may revise it upwards later. I often change them after mulling it over for a while. The book is an extremely worthwhile read.… (meer)