Naked at the Albert Hall
The Inside Story of Singing
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In her bestselling autobiography Bedsit Disco Queen, Tracey Thorn recalled the highs and lows of a thirty-year career in pop music. But with the touring, recording and extraordinary anecdotes, there wasn't time for an in-depth look at what she actually did for all those years: sing. She sang with warmth and emotional honesty, sometimes while battling acute stage-fright.
Part memoir, part wide-ranging exploration of the art, mechanics and spellbinding power of singing, NAKED AT THE ALBERT HALL takes in Dusty Springfield, Dennis Potter and George Eliot; Auto-tune, the microphone and stage presence; The Streets and The X Factor. Including interviews with fellow artists such as Alison Moyet, Romy Madley-Croft and Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, and portraits of singers in fiction as well as Tracey's real-life experiences, it offers a unique, witty and sharply observed insider's perspective on the exhilarating joy and occasional heartache of singing.
Part memoir, part wide-ranging exploration of the art, mechanics and spellbinding power of singing, NAKED AT THE ALBERT HALL takes in Dusty Springfield, Dennis Potter and George Eliot; Auto-tune, the microphone and stage presence; The Streets and The X Factor. Including interviews with fellow artists such as Alison Moyet, Romy Madley-Croft and Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, and portraits of singers in fiction as well as Tracey's real-life experiences, it offers a unique, witty and sharply observed insider's perspective on the exhilarating joy and occasional heartache of singing.
- Published: Mar 03 2016
- Pages: 256
- 197 x 129mm
- ISBN: 9780349005249
Press Reviews
As distinctive and lovely as its author's singing voice . . . a wry and wise memoir of a unique career
The Alan Bennett of pop memoirists. I loved her book so much I wanted to form a band too
- Daily Telegraph, praise for Bedsit Disco Queen
An intensely readable account of thirty years of being in love with music. Warm, assertive, sweetly funny and most of all honest
- Independent on Sunday, praise for Bedsit Disco Queen
As a witty and wise chronicle of a life spent dipping in and out of the limelight, this is second to none
- Mail on Sunday
Smart, chatty . . . [Thorn is] a sufficiently deft writer to negotiate the populist and the high-brow . . . a thought-provoking and enjoyable read
- Sunday Telegraph
Honest and compassionate
- Sunday Herald
If you care at all about pop music you should read both [Naked at the Albert Hall and Bedsit Disco Queen]
- Independent
Revelatory, always entertaining . . . a genuine insider's perspective . . . Thirty years of consideration went into this quietly impressive volume, and it shows
- Scotsman
A writer in fine voice . . . [a] cracker of a book
- Daily Telegraph
Thorn is the perfect analyst of our reverence for and terror of singing . . .Thorn's practical, warm tone gives her a Miss Marple-like ability to appear kindly while holding mistruths up to account . . . She is best, though, as a sympathetic guide to the singers she loves
- Grazia
Tracey's characterful phrasing is as persuasive on page as it is on record
- Dubbo Weekender
She can pick at the scab of a subject and release some of the unsavoury contents which have been festering under the surface.
Nina Stibbe
TelegraphGem-like confessions that make it feel like a proper discussion. I loved it
- Telegraph
A thoughtful and sensitive study of singing and her very English struggle with the embarrassment
Keith Miller
Times Literary SupplementA subtle, suggestive book about performance
- Observer
Thorn eloquently strikes upon some profound truths about human communication as she tests the powers and limits of the human voice