Lost in Music

By Giles Smith
Picador Press,1995

Reviewed by Amanda Hallay, 2002.

I loved this book! Basically, Giles Smith's Lost in Music is an autobiography of someone who didn't make it in the music business (though not through lack of trying.) With a wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humour and an encyclopaedic knowledge of pop, Smith traces his obsession from childhood (when he was torn between T-Rex and Slade; "Did you like boys who looked like girls, or boys who looked like Victorian factory owners?") to his glittering stint as keyboard player in the ill-fated Cleaners from Venus, Colchester's answer to more or less every better band that had ever come along.

This is a 'laugh out loud' read, Smith's genuine belief that he'd eventually find international pop stardom the flip side to his well-grounded knowledge that he wasn't going anywhere ("so I moved to Bristol with my girlfriend.") Highpoints include his move to university and his fear of what his fellow students might say if they happened upon the more dubious inclusions in his record collection ("Jermaine Jackson! Nice one!") Throwing dignity to the wind, Smith details the 'imaginary interviews' he'd planned to give once he'd made it big ("Oh God, where do I start?"), as well as his 'near-escape' from being a Pink Floyd fan ("progressive rock is pop with big ideas - and one of the best ideas pop ever had was not to have too many ideas.")

The book concludes with a grown-up Smith discussing his career as a music journalist (he met Lionel Ritchie whilst the singer was "hunched over a bin eating a King Cone"), his 'reality check' with the world of pop stardom in no way diminishing his dream of self-attainment.

Not only does Smith offer up an absolutely unique slant on the autobiographical genre, but he also gives invaluable tips on the best way to catalogue L.Ps and on what not to say in record shops.

I, too, have spent most of my life 'Lost in Music', and the playful fun Smith pokes at himself is directed at all of us to whom pop music means more than it should. Brilliant!