Rather than teasing my friends with my ‘Top Ten Best ever…whatever’ over a period of days on Facebook – and then neglecting  it and feeling a sense of crushing guilt and inadequacy, I thought I’d just do this in one hit.

The rules… What makes the list and what doesn’t.

So – get your Amazon account ready.  Maybe it’s a Ten Top, rather than a Top Ten. Inevitably it reflects musical taste too, so it won’t all be for everybody.  My all time favourites definitely get the top spots – but I could be fairly fluid with the others.

That ginger haired bloke with the tiny guitar (honestly, his name has just gone straight out of my head) might write like an angel – but I wouldn’t know – ‘cos liking the music has to come first. Some might call it ‘narrow-minded’, I call it ‘taste’.

#10 Revolution in the Head – Ian MacDonald

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revolution-Head-Beatles-Records-Sixties/dp/0099526794/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525532443&sr=1-1&keywords=revolution+in+the+head&dpID=51GnUZBJrJL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

When it seemed everything that was ever going to be written about The Beatles had been published, along came Britpop.  This book published in 1998 comes between the ’95 release of ‘Free As a Bird’ in 1995 and ‘Anthology’ in 2000.  The reawakened fascination with The Beatles that the success of the Oasis had generated in a generation that might have been more lukewarm meant that the book was always likely to find a wide audience – not just those alive at the time of its focus.

One of the first pop-culture-meets-historical/sociological-contextualisation to hit the top of the (bestseller) charts – and certainly one of the best.  Macdonald has history on his side, a lot of water has gone under all those bridges – allowing him a degree of hindsight perhaps not afforded to all those on the list.

What he does do is create a solid sense of trust.  You never feel that anything here is embellished with speculation – that the research is genuine and the comment is fair.   For a subject that has generated so much hyperbole and myth-generation, this is special in itself.  For the fact that one can trace the history of the group track by track in small, but detailed section, make it the ideal reference as well as ‘read in big chunks’ work and one that you find yourself going back to again and again.

You need this book because: There are many, many books about The Beatles – but this is the only one you actually need.

While reading it, you’ll listen to:
Whatever you have in your collection. If that’s the ‘Number Ones’ compilation, so be it.

You’ll be curious about…

Becoming a completest; shelling out on the boxset you always promised yourself….

If there’s one track that sums the book up…

Easy. It’s your favourite Beatles moment. This is mine.

#9 The Creation Records Story: My Magpies Eyes are Hungry for the Prize – David Cavanagh

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creation-Records-Story-Magpie-Hungry/dp/0753506459/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525709716&sr=8-1&keywords=my+magpie+eyes+are+hungry

Bored and unfulfilled working as a ticket clerk for British Rail, Alan McGee decides that his love of music need to be the focus of his professional life.  The rest is history.

And it is quite a history.  Creation Records were a publishing phenomenon that made its founder very, very rich – and almost killed him in the process.

In the modern, modern age it is entirely possible that younger fans of Oasis and Primal Scream will not be aware of their record label roots.  More enquiring minds may have unearthed Jesus and Mary Chain CDs in their parents’ collections – but would being on Creation mean anything to them?

Creation inspired a sense of expectation and loyalty among fans. If a band was on Creation, they immediately gained credence and quite often, sales.  As the Creation rollercoaster charged onwards, the quality control of the A&R Department suffered and the good fortune that had come their way in terms of picking up acts of true quality deserted them.  And then there was ‘My Bloody Valentine’.

The interminable story of the making of ‘Loveless’ receives considerable coverage – not surprising as the process took two years.  Some might call Kevin Shields a perfectionist, others might be a little more scathing – either way, you just can’t help but will the band to get the job done and give the label – that we can’t help become attached to – a much needed boost.

Creation is no more. It is an ex-record label; it has ceased to be. Whether one remembers it’s imperial phase, or came late to the party, the book ensures that we understand that without Creation, so much would have not come into being.

You need this book because: You really didn’t get the importance of it all at the time.

You will listen to…

‘Definitely Maybe’ Oasis
‘Grand Prix’ Teenage Fanclub
‘Loveless’ My Bloody Valentine

You’ll be curious about…

‘Loveless; if you’ve never actually heard it.
‘My Beauty’ by Kevin Rowland – How did that ever happen?

If there’s one track that sums the book up…

#8 No Off Switch: Andy Kershaw

https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Off-Switch-Kershaw-Andy/dp/B00DO9064E/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525709804&sr=1-6&keywords=no+off+switch

Shit. Just broke the rule about autobiographies. Not to worry – ‘cos it’s Andy Kershaw and he’s…well…he’s Andy Kershaw.

Not only is this an autobiography – but it’s not all music.  Motorbike racing gets pretty decent coverage too – as does his somewhat messy personal life but it’s OK – because it’s Andy Kershaw.

Why is it OK? Because this is a life lived for music.  This kind of becomes really interesting when AK goes to Leeds university and eventually fails his degree because he’s running the Entertainments Committee. He’s booking the most important (and some less-so) bands of the 80s. He makes contacts that will serve him well after leaving – and thus provide the fascinating narrative of the book. He finds time to help stage a Rolling Stones mega-show at Roundhay Park, become the most ardent Springsteen fan…ever and become Billy Bragg’s right hand man. Nice.

He gets a job on the radio. Local to start, then national. Tipped as the natural heir to the Peel throne, he ploughs his own furrow, champions the sounds from beyond the EuroAmerican hegemony and tries his damnedest to open the ears and minds of anyone who tunes in.  Interestingly, he confounds assumption by not being totally positive about Mr Peel – which coming so soon after the great man’s death, takes the same kind of courage as Copernicus telling the bishops that they’d got the universe wrong. We might not like it – but can’t help respect it.

And he travels the world. Not just anywhere – but pretty much everywhere – and wherever he goes, he finds music and his love and respect for what he finds is just so damn infectious. And what balls. War zones? Genocide? Corrupt and murderous despots? All there – and analysed with a knowledge and analytical intelligence which explains why he’s equally at home broadcasting on Radio 4 as anywhere else.

Most people know that his marriage went spectacularly and rancorously  tits-up leading to jail time for breaching restraining orders. That comes near the end and it’s a frank description of a life on the ropes. The love his friends and fans show him at this time just show that music is the universal communicator of love – and Kershaw is fluent in so many of those languages.

Top man; Top Book; Top Read.

You need this book becauase: You had no idea he’d written it – and now you really want to read it.

You will listen to:

‘Born to Run’ Bruce Springsteen
Whatever Reggae music is in your collection.

You’ll be curious about…

The Bhundu Boys
Why someone like Andy Kershaw loves Bruce Springsteen so much.
Expanding your record collection.

If there’s one track that sums the book up….

#7 Uncommon People: The Rise and Decline of the Rockstar, David Hepworth

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_5?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=uncommon+people&sprefix=uncom%2Cstripbooks%2C144&crid=2PRIB69DFPV79

Published in 2017, this a relative newcomer. . How it took so long for anyone to come-up with this approach is a mystery that Hepworth is here to solve.

He writes: ‘The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. But like the cowboy, the idea of the rock start lives on in our imagination.’  

The conceit is a simple one – and perhaps explains the above.  The age of the Rock Star is indeed gone. The breed are no longer being produced / reproducing and soon the last examples will all be dead and thus extinction will follow. From now on – we can only imagine what a ‘Rock Star’ was and how they might have lived,

In the age of the X Factor, The Voice and Mayfly careers, it’s a compelling argument.  Yes, we still have famous people – but do we honestly see those who are at the top of the game in 2018, still being relevant or revered in 30 years time?

It’s a linear history. We start with Little Richard. That’s the last spoiler. Compile your own list of the 20 most potent stars from the birth of Rock and Roll and compare notes.

As a former editor of Q Magazine, Hepworth knows how to make a persuasive case concisely.  The chapters are punchy and clever. Each star’s story being told at one, specific moment in their lives – the single second that defined them as the icons they were. One more spoiler; Elvis makes the list – but what moment would you choose? And you’ve seen that Bowie’s on the cover, so he’s in too – but that’s it – no more clues.

But since he’s been mentioned – let’s talk about the Bowie chapter as an example of how this book works.  Hepworth chooses July 3 1973 as the day that defines Bowie-The-Rock-Star; the day that Ziggy Stardust plays his last gig at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Genius.

Genius on Bowie’s part.  Bowie the man realises that as long as he can continually reincarnate himself, he will never die.  Bowie realises that the only thing that kills a rock start is boredom – of either the artist or the fans. ‘As long as I reinvent myself’ he ponders, ‘my fans remain intrigued and expectant – and I remain interested. Result. Genius too on Hepworth’s part to realise that this is the seminal moment of the many careers of David Bowie.  He was not one rock star, but many – and that night he set the precedent.  Never a slave to fashion or trend – because I will change when I am ready – and take my fans with me on my next, epoch-defining adventure.

Genius. Genius. Genius.

Engaging and though-provoking.  After the last chapter (‘The Last Rock Star’) you can’t help but feel that the author’s opening gambit is spot on. We will not see their like again. Only thing is – who is that chapter about?  Only one way to find out – and it’s worth it…

You need this book because: When you quote from it in the company of those that haven’t read it – you ARE a genius. Until they read it – obviously.

You’ll listen to:
Your favourite on the list – No spoilers…

You’ll be curious about:
Those that somehow passed you by. See above.

If there’s one track that sums the book up….(or at least the relevant chapter)

#7 England’s Dreaming – Jon Savage

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Englands-Dreaming-Jon-Savage-2005-05-19/dp/B0184WO718/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525709939&sr=1-2&keywords=Englands+Dreaming

This is the Punk equivalent of ‘The Origin of Species’.  Just as Charles Darwin explains the gradual metamorphosis from ape to person, Savage explains and charts no less a remarkable transformation. Nascent rumblings from New York mix with Teddy Boy revivalism in London are combined with situationist manifestos from the Paris Commune.  A wanabee  impresario focusses the scene on his King’s Road boutique and encourages his mercurial fashion designer partner to dress the major player – and the rest is history. Humans – or at least some of them, become ‘Punks’.

This is a serious book; serious in both volume and scope.  The reader should not be put-off; there are only intellectual intentions here – no pretentions.  Jon Savage guides us through the events of the time in a manner that would grace any academic historical study. And why not? The establishment of the day dismissed our protagonists as ignorant folk-devils.  Their refusal to consider that the movement could have been underpinned by any kind of intellectual manifesto only added fuel to their fire, and Savage articulates this with enviable skill.

Like Darwin, Savage shows us how the seemingly incomprehensible came into being.  Too young in 1977?  This will tell you all you need to know and more.

You need this book because: It is big and it is clever.

You will listen to:

‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ The Sex Pistols
That ‘Best of Punk’ CD you’ve got somewhere.

You will be curious about…
The New York Dolls – What was the fuss all about?

If there’s one track that sums the book up….(what else?)

#6 24 Hour Party People:  What the Sleeve Notes Never Tell You. Tony Wilson

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Party-People-Tony-Wilson/dp/075222025X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1525431412&sr=8-6&keywords=24+hour+party+people

While Bill Grundy was goading drunken Sex Pistols – and getting sacked for his trouble, there was another regional TV anchor engaging with the Punk generation on an altogether more cerebral manner.

Unless you lived in the Granada TV region it would have been easy to miss him. His legend grew from his early evening music show that screened the Pistols without the host being abused – and then, with the birth of his multi-parented baby, Factory Records with progeny including Joy Division & New Order, Happy Mondays and The Durutti Column Anthony H Wilson wrote his full name across pop culture history

Seeing ’24 Hour Party People’ at the cinema in 2003 was an unexpected delight.  This is either the book they based the film on – or the book of the film. As Mr Wilson would say ‘it was both – darling’.

While at the centre of this story, he stresses that it’s not about him (‘I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be’) but that he is a small part of a greater entity.  The phenomenon that was Madchester – The HaÇienda, the drugs, the lunacy are all calmly evaluated with as much a sense of pride as anything else along with a feeling that all concerned were simply riding a wave over which they had no control.

Other players in this drama have written about their experiences.  Perhaps reading English at Cambridge helped, but none of them do it as well as Wilson.  (Some could and should have done it much, much better – Messrs Hook and Sumner, please take note).

When Tony Wilson died in 2006, we lost a beautiful human being.  Like it or not Tony, this is your legacy – and it does you proud.

You need this book because: It crystallises what every other book on the subject has to say.

You’ll listen to:
‘Unknown Pleasures’ Joy Division
‘Bummed’ Happy Mondays
‘Technique’ New Order

You’ll be curious about:
The Durutti Column.  God appears to a stoned Wilson and tells him that ‘…they are due a revival, you should consider a ‘Greatest Hits’.

If there’s a track that sums it all up:

#5 Cider With Roadies – Stuart Maconie

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cider-Roadies-Stuart-Maconie-2005-04-07/dp/B017PNWME6/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525709984&sr=1-2&keywords=cider+with+roadies

These days, Stuart Maconie is a presenter on BBC Radio 6.  That is an enviable job. Stuart Maconie has had other jobs.  He worked in a cotton mill, and was once a Sociology lecturer at an adult education college in Skelmersdale.  He was also a journalist for the NME.  Who would not want that on their CV?

Born in 1960, Maconie experiences Northern Soul at source and goes to college as a punk when being a punk was a new and dangerous statement.  Born in the right place at the right time… He tries gainful employment but when the NME show an interest in his unsolicited reviews, the career die is cast.

It’s a fairy tale. There will be few that will not secretly wish they could share Maconie’s stories. The nice thing here is that one always feels that he knows he was always participating in a bit of a circus – that being a music journalist has its perks, it’s not really that important. Throughout  he remains the kind of fella you could imagine having a beer with, enjoying his company and the anecdotes going away not thinking that the guy was a name-dropping dick.  Yes, he spent a load of time with Morrisey – but he doesn’t claim to be his mate, and these days that’s probably good thing.

You’d like him to be your mate though…Imagine knowing a bloke who met Morrisey.

You need this book because: The anecdote concerning Napalm Death will keep you smiling for days. You would have loved to have had the front to do the same….

You’ll listen to:

‘The Smiths’, The Smiths
‘The Swing’ INXS
‘Best of’ Chic ft Nile Rogers

You’ll be curious about…

Northern Soul & Napalm Death. A sentence that has never been written before.

If there’s one song that sums the book up…

#4 The Eighties, One Day, One Decade – Dylan Jones

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eighties-Written-Publisher-Windmill-Paperback/dp/B00SLW85H4/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525374530&sr=1-4-fkmr0&keywords=The+Eighties+one+day+on+decade

This book shares something with Penicillin, the mobile ‘phone and the Fidget Spinner in the sense that they are all based on an idea I wish I had come up with. 

You can’t help but admire a good idea and this is one of the best.

Dylan Jones artfully appraises a whole decade through the lens of July 13 1985 – the day of Live Aid. Predictably, the book starts in the morning as the Wembley show builds to it’s opening. Charles & Di, Status Quo, Bob Geldof – all the way through to Bowie, Queen, McCartney and the most stellar group sing-song ever to grace a stage.  Jones finds a way to include these – and everything and everyone in between – in the context of the wider 80s world – and, just like a Fidget Spinner – once in your hard, one is compelled to keep it there,

For me, it’s the perfect retrospective documentary. I was 16 in 1985 – old enough to have had an awareness of what Jones recounts – but not clever enough for his insights to read as old-news. A significant increase in age and a less impressive development of wisdom provides this reader  with a beautifully cerebral dose of nostalgia and social history.

This is the book for everyone who remembers where they were during Live Aid. For me, it is easy to recall – because as the T-shirt I bought on the day says, ‘I was there’.  I was at Live Aid.  It was amazing, it was one of the best days of my entire life. Live Aid was a very good idea. Wish I’d thought of it.

You need this book because: The 80s may have been pretty horrible at times – but by accident of birth, it was the decade that defined you.

You’ll listen to:
Nothing. You’ll go to YouTube instead.

You’ll be curious about.
Searching YouTube for the Philadelphia concert. But you won’t because you know it just wasn’t the same.

If there is one track that sums the book up...Ok it’s a medley – but what else could it be?

#3 Inside Out: Nick Mason

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nick-Mason-Inside-Out-Hardcover/dp/B00RWOQFWE/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525369829&sr=1-2&keywords=inside+out+nick+mason

Another rule-bends. It’s a band history – but this band is history…

There was a bit of a thing a few years ago for massive, photo-rich coffee table books by musicians.  I’ve got a few of them – The Beatles ‘Anthology’, Bill Wyman’s history of The Rolling Stones (signed copy, if anyone wants to make me an offer) to name a couple, but this one is the only book of it’s kind that I’ve actually read.  Yes, the photographic content is superb – fascinating, personal, grand as well as intimate – but it’s all held together by a personal memoir that provides a real sense that we are being given privileged access to one of the most celebrity-averse bands that the world has ever made famous.

Of course, enjoying this book really does hinge on enjoying Pink Floyd. Not everyone does. But to be honest, if you don’t like ’em, you won’t be reading this anyway.  Because you do like Pink Floyd, you will like this book. Chances are you have already got it, because Pink Floyd fans are a bit ‘collector-y’. If you haven’t, then buy the one in the picture; the first edition hardback (Coffee Table).  You can get a paperback (smaller) version.  But like watching ‘Titanic’ on your TV at home, you can’t help but think that watching Leo slide off that door  would have been so much more enjoyable at the cinema.

Everything’s here. Early days with Syd – and the awkward truth of his self-destruction and how the band kind of sat back and watched is not glossed-over.  The rise to superstardom and success is, refreshingly recounted with the fun as well as the downsides. When it all goes wrong with Roger, Mason deals with it all remarkably even-handedly considering the rancour of the time.

Nick Mason comes across as a thoroughly good bloke. Modest, wry, wise-after-the-event, but basically a decent chap who happened to become a rock drummer in one of the worlds biggest bands – but also fosters keen interests in driving fast cars and flying aeroplanes.  Envious? Damn right, but you just can’t help but like him. The bastard.

You need this book because: Doesn’t really apply. You’ve either got it, or you’re just not interested. And if you are interested, but you don’t have it – you’re not that interested.

You’ll want to listen to:
Any one of their albums – whichever is your favourite.
Or – none of them – because you actually think Floyd are crap and you’re only reading this out of pity.

You’ll be curious to hear:

See above. You might be tempted to give ‘The Final Cut’ another go, but don’t bother. It’s as poor as you remember.

If there is one track that sums the book up…

#2 Hell Bent For Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict – Seb Hunter

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hell-Bent-Leather-Confessions-Paperback/dp/B015YM9H9I/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525367100&sr=1-3&keywords=hell+bent+for+leather

From the moment pre-teen Home Counties prep-schooler Seb Hunter hears AC/DC for the first time at a school disco, his life is changed forever.  He gets a guitar, forms a band and gets a girlfriend and a dead-end job and has ill advised experiments with halluninogenic drugs, although obviously not all of this happens while he’s at prep school.

We follow his quest for fame and fortune from leafy-green Winchester to the dark underbelly of the London Glam scene of the early 90s – before, as Seb himself often reminds us ‘Kurt came to kill us’…

In the same way as it’s OK for you to make jokes about your Mum – but God help anyone else who does, as a true believer, it’s OK for Seb to find the humour in the genre. We can even laugh at Death Metal here – and there is a niche that’s hard to see the irony in.

This book is very, very funny. It’s the comedy Number of The Beast. Its humour lies in its honesty. Anyone who has graduated from playing the tennis racquet in front of the mirror to actually learning to play guitar – no matter how ineptly will now exactly what his on about. How a cheap guitar and half a dozen chords can be the most powerful self-directed aphrodisiac in the world, even if you know your band is total shit.
It’s a humour laced with sadness as our hero has to deal with a dysfunctional father, a series of doomed relationships and the realisation that he’s trying to make it in a scene that is visibly dying in front of his eyes.

Hunter never tries to convince us of his coolness.  Hindsight has given him a beautifully balanced view of his tilt at fame. We are with him all the way – and feel his pain or elation at every step.  Strangely moving at times and always entertaining – not so much a love letter to metal, as a break-up note.

You need this book because: You’re a music fan. You’ve been in a band. You are not famous.

You’ll want to listen to:

‘Master of Puppets’, Metallica
‘Rocks’, Aerosmith
‘Live After Death’, Iron Maiden

You’ll be curious about:

Death Metal – but good sense and decorum will probably win get the better of curiosity.

If there’s one track that sums the book up…

#1 The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Decline of English Rock

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Party-Britpop-Demise-English/dp/000713473

Essential rock reading for anyone with an ear for what was happening between 1991 and 1997 when Kurt wore the crown – which was wrestled back by Noel and Damon; the men who would be kings.

Harris tells the story of Britpop essentially through the stories of Suede, Blur, Elastica and Oasis. Bit-part fascination is afforded by the likes of Menswear and Sleeper with their reflections on the experience being more interesting than the music they made at the time. The languid presence of Pulp is given the rightful amount of respectful prominence, the success they found and the debilitating ennui of what success brings is a heartbreaking metaphor for Britpop itself.

The music is perfectly set against the shifting UK political climate of the time and as the gloss starts to come away from the new administration, cocaine and hubris (or heroin and torpor)  take the shine of those propelled to pop stardom.

It’s not a lyrical text. It’s like the best documentary you have ever seen – in book form. Wide-ranging, intelligent, insightful and fascinating, this book is a must -have.  When your kids ask you ‘What did you do in the Great Britpop War?’ this is the text that will make an expert out of your memory.

You need this book because: It is the best book about music…ever.

You’ll want to listen to:
‘Elastica’, Elastica
‘Definitely Maybe’ Oasis
‘Modern Life is Rubbish’, Blur

You’ll curious to hear…
‘The Menace’ by Elastica – Their second album that you never knew existed.

If there’s a track that sums the book up… This is too tough.  It’s a story of how a number of bands had stories that interconnected with each-others in so many ways.

Was there one song that epitomized Britpop? Hard to say. Impossible, in fact.  So let’s go for two – Those that went head-to-head in the Great Britpop Battle of 1995…

Final Words…

PS. It was Ed Sheeran.

Update: June 2020

Since publishing the first version of the above, I found a book that needs to included and not just given a passing mention – but one that needs to there or thereabouts at the top….

‘Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys‘

Viv Albertine played guitar in The Slits. The Slits were a female punk band. You may have heard of them, or her – or you may well have not.

Either way, this book is utterly compelling.

For those familiar with the woman and her work, the book provides an insight into a life always lived in a world always slightly off-kilter to the normal and on occasion, flirting with the extremes.

To those who do not know her, this is a story of a life and its loves that will fascinate because it’s just so damn…interesting.

And not just interesting. This life is told in such beautiful prose. Never verbose, always incisive, but with such candour that one can not only respect the level of honesty – but marvel at it too.

As an autobiography – this shouldn’t really be here.

But it is – and as a work of literary art, this is the one that the neutral should buy. This is how the story of a life should be retold.

You need this book because…

…It tells a woman’s story in a male dominated world and because you are male music fan it’s a viewpoint you have overlooked and there are 30 male music bios to every female. Whether male or female, this book will inspire you – but different reasons. The subject lived a rare life – and continues to so. It tells a musicians story in a way that music is only a part of the interest – the non-music stuff is equally gripping. One day, you will be glad to tell someone that you know this book.

You will be curious about…

The Slits as a musical entity – and you’ll see the punk / post-punk world through a totally different lens, You will re-read, re-listen and re-evaluate all you thought you knew about that time. Everything you know is not necessarily wrong – but considering a different point of view isn’t a bad thing.

If there’s one track that sums up the book…