Renegade. The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith

First edition; second printing. Hardback in dust jacket. 246pp. Jacket slightly creased to head of spine. With full-page photographs by Tom Sheehan interspersed throughout the book. A near fine copy. *** Mark E. Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was the cantankerous front man and leader of the post-punk band The Fall, an original lyricist and inspiration to many post-punk imitators. His autobiography is an uncensored account of the music business and gives a good insight in what it’s like to be in a semi-successful band. It’s written with a great deal of humour, but it’s bad tempered and angry at the same time, with intelligent musings about modern life (is rubbish). Mark E. Smith’s rants have been beautifully rendered by ghost writer Austin Collins.