You could be forgiven for thinking that living in Lancashire in the 1970s wasn't the most exciting place to grow up as a teenager. With the wet weather and gloomy industrial landscape, I'm sure most people would have preferred to live elsewhere.
But for a certain kind of teenager between 1970 and 1979, Lancashire was the most exciting place in the whole universe. A region spanning from Blackpool in the west, through to Preston, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley and Clitheroe to the east, down to Wigan, Bolton and Manchester in the south. This was the fertile breeding ground for an obsessive bunch of kids who followed a particular lifestyle rotating around Black American music they called Northern Soul.
For those of you who were there, I needn't go any further. For those who have little or no knowledge of this underground music and fashion scene this is one man's personal journey through those amazing youthful years. Years that on reflection were truly vibrant, creative, exciting but also at times tragic.
This book is written by someone who was different from the thousands of kids who spent most weekends dancing their hearts out at all night clubs. What is different about this book is its honesty, this is just as it was. Reading this book has made me belly laugh. It has also made me sad.
I find it difficult to understand how those nights at Wigan Casino inexplicably became history. I've often wished for a time machine to zap me back to that dance floor. I think in between these pages I've found such a machine as I'm sure so will you.
Time has passed us by.