The late Pete Shelley was an engaging and sharp conversationalist with an elephantine recall and wide-ranging interests. It’s no surprise that this collection of transcribed on-the-record chats with Louie Shelley (no relation) charts, in considerable detail and with plenty of diversions, the course of how he came to write the songs that some would say marked the golden era of his career. Best known, of course, as co-founder of Buzzcocks, Pete was a prolific and gifted songwriter and while this book documents the singles and albums from the band’s United Artists years, it also shows that songs have a life and backstory of their own, often from well before the time in which they came to the public’s attention. Louie Shelley is a perce...