Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly everything..., July 8, 2000
For the most part, this biography is a very well-crafted one; not rushed out on the tails of MSP becomming huge after "Everything Must Go" and even leads up to the release of "This Is My Truth..." An interesting aspect of this book is that the story is told in essay format instead of a chapter by chapter slog through a career of one of the greatest bands in the world today. While at times a little too personal (Simon uses a lot of "I was there..." methods of relaying the story, which must have been some honour, but after a while it gets a little dull) it is incredibly hard not to keep reading until you've reached the end. There is some information that is fresh, while obvious topics keep coming up over and over spread out over the pages. While MSP are undoubtedly allowed their own privacy, you would think someone as close to the band would be able to print more details, thoughts, and feelings. Still, this isn't a dirt sheet like the majority of MSP books on the market, and the money spent will be worthwhile, if only to catch yourself thinking "Hey, I remember when that happened." during the read.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Johnny Rogan, eat your heart out., June 19, 1999
Obviously, a juxtaposition of Rogan and Price isn't necessarily as quixotic as one would superficially reason, insofar as they are both two of the most highly respected cosmopolitan writers in Rock today. And I don't think that's a premature rumination on my part of Price--this being his first opus that I was familiar with, and, judging by the punctilious quality of his work, it won't be his last. Price makes it clear to the reader, less than halfway through the book, that he's one of the old, jaded Manics fans, who prefers the old tenative Glam/Richey/Guns'n'Roses with a Doctorate years, to their most recent post-Richey recordings (yeah, but who in his right mind dosen't?). The book totally trancends those other two farcically small Manics books in every category; especially "The Manics in their own words," which, from what I extracted from the book, leaves the reader miserably unsatiated, given the fact that this book clearly permeates more than half of the Manics sometimes epigramish musings. Ditto for that other cursory little farce. A stark contrast to this assiduously researched and long overdue book, that comes to a somewhat predictable semi-climatic denouement, with Price offering his prescience of things to come for the Manics, the old, "to be continued" ending. A must for evey Manics fan. Thank you Mr.Price.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their truth..., January 31, 2003
My dear friend Fiona from Newcastle turned me on to the Manics in 1991 and their first San Francisco show the following year (in the wake of the L.A. riots) remains one of the most powerful I've seen. How fitting, then, that Fiona should send me this book in my Christmas package. Simon Price makes a compelling story even more so with his riveting writing style, lust for detail, insightful analyses, and insider's view. He whisks the reader from Blackwood bedrooms to the world stage and misses nothing along the way, thank God. Who better to even attempt to take on such a task than Price, a gifted writer whose love for the band imbues the story but who can also provide objectivity and constructive criticism?
Buy this book if you're mad on the Manics and just try to put it down. Buy this book if you're a casual fan or have never heard of them and see what you've been missing.
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