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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Editor? What's an editor?,
By
This review is from: Rush : Merely Players (Paperback)
I'm a big Rush fan, and I enjoy reading music biographies, so I was really looking forward to this. When it arrived, I was a bit disappointed to see that it is a cut-and-paste of numerous interviews, rather than a cohesive "story". On closer inspection, however, this turned out to be the book's saving grace...Something struck me as being wrong about the cover, but I couldn't initially put my finger on it. After staring at it for a minute or so, I realised that the *title* was misspelled -'mereley' instead of 'merely'. This error is repeated on the spine and on the title page of the book - and this pretty much sums up the poor quality of this tome. It is littered with typos and spelling and grammar mistakes. The manuscript was clearly not even spell-checked before printing, never mind reviewed by an editor. That wouldn't matter so much if the contents themselves were accurate. Unfortunately, the first thing I read inside the book (in the review of "The Body Electric") was a direct quote (unacknowledged) from an Internet Rush FAQ. Even more unfortunately, its appearance within the FAQ was as an example of a far-fetched story for which there was no proof, and which the editor of the FAQ was therefore refusing to include... Another example - the review of "Chain Lightning" states that this is a "tune about the weather". This is then followed by a long paragraph by the lyricist explaining what the song is about - oh, and it *isn't* about the weather. Clearly Mr Telleria can't even be bothered to read the material he is quoting... Yet another - the "review" of "Red Barchetta" consists of the lyrics of the song rearranged with no attempt at interpretation or explanation beyond what anyone reading the lyrics themseleves could deduce... I could go on - but you get the point. The number of items in the book that I know to be inaccurate make it difficult to believe any of the rest. As I mentioned above, the saving grace of this book is that so much of it is copied directly from quotes from band members, attributed to the people who said them. My advice, if you must buy this book - get a big black marker pen, and cross out everything in it that isn't attributed to Geddy, Alex or Neil. Read the rest, which is quite good - no thanks to Mr Telleria, who, according to the back of the book is "an authority on all things Rush". Somehow I suspect those are his own words - although the fact that they are spelled correctly does cast some doubt! Robert Telleria should be ashamed of this effort. Rush deserve a better analysis than this, and I'd strongly advise people to avoid it. If it weren't for the large amount of quoted material, it would be utterly worthless.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rush Out and Get This!,
By Anthony Giliberti (Sunrise, FL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rush : Merely Players (Paperback)
First of all the band is aware of the book and *like* it. Rush.com's web designers actually used excerpted quotes and career highlights from the book on their website. Check under individual band members. The only reason Rush doesn't publicly endorse it because it would mean they get a cut so Telleria wisely chose to do it 'unauthorized'. This way he gets more profits.The number of typos have been exaggerated by a few reviewers here. It's apparantly the same reviewer saying the same thing on the other forums. If they knew anything about publishing, they'd realize that the final editing is done by the publisher and that any proofing errors are their responsibility and the printers'. The pictures were well chosen considering the fact that rights would have to be paid for band-authorized photos. Many concert ads, endorsement ads, key shots of the band in various stages of their career. And the rarely seen 'secret concert' cover is perfect. There are even some pics of the band receiving awards. The real strength of the book is the 'Chronology' followed by the 'Instruments' section. If you're expecting tourbook cut and paste jobs - think again. I found out when Neil was on "Politically Incorrect". Why Rush don't play festivals. Why Rush seem to avoid touring the Orient. What color those guitars really were. Basically anything I could have wondered - and not readily available in other books - is here. In the "Words and Music" section, it seems Telleria was conscientious of another published work dissecting Rush lyrics, and chose to expound on lyrics not covered in that book. Most of the songs are explained in Rush's own words. A few reviewers here challenged Telleria's reference to "Chain Lightning" ; it is at least in some part about the weather according to the lengthy quote from the band lyricist that backs up his claim. Nowhere does the author say the things you'd find on some website, "I got laid to this album" or obvious things like "This song is about science"... The explanations are often brief but insightful. Despite what some know it alls think, Telleria is one of the few who knows that "Best I Can" was in fact a Peart song. May not seem like it, but this is the same guy who was 'digging every show' when he wrote "Making Memories". Geddy wrote only the music composition as the album and somehow this got taken out of context by many fans. Credit is given to Neil for the Permanent Waves cover art in the album sleeve, as Telleria acknowledges he was talked into actually going on the cover! Perhaps some cities were wrongly listed in the tour dates section I don't know. I think it was interesting to see all the bands that opened for Rush. Fabulous Thunderbirds! Joe Perry!! Read the book!
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book on Rush,
By Jen (Hamilton, Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rush : Merely Players (Paperback)
Love this book. Telleria made it very easy to read. This is not overly scholarly but not dumbed down for kids either. Just enough pictures without overkill. Reading some of the reviews here, I noticed some people claim that there are factual errors. I have been a fan of this band since '78 and I saw extremely few errors that don't take away from the book as a whole. One thing a few fans should know is that Neil DID write Best I Can and In the End not Geddy, as Telleria correctly points out. I can see this is true with the Fly By Night album lyrics. Someone on here mentioned that Neil is not on Permanent Waves. But he is. You'd need the old vinyl to see closely. Someone mentioned that Telleria doesn't cite certain sources yet there 's hundreds of books and interviews listed at the back of the book. Citing every single fact's source would be unreadable I think. There's a broad range of topics about Rush covered and maybe a future edition will have even more if anything was left out. There's plenty to digest as it is! I really struggle to find anything negative to say about this book on my favorite band. This is the only biography on them to actually list their whole names and discuss Neil's childhood. Nothing really leaps out as in bad taste considering Rush never really did anything controversial or scandalous. I didn't see any street addresses for the band in my copy. I for one don't have the time nor desire to look online for Rush trivia so it's wonderful to have it in one spot whether it's part of the truth or not. I want to thank the author for bringing this wonderful tome to the fans and not caring about the many fans who think they knew everything about Rush or everything in this book. Your efforts are appreciated! :)
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