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thebobsphere's review against another edition
5.0
My version is the non updated one, which includes material on Gorillaz, Coxon's departure, solo career and Think Tank. There's a lot more now with another new album, Albarn's solo career, Rowntree's political endeavors etc
In 1999 blur celebrated their tenth anniversary as a band and there were a lot blur associated things coming out - the two main events was the release of the band's best album - 13 and this official bio which included interviews with the band.
Blur are important for me as they were the group that made me like alternative music and this bio tells the story, beginning with the band's roots and all the problems that came with them - since the group consists of four distinct personalities clashes were bound to happen and fighting has plagued the band from day one - Maconie makes this clear. As with most rock bios there are drugs but Maconie doesn't really dwell on these things - rather he writes about blur's role in the britpop years and then their rejection of it in order to move into weirder territories. Plus there's quite a few interesting facts behind the making of their first five albums - the sixth gets a brief mention which does shed some light on how blur work and how Stephen Street helped guide the band into stardom by acting as a peacemaker.
3862 Days is the way a bio should be - informative, not exhaustive with humorous moments
In 1999 blur celebrated their tenth anniversary as a band and there were a lot blur associated things coming out - the two main events was the release of the band's best album - 13 and this official bio which included interviews with the band.
Blur are important for me as they were the group that made me like alternative music and this bio tells the story, beginning with the band's roots and all the problems that came with them - since the group consists of four distinct personalities clashes were bound to happen and fighting has plagued the band from day one - Maconie makes this clear. As with most rock bios there are drugs but Maconie doesn't really dwell on these things - rather he writes about blur's role in the britpop years and then their rejection of it in order to move into weirder territories. Plus there's quite a few interesting facts behind the making of their first five albums - the sixth gets a brief mention which does shed some light on how blur work and how Stephen Street helped guide the band into stardom by acting as a peacemaker.
3862 Days is the way a bio should be - informative, not exhaustive with humorous moments
stuporfly's review against another edition
4.0
It's been ages since I read it. I only wish they were around to do a second volume.
jogojam's review against another edition
3.0
My history of britpop and british music in general is virtually non-existent so much of the references made in this book (ie like 2/3rds of it) were completely lost on me. still an interesting look into the band and their influence on modern british pop. definitely going to have to relisten to the albums now that i have a new perspective on what they were going through at the time.
clairen's review against another edition
3.0
L'avevo letto per la prima volta milioni di anni fa e mi era piaciuto molto, stavolta un po' meno. Dedica troppo spazio alla fase iniziale, all'infanzia dei quattro e al periodo pre-Leisure, e va troppo di corsa nel raccontare alcuni dei periodi più importanti (in particolare il post Great Escape con la band che stava per sciogliersi e la crisi che ha portato a uno dei loro album migliori). Credo che, in sostanza, soltanto Modern Life Is Rubbish abbia lo spazio che merita.
Rimane comunque un libro molto bello, di un autore che li ha seguiti dai tempi dei Seymour, e grazie alle numerosissime interviste non solo ai protagonisti ma anche all'entourage e ai due boss della Food, tra gli altri, permette di conoscere le opinioni e le storie di chi era veramente dentro alla band; in più recupera tantissimi stralci di vecchie interviste che permettono di farsi quattro risate di fronte alle idiozie (consapevoli) del primo Damon Albarn (la più bella di tutte "Non ho dischi e le altre band non mi interessano").
L'edizione italiana, pur ammirevole (stando a GR, - ok, non una fonte troppo attendibile - è l'unica edizione in una lingua diversa dall'inglese), è piena di refusi e ha una traduzione che ho trovato abbastanza tremenda.
Rimane comunque un libro molto bello, di un autore che li ha seguiti dai tempi dei Seymour, e grazie alle numerosissime interviste non solo ai protagonisti ma anche all'entourage e ai due boss della Food, tra gli altri, permette di conoscere le opinioni e le storie di chi era veramente dentro alla band; in più recupera tantissimi stralci di vecchie interviste che permettono di farsi quattro risate di fronte alle idiozie (consapevoli) del primo Damon Albarn (la più bella di tutte "Non ho dischi e le altre band non mi interessano").
L'edizione italiana, pur ammirevole (stando a GR, - ok, non una fonte troppo attendibile - è l'unica edizione in una lingua diversa dall'inglese), è piena di refusi e ha una traduzione che ho trovato abbastanza tremenda.
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