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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I was never a big Elvis Costello fan back in his prime days. I had heard the music that was played on the radio (a fraction of what he wrote) but that was about it. However, over the years, I've grown to have a lot of respect for him as a musician, especially through his collaborative works with singers and songwriters across a huge spectrum of styles. Now I can add respect as a story-teller to that. This was not your typical chronological autobiography. This was an interesting and entertaining story of the life of a songwriter and musician who isn't afraid to try anything and has worked with an unbelievable range of musicians for the last 50 years and is still releasing almost an album a year.
I didn't recognize all of the musicians, in fact, I had to look up a number of them. However, that added to the appeal of this book; it introduced me to all sorts of artists and styles that I would never have listened to otherwise (and some I probably won't again...). If you do choose to read the book, though, I would highly recommend you have a pen and paper beside you (or a notepad on your e-reader) so that you can write down all of the names you don't recognize and look them up later.
I'm not usually one to give five stars but this one certainly did it for me.
I didn't recognize all of the musicians, in fact, I had to look up a number of them. However, that added to the appeal of this book; it introduced me to all sorts of artists and styles that I would never have listened to otherwise (and some I probably won't again...). If you do choose to read the book, though, I would highly recommend you have a pen and paper beside you (or a notepad on your e-reader) so that you can write down all of the names you don't recognize and look them up later.
I'm not usually one to give five stars but this one certainly did it for me.
Good for serious fans. It was long, and bounced around quite a bit, making it difficult to follow at times.
This is probably the best, and most personal, memoir by a rock musician I've read. The only one that comes close is Keith Richard's Life. The main difference between this and all the others is that it actually feels like Costello wrote the words, or much of them. And its structure (or lack of structure) also seems to indicate that the book is really his. A ghost writer would likely have insisted that the book take on the traditional chronological approach.
For a quasi punk, quasi pop star, Costello has had about as varied a career as its possible to imagine. From his early, angry stuff with the Attractions, to the Country laced stuff, to dabbling in classical forms, to becoming a crooner, to collaborating with the likes of Bacharach and McCartny, to marrying a fine jazz pianist and collaborating with Allan Toussaint, to becoming the host of a TV show. He has taken a more seemingly haphazard, and eclectic path than just about anyone I can think of. Here, he somehow manages to make sense of it, or at least to turn it into something like a mosaic picture.
Unlike some of the other music memoirs I've read, he does not seem to be afraid of diving into some of the details of music and how he approached it from a more technical aspect, and I very much enjoyed these parts of the book. I had a feeling he downplayed, or only hinted at, some of the more standard "sex and drugs" aspects that tend to be de rigueur for these kinds of books. The depravity is hinted at, and not really denied or ignored. It's just not a main feature.
Throughout, in relation to other musicians, Costello comes across as surprisingly humble. This is not the brash, arrogant man from the late seventies. Then, his persona seemed simultaneously angry, disgusted, awkward and ashamed. I loved him at that time. I still think he's one of the top song writers, and song interpreters (his stripped down covers of Love for Sale and The Very Thought of You are just wonderful) of my generation. Now, he seems much more mellow, but its kind of hard for me to believe that his humility is genuine, and not simply a veneer of politeness. Unlike then, he now has good reason for not being humble, since he has done so much and generally done it quite well. However, having watched some of the more recent interviews on YouTube, while reading this, I have concluded that if the humility is false, then he's also a fine actor. I prefer to think that he has grown up, and grown up well.
The best thing about this book is that it's gotten me listening to his music again, and exploring some of the more recent music that I've never heard. His best stuff is as good as anything.
For a quasi punk, quasi pop star, Costello has had about as varied a career as its possible to imagine. From his early, angry stuff with the Attractions, to the Country laced stuff, to dabbling in classical forms, to becoming a crooner, to collaborating with the likes of Bacharach and McCartny, to marrying a fine jazz pianist and collaborating with Allan Toussaint, to becoming the host of a TV show. He has taken a more seemingly haphazard, and eclectic path than just about anyone I can think of. Here, he somehow manages to make sense of it, or at least to turn it into something like a mosaic picture.
Unlike some of the other music memoirs I've read, he does not seem to be afraid of diving into some of the details of music and how he approached it from a more technical aspect, and I very much enjoyed these parts of the book. I had a feeling he downplayed, or only hinted at, some of the more standard "sex and drugs" aspects that tend to be de rigueur for these kinds of books. The depravity is hinted at, and not really denied or ignored. It's just not a main feature.
Throughout, in relation to other musicians, Costello comes across as surprisingly humble. This is not the brash, arrogant man from the late seventies. Then, his persona seemed simultaneously angry, disgusted, awkward and ashamed. I loved him at that time. I still think he's one of the top song writers, and song interpreters (his stripped down covers of Love for Sale and The Very Thought of You are just wonderful) of my generation. Now, he seems much more mellow, but its kind of hard for me to believe that his humility is genuine, and not simply a veneer of politeness. Unlike then, he now has good reason for not being humble, since he has done so much and generally done it quite well. However, having watched some of the more recent interviews on YouTube, while reading this, I have concluded that if the humility is false, then he's also a fine actor. I prefer to think that he has grown up, and grown up well.
The best thing about this book is that it's gotten me listening to his music again, and exploring some of the more recent music that I've never heard. His best stuff is as good as anything.
Look, I love Elvis Costello more than most people. He's my all-time favorite singer/songwriter. But everyone believes his or her own life story is more fascinating to others than it actually is, which is why memoirists are in particular need of a strong, impartial editor -- and it's clear that Elvis didn't get one. This book is full of charming, star-studded anecdotes that would be brilliant if cherry-picked for the best ones and organized into some sort of narrative arc. Instead, they are heaped onto the reader, one after the other, with no clear overarching narrative, for 674 pages. It's just too much, and the storytelling is too loose. I found myself skimming through the less interesting stories. 3 stars, but only because it's Elvis Costello. Anyone else would've gotten 2.
I didn't like the way it was organized and really struggled to get into it. Not sure that i Would try again
This may not be for anyone other than die-hard fans of Mr. Costello, but his reading of his book was very enjoyable. I especially enjoyed his family stories and his experiences with Mr. Dylan.
funny
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I was hoping for a personal memoir; musicians might be hoping for details of Elvis Costello's music and career. There's something here for both of us, but neither of us is well served by this book, which badly needed editing. Declan MacManus is one of the world's great wordsmiths, and there are many wonderful passages, especially as he wrote movingly about his father and other family members. There were also a few good backstage anecdotes about other famous musicians. But these were buried among long lists of projects Costello has worked on, too many names dropped with no insight as payoff, too much recitation of his own lyrics--a couple of lines would suffice for flavor when explaining the genesis of a song--and way too much recitation of other people's lyrics. There was no discernible organization; episodes from all parts of his life intermixed confusingly--in one of the very last chapters, for example, he finally explains who the Imposters are, though he's been referring to them throughout the book.
On the positive side, I was surprised to learn that young Declan--who is less than a month younger--and I lived quite nearby and played in the same park for a couple of years as children, and that he's an Abba fan. And I enjoyed listening to his own voice on the audiobook. It just went on way. too. long.
On the positive side, I was surprised to learn that young Declan--who is less than a month younger--and I lived quite nearby and played in the same park for a couple of years as children, and that he's an Abba fan. And I enjoyed listening to his own voice on the audiobook. It just went on way. too. long.