Customer Reviews
Such a shame!! - By: Moodyboy, 05 Aug 2008 
I'd been looking forward to reading this for a while, I'm a big fan of Blur, & always thought AJ was a good guy - having read this I came away hating him! His writing style is hard work to get through, as well as slightly pretentious & bordering on the twee.
He gives very little insight into the workings of Blur & what it was like to be part of the biggest band of the 90's & instead tends to tell contrived anecdotes about his 'mis-adventures', which are actually quite boring.
Its a shame because you could have got a really good behind the scenes tale, but instead it missed the mark. Sorry...
Fantastically entertaining - By: Gillian Mansell, 28 Jul 2008 
I too am surprised by some of the negative reviews - this is my book of the year so far, fantastically entertaining & incredibly well written. Maybe it helps that I was never a huge Blur fan - I just love the way it portrays Alex James' rise to fame & the nature of celebrity. Funny, honest & an absolute joy to read. And I now have a bit of a crush on Alex...
Highly entertaining - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 23 Jul 2008 I am surprised that so many people seem to be down on this book because it isn't a definitive story about Blur the band. As I see it, why would it be? This is a book that is about Alex James. As it is written by Alex James this makes it the definitive book about Alex James, & it's really rather good.
He is amusing, self-deprecatingin many ways, honest & funny. He writes well & is full of enthusiasm, which spills out of the book at every page. It is the story of one man's life, loves & enthusiasms being filtered through the experience of beingin one of the world's most successful bands.
I loved it & just hope he writes a lot more. A book about farming, a book about cheese, I don't care really. Just more of a very talented writer soon please. Thankyou.
If you want a detailed account of Blur, get 3862 Days - By: David Scoble, 07 Jun 2008 
As this is the autobiography of Alex James. Which he makes very clear. If you want an insiders memories of the band, Albarn or Coxons autobio is the one to wait for (probably Albarns if you want stuff about Think Tank).
There is very little focus on the bandin the 2nd half of the book, whereas about half of the first involves aspects of the band. There isn't really a need for him to detail the band, there are 2 books already that do that, The Last Party (or Britpop, depending on which edition you get) & 3862 Days. The latter does go into far more detail as it's purely about the band, although it was publishedin 1999, so it does need an updated re-issue.
This is the book about HIS life, not the bands, & for what it is, it's very good. From the lifestyle he seems to have lead, he really must have written this down before hand, as events would be hard to remember after his nights.
Overall, a very funny book that shows the downsides of rock & roll hedonism, & how you can turn your life around. As he said, "It's horrid beingin a rut, no matter how nice the rut looks from the outside."
Amazing band not an amazing autobiography - By: Janie U, 01 Jun 2008 
I read this book thinking it would bring back memories of the time & give me an insight into the amazing band that was Blur, although as it developed it was clearly only going to be about the strange small world around Alex James. He was a very selfish man going through an unusual experience and,in my view, took a very arrogant view of the whole periodin his life.
There are some very interesting sound bites - "if you know why someone likes you then they are not a friend but a fan" & "when you get what you want you lose what you had" - which give a hint of future promise if he continues to write.
Overall the book was a bit disjointed & it felt like he was trying too hard.
