Customer Reviews
MR BOOGIE WOOGIE'S LIFE - SMUG GIT ALERT - By: Mr. Christopher J. Welch, 11 Sep 2008 
Julian 'Jools' Holland has had one hell of a life. He has played with, or met, most of the great music stars of the late 20th Century & has personally enjoyed phenomonal success on TV with both The Tube & the best music programme of the last 10 years - Later with Jools Holland. Ok so it's the only music programme on terrestrial UK TV - but nevertheless.
This is his story & Mr Holland proves to be a very amusing & erudite story teller. Whilst there is an element of smugness that creepsin toward the end of the book it is never less than entertaining, & it does offers a unique insight into the music biz of the late 70's & 80's.
Holland's two stintsin Squeeze are coveredin great detail & the bands antics - especiallyin America - make for grin inducing reading. The Tube, The Beatles Anthology, The Rythm & Blues Orchestra, Solo Records, Sessions & much more - it's all here & deliveredin a matey conversational style.
Holland may come accross as a smart arse multi-millionaire these days but,in fairness, the guy has grafted for nearly 30 years & created for himself a totally unique nichein British TV. This is also the perfect companion book to Squeeze - Song By Song. As Chris Difford says 'Jools used to draw pictures of Princesses & Castles, & now he's married his Princess & livesin a castle'. Smug git !
Most excellent - By: N. Rajah, 30 May 2008 
A wonderfully easy to read biography covering all of Jools' life up to 2005/6. The chapters are small so they are easy to read if you don't have time & the style is very conversational, with the occassional small ramble.
Overall a great insight into the man & his music (it will never be the same to me now). Also a nice synopsis on how London life has changed over the last 5 decades.
The boasts are worth it & I couldn't spot the lies.
More boogie woogie please - By: Mrs. J. Shaw, 21 Jan 2008 I really enjoyed this book, a very humourous & honest book, telling the tale of the ups & downs of a very talented man. If you like Jools Holland then I recommend you read it.
Top autobiography - By: Sam Symonds, 31 Dec 2007 I have read a lot of autobiographiesin recent years, & have a particularly partiality to those of the music world. I have liked Jools Holland since The Tube days because of his dry wit, warmth & slightly 'whacky' personality. More recently because of his obvious complete passion about musicin general. I was not disappointed with his autobiography, & completely felt Jools personable & distinct style came across as I read - you definitely know its him. The anecdotes & memories of this interesting man were funny, warm & generous to ALL the people involved (even the dodgy pirates!). He has a very positive & philosophical way of looking at his journey, evenin tougher times, which was actually quite inspiring. The love of 'the music' so obvious throughout. Other autobiographies I have read can be frankly depressing, self-absorbent & somewhat monotonous - definitely not here. This rates as one of the best, if not the best of all autobios I have read. A great read, if you are a fan of this man or just musicin general, interesting until the end. Highly recommended. Thanks Jools.
Not just about the music - By: A. Logan, 28 Dec 2007 This book offers an astounding insight into music from a naturally gifted musician who has also perfectly captured the spirit of 80's Britain & is an essential part of our musical culturein the broadest sense. He writes with great modesty, succinctness, wit & has an infectious optimism that can't be ignored. This same optimism can be feltin his beautiful & inspiring music.
However, the thing I found best about this book was how hilariously funny the anecdotes were, I had to leave the room & calm down on several occasions after crying with laughter. Its probably the funniest book I have ever read & for this reason alone it is essential reading even by those who are not music fans!
Simply brilliant! I wish I could play with Jools some day, I have been working on my left hand!
