| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.60
Trade in Ginger Geezer: The Life of Vivian Stanshall for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.60, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
His dulcet tones however, were much in demand. Eloquently described here by friend and admirer Stephen Fry as "a Dundee Cake of a voice, astoundingly deep, rich and fruity", Stanshall graced Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and the Damned's Lovely Money. In later life voiceover and advertising work provided him (briefly) with a lucrative income. Vivian was never able to stay of the bottle for long and the offers slowly dried up. With friends and family alarmed by his drinking, Stanshall sought the company of street drinkers near his Muswell Hill flat. These new friends robbed him of many of his prize possessions and enjoyed drinking at his expense. In 1995, after one such session he died in a fire at his home. Randall and Welsh clearly love Stanshall but their book never quite gets to grip with their flamboyant subject. It is shoddily arranged--details are confused and there are many infuriating repetitions. Much of the writing is workmanlike at best. They seem torn between creating an oral history from the reminiscences of his many friends and writing a proper "authorial" biography. Despite this, in celebrating his unique genius they do succeed in reminding us what a sorry loss his premature departure was. --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
On Vivian Stanshall:
‘A unique and inspired comic genius.’ Stephen Fry
‘The one great comic talent British pop music has produced.’ Observer
‘I’m whatever you like, just don’t expect me to join in.’ Vivian Stanshall
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
inspired insanity,
This review is from: Ginger Geezer - The Life Of Vivian Stanshall (Hardcover)
This is not so much a biography as a chronologically organised selection of Vivian Stanshall anecdotes - and nothing wrong with that, when all the anecdotes are as inspired, manic and hilarious as this.I can't remember a book which has made me laugh out loud so many times before. As well as the Stanshall stories there are also scattered comments from friends and admirers, and sharp criticism of his body of recorded work, as well as a lot of piranha stories. All in all, it adds up to an affectionate but not biased look at this man who came up with so much inspired nonsense and, in the end, only wanted to live like a civilised human bean.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
affectionate tribute to the last great English oddball,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ginger Geezer: The Life of Vivian Stanshall (Paperback)
Curious to see that many of the reviews here think that this book tries to diminish Viv Stanshall by presenting him as the eventual alcoholic, shambling, mentally squished tragedy that he became. This facet of the man can't be washed over or ignored, and perhaps forms the cornerstone on which to hang everything else - great creativity and an incredible talent for both making fun songs and projects, and for self-destruction; an incredible capacity to care for the person most of interest to him (himself) at the expense of everyone else; and the contradiction of wanting to be admired and loved, while not being 'famous'. We do get a linear narrative which I thought was well-written - laugh out loud in places, heartbreaking in others. Vivian was a mess for most of his life but left us with an incredible amount of music, art, and concepts which boomeranged away from the rest of us. How can you not love someone like that?
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
last great english eccentric,
This review is from: Ginger Geezer: The Life of Vivian Stanshall (Paperback)
Fabulous book written about this brilliant/tragic man. From the brilliance of the bonzos through to comic opera. If it is sad to think about his untimely end, as you learn from this book the stories prove that he is one of the last great british eccentrics of the kind sorely missed today better to live life to the full then to fade away.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Film, Television & Music > Music > Rock & Pop
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop > Styles
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
