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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Man Whose Self-Pity Expanded, 23 Feb 2009
The Fall are possibly the greatest band of all time. They have released a great many wonderful, innovative, thrilling and life-changing albums. You should buy these - especially everything from 1979 (Dragnet) to 1986 (Bend Sinister) - when the gruppe literally could do no wrong.
This book is truly, embarrassingly awful: a petty, mean-spirited, utterly misguided rant about very little of any consequence. It is also - unforgivably - actually very boring, which is something I never expected from MES. The fact that he wastes so much paper slagging off old band members is plain sad. Instead of immortalizing them in print, he should get over it!
MES hates pretty much everything and everyone. While this makes him a vital force on record and onstage, it makes for an unbearably tedious 'memoir', with a surprising amount of self-pity and whinging. Where is the legendary grasp of language? Where is the wit? Where are the insights? Instead, he talks about watching Neighbours. This is a book without structure and without any good reason to exist.
'Renegade' (which should have been called 'And Another Gripe...') has the feel of a tossed off contractual obligation that took two wet Wednesdays to complete. Conveniently, MES can now blame its many faults on the ghostwriter.
On the plus side, The Fall's most recent album - Imperial Wax Solvent (2008) - is quite wonderful. Perhaps even their best for eight or nine years. I just wish he'd never agreed to publish this drab, sorry-for-itself, lifeless, will-sapping, myth-shattering, 'done-for-the-money' book.
If you are new to MES and have £15 to spend, treat yourself by buying Hex Enduction Hour and/or This Nation's Saving Grace. If you're feeling more wealthy, buy the Complete Peel Sessions box-set. It's amazing. But if MES ever approaches you in a pub and offers to regale you with tales about all those who've 'wronged' him, escape while you can. Run. Run fast!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Je ne regrette rien, 28 Oct 2008
In the thirty years that The Fall has been extant the portrayal in the music press of lead singer Mark E. Smith has never ventured very far away from a cynical, caustic and curmudgeonly caricature. The few attempts at biography have done little to dislodge the`narky Mark' image. Take Simon Ford's well-intentioned, well-researched Hip Priest: The Story Of Mark E Smith and The Fall [2003]. Ultimately, it fails because of Smith's unwillingness to disclose anything to Ford; instead, he relies upon the many interviews Smith has conducted over the years. Therefore, Renegade should be hitting the reader with fresh, undiscovered material.
Sadly, it presents very few surprises to those who have found out about his personality through those interviews. Smith, like his fellow Mancunian Morrissey, has been remarkably forthright and engaging in those meetings with journalists. He has always provided good copy because he has never hidden his light under a bushel. Clearly, he is aware of this, as he acknowledges ("I've always looked at interviews as being an important part of the game"). Ergo, Renegade often evokes a sense of déjà vu. So, I was unsurprised when he disses musicians ("I've never met a guitarist I like really") and did not raise an eyebrow when he proclaims that he is always dissatisfied with the way in which things in life work themselves out (before adding "That's what keeps me going").
Renegade's text appears to be the result of conversations between Smith and his ghost-writer (Austin Collings). This has given the book a loose, conversational feel; it is similar in style and tone to Shane MacGowan and Victoria Clarke's A Drink With Shane MacGowan. That manifests itself in the way that the narrative drifts from discussing studio albums, gigs, line-ups and record company troubles into a variety of unexpected topics, including: the disappearance of Manchester's Victorian architecture, William Burroughs' motivations for writing or the drinking habits of Alex Higgins and George Best. It gives the autobiography the feel of an extended magazine feature, rather than a concerted attempt to tell Smith's story accurately and authoritatively.
Throughout the book is marked by Smith's candour. However, this honesty is not in the confessional spirit of the reformed alcoholic/drug/sex addict rock star attempting to atone or repent for his or her sins. To accusations of self-centredness he pleads guilty, but, points out that "It's as if I am the only one who's ever thought of themselves as the centre of this blue and green ball". The fate of ex-band members who have left, or have been sacked, is a matter of indifference to him ("They came, they saw... and now I no longer see them").The leitmotif of Renegade, if there is one, is surely `Je ne regrette rien'.
In the nice, polite world of alternative/'indie' rock Smith's fractious, unorthodox views can (occasionally) be refreshing. He is willing to be open and honest in his opinions about anything and everything, even if that offends. Speaking of The Fall's greatest champion, the late John Peel, he observes that he was "never a huge fan" of the DJ's radio shows, and "preferred it in the early 1970s". His criticisms of the The Clash's late front man Joe Strummer also highlight this plain-speaking. He argues, quite effectively, that "his politics were all over the place, bluster over substance". These and many other examples scattered through the book point to Smith's contrary spirit. As he observes in a moment of self-awareness, he is "trouble"; he is not "a fellow who can be reined in, given enough coercing". Perhaps this explains the dichotomy in the way he is received: he is perceived either as a misanthropic, reactionary drunk or as a national treasure.
Smith's hope with this autobiography was that it "turns out like Mein Kampf for the Hollyoaks generation". It fails in that grandiose aim. However, it is a diverting read which gives a number of interesting insights in to the psychology and philosophy of the man who was once humorously described by Echo and the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch as "the most balanced person in the world - he's got a chip on both shoulders'.
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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your money , 25 Jun 2008
Would suggest die hard Fall fans put their uncritical acclaim for M.E.S to one side & have an objective look at this book - its a bit of a stinker... sorry folks whilst he may be a left field British institution you're left with the feeling of someone cashing in on a publishing advance.
Smith spends the early part of the book going on about how much he loves writing - after 20/30 pages you start wondering then why its ghost written. Actaully its just a seris of repetetive monolues stiched together. As another reviewer has already said he obviously has no talent for prose - just as likely he lacks the ability or inclination to order his thoughts into anything much more than a megalomanics blinkered rant.
Strip way the rants about ex band members & you're left with a series of incohernet monlogues about nothing of any consequence cobbled together into a little more than a set of extended interviews that someone not under pressure to deliver a book would have heavily edited . Not being a massive Fall fan but having maintained a passing interest in M.E.S over 30 years or so mainly for his dogged intransigence I found this hugely dissapointing and didn't add anything to what anyone would have already known about him.
You can find an opiniated beligerent drunk with very little charisma in any pub you choose to walk into so you don't need to spend £15 to encounter one from the comfort of your armchair. Hope person who bought me this as a present isn't reading as don't want to appear ungrateful - there are many more books on offer far more deserving of your hard-earned.
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