Tuesday, September 3, 2013

THE BIG WHEEL by Bruce Thomas

Finished Tu 9/3/13

My post on Good Reads-

The book is written by the former bass player with Elvis Costello and The Attractions, and if you are looking for a behind the scenes 'tell all' of what it was like to be a member of one of the best and most influential rock'n'roll bands of any era, you will be disappointed. The band members names are never used ('the drummer', 'the singer', etc), and Thomas crafts a kind of fictionalized and highly personalized view of the music biz and his part in it. On the plus side, the book is very cleverly written, and his wry observations would be captivating even if he wasn't one of the foremost bass players in music, so maybe he should have written a straight up novel instead.  I guess I was looking for more of the 'inside scoop' on what it was like to be 'an Attraction', yet I couldn't help but enjoy Thomas's slightly surreal take on his professional life.

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