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Silver Dagger
For our non UK members it should be pointed out that Peter Hitchens is a firebrand reactionary who the right wing Daily Mail wheel out to fire up their right wing middle class readers. He's a tosser of the highest order.
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ablett
Well said Silver Dagger. Mr Hitchens has some of the most ridiculous opinions in print.
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ablett
Well said Silver Dagger. Mr Hitchens has some of the most ridiculous opinions in print.
Is he related to Christopher?
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StonesTod
always thot his bro, christopher, had an uncanny resemblance to our own gazza.
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StonesTod
always thot his bro, christopher, had an uncanny resemblance to our own gazza.
F**k, I hope not. the poor guy's as baldy as an egg these days and looks about 70.
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Ferret
Bullshit article by an absolute @#$%&. Such a load of right-wing pap.
That's one of the best reviews I've read so far about this book. Kind of covers it in a nutshell.Quote
proudmary
David Sinclair - review
The Guardian, Saturday 18 December 2010
The memoirs of a wizened rock god turned out to be one of the publishing sensations of the year. Life (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20) by Keith Richards with James Fox is a startlingly candid account of one man's largely successful attempt to indulge in hitherto unimagined extremes of narcotic excess while somehow holding down a job in the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world. With such a fund of dramatic material at his disposal, Richards does not disappoint in the telling of his tale. Run-ins with law enforcement agencies on the one hand, and drug dealers on the other, are described with a nonchalant swagger. Unexplained car crashes, mysterious fires in hotels and houses, lurid sexual betrayals, fights, shootings and deaths occur against a rolling backdrop of epic drink and drug binges. There is also a lot of serious consideration given over to the subject of music – everything from fascinating insights into the songwriting process that produced so many monumental hits to more specialised explanations of the minutiae of open-tuning guitar techniques.
Lucid and unusually well researched for this kind of book, Life is a compelling read on every level. It is also revealing in unintended ways. Richards is nothing if not comfortable in his own skin, and the way in which he blithely recounts so many troubling, even macabre episodes, as if they were simple mishaps that occurred through no real fault of his own, becomes faintly jarring after a while. Sleeping with a loaded gun under his pillow? Threatening a taxi driver with a knife? Turning up blind drunk to meet his prospective in-laws for the first time and smashing a guitar on their dinner table? Hey, that's Life.
The latter part of the memoir is driven to an unhealthy degree by his antipathy towards Mick Jagger, his songwriting partner of almost 50 years. Richards accuses Jagger of vanity and disloyalty, while in the same pages recounting how he bedded Jagger's girlfriend Marianne Faithfull under the singer's nose and casting withering aspersions on his manhood. Jagger is no saint. But you end up feeling that he must be blessed with unusual reserves of stoicism to have put up with Richards's outrageously self-absorbed behaviour and incessant needling over such a long period of time.
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sweetcharmedlifeThat's one of the best reviews I've read so far about this book. Kind of covers it in a nutshell.Quote
proudmary
David Sinclair - review
The Guardian, Saturday 18 December 2010
The memoirs of a wizened rock god turned out to be one of the publishing sensations of the year. Life (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20) by Keith Richards with James Fox is a startlingly candid account of one man's largely successful attempt to indulge in hitherto unimagined extremes of narcotic excess while somehow holding down a job in the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world. With such a fund of dramatic material at his disposal, Richards does not disappoint in the telling of his tale. Run-ins with law enforcement agencies on the one hand, and drug dealers on the other, are described with a nonchalant swagger. Unexplained car crashes, mysterious fires in hotels and houses, lurid sexual betrayals, fights, shootings and deaths occur against a rolling backdrop of epic drink and drug binges. There is also a lot of serious consideration given over to the subject of music – everything from fascinating insights into the songwriting process that produced so many monumental hits to more specialised explanations of the minutiae of open-tuning guitar techniques.
Lucid and unusually well researched for this kind of book, Life is a compelling read on every level. It is also revealing in unintended ways. Richards is nothing if not comfortable in his own skin, and the way in which he blithely recounts so many troubling, even macabre episodes, as if they were simple mishaps that occurred through no real fault of his own, becomes faintly jarring after a while. Sleeping with a loaded gun under his pillow? Threatening a taxi driver with a knife? Turning up blind drunk to meet his prospective in-laws for the first time and smashing a guitar on their dinner table? Hey, that's Life.
The latter part of the memoir is driven to an unhealthy degree by his antipathy towards Mick Jagger, his songwriting partner of almost 50 years. Richards accuses Jagger of vanity and disloyalty, while in the same pages recounting how he bedded Jagger's girlfriend Marianne Faithfull under the singer's nose and casting withering aspersions on his manhood. Jagger is no saint. But you end up feeling that he must be blessed with unusual reserves of stoicism to have put up with Richards's outrageously self-absorbed behaviour and incessant needling over such a long period of time.
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proudmary
Jagger is no saint. But you end up feeling that he must be blessed with unusual reserves of stoicism to have put up with Richards's outrageously self-absorbed behaviour and incessant needling over such a long period of time.
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proudmary
Jagger is no saint. But you end up feeling that he must be blessed with unusual reserves of stoicism to have put up with Richards's outrageously self-absorbed behaviour and incessant needling over such a long period of time.
Hello...I am from the future. That line could be used to describe Mick Jagger's treatment of Keith in his own autobiography.
See you in 2015.
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phd
Thanks for the critics of The Guardian. Agree, it's one of the best. Serious papers mean usually serious job.
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bmuseed
Having known Keith during the early years..
Whether somebody quotes you or not. Plenty of lurkers out there reading always.Quote
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phd
Thanks for the critics of The Guardian. Agree, it's one of the best. Serious papers mean usually serious job.
Thanks for thanks. It's nice to have feedback. Sometimes I have the feeling that I post just for myself and nobody pays attention, you know what I mean?
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sweetcharmedlifeWhether somebody quotes you or not. Plenty of lurkers out there reading always.Quote
proudmaryQuote
phd
Thanks for the critics of The Guardian. Agree, it's one of the best. Serious papers mean usually serious job.
Thanks for thanks. It's nice to have feedback. Sometimes I have the feeling that I post just for myself and nobody pays attention, you know what I mean?