Philip Norman's biography "Mick Jagger" was reviewed in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet today. The headline is "Biography about Jagger doesn't say much". Critic Clara Törnvall says "650 pages about a boring stategist and meanie who never reveals anything about himself". She goes on "... my collected impression is that of an irresponsible, empty and quite immature personality". And adds " a Stones fan does best avoiding this book...". Here is the link (in Swedish): [www.aftonbladet.se]

I'll give this another try...

The reviewer seems to have no sympathy for the little devil.

I've read the book. It was ok, but not that special. The last two or three chapters were written with a hurry. Little details and there aren't specific stories about some songs.

Some sarcastic remarks here and there about Jagger. Philip Norman's writing isn't that good. Long sentences and sometimes unrelevant.

This book is ok, but not that special.

It is to Mick's advantage that the less we know of him, the better. If we cannot quite pin him down, all the more easy for him to keep reinventing himself. He was a middle class boy who ascended to [landed] gentry, and as such, comes across in this role as something of a rogue. While embracing the latest trends, he keeps his arms tightly clutched around the past--seemingly right at home and current in 2012, but aping the look of forever 1969. He claims not to remember the past, but he is consigned to remember all the well-known songs from his past. He likes not to be reminded of where he comes from, but through the old songs will always remind you of where you were. He's always had aspirations to be an actor, but has yet to fulfill those in the perfect role [except, arguably, to devilish effect in Performance]. Thus, he'll don any number of roles in his ongoing public life--the ladies man, the Cockney rebel, the gentry knight, all packaged in a look that never changes, a familiar famous portrait spanning all the ages. "He's a great bunch of guys," Keef once remarked. That's about all we really need to know.

chris andersons jagger,is a great read.