Well, no book here yet, contacted Amazon UK and they said the item "got lost" and they refunded my order. (The tracking number they gave me didn't work at all and the only status update under "my orders" was that it had been picked up by the carrier on September 16)

I had to place a new order, this time I tried their expedited delivery - let's see what happens.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-27 18:09 by Topi.

I ordered mine on German Amazon on July 12th.
I it says it will ship to Finland around 29 October.

Seems like they sold more than expected

Yeah, doesn't look good with the "expedited delivery" either - after having placed the new order yesterday, I have yet to get a dispatch notification. Fired up the chatbot and it said:

"Looks like your order is now being packed for shipment and we expect it to get to you by Friday, 30 Sep"

Yeah, right...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-28 09:58 by Topi.

I've seen the book in the book store already. Two weeks. Here in The Netherlands. I was suprised, because I thought it would appear somewhere in October.

I was browsing thru the pages; awesome photos, fonts were pretty large, and the book wasn't that thick. Maybe I will buy it someday.

Quote
DiamondDog7

I've seen the book in the book store already. Two weeks. Here in The Netherlands. I was suprised, because I thought it would appear somewhere in October.

Must have been the UK-Edition which was released on 15-Sep-2022. The US-Edition will be released on 11-Oct-2022 and the Dutch Edition on 19-Oct-2022 - [iorr.org] .

Quote
Irix

Quote
DiamondDog7

I've seen the book in the book store already. Two weeks. Here in The Netherlands. I was suprised, because I thought it would appear somewhere in October.

Must have been the UK-Edition which was released on 15-Sep-2022. The US-Edition will be released on 11-Oct-2022 and the Dutch Edition on 19-Oct-2022 - [iorr.org] .

Awesome!!!! Then I will wait for the Dutch version! Thanks, Irix! ;-)

My copy now underway from Spain (I guess Amazon UK has a warehouse there?) on DHL. ETA tomorrow by end of day. So maybe I'll have to take back what I said in my previous post.

Everybody’s darling: Why the music world loved Charlie Watts

Michael Dwyer
September 28, 2022



BIOGRAPHY
Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Life, the Times and the Rolling Stones
Paul Sexton
HarperCollins, $34.99

It’s his granddaughter Charlotte who identifies Charlie Watts’ born “grandpa energy”. Applied to any other Rolling Stone, it would be the standard ageist put-down they’ve weathered since the Sex Pistols were small. The way in which their muted, dapper, deadpan drummer made it a lifelong virtue is surely unique in the world of rock’n’roll.

With forewords by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and new interviews with family, friends and other surviving Stones, the late backbeat maestro’s “authorised biography” is hardly apt to fossick in the darkness that consumes countless other books where he plays a supporting role.

Presented with a virtual vacuum of personal drama, the worst you might say about British music journalist/ Stones confidant Paul Sexton’s hugely affectionate portrait is that it often feels like it might just drift away on a cloud of warm fuzziness.

Snappy dresser, obsessive collector, thoughtful gift giver, jazz aficionado, horse and dog lover, gifted artist, impeccably modest musician, besotted husband, dad and grandpa … this Charlie Watts isn’t even the curmudgeon that he’s sometimes made out to be, with his apparently bored soft-focus gaze and pithy media quips about “Five years working, 20 years hanging around”.

Yes, there are due mentions of his utter disinterest in his band’s recorded product, and his renowned reluctance to leave his beloved wife, Shirley, their hundreds of Arabian stallions and stately home in Devon for yet another very long and lucrative world tour.

But more surprising themes of Sexton’s book are the enormous pride and warmth Watts felt for the band he played in from January 1963 until August 2019, and the crucial creative engagement he shared with Jagger in particular as artist and designer of logos, staging and album covers.

Young Charlie’s early love of Billy Eckstein, Johnny Ray and Nat King Cole and his first serious gig with London blues instigator Alexis Korner at the fabled Ealing Jazz Club set the pre-Stones tone for a life always enraptured by music. Jagger, Richards and others take turns enshrining detailed first impressions; “this left hand on a perfect back beat” and the instant conviction “that this is the man we’ve got to have”.

The story arc from the brutal grind of Britain ’64 to the druggy pits of Cote D’Azur ’71 and onwards to the epic stadia of modern times is well-worn, to say the least. Sexton doesn’t miss a beat of it, but from the more sober and workmanlike perspective of the backline it breezes by with a bare minimum of artistic analysis and a refreshing distance from the chaos and conflict of legend.

Watts’ grandpa energy is manifest in hotel sock drawers arranged in strict colour order, late night walks alone through deserted cities, cordial drop-ins to fellow band members’ hotel rooms and utter refusal of any form of idol worship that might jeopardise his route to the next art shop, record store, stud farm, cricket match or daily phone call home.

Sexton’s style is necessarily anecdotal, as major upheavals fail to materialise and grieving colleagues queue up with fond recollections. Well, OK, there are famously two dramatic incidents to the Watts legend but there’s little to say about a wealthy man’s brief, private lapse into drug addiction during a spell out of the spotlight, especially when he pulls himself out of it sans rehab or tragedy.

And the one about punching his lead singer on the nose in a New York hotel room falls a little flat when Jagger simply denies it ever happened.

nstead, we get to marvel at small, sweet incidents and peccadillos that define a more intriguing distinction. The way the master of feel instantly knows someone has been touching his drums after an engineer applies a teeny quarter-turn to his snare skin, for example.

Or the time in front of a squillion-strong crowd when he beckons his drum tech Don McAulay in the middle of Waiting on a Friend not for technical assistance but to ask after his ailing father.

Of course, this is the only kind of book that could emerge from the inner sanctum so soon after the passing of such a universally adored musician. But with ego and decadence effectively subtracted from the legend, it’s impossible not to be moved by the true backbone of the Rolling Stones operation: a genuine and ever-expanding family bond that relishes its opulence, yes, but never at the expense of somebody’s birthday.

The rest of us can take comfort forever in the records that he never listened to. But to fully appreciate the grandpa energy enveloping all those here that he loved so dearly, from the lead singer he probably never actually punched to the granddaughter who made his final tours such a joy, makes the loss of Charlie Watts almost too much to bear.

[www.smh.com.au]

Here's a tip if you live in the US and can't wait to read this book. Order from amazon.co.uk - I got mine today.

My book arrived yesterday - about 48 hours from the time I placed the order. So in the end, hats off to Amazon UK. No customs duties either since they shipped it from Spain instead of the UK.

Looking forward to opening it later this weekend.

Someone know if the
book will have an italian edition ? Thanks

Quote
INDIANO
Someone know if the
book will have an italian edition ? Thanks

Ma si, certo.

Well we all love Charlie but I found the book pretty lightweight. Think “Ronnie” rather than “Life”. Not that I approve of that work of fantasy but it’s fairly in depth.

going to get it if at barnes and nobles...

I downloaded to my kindle. Few weeks ago, it’s a great read.

"punching his lead singer on the nose in a New York hotel room"

Wait, wasn't it supposed to have taken place in Amsterdam and according to Keith he had to grab Mick to prevent from falling in a canal? Where did that story first appear? In the Bockris book? Haha, like Wyman used to say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story ;-)

Anyway the review above doesn't really serve as much of an incentive to read the book...

--------------
IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

my copy has some of the pages out of order

I'm currently 216 pages in, where they were making Bridges to Babylon.

An enjoyable read, and I have discovered a lot of things about Charlie I never knew.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-10-16 16:18 by Topi.

I had the weirdest experience with this. If anyone else has posted about this, I apologize. I ordered the "paperback" version of the book through Amazon. I should have been suspicious because it was rather inexpensive. When it arrived, the cover was totally normal but the inside of the book was ONLY page after page of lined paper. Wtf? I'm returning it tomorrow and going to a bookstore to buy it.

Quote
gotdablouse
"punching his lead singer on the nose in a New York hotel room"

Wait, wasn't it supposed to have taken place in Amsterdam and according to Keith he had to grab Mick to prevent from falling in a canal? Where did that story first appear? In the Bockris book? Haha, like Wyman used to say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story ;-)

Anyway the review above doesn't really serve as much of an incentive to read the book...

From 5.40 according Charlie's own words it was in Amsterdam

Finished the book this week, good read for sure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-10-23 18:46 by Topi.

Feel like I've read it now.

Excellent book the man the legendary Charlie watts

[lithub.com]

Quote
harleybla
[lithub.com]

Thanks for posting, a great read. Quite the individual. I can see why he loved collecting rare things. He was a bit of a collector's item himself.
Taking his new pair of shoes for a walk, LOL.

There’s a great story in the book about the recording of the title track of “Some Girls.” Chris Kimsey: “Mick had so many verses about so many women …”

Mick asked Kimsey to edit down the 15-minute track to four minutes. “What verses do you want to use?”

“Oh, you can pick ‘em.”

I want to hear the unabridged version!

Quote
MelBelli
There’s a great story in the book about the recording of the title track of “Some Girls.” Chris Kimsey: “Mick had so many verses about so many women …”

Mick asked Kimsey to edit down the 15-minute track to four minutes. “What verses do you want to use?”

“Oh, you can pick ‘em.”

I want to hear the unabridged version!

+1

Quote
rebelhipi
I ordered mine on German Amazon on July 12th.
I it says it will ship to Finland around 29 October.

Seems like they sold more than expected

Still not even dispatched.

Quote
rebelhipi

Quote
rebelhipi
I ordered mine on German Amazon on July 12th.
I it says it will ship to Finland around 29 October.

Seems like they sold more than expected

Still not even dispatched.

Now my order got cancelled due to lack of availability.

Quote
rebelhipi

Now my order got cancelled due to lack of availability.

Maybe the eBook (Apple, Kindle) or the Audiobook (Apple, Audible) could help in the meantime - [iorr.org] .