Of autobiographies. Today, firmly in the middle, I saw: Ron Manager - Marvellous.

Marvellous.

Joe Jackson - Portsmouth just didn't understand me as I am a serious musician - I studied COMPOSITION you know - still, I got a shag. Eventually...

(Actually I really liked the JJ biog, it was very interesting!)

Which biography suggests he was bisexual?

I read Christopher Sandford's bio a few years ago, but I'm pretty sure there was nothing about gay sex in it.
Plenty about the misogynistic aspects of his character though.

is astounding. One of the few books of mine that has never migrated to the loft, charity shop or quiet room at work.
Infinitely sad though.

...should find a fairly united front. By all accounts (colleagues, associates, neighbours, people down his local) he was a thorougly bitter, unpleasant man. There was a fascinating Radio 4 doc about him a couple of years back, but I doubt there's a biography.

Right wing - tick
Sexist - tick
Vain - tick
Hypercondriac - tick
Bitchy - tick
Fascinating and highly recommended political memoirs - tick

Friend and I were discussing this at the weekend. Excellent biography written by someone who'd been there, done that, and lost the toes to prove it.

We also learn the intricacies of losing your virginity to a Birmingham prostitute called Corky.

Terrific book, mind you.

Dislikeable chancer and pompous windbag.

You have been warned.

Well worth a read ... Memoirs of a Geezer, or whatever it's called. He dismisses many of the musicians and celebs he has worked with, giving detailed accounts of their shortcomings .. "drummer couldn't keep time, had to send him up the road ..." but always follows it up with some redeeming feature .. "To be honest, he had a great sense of humour and taught me a lot about XYZ ..." And he follows up almost every one up with: " ...still see him from time to time, and we have a bit of a laugh." He comes across almost like a recurring character from The Fast Show. "That Jools Holland? Went on his show once. He's just a pub pianist, really. But he did introduce me to a great Algerian drummer ... I still bump into him from time to time and we have a friendly chat ..."

Could Sinead have been anymore sanctimonius? Good old Wobble saves the interview.

Here's a pissed Charles Hawtrey chatting to the great Roy Hudd.

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Mr Pooter? Hah - rank amateur!

I would recommend

Lemmy's autobio "White Line Fever": a hilarious, frank and intelligent memoir. The story of a hard case drug taker and rocker who somehow against the odds has become a sort of sage and icon for anyone who loves heavy duty rock'n'roll.

Slash's autobio: a lot more intelligent than I had expected. He's more than just a brain dead LA rock superstar with too much time, money and heroin on his hands. Indeed, he comes across as quite an articulate chap and serious musician. He is also quite balanced, and at times generous minded, in his comments about Axl Rose musical talents, considering their rather difficult history in the past 2 decades.

"Open Up and Bleed": Paul Trynka's bio of Iggy. Basically a well researched and compelling story of the man, his demons and redemption.

Keith Richards' book: in a word, unputdownable.

And, finally, of all the umpteen Bob Dylan bios, I rate Howard Sounes' "Down the Highway" as the best.

Both books stunningly honest - maybe even too honest. Read the titles and they are exactly what they say on the tin.

I recently read Robin Ince's Bad Book Club (I think he was a guest on the podcast).

He was particularly fascinated by the autobiographies of Don Estelle and Terry Major-Ball, both of which I'd love to read.

Also, I remember Danny Baker being grimly transfixed by Ed Stewart's autobiography. His review of it was very good.

Couple of good football autobiographies — those of Tony Adams and Tony Cascarino.

Who on Earth is Tom Baker? is very enjoyable and the audiobook version probably even better (obviously read by the great man himself).

I'm halfway through Keef's biog — very good.

"Ginger Geezer", Lucian Randall & Chris Welch's biography of Vivian Stanshall is a very good read. What a weird bloke.

Bill Drummond's "45" is pretty good.

Piers Paul Read's "Alec Guinness" is good.

Barry Miles' "Frank Zappa" is fascinating and as near to the truth as you'll get. Read "Electric Don Quixote" by Neil Slaven and "Dangerous Kitchen, The Subversive World Of Zappa" by Kevin Courrier too and top them off with "The Real Frank Zappa Book". Take all of them with a large pinch of salt, though. Frank was an exceedingly complex guy and a highly accomplished trickster.

Ian Carr's "Miles Davis, The Definitive Biography" is what it says on the cover but should be followed by "Miles, The Autobiography" for added colour. Don't read the autobiog first.

"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" by Warren Zevon's ex-wife Crystal is an amazing read. Zevon was a truly horrible person, probably, and yet his ex- still paints a somewhat sympathetic portrait of this deeply disturbed genius.

"Head-On/Repossessed" by Julian Cope is fantastic. He's not in the slightest afraid to show himself up being an utter ass an provides a totally unhinged romp through the parts of his career covered. Time he wrote another one.

If you can find them, read Deke Leonard's "Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics, The legend of Man - a rock'n'roll Band" and it's even better prequel "Maybe I Should've Stayed In Bed?, The Flip Side of the Rock'n'Roll Dream". Deke is a natural storyteller with an amazing way with words. The two funniest memoirs (of any kind) that I've ever read.

Finally, and this is almost definitely cheating, I offer Geoff Dyer's mesmerizing little book "But Beautiful", a collection of 8 fictionalised episodes in the lives of Jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Ben Webster, Chet Baker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Art Pepper. The quality of the writing is simply astounding and I was dismayed there wasn't any more when I reached the end of the book.

Hilarious. Read the first two sequels and I have numbers 4 and 5 on the shelf for my next long train journeys, but the original is a real treat.

Oliver Postgate's Book, Seeing Things is well worth your time.

Bob Monkhouse's autobiography is magnificent!

Monkhouse's book was fantastic. Very, very honest and superbly written. I found it moving, too.

Not quite a celebrity biog but Giles Smith's Lost in Music is a true classic. The Nik Kershaw chapter is extremely funny.

by John le Mesurier. Posthumously published, the last chapter is his widow Joan's attempt to complete the work. She relates a lovely story whereby le Mesurier had gone through the cross-country rail journey from hell. On arriving in London and meeting his wife, he saw a British Rail advertising poster of Jimmy Savile with his thumbs up. He glared at the picture and loudly said "cunt!"

As an added bonus, le Mesurier explains exactly how his name should be pronounced.

"A Kentish Lad" by Frank Muir is well-worth reading. I particularly enjoyed his pre-fame chapter when he was an aerial photographer for the Wartime RAF.

Conversely, I found Denis Norden's "Clips From A Life" a bit hard-going: it's a book of anecdotes, a few paragraphs each, no constant narrative. Very oddly written. (In fact, presented almost exactly like a television clip show in book form.)

Mentioned above: 'The Real Frank Zappa Book'.
Great bits (the chapter on session musicians/orchestras).
Lousy bits (the obsession with 'socking it to the man' by....erm....smoking cigarettes).
Read it in two hours flat though.

As a long time, hard-core, Stones fan I read Keith's "Life" with great interest. The accounts of his childhood were revealing and provided insights I was unaware of and the trip through his Stones life checked off all the stories of his (in)famous career this time , of course, coming straight from the man himself.

However, I was very disappointed in the book for the reasons expressed by Greil Marcus to Nick Kent as reported in a recent edition of The Word.

The whole thing reads like a transcript of one enormous Keith interview (and I've read a few in my time so I speak with some authority).

As Marcus points out, I doubt Keith put either pen to paper or hit a keyboard key in the writing of it. Further to that I would suggest ghost-writer James Fox did little other than transcribe what Keith reported to him (although the opening has an ersatz HST "F&LILV" feel to it). As a written recording of an oral history it's fine but I hesitate to call it "writing" in the accepted sense. Again as Marcus suggested; it's no "Chronicles" nor as carefully considered word wise as Chuck Berry's autobiography appears to be.

The only autobiography not to get a slagging in Private Eye.

Just finished book two and he *still* hasn't got to Lily Savage. No ghostwriters involved, just Paul banging away until he knocks one out. Fnarr.

It's a not a deep read, but it's very funny and evocative.

Currently reading Megadeth frontman and ex-Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine's book. I like both Megadeth and Metallica although I find Mustaine a ridiculous individual. The whole book revolves around Mustaine sniping at Metallica's Hetfield and Ulrich and his constant search for lead guitarists and drummers. Both those roles are generally filled with incredibly unsuitable musicians who have even bigger appetites for Class A drugs than Mustaine himself. There are some very funny lines in it. Well, they're funny to me anyway. What makes them even funnier is that they're not meant to be funny. Like this one:
"In exchange for free dope, Willow would give me free records. We'd smoke the dope and listen to the records while having sex in my apartment. Not a terrible arrangement, all things considered."
I'll leave to your imaginations what Willow's regular boyfriend used to like to do with A1 steak sauce (which I'm presuming is like HP)

The Tracks Of My Years is the dullest book I've ever read. I finished it out of sheer perversity and felt strangely proud of myself. I also felt proud of Ken for being so dull and yet likeable. An odd achievement but an achievement nevertheless.

... Barry Humphries' autobiography. A very good read indeed and not at all like I imagined. Good enough to win the the R.J. Ackerley prize for autobiography. Very funny.

...I want to read Ed Stewart and Don Estelle's biographies now.

Mr Baker's review of Stewpot's book reminds me of a review of Tim Lovejoy's "Lovejoy on Football" from [football magazine] When Saturday Comes. Not strictly a biography, but sod it.

http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/145/29/

Also not strictly a biography, it may interest some viewers to read "Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ" by Rik Mayall. Sorry, THE Rik Mayall. Utterly mental, but strangely readable. It also has a few pages "written" by Kevin Turvey. If you remember A Kick up the Eighties, that should be recommendation enough.

Another football biog is "Back from the Brink" by Paul McGrath. As a Villa fan, I'm biased, but it really is self-laceratingly honest about a troubled man with a great talent. I'd even go so far as to say you don't need to be a football fan to enjoy it. Reading about how he slashed his wrists in front of his son (not on purpose) is particulary sad.