Phil Collins - Not dead yet, but a sour taste in the mouth.

** spoiler alert ** When it came to music, I think I was quite a late bloomer. I was 14 when I first heard a piece of music that prickled my interest. I also know the exact place. It was late summer 1987, we were returning from a family holiday in Majorca (my parents, my elder sister and younger brother). I can't remember too much of the actual holiday, but what I can remember is disembarking the Monarch airways plane at Gatwick airport. As we exited the plane an epic piece of music was playing over the planes speakers. Apart from 'that sounds cool' I thought no more of if. Then about a week later the same piece of music seeped it's way upstairs from our lounge stereo. I rushed downstairs and my dad was playing a cassette tape recorded from the radio of Genesis live at Wembley stadium (including radio presenter interruptions - the done thing in the day). The song was 'The Brazilian' an instrumental track from their last album 'Invisible Touch'. My dad wasn't particularly enamoured but I was hooked.

Over the next few months I set about finding out more about this band and brought every album I could find in the local second hand music shops. Be it Phil Collins era or Peter Gabriel era, it didn't matter. I had found a BAND, and for me it has always been THE BAND. I followed all of the band members solo careers and have read every book written on them. I also have a clear memory of buying their final album We can't dance (not including 1998's Calling all Stations - also excellent) and the single 'No son of mine' receiving regular airplay on Radio 1! Those were the days...

So it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I approached this biography from Phil Collins. I pretty much knew the history of the band and his solo career and the majority of the first half of the book follow the familiar story threads I knew; Joined an established band as a young drummer; took over as lead singer when Peter Gabriel left; Genesis got bigger; solo career launched after 'Face Value'; got really big; sold out stadiums; won an Oscar and then popularity waned during the 1990's. All of that is here and described in a cheery breezy manner. There is some great nostalgia - especially for his band mates Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks - and some very frank memories of his failed relationships.

This is where I started to struggle. The whole book is written with the same breezy, cheeky chappie nature which is fine for the rose tinted memories of his music and career. But when he talks about his broken marriages, alcoholism and the effects this all has on his children, it is still with this breezy tone. As if to say 'this is me, this is what happened, get over it'. He does take the time to apologise for these actions, but for me these passages on his personal life begin to grate and after finishing I am left with a sour taste in the mouth. It will never take away the enjoyment I have of the music, but rather than setting the record straight, it kind of confirms a lot of the bad press he had during the late 1990's.

There are some great funny moments, and these usually revolve around his attempts at a film career. Be it left on the cutting room floor on 'A hard days night' and 'Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang', or a clearly ego driven Dustin Hoffman cutting his scene in 'Hook' to barely a few seconds.

What does also come across is the great warmth he has for his close musical friends; Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Sting, George Harrison and the singer he replaced in Genesis, Peter Gabriel. Unashamedly he admits to being a complete workaholic - moving from album to tour to producer with barely a break in between. It does show the stark reality of what it takes to maintain a high profile career and the impact it has on your friends and family.

It is a good book and it does shed some more light on parts of his life I wasn't so familiar with. The music was (and will continue to be) great. But unfortunately the sour taste still remains.

Not Dead Yet: The Memoir