What do you think?
Rate this book
Manic Street Preachers
The first English language study of one of America's most controversial living filmmakers. Nick Johnstone combines insight into a troubled and private man with a detailed critical overview of Ferrara's career to date. Abel King of New York is a long overdue critique of one of modern cinema's darkest maverick talents.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 7, 2010
One aspect of Mick Middles' biography of the Manic Street Preachers which particularly stood out to me was his constant comparison of the Manics and Richey Edwards (rhythm guitarist and lyricist) to Mark E. Smith and The Fall. I suppose this is because I didn't really see the purpose of constantly making this connection. As far as I know the manics have had little to do with The Fall, the only mention of them has been by the bands bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire who is a fan. So while I understand possibly drawing a connection once or twice to the similarities between the bands, the constant comparisons seem to me to be the author looking for connections where there is none. Often it feels like he makes mention of The Fall or Mark E. Smith for the sake of mentioning The Fall or Mark E. Smith - not to actually highlight any particular point or idea. Not to mention there are so many other references he could've made between Richey and various other people - writers, musicians - which only furthers the feeling that he's comparing them for the sake of comparing them.
One thing this manics biography does much better than some of the other ones, such as Martin Clarke's Sweet Venom, is that majority of the time Middles gets his facts right. The only main error I found was his assertion that Richey's self harming only began from the 4real incident when it has been documented that his self harming began long before he ever joined the band.
However while Middles did a good job with ensuring he got his information correct he did a horrible job at checking the lyrics he used. It baffles me how he could get them wrong considering that they're printed in the actual lyric booklets.
Finally the main problem with this biography is that Middles has no bibliography and states no sources at all. While some of the quotations and anecdotes are recognisable from various interviews some were entirely new to me and so this makes me question their authenticity and credibility.
Overall it wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't particularly enlightening either. Probably best suited for those new to the band - for established fans, I wouldn't bother reading.
One thing this manics biography does much better than some of the other ones, such as Martin Clarke's Sweet Venom, is that majority of the time Middles gets his facts right. The only main error I found was his assertion that Richey's self harming only began from the 4real incident when it has been documented that his self harming began long before he ever joined the band.
However while Middles did a good job with ensuring he got his information correct he did a horrible job at checking the lyrics he used. It baffles me how he could get them wrong considering that they're printed in the actual lyric booklets.
Finally the main problem with this biography is that Middles has no bibliography and states no sources at all. While some of the quotations and anecdotes are recognisable from various interviews some were entirely new to me and so this makes me question their authenticity and credibility.
Overall it wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't particularly enlightening either. Probably best suited for those new to the band - for established fans, I wouldn't bother reading.
Displaying 1 of 1 review