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Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith

Author: Mark E. Smith
Publisher: Viking
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł18.99~~
Buy New: Ł10.73
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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

7 reviews
Sales Rank: 127

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2

ISBN: 0670916749
EAN: 9780670916740
ASIN: 0670916749

Publication Date: April 24, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Stocked in the UK, originally sourced direct from the Publisher. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.

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Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Aspalls and The Fall, a deadly brew. May 14, 2008
Ive just come in from the garden on a particularly lovely May evening having finished both this biography and three bottles of Aspalls dry cider. (sorry if this lacks coherence)

I must admit to being quite partial to both of them in moderation. Whilst the cider was very good but nothing new I must admit that I was hoping I gain something new fom reading this book.....a different insight and to world of the Fall and Mr Smith. That didn't happen.

Somewhere around the half way point I couldn't help reading between the lines about all the musicians he's sacked, voting tory, etc, etc. At this he starts to become the grating, misanthropic, reactionary drunkard in the corner of the pub strungling with his false teeth. Sadly this side of him soon wears thin and my susequent interest in the book started to wain. But in the second half there are enough anecdotes of him pulling himself out of impending oblivion and serious scrapes to keep most readers hooked. I also enjoyed his Lady Di, Beckham, Elton John, New-Labour bashing.

I can't forget that this is the man who has given us Sparta, Hit the North, Mr Phamacist and dozens of other stunning, witty, and insightful records over years and years. The over-riding power of this book is that M.E.S is rather like the character of Johnny in the film Naked: the down-trodden, intelligent, dissatisfied outsider looking in on society and commenting on the obvious broken mess around us that most people accept or don't even see. The Fall made really wonderful music. There's much about the tenacity in his life lived through the tough times pretty well described in the book that informs and often powers the music of the Fall.

No great revelations here but it will be a very sad day when he stops.

3 out of 5 stars

Smell the whisky tang May 5, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is undeniably an entertaining read but the memory has taken a battering over the years. He comes out with some ridiculous stuff like "I paid all the band the same as U2 were getting" etc and banging on about others being sloppy and unprofessional. Half the the Fall concerts I've seen he's spent the gig forgetting words, walking off stage and twiddling amp knobs to no effect.
If you take his ramblings with a pinch of salt you'll find some hilarious moments; Japanese camp guard, Dad's advice and Vic and Bob's unexpected cameo.
Love the guy's music and glad he's doing what he's doing. Also glad I don't have to work with him.

5 out of 5 stars

Curmudgeon speaks ! May 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I devoured this in one sitting and loved every page of it. It'll never be thought of as a brilliant opus, but I feel sure I'll read it again very soon. I find myself agreeing with much of what he has to say. Nice to see that he isn't as one-sided in his attitudes as I previously suspected.

I could have read another couple of hundred words of it without trouble. Absorbing. Crucial. Significant.

Can't wait to hear his new CD.

5 out of 5 stars

The "SS Frappuccino" April 29, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

It's great - easily readable and very funny. There's musings on everything from Rigsby to Kurt Cobain, Knut Hamsun's train surfing habits ["it cleared his cough..."], very perceptive comments on Burroughs and Ginsberg, why New Labour's election footage will be seen as future Nazi propaganda, Lindsay Anderson films, the differences between tarot and poker... oh, and lots of tales about being [in] The Fall. His telling of the New York incarceration incident and 9/11 is as scary as "Cropdust".
Dylan's Chronicles was one of those rare rock bio's that's worth reading; this is even better.
All in all, a good week for Fall fans, this, and Imperial Wax Solvet, both corkers!

4 out of 5 stars

Mere Pseud Biography-ah April 28, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

I agree with the other gentleman's review...this ISN'T an autobiography, it's basically a collection of 'conversations' stuck together by a not so invisible ghost writer (previews in the Guardian/Observer suggested to me it was self-penned) it is a collection of ramblings about his life and gripes about ex band members (can you imagine working with him?!) some of it makes no sense what-so-ever (well, not to me)

That said, I devoured it in an afternoon, reading it with a frown and the occasional giggle. He is an intriguing character who has consistently gone against the musical grain for thirty years now, the music is always fresh and challenging as are a lot of his creative ideas. How many other carmudgeons can you think of who have penned avant-garde ballets or written plays about deceased popes?

So if you like the Fall and you've got a spare 15 stuffed round the back of the clock on the mantle-piece then buy the book!