In Review

21 November 2008 23:35 BST

Bit of a Blur by Alex James

Published by Little Brown, out now, 274 pages, £16.99.

In a nutshell…

Funny, outrageous, creative, enlightening, fulfilling

What's it all about?

Bit of a Blur could stand for so many things in this book; for starters Blur the band are very much the distant backdrop of Alex James's memoir and also the events come so quick and fast it will leave you feeling like his life is simply a blur.

This is a very much a personal Alex James book, focusing on what the bass player got up to and if he enjoyed his guitar parts on She's So High. The band feature more heavily during the first part of the book; perhaps signifying that when the drink, the women and the numerous foreign trips kicked in, the band really did take a back seat.

Rock 'n' roll is not a complicated enigma, it is simply a way of life that drives one to excess. This can be drugs, booze, women, fast cars or vegan food, whatever a rock star does, it always has some level of excess. If they don't, they're not rock stars.

James paints a wonderful rock 'n' roll picture that manages to conjure up the feelings of shock and surprise at suddenly being famous, followed by the fun you have at the medium point and the sick feeling you get when you reach the top. For when James was in the bar every day, drunk every day, sleeping with a different women every day; that was when he looks back now and thinks his life was at a low. Funny thing, rock 'n' roll.

Who's it by?

James was the bass player in Blur, one of the most important bands of the Britpop era. He met Graham Coxon, the band's guitarist, at Goldsmiths College and they eventually bumped into Damon Albarn, who doesn't change throughout the entirety of James's memoir. Along with Dave Rowntree, Blur was formed and the band went about producing an OK first album followed by some confusing American tours.

Then came Modern Life is Rubbish – their classic – followed by a string of hits and chart battles with Oasis. Before James knew it, he was in one of the biggest bands on the planet.

Since recording Blur's last album, Think Tank, James has married, had three children and set up a life at a country farm. But this book ends with Coxon turning up with a shiny guitar, showing a keenness to get things going again. It seems likely that James might soon be back in the circus of a rock 'n' roll band.

As an example

"On the left, with the girl, it was looking quite good. She said she lived in Richmond. When I woke up I was in her bedroom. I was emptying my bladder all over her dressing table. People had told me about this kind of thing. It had never happened to me before, though. She woke up and asked what I was doing. I said it looked like I'd made a big mistake."

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

They should make a documentary about Blur without the other Britpop nonsense. Oasis have done it. Like a road movie of one of the band's last tours. Alex James' nights of booze would be quite the ticket.

What the others say

"Evidently, though, what interests James above all else is women. Beautiful women if possible, but he doesn't seem to be terribly fussy about who he jumps into bed with." – The Guardian.

"James' mastery of it all is total – he's a natural writer – but it can make him sound glib and unreflective. This is a shame as his judgements are usually astute." – Time Out London.

So is it any good?

Bit of a Blur is the perfect 'time in a band' book; tying together the booze and romps with a few gigs and feeling bad for cheating on your girlfriend again, and again. It has its sleazy moments and at times James paints an ugly picture of himself when the beer made him bloated and he sat in the Groucho club sleeping with people he didn't know.

His discussions about Blur are minimal at times, but precise and interesting at others. "We recorded Modern Life is Rubbish at Maison Rouge, mainly with Stephen Street" along with "Modern Life is Rubbish is my favourite Blur record" is about all the information you get on their second album. But sometimes James provides a cracking insight, describing what he though of Albarn when he met him and how a band actually records a single these days.

What James has managed to do incredibly well is make you feel like you've been through a million experiences in a second and you cannot remember a thing – just like the hapless bassist himself. The trips to New York when he lost his shoes, or trying to snog Marianne Faithful are all written like a daze, while his time in the Cotswolds with his wife and learning to fly are full of clarity and articulate in every way imaginable.

Perhaps saying he writes little about Blur is too harsh. Albarn comes out of the book as an argumentative, arrogant but clearly talented front man who has his crazy moments while Coxon seems quiet, moody but brilliant at the guitar – James must be doing something right in his descriptions, subtle as they are.

James has led a life that only people in a Britpop band could lead, it's money taking a man from the squat to the best hotel in town because they look scruffy and had the right tunes.

The recording of Think Tank, which saw Graham Coxon depart the band, is also well told. It depicts James, in all his chilled-out eccentricity, flying to Marrakech to make a record with two of his mates; simple as that.

The turn-around which James experiences, mainly through meeting his wife Claire, is a fulfilling tale and is a remarkable end to a story that hopefully is not over quite yet.

8/10

Karl Pike