One Man Band gathers strength page by page. This is by far the funniest volume of the three, and in some ways the most revelatory. The more vulnerable Welles becomes, the more vivid Callow’s writing. The fear was always that a description of Welles’ later years would be depressing. But this is that rare thing: a book about decline which is actually exhilarating

A biography as huge as if it had been fed a Welles-style diet of roasted chicken and foie gras

Callow continuously strikes to the quick and the essential in Welles

Impeccably detailed research peppered with anecdotes and […] his witty conversational style

Compulsive reading.

The third volume has a tremendous panache, matching Welles’s own bravura and extraordinary energy, giving a vivid account of his personality and his productions.

A novel as exhaustive and exhilarating as it’s subject.

Simon Callow probes in comprehensive and penetrating detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century.

A pretty epic survey about his [Welles’] stupendous life.

Callow probes in detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century.

Epic survey of Welles’ life and work, Simon again probes in comprehensive and penetrating detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century… The book shows what it was like to be around Welles, and, with a precision rarely attempted before, what it was like to be him.

It’s a great story in print and Callow’s passion made it riveting on stage… Somehow conjuring up all the extravagance that flowed from Orson Welles’s gifted imagination.

In every way, Callow has captured his subject as he wants him.

Biographical subject and author have found their perfect match.

One Man Band rumbles along… Welles in his middle years is a more engaging prospect than most artists at a similar point. He has been lucky to have Callow as a biographer, balancing warmth with skepticism, fondness with reproof.

One of the most gripping stories of the Cold War.

Monstrous behaviour and vanity suffuse this oral history of Hollywood’s troubled dynasties… Tragedy lurks around the manicured lawns and marbled halls.

The anecdotes come so thick and fast it’s like being machine-gunned with marshmallows. Gradually, though, the mood darkens, the catalogue of vulgarity, cruelty and insanity takes its toll. While the Technicolor tour is relentlessly fascinating, it is reassuring to be shown in black and white that, in La-La Land at least, with the millions comes endless misery.

Jean Stein’s approach to family history is unconventional… Stein weaves them together with immense narrative skill.

The stories are mesmerising… Great for people who want to see beyond the world of make-believe.

A very dark oral history of Hollywood… mesmerising.

Writers like Costello because he's always taken writing seriously. That's obvious to anyone who pays attention to his lyrics, and it's even more apparent to anyone who reads Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, his charming new autobiography. The book is refreshingly free of salacious gossip and needless name-dropping; it's an intelligent self-assessment from a musician who went from angry young man to elder statesman of pop ... a defiantly fun autobiography.

This is a big book, literally, by one of the best rockers in the business. Given the singular, and eclectic, nature of his career, it is no surprise that Elvis Costello's anecdotal autobiography is an idiosyncratic journey through his music and the people and places that have inspired him ... A must for Costello fans everywhere.

Costello's prose cuts with the same spiky wit and observational power as his well-known lyrics ... packed with great lines, vivid anecdotes ... a treat for his many fans.

Plenty of tales to keep the pages turning. Readers will be fascinated by Costello's stories...his book feels like a discussion between friends over a pint.

Often brilliant and wholly idiosyncratic

Revelatory, evocatively crafted, [and] highly entertaining

A winningly droll and good-natured guide to his life and many works throughout

Punctuated with sardonic and self-aware truths

Vivid ... It's not surprising that one of rock's most literate songwriters would pen such a deep, free-form memoir

Elvis Costello delivers an impeccably detailed autobiography. He's often as brilliant at turning a phrase in prose as he is in his lyrics

Enthralling ... This is family history as musical encyclopedia, and to listen to Costello recount his life is to be buttonholed by an enthusiastic fan. Fandom for Costello is inseparable from the compulsion to write songs and, it seems, to understand his own life ... Fortunately for the fan of Costello's music the topic of discussion is often his own songs, and he is, unsurprisingly, a witty and eloquent guide

[Costello] pens books with the same clever writing that he uses in song

Costello['s] book is capacious, clever, and full of heart and soul

The story unfolds like a movie that jumps across time, more thematic than chronological, as boyhood anecdotes and obsessions intersect with mature songs and adult reckoning.... The book doubles as a selective mini-history of 20th century music, as told by a discerning guide. He addresses artists both towering (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash) and relatively unheralded (David Ackles, Robert Wyatt) with a fan's affection and music scholar's insight

With an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation for, and deep love of, music, and with an expressive power and heart, Costello's memoir will take its place in the highest echelons of the genre

His book is almost essential as an idiosyncratic history of 20th-century pop music

Studded with entertaining anecdotes