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Sound Bites
Sound Bites
Oct 16, 2024 4:51 AM

Author:Alex Kapranos

Sound Bites

In September 2005, Alex Kapranos began writing about what he ate while touring the world with the rock band Franz Ferdinand. The writing is as much about where he eats and the people he eats with as the unusual flavours he tastes on the road.

Whether it’s munching donuts with cops in Brooklyn, swallowing bull’s balls with the band in Buenos Aires or queuing for a saveloy in South Shields, these are surprising and vivid snapshots of life on the road.

Funny, poignant, sickening or sexual depending on the situation, the material, both new and previously published in the Guardian, is fascinating and entertaining.

Reviews

A great concept and an interesting read ... and I'm flattered!

—— Paul Weller

This is a wonderful account of an adolescence and an obsession. It is extraordinarily frank, often painful, frequently very moving, and, above all, consistently hilarious.

—— David Nobbs

A charming book packed with musical nostalgia, embarrassing misadventure and formative drinking experiences. Fans of Andrew Collins and Nick Hornby will approve

—— Q

The Modfather fizzes with nail-biting obsession, heartbreak and ear ticklingly funny adolescent misunderstandings

—— MOJO

Enjoyably revelatory and very good fun

—— Observer

An illuminating, very readable study of the essentially hapless, frequently humiliating and often hilarious nature of media stardom today

—— Evening Standard

A thoroughly enjoyable read

—— Sun

Engrossing...entertaining and deeply affecting, a remembrance of a time when theatre in Britain actually mattered

—— Alan Taylor , Sunday Herald

Heilpern is sharp, gossipy and good fun, and he honours the best of Osborne without disguising the worst

—— Blake Morrison , Guardian

A rip-roaring account of early struggles, huge triumphs, fraught marriages, friends and lovers abused, money wasted and, finally, health and talent evaporated

—— Jane Edwardes , Time Out

Both revelatory and disturbing. It paints a portrait of an English writer who is as complex and tormented as Evelyn Waugh

—— William Boyd , Guardian

Fascinating...exhaustive perusal of the playwright's formative years

—— Beryl Bainbridge

Clapton bares his soul. Fascinating. It's an absorbing read, like you've been granted access to a mind finally coming to terms with itself.

—— The Sunday Tribune (Ireland)

Difficult to put down

—— Sunday Times

Clapton provides an orderly account of life in which all other considerations are secondary to the frequently selfish needs of The Artist'

—— Guardian

Gold-plated tales of sex, drink, drugs and fame and moments of musical incandescence.

—— Observer Music Monthly

A warm portrait

—— FT Magazine

A harrowing and searingly honest book about the unreal rock star life.

—— Daily Express

Clapton lays bare his life story in this witty but also painfully honest autobiography. Compelling and accomplished.

—— Sunday Express

A painfully honest insider's account of an age all too often portrayed as one long party

—— Daily Mail

A glorious rock history.

—— New York Post

This book does what many rock historians couldn't: It debunks the legend...puts a lie to the glamour of what it means to be a rock star.

—— Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune

Strong stuff. Clapton reveals its author's journey to self-acceptance and manhood. Anyone who cares about the man and his music will want to take the trip with him.

—— Anthony DcCurtis, Rolling Stone

Clapton is honest...even searing and often witty, with a hard-won survivor's humor...an honorable badge of a book.

—— Stephen King, New York Times Book Review

Riveting

—— Boston Herald

An even, unblinking sensibility defines the author's voice.

—— New York Times

An unsparing self-portrait.

—— USA Today

Both the youthful excesses and the current calm state are narrated with an engaging tone that nudges Clapton's story ahead of other rock'n'roll memoirs.

—— Publisher’s Weekly

Clapton is a confessional, an addiction memoir, and a glorious rock history rolled into one, with a smidgeon of guilt and, ultimately redemption thrown in for good measure.

—— New York Post

Clapton fills in many gray areas, recounting his highs and lows with a thoughtfulness often lacking rock memoirs.Methodically he whittles away at the larger-than-life rock god until a vulnerable, messed-up mortal emerges...Clapton is an absorbing tale of artistry, decadence and redemption.It's also an important reminder of the guitarist's imprint on rock music, as a sideman, solo artist and bandleader.Not bad for a blues snob from Surrey.

—— Los Angeles Times

Clapton: The Autobiography does what many rock historians couldn't: It debunks the legend, de-mythologizes one of the most mythologized electric guitarists ever, puts a lie to the glamour of what is means to be a rock star...It's a cautionary tale that spills over into tragedy several times as love, lives and talents are all wasted.

—— Chicago Tribune

Like the bluesmen who inspired him, Clapton has his share of scars...his compelling memoir is... a soulful performance.

—— People

Charming and surprisingly candid.

—— Entertainment Weekly

Absolutely brilliant

—— Daily Express
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