Customer Reviews
Roller coatser band - roller coaster read - By: , 10 Apr 2001 
From their strange beginningsin 70's Manchester this teenage band formed with no money, no real musical competence but with a clear sense of purpose. You know the ending because know James but I defy any reader to have guessed the various stages that James went through to become what they are today - the story about Manchesters best kept secret becoming a regular stadium filler & a number one album best seller. It took a good few years though. Insighful & powerful. If you're a music fan buy it & read it. If you're a James fan buy it, read it, put it away & read it again next year.
Buyer beware .... it may make you buy James albums that you've not already got.
A twenty-year ride through the history of James - By: , 10 Nov 2000 
In their time James have always been underrated, & probably best-known for the anthemic song Sit Down, much to the detriment to some of their other, better songs. So it came as a surprise to find a whole book written on the band. Folklore is a very quick & easy read from the pen of broadcaster & journalist Stuart Maconie, who also wrote a biography on Blure a couple of years ago.
Maconie takes us from the band's humble beginningsin Manchester University's Student Union bar backin 1979, to the massive concert that was playedin Beijing earlier this year. James have indeed come a long way, & the story is a long, complicated one, with the band troubled with drugs, artistic differences, members coming & going & the massive unpaid income tax bill that nearly finished the bandin the mid-nineties. Maconie has suceededin getting interviews (or quotes) with all current & past members of the band, with the most interesting information probably being given by the former drummer Gavan Whelan, Tim Booth & the multi-instrumentalist 'newcomer' Saul Davies. And Whelan & Booth at last each give their side of the story regarding Whelan's acrimonious departure from the band. Other contributors to the story include the band's producer Brian Eno, the founder of Factory Records Tony Wilson & the well-known music journalist Dave Cavanagh, each of whom tell their stories of their association with the band. The early history of the band is probably coveredin more detail than the recent history, which sometimes seems to be glossed over & dealt with quite breifly at times.
Perhaps the main failing of the book is to leave some quesions about James unanswered. Why for example, did Andy Diagram leave the band? How was Black Thursday resolved? Why has the band never achieved long-lasting mainstream popularity?
Allin all, Folklore is a book that is well worth buying, both for fans of the band, & lovers of music alike.
Chris Orton
