Author:Bruce Thomas

A book that deals in a large part about the career of Elvis Costello, that, wait, nope not a memoir but a self published book of blog post style reminiscences of Attractions, Quiver, Roadrunners, Rockestra and Moonrider bassist, Bruce Thomas, released earlier this year. The lion’s share of the book involves his time 1977-1996 (on and off) backing The Beloved Entertainer with all the acrimonious ups n downs. It’s clear from the off that despite a healthy respect for each others musical skills, they have a combative relationship which echoes the tone of the book.

It’s actually surprising how the book pulls it’s punches – the Columbus Incident spares EC his blushes by not recounting the gory details and he later defends him when he encounters Michael Jackson who relays that “Quincy didn’t dig what that guy said”. It will be interesting to see if Bruce and Elvis’ memory of the key events in the band’s history match or not.

I can’t help feeling that Bruce’s stance that he did nothing to cause friction or dissent is undercut by two occasions in the book where he reports conversations with T Bone Burnett and Pete Thomas where they are less than favourable about their collaborator / employer. It’s not that what they say might not be accurate reflections of their feelings but more that it seems more than a little indiscreet and vindictive to publish the comments.

The early chapters about his musical adventures as a fan then a working musician are shot through with the same wit, bad puns (nothing wrong with bad puns!) and sardonic sense of humour as the rest. Meetings with Peter Green and Chrissie Hynde seems to confirm that the most bass players are usually asked for is “stick with the root notes” I’m pretty sure that neither Costello or Bruce are sinner or saint but you can’t deny that this is an entertaining and acidic read if you’re a fan or not.

Length of Read:Medium

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

The Big Wheel and other books about the boredom of the road and things people do to survive it.

One thing you’ve learned

There’s a scene in the Pixies ‘Loud Quiet Loud’ film where Kim Deal’s sister observes the band sitting in the same room backstage before their Brixton comeback show, silent, looking in different directions and says “How did four of the most incommunicative people in the world ever form a band together”

Whenever you read about band disagreements and disintegrations they so often happen via Chinese whispered put-downs and alleged slights. You just wonder what it would be like if these people actually talked to each other.