Reviews of The Big Wheel by Bruce Thomas

[johnfoyle]

Uncut , September 2003.


Infamous expose of Attractions`on tour ugliness

First published in 1990 and now revamped as a
trailer for his forthcoming further memoirs , this
candid on-the-road piece from one-time bassist with
Elvis Costello And The Attractions remains unique.
It`s satire and behind-closed-doors revalations have
led to him being fired from the band not once but
twice. On the plus side , he`s generally applauded as
one of the most entertaining prose writers ever to
have picked up a guitar , and The Big Wheel is the
stuff of comic legend.
Roughly documenting the endless global touring
schedule of The Attractions as they rule the airwaves,
it veers into lengthy detours denouncing the American
way , musing over the irony which leads travel and
music to become as dully repetitive as `normal`life ,
and reflections on Thomas` early struggles to make it
as a musician. His humour is very Tony Hancock :
deflating grandeur , cataloguing jokes and quips , but
riddled with unshakeable melancholy. He`ll spend three
pages describing the pathos he`ll find in an old junk
shop while waiting for a soundcheck for every one
he`ll spend giving us the juice.
The juice , though , is good. The band , surrounded
by oafish crew and creepy fans , are only referred to
as " The Singer", "The Drummer" and "The Keyboard
Player". Yet Costello for one was infuriated by his
portrayal as a pretentious , toilet-hogging
hypochondriac. "He`d...begun taking acting roles as
amove towards becoming an all-round entertainer. If he
kept scoffing sushi at the rate he was , he wouldn`t
have to wait long."
For long passages , this is savagely funny and
daringly dry , A healthily cynical antidote to the
usual platitudes.

Chris Roberts.
------------------------------------------------------

Q, September 2003. ( Stars 4/5)


Band memoirs can be extremely bland affairs , so
it`s a testament to The Big Wheel`s honesty that it`s
author - former bass player in Elvis Costello`s
Attractions - was sacked from the group as a result.
Twice. Which is perhaps an over-reaction on Costello`s
part as The Big Wheel is more concerned with the
emptiness of grinding American road tours than the
number of groupies knobbed. The Attractions were
legendary party monsters , though , so laugh-out-loud
tales such as what happens when you find a mountain of
100 per cent Peruvian in the corner of a Scotsman`s
living room pepper the pages. It also conveys a wit
that readers of Mötley Crüe`s The Dirt will find hard
to fathom.
Andy Fyfe.



Amazon link for this book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 82-6355023

[Veronica]

Creepy fans, huh??
Ahhhh... why are exposés such tempting reading...even if they're going to be one-sided?

[Poppet]

voyuerism is fun?

[the poisoner]

i read it.
for all the hype aforehand i was a little disappointed.
thomas should stick to music. i found some parts entertaining and most of it poorly written

[Watching_Detectives]

I read it as well. I totaly agree with Poisoner. Very poorly written.

[noiseradio]

I read the first half before I just couldn't take it anymore. I thought it was crap. Not really funny at all. He tries so hard to cleverly turn a phrase. There are so many attempts at puns (Elvis Costello & the Subtractions, etc...) that are weak at best. He's no Elvis. But he thinks of their partnership as Lennon/McCartney or Davies/Davies. What at ass.

[bobster]

Haven't read it....

Really want to read it.

Really want to dislike it!

[noiseradio]

Oh, you will. You're a writer. You'll loathe it.

[whtesde]

I found myself wishing The Drummer would take over the narrating duties, instead of the miserable author self-insertion. That would have made the book about forty times more fun.

[mood swung]

whtesde wrote:

I found myself wishing The Drummer would take over the narrating duties

exactly.

[pip_52]

Uncut , September 2003.


He`ll spend three
pages describing the pathos he`ll find in an old junk
shop while waiting for a soundcheck for every one
he`ll spend giving us the juice.

This is what I felt too. I read it with great interest, but found it for the most part pretty boring. There were interesting tidbits, like the strange sinus habits of their tour manager, the singer's propensity to have to visit the bathroom exactly 3 times before each show, and the time they got kicked out of a hotel because the keyboard player hancuffed a lady to the bar whilst a dying goldfish flapped around in his front pocket.

But these stories got lost in all that tedium and there were far too few of them anyway. He even made the point of saying, after the keyboard player had thrown his television out of the window, that nobody does that for no reason, and then never actually got around to telling the reason, though he implied he knew by saying he hadnt found out what had made him so mad . . . yet.

I felt deprived . . .

[PlaythingOrPet]

I very nearly bought this yesterday. Couldn't bring myself to so I ended up quickly reading the the new bit about the RRHOF induction. In fact, the whole book could've been finished in the time it took me to drink my cup of coffee.

[Copenhagen Fan]

did anyone say "creep"????

[mood swung]

don't waste money on this book! unless you've got insomnia or you read to others and have a real sadistic streak. but if you want to read it, PM me.

[Boy With A Problem]

I finally got around to reading The Big Wheel last week and here are my thoughts -

- Slow go, forced prose. An attempt at being artsy which pays off, on an average, about one out in every five attempts.

- A few fairly amusing bits on tour with the Attractions.

- Bruce is a fairly tortured soul; full of bitterness. He basically has an inferiority complex being "just" the bass player.

- Elvis had really no reason to be upset about the book. I couldn't find anything that he could reasonably take offense with. So, he goes to bathroom 3 times before going onstage, doesn't like to fly in helicopters and tunes people with his walkman. Shocking stuff.

[Misha]

Hmmm, good food for thought. I, too, have thought of reading this, but haven't done so yet. I don't own it, and figured I would buy it second hand so that no money finds its way to Bruce, just in case it's pure crap.

Hmmm, I guess I'll put it at the bottom of my list now....

[Watching_Detectives]

This book was total crap. I read the first half...bored me to death.

[Misha]

Ok, I'll put it below the bottom of my list.... ??