I’ve made a decision to read other people’s reviews of biographies and autobiographies in future, even all non-fiction really. It is grating to hear someone get opinionated about something they know nothing about and autobiographies can often be gratuitous attempts to resurrect dying careers.

Yes, yes, I’m still smarting from James “Britney’s Biographer” Blandfords attempts to chronicle a goddess and pretend he even knew what Doc Martens and Chelsea boots were.

Moving on.

The point is, had I actually adopted this credo before picking up Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, I’d have seen all the warnings. Reading comments such as “un-put-downable”, “found myself at 2am still reading it” and “couldn’t stop reading it” may just have given me an idea that this was a book to avoid. At all costs.

Tongue-in-cheek aside, this book is awesome and hopefully I’ll finish it in a day or so. The suspense in racing to the end, which is obviously the present, is almost killing me. I say almost, because I can’t die until I’ve finished this book.

It is quite hard to distinguish between my love for P J Harvey and this biography of her. First, I need to acknowledge what other readers said about the book. Other people have said that Blandford shows no insight whatsoever, that he has simply done an (admirable) literature survey and summarised 17 years of interviews with and articles on Polly. Admirable, yes. Worth a published biography, maybe not. I’d be more inclined to set up a website, perhaps an information resource for fans.
I honestly have doubts as to whether Blandford has ever met Harvey, or whether he ever listened to any of her music. (I try not to be influenced by the fact that he first wrote a biography of Britney Spears). Given his frankly obscure comments on some of Polly’s music, as well as that of her contemporaries, I honestly have doubts as to whether he has in fact bought an “alternative” album in his life. And if he has met her and he has listened to her genre of music his entire life, why is it not showing in his writing?
One small point of contention: He waxes lyrical about the Glastonbury set where Polly used a staff to beat out the rhythm to “Goodnight”. I was there, it wasn’t only one song. She did it during “To Bring You My Love”. My intention is not to “pull rank” or anything of the sort. However, if you’re going to mention something in four different places in your book, get your facts right. Better yet, try not to depend so heavily on other people’s reviews if you weren’t there to experience it first-hand yourself.

Am I glad I purchased the book? Yes. It is a nicely packaged reference manual of all her songs, collaborations, interviews and bootlegs. Am I enthusiastically awaiting the “authorised” biography whereby I may just learn a sliver of information about this intenseley private and brilliant woman? Of course.

This book is absolutely phenomenal. It reads like the Sunday papers, but you won’t put these papers down until you’ve finished. In Gangs, Thompson takes the reader through a fascinating journey of Britain’s underworld. There are chapters on armed robbery, human trafficking, kidnapping, drugs syndicates, money laundering, gun running and more. The most incredible thing is that this is investigative journalism at it’s best. It’s not some toff sitting behind his desk and speculating. Thompson actually goes in there and meets these people, he goes into prisons and travels to Jamaica, he chats to men who are proud and men who are frightened for their lives, but mostly, he just listens… as is evident by the stories he relays.

If you’ve ever watched (and enjoyed) Trainspotting, Snatch or Layer Cake, I recommend you read this book. It’s as close to the real thing you’re going to get.