FOLKLORE : Q REVIEW 12.00

by Paul Davies 4/5

A country mile from the officially sanctioned, ego-stroking biographies which regularly bring the genre into disrepute. Maconie's lemon-sharp account relates James' enthralling spacehop from here to there in zippily relentless prose. An everyday tale of hijacked golf carts, drugs and 16-hour meditation sessions, the book is threaded with chunky interviews from all the key protagonists. The music journey from knock-kneed indie shavings to big-boned wraparound arena-gobblers is painstakingly charted and sprinkled with appetising anecdote. From Tim Booth's public school outing to see Iggy Pop to the gormless backstage shenanigans on the 1997 Lollapalooza tour, Folklore plays tantalising keep-uppy with the twitching bag of rats that is the James experience.