The Big Wheel - Bruce Thomas

 

Bruce Thomas was, of course, the incredibly talented bassist from Elvis Costello’s Attractions. He credits this book for getting him kicked out of the band not just once, but twice! Once close friends as well as bandmates, they became embittered to the point that when the Attractions inducted into the RnR Hall of Fame, Bruce was the only original member not to play.

Here he documents touring after they had become reasonably successful and were traveling in (comparative) comfort, but he still manages to complain about most everything and is not very complimentary to his bandmates - obviously, the reason he was sacked.

His writing style is a bit disjointed and not particularly linear and this combined with his random British-isms make it a odd read. He refers to the others as "The Drummer", "The Keyboardist" and "The Singer" and they all seem to grate on him for one reason or another and while he is having extravagant worldwide adventures that many of us only dream of, and he is making a living playing music, he is not content.

He does have some funny, if not totally linear and coherent, stories of his musical endeavors before the Attractions, with fairly crazed musical cohorts and mad trips'n'tours'n'sessions gone wrong. He meanders in time between chapters and it seems that he fancies himself a more poetic writer than I feel that he is - sorry, Bruce! 

This is definitely not the place to get a feel for Elvis', or even the Attractions', careers, and while it is interesting, it is, unfortunately, not a great read, in my opinion. A fantastic bassist, not a fantastic writer.