Digested read: Declan MacManus has long promised a truly weighty rock memoir, and here he drops a 674-page breeze block. From early memories of his father, a singer in a jazz band, to writing his first songs in a "furious whisper" while his wife and infant son slept upstairs, plus an ill-judged remark about Ray Charles that nearly ended his career. There's plenty of insight into his art here, a smattering of gossip, a wealth of pop-cultural knowledge, and just enough self-flagellation to keep things interesting. Life lessons: Bearing grudges will f**k you up in day-to-day life. But hang on to them, and they'll make your memoirs so much more entertaining. Telling quote: "They gave me a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and said, 'Put these on.' It was like Superman in reverse."
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