Rating: 
Summary: An unusual, behind-the-scenes, fan's eye-view of the Stones.
Review: Nakering With The Rolling Stones by James Phelge tells of the early days of the Rolling Stones by an author who lived with them for over a year when they were just getting famous. His story of his 1963 roommates also provides an intimate behind-the-scenes examination of the Stones. Both are eye-opening, going beyond the usual fan's eye-view to explore personal relationships with the Stones.
Rating:
Summary: Unlike others, he was there
Review: Pheldge was there when it all began and his insight is different than those who werent. His humor shows why they asked him to live there with them and he writes a good book. He doesnt sensationalize, he documents events that took place when the Stones started their incredible musical and personal journey. If you a fan, or a history buff or someone who wants to read about how the greatest rock and roll band got it's start, in true text, this book is for you mate.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Boys, Whatz ya Gonna Do?
Review: Phelge's book is wonderful. One night in a local club, Mick asks if anyone wants to share an apartment, and Phelge thinks it might be a step up from his own poverty. He, Mick, Keith and Brian live in the squalor and silliness that four boys in their late teens early 20's don't seem to mind. It is so much fun to open the window and look in on the semi-innocent youth of a struggling band as they carry their own equipment, try to find a following locally, and occasionally pay the rent. Phelge's writing is funny and truthful. There's an honesty here that is golden.
Rating: 
Summary: Phelge is God
Review: Phelge's writing is straightforward and completely irreverent. He has no respect for dress codes, superstardom or neighbors, and believes the feelings are mutual. This guy was friends with Keith when the boys still scrounged for food, beer and rent money. Although the book is a bit short, the good parts will have you laughing out loud as you read them and will still make you smile years later.
Rating:
Summary: Phelge is God
Review: Phelge's writing is straightforward and completely irreverent. He has no respect for dress codes, superstardom or neighbors, and believes the feelings are mutual. This guy was friends with Keith when the boys still scrounged for food, beer and rent money. Although the book is a bit short, the good parts will have you laughing out loud as you read them and will still make you smile years later.
Rating:
Summary: 2nd BEST STONES BOOK EVER!!
Review: Stanley Boothe's book about the Stones 1969 American Tour has gotta be my favorite Stones book, a classic of rock n roll books. However, Nankering With the Stones is a BLAST to read! it is extremely well-written, every anecdote is great, the author LIVED with Keith, Brian, and Mick just before they became famous. This book captures the excitement of the Stones earliest gigs and is full of hilarious observations and antics!!! If you love the Stones, you will love this book. For readers interested in a biography from childhood to fame, this ain't it, but it's better than a bio, and is sort of a book equivalent of a TV show like the Real World, or much more appropo, Survivor! James Phelge, THANK YOU!!!
Rating:
Summary: 2nd BEST STONES BOOK EVER!!
Review: Stanley Boothe's book about the Stones 1969 American Tour has gotta be my favorite Stones book, a classic of rock n roll books. However, Nankering With the Stones is a BLAST to read! it is extremely well-written, every anecdote is great, the author LIVED with Keith, Brian, and Mick just before they became famous. This book captures the excitement of the Stones earliest gigs and is full of hilarious observations and antics!!! If you love the Stones, you will love this book. For readers interested in a biography from childhood to fame, this ain't it, but it's better than a bio, and is sort of a book equivalent of a TV show like the Real World, or much more appropo, Survivor! James Phelge, THANK YOU!!!
Rating:
Summary: Best Stones book ever written
Review: This book is definitely worth reading over and over. It is very funny. It was a real pleasure reading about the "early" years from someone who was living them with them. I've read many books on the Stones and I truly enjoyed this one the most. I was sorry to finish the book. Every Stones fan MUST read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Ah, joy! Now I know what Nanker-Phelge finally is (and why)!
Review: This book is precious and priceless! Older Stones fans (like me), especially those familiar with Sixties London and the districts where The Stones lived in 1963, will delight in the easily readable and so evidently true stories of The Stones' very early days when Mick, Keith and Brian were more than teenagers but not quite mature adults. Phelge has covered many of the bases and truly gives you a taste of the environment that nurtured The Stones. You arre literally in the room with them, watching The Stones struggle hard, indeed, almost desperately for a commercial break, and against incredible odds in a still conservative post-war England. The book is chock-full of marvellous observations, wonderful insights, hilariously humorous incidents, and pathos. It clearly reflects Phelge's superb capabilities as a raconteur (and one not given to exaggeration) who tracked the evolution of The Stones even as he lived with Mick, Keith and Brian 40 years ago in their squalid, disorganized flat where cleaning up for the lads simply meant throwing crockery, cutlery and utensils out of the kitchen window into the communal garden below. The book is filled with gems: Mick's yearning and wistfulness for a load of money as he lolls aimlessly in a freezing cold, food-free flat with his fellow Stones; chucking Ian Stewart out of the band because he did not look "with-it" enough for Andrew Loog Oldham, the first manager of The Stones along with Eric Easton; the unbelievably funny and ridiculous "Toilet Door Fiasco" with Keith and Phelge who drove their neighbors mad every day for months on end with their antics and purloining; the "Immaculate Dollies" with their [nice figures]; the "nankering" (face-making and squawking) and pranks that went with their looning around generally; the list is endless. In addition, Phelge paints excellent portraits of The Stones' character and temperament. One sees the competitiveness and tension between Brian on the one hand, and Mick-and-Keith on the other hand, all starting very early on in their association. (They would carry this around with them for years until they ditched Brian with the worst of feelings in 1969.) Younger Stones fans need to read this book in order to understand who The Stones were and where they came from, and how they started up the ladder that took them to stardom at the very top of the world where they have stayed since 1965. My younger office colleagues who like The Stones have absolutely no idea about any of this history and it is a shocking gap in their knowledge. Overall, an amazing, informative, excellent book. At least 5 stars! JS
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Stones books. Period.
Review: This is an autobiographical reminiscence by the man who lived in the same dingy rooms as Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones as they successfully clawed their way to the big time, and who then found himself drifting further from the center of the storm as it swirled wider and more fiercely. This is not just another fluffed-up, hanger-on-tells-his-five-stories Stones books: it's refreshingly free of the usual self-aggrandizement seeping out from these projects; it doesn't insult anyone's intelligence by trying to infuse the goings-on with metaphysical significance and pathos; and it's a devastatingly funny read to boot. A valuable and unsentimental portrait of the very last days of the Stones' existence as normal anonymous folk.
|
