 | |
List Price: $16.95 | | Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Salesrank: 673781
|
| Our Price: $5.93 |
| Used Price: $4.19 |
|
| Media: Paperback |
|
Editorial Review:
James Phelge lived with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones for over a year, from when they were just getting their start until their first taste of success at the top of the British charts. He slept in the same room with them and hung out with them constantly; the Stones even gave him writing credit on many of their early songs, though he had nothing to do with the music. Richards describes Phelge as the most disgusting man he ever knew; but he's also a clear-sighted raconteur, and his detailed account of the Stones' salad days is fresh, revealing, and uproarious.
Selected by the Rolling Stones as Official Merchandise
Nankering With the Rolling Stones Reviews:
Just as they were making it!! 
2009-09-25 - I bought this because of the enthusiastic other Amazon reviews and my faith was well-rewarded. This is a well-paced chirpy personal memoir written by a "character" with a strong knack for anecdotes. Essentially, it is about "when i lived in a crappy flat for a year with the Rolling Stones when we were 20"!
You've seen the black and white footage from CS Blues of Keith chucking a tv out a window of a motel. Well .... this outlines all sorts of other hi-jinx but also gives some insight into the relationship dynamics of the complex Brian Jones too amidst the playfully retold eyewitness account anecdotes.
Heartily recommended! Enjoy!
Fabulous book!
2009-01-11 - This is a fabulous book! It's so well written that at some times, I actually felt like I was living in that flat at Edith Grove with Mick and Keith and "Mr. Jimmy". Especially when Phelge relates some of the pranks that he and the early Stones pulled on their neighbors (and each other). This book is a great read for anyone who finds the Rolling Stones to be at all interesting, and would like to know more about them and how they came to be the way they are today. I couldn't put it down! I couldn't wait to find out what they would do next! BTW, this is pretty much an early history of the boys before they really became famous. So if you want to read about the free concert at Altamont Raceway in 1969 and stuff like that, this is not the book for that. If that's what you're hoping for, try "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones" by Stanley Booth, another fabulous book about Mick and the boys written about the period when they actually had become quite famous.
Very Entertaining 
2008-12-29 - a quick and easy read but very entertaining. i was literally laughing out loud. you get a much better idea about who the stones were before fame arrived. there's more about keith richards and brian jones than mick jagger; however, still a nice early portrait of the group.
Unique
2008-07-08 - Phelge knew the Stones when they were poor and just starting. This amusing memoir concentrates on 1963 when Brian Jones was the leader of the band before Mick and Keith took things over. Filled with mildly amusing anecdotes about juvenile pranks, mostly played on unsuspecting neighbors where the band lived together in the early days with the author. Some of the tales are a bit lame, and the dialogue, which fills the book, must be entirely made up. Was there a tape recorder present back then? I don't think so. Did Phelge take notes? Unlikely. Still, it's entertaining and a look at the Stones not normally seen. For lovers of music bios.
Ah, joy! Now I know what Nanker-Phelge finally is (and why)!
2002-12-20 - 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
