8/10
Considering he was a founding member of one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, it’s surprising it has taken so long for John Entwistle to be the subject of a major biography. Even more surprising when you discover across the course of these pages what a fascinating, layered life The Who’s bassist led.
Yet being heard was always one of Entwistle’s problems, especially when you’re in a band with such larger-than-life personalities as Keith Moon and Pete Townshend.
Entwistle was known for being the loudest bass player on the rock circuit, something that was borne out of the need to hear himself over the cacophonous racket Moon was making. Drawing on Entwistle’s notes for an unfinished autobiography that he started before his coke-induced death in 2002, Paul Rees’ entertaining, anecdote-heavy book gets under the skin of a multi-faceted man who nobly tried to achieve a tricky work/life balance that combined family commitment with huge swathes of rock ’n’ roll excess.
8/10
Gary Tipp