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I finally finished the book. Of course a hugely fascinating read, all the way from Dali in the first chapter, a man Edgar clearly was in awe of. Sadly, the book doesn't tell the full story of TD. Edgar writes in detail about the 70s and 80s, but rushes through the 90s in one single chapter, and there isn't really anything about the new millennium. But of course his untimely death had everything to do with that.
I was curious how Edgar would write about Franke in the book. I think Edgar is quite fair with him, after all they played together for 16 years, and it shines through that musically they were even partners with quite a bit in common. Of course, sarcasm is a thing Edgar is quite fond of, but I feel almost everyone in the book (minus Bowie!) gets a share of it, not just Franke.
Speaking of Bowie, I think the chapter about him is way too lomg. Sure, Edgar was clearly a big fan of him, but 25 pages in his own autobiography?? You can say what you want, but I think Edgar all the way through his career liked to mingle a bit with people who were more famous than himself. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not neccessarily what the readers are most interested in reading about.
I liked the chapters about film soundtracks like Thief, Risky Business, Firestarter and Shy People, and also about projects that DIDN'T materialize, like Oliver Stone's The Hand. Chapter 41 is an enigma, though, what kind of movie was this about, that TD scored during two weeks in the US autumn 86? Edgar mentions the film producer's name as Moshe Silverman/Silverstein, but imdb lists no one with that name. Puzzling.
Some of the 80s studio albums are not really mentioned at all, like White Eagle, Hyperborea, Le Parc, Underwater Sunlight and Tyger. Strange, it seems like Edgar is more interested in writing about the different tours and concerts. Maybe it's because they generated more stories and happenings?
Haslinger receives mostly praise, Jim Rakete too, Schmoelling a little less praise, music journalist Karl Dallas even less, while record label bosses are the worst for Edgar. During the three pages of chapter 45, "Arrogance And Power", Edgar states five times that the record label boss was fat. OK, maybe he was, but I don't think that detail should be interesting for the readers. It is also quite clear that the time with Jerome in the band was not a particularly easy time for Edgar. He even mentions that the fans didn't particularly like TD's 90s stuff - I think t's quite rare that he goes into detail about this, as I always was under the impression that Edgar composed what he wanted and that he didn't really care too much what the fans said.
What I perhaps like best about Edgar's writing, is how he amusingly lashes out towards the musical purists who could only accept classical music, or rock music with conventional instruments. Edgar is a strong defender of electronic music, one that the world needs more than one of, especially now that he is gone.
The two words "slightly irritated" can be read numerous times throughout the book, as well as "scrambled eggs " and "coffee".
And Edgar is not a big fan of his homeland Germany. I guess he was more a citizen of the world.
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What makes you think it is him?
Strangely enough, Silverman dealt a lot with diamonds, he actually tried to pay Edgar with diamonds instead of money for the scoring project.
Those two films you mentioned doesn't feature music by TD, but of course their score could have been thrown out, even if Edgar doesn't mention anything about that.
I just messaged Paul Haslinger about it, maybe he knows.
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bump
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I DO hope they enlisted an editor or ghostwriter to make it a bit easier to swallow. 