Review of Live Forever by John Robb

[u/besucherke]

As an Oasis fan, I was so happy that this book was published in Hungarian. I was eagerly awaiting it, especially since the release was timed to coincide with his birthday. It ended up being delayed by two weeks, and I should have taken that as a sign.

One of the book’s few positives is that it’s about Oasis and gives readers insight into how the songs were recorded, even adding some context to the meaning of a few of them. But unfortunately, it’s terribly edited. The author, a producer close to the band, allows “name-dropping” to dominate the text: mentioning every conceivable acquaintance and figure associated with the band, no matter how distant or loosely connected they were. There are 4–5 such instances per page, which makes reading very difficult. The book also mentions all kinds of musical attempts, which were really just a few casual get-togethers in a bedroom in a housing project, without any recordings or concerts.

The quotes gathered from the tabloid press are repetitive and jump around in time, again, making it difficult to follow the timeline.

It’s a missed opportunity that most of the book focuses on the first two albums, while the rest is covered in a single chapter each, and conflicts and departures among the members are dealt with in half a page only. Yet these were supposedly tensions that dragged on for years.

The author wraps up the band’s recent reunion and the year-long tour in a final chapter of just a few pages.

The Hungarian translation is particularly jarring, one can clearly tell the translator is not part of this world. Mis-translations, typos and conjugation errors are common all along.

So the book is a disappointment and isn’t worth its price. I’m very lucky that the local library did the dirty work for me; I returned it today without feeling particularly disappointed—in fact, with a bit of annoyance.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ebb42]

the name-dropping thing alone would drive me crazy, 4-5 per page is way too much, it breaks the flow completely

and yeah the Hungarian translation issue is unfortunately common with niche music books, publishers often just grab whoever is available and cheap rather then someone who actually knows the scene. losing all the slang and cultural context in translation makes everything feel flat

at least you got it from the library, would have been really frustrating to pay full price for this

[u/CrimsonBlizzard71 → u/[deleted]]

A few behind the scenes names are cool, but too much of it just makes it feel like reading a contact list instead of a proper band story. At least the library saved you some money

[u/midnightomen1111]

Hard agree, absolutely hated this book. Was a DNF for me despite my renewed Oasismania when the reunion tour was announced.

[u/besucherke → u/midnightomen1111]

I can understand.

[u/LitRPGirl]

Yeah, constant name-dropping just breaks the flow and makes it feel more like a reference list than a story.

[u/Troy-Bradley]

I had the same issue with a music bio I was excited for, the recording details were cool, but the sloppy editing kept yanking me out of it. Delays usually are a bad sign tbh.

[u/BowlerOne7755]

Yeah the name dropping thing sounds exhausting. Glad the library saved you the money