Over the Rainbow by Alex James: Meet the 56-year-old farmer who rocked Wembley
Over the Rainbow by Alex James (Particular Books £18.99, 192pp)
Alex James is the bass player for Blur. In his spare time he runs a farm in the Chilterns.
He has a wonderfully loyal, supportive, capable wife and five children; hosts an annual festival at his farm; and hangs around with the likes of David Cameron and Jeremy Clarkson.
This book, his third, is a year in the life of Alex James, a year – 2023 – in which his band briefly reformed, recorded an album and played at Wembley Stadium, among other gigs around the world.
It’s subtitled Tales From An Unexpected Year, because James makes it clear that Blur only ever reform on its leader Damon Albarn’s instigation, and James was very happy making cheese on his farm and trying to get soggy fields drained in time for his festival.
He wasn’t thinking at all that he might stand up in front of 90,000 people in North-West London and play the basslines to Tender and Song 2.
But a year later arrives this bouncing baby book, a slim volume indeed. It’s slim because everyone is lovely, nobody gets uppity or falls out with anyone, and even his children, who are called things like Geronimo, behave themselves.
James, who is now 56, is both an incredibly busy man and an incredibly lucky man. This may be the most cheerful book ever written.
Blur are offered the run of Wembley Stadium and this is enough for Albarn to reconvene the band for the first time since 2015. Albarn is quoted as saying that unless the band can be bigger and better than ever before there’s no point in getting together again, and being asked to appear at Wembley seems to confirm that.
Making Hay: Blur bassist, Alex James, is now a farmer in the Chilterns
The album is recorded without a hitch and before we know it the band are rehearsing for their live show and playing warm-ups in places like Colchester.
James rarely seems to sleep, although he does like an afternoon nap when he can spare the time – which is not often.
His book is a record of endless and extreme activity, as if to show everyone that he isn’t the moneyed, idle, entitled fop we all assumed he was. He has staff, for sure, and also the occasional money worries, having spent much of his Blur royalties in the 1990s on champagne and cocaine, as you do.
But he spends a lot of time driving his kids around, or going to the gym at six in the morning, and generally he’s more Duracell Bunny than pampered soft toy.
Experienced hands: Alex James has been the bassist of Blur since 1989
Over The Rainbow is not the most substantial volume you will ever read, but it’s an entertaining glimpse into the life of a busy, happy and, let’s face it, extremely fortunate man of middle years for whom the dice fell very well indeed.
Why he feels the need to hold an annual festival in what amounts to his back garden (which, one gets the impression, is about the size of Hyde Park) completely defeats me, but I suspect that he’s just addicted to all the rigmarole, as you probably would be if you spent the first half of your life touring the world playing bass in a four-piece band.
This is not a man who would be happy lounging around in an armchair with a cup of tea reading a book, or just having a snooze.
In fact, the evidence suggests that he’s more likely to write a book than read one. But this is a surprisingly diverting work and, for a rock star, very well-written. It’s not wholly un-smug, but most of the time James does manage to keep the self-satisfaction at bay.
I mean, I’d be smug if this was my life, and so would you. This is all to the benefit of his book, which is a splendid, entertaining read.