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Over the Rainbow by Alex James review – blessed is Blur’s cheesemaker

The Britpop bass player’s engaging memoir of the last Blur reunion reads like a freewheeling adventure without consequences – except when he crosses ‘the boss’

“I said I was trying to make a really big Frazzle, a sort of crispy, bacon-flavoured edible plate thing, but it was proving difficult,” he relayed, doubtless flashing the same gurning grin he’s had on his face since Blur went public back in 1988. He always was a Britpop Jeffrey Bernard, a flamboyant rake who could drink himself blind and then write about it amusingly, and so this book is a freewheeling – and very funny – account of a middle-aged man given a second chance to play pop star again. Whether or not he loses the flab provides the book’s main narrative thrust – there is gym work, ice baths; much less cheese – and while James is the kind of memoirist who entertains without ever revealing anything too deep, there are nevertheless intriguing glimpses.

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