Written and self-published by someone integral to the formation and early years of Genesis, as school friend, chief cook and bottle washer, mixing desk wizard, tour manager, confidant and advisor, this could be a mighty work of documentation from the innermost circle.
That it’s not is down to those old time Millfield and Charterhouse public school friendships, where Macphail tried his own luck at fronting a band – Anon – before finding himself as an essential, but non-musical, part of the Genesis story; the steady hand that prevented divergent talents from tearing each other asunder.
What that unfortunately leaves us with in his memoirs, co-written with former Omnibus Books chief Chris Charlesworth, and therefore in writing terms a cut above the average self-published work, is an oft-tepid collection of anecdotes that extend beyond his Genesis days and go onto his work as Peter Gabriel’s tour manager and onto his later career in renewable energy.
If that last bit doesn’t sound very rock’n’roll, then there’s generally enough in the main narrative to make the remainder an amusing read of on the road stories with the main players cautiously sketched-out while never crossing the line of loyalty. Macphail parted professional company with Gabriel in order to maintain their long-lasting friendship, and that’s the same admirable sentiment which shackles his text here.
