Steve Harris - The Clairvoyant (a book)

Also, harrisdevot, I sent you a PM because I just now noticed that you asked in December about it not arriving yet, so please respond either here or there. We'll sort this out, guys.
 
I answered your PM. I thank you for your help, very much appreciated. I almost considered it a lost case.
 
Great to hear it! Harrisdevot should be getting his book pretty soon as well then, I posted them together.

Hope you can write a review after you've read it.

Also, if anyone else is interested in getting the book, I have a few more copies available for immediate shipping.
 
I've received my copy today ! I'm very grateful you sorted it out, Ranko :applause: . I will obviously post my comments as soon as I finish the book, but my first impressions are positive, as I did not expect such a copious book. Thanks again.
 
Finished the book a few weeks ago. I'll try to do this as honest as possible.

The good
I am fan of stories from the old days, from people who were there. So, I enjoyed the chapters with Keith Wilfort (fanclub) and other crew members, such as Loonhouse. Also, I thought Dennis Stratton's chapter was very insightful. From his perspective, we get a more complete view of how he experienced the band and why he was fired. The Paul Cairns bit was very interesting I thought. Some people did some awesome research.

Neal Kay has a huge chapter. I especially liked him talking about what happened, how he came into the scene, what he did, and what he experienced when touring with Maiden. The first half of this chapter is mostly about this. I was very impressed by the dedication of some fans. Unbelievable stories of people traveling without money and ending up backstage talking with the band. Sometimes by controversial methods, fans did a lot to get near their idols.


The "less good"
The book didn't only have "old story"-chapters. We also got as least as many (or even more) chapters by "new" fans. To be honest, I thought some of these stories were less enthralling than the "informative" chapters, although I was several times impressed by the impact Steve Harris has on people all over the world. He clearly inspires people. But I confess, while reading some of them, my mind was often with the next chapter. I was not a big fan of the second half of Neal Kay's contributions. In the first half he gave insightful information, and in the second half he was ranting. Giving his opinions on matters in a bit of an annoying way. Like there's some anger left in this guy, or something.

The writing style:
The author is a bit slimy towards Harris and people like Neal Kay. A bit of over-idolization?
I could have done with less repetitive stressing of certain achievements or why people are so important.

Many chapters have not one introduction to a person. They have two or three introductions. Lots of repeating and overemphasizing a role of the person. It's not cool to read something two or three times, within the space of two or three pages.


Overall
I want to end positive again: The good has more impact than the less good. I am very interested in having a more complete, more subtle image of this beloved band. This book certainly contributed to that.
 
Thanks Foro. I shall give my opinion very soon, as Ranko sorted out this book problem for me and sent it. I've finished it long ago, but have been kind of disturbed by the British Lion gig.
 
You're welcome! And once again thanks for your help.
Harrisdevot, I' m looking forward to your take on it.
 
I'm finally taking time to post a review of this book. I enjoyed its reading a lot. The book is clearly an "amateur" one : a professionnally edited one would have been "polished" by the editor, some sentences erased, the structure changed... But this is precisely why this book is fun to read : this is a fan's one. Being myself a huge fan of the man, and being recently overturned by a getting close to him and getting an autograph, I was really pleased to read other fans statements. Some guys are really over the top. The default is, this can get a bit boring : people telling how much they admire Harris, how they approached him for the first time and how emotional it was.
But most of the chapters are worth reading, full of interesting anecdotes. I finished the book with the feeling that, with little bits and pieces, it allows you to understand better a man that doesn't say that much about himself. I found it rather ironic that the management told the author that no official biography would be published and that no Iron Maiden dependant would collaborate to such a book, and see that Harris'daughter herself did actually contribute. Who could be closer to the man ?
Paul DiAnno's part is really a great read, even if we don't learn that much, while Neal Keay's is really too long : the man loves to talk. Reading this, I thought that some passages could have been edited.
So my opinion is very positive : I considered it a must-have for any Harris fan, and the book didn't disappoint me. My only real concern is the cover : on the front cover we've got these terrible colours, and on the back cover, Steve looks as if he was stoned , with inexpressive and semi-shut eyes. Terrific ;) . A good picture of him machine gunning the crowd would have been great, and, on a marketing point of view, would have had a better effect on potential readers.
I would not end without thanking again Ranko for getting me the book . I thought it was over and that I would never get it, and he sorted it out :) .
 
Thanks for the review and you're welcome for sorting out the delivery, I was glad to be able to help! :)
 
So this is kinda awkward but I heard that the guy who wrote this book (I think) Stipe Juras got sentenced to jail few days ago for raping a minor o_O

News articles on Croatian media outlets don't mention his name, but his job (concert organizer, more on that later) and age match up. I also checked on few Balkan metal forums and everyone says it's him.

Btw. he "organized" a metal festival called Underwall this summer which ended up as a total disaster... bands didn't get paid, fans didn't get their money back for cancelled concerts and only a couple of bands played and they did it for free.
 
That's funny, I was thinking about him recently. There has been much complain about him on the IMFC forum, because he settled a subscription for a book he intended to publish about Smith. Some guys did send him money, and the book wasn't published. He had someone was answering on his behalf on the forum, but this didn't end all the anger and frustration.
 
He did get sentenced and is serving time at this moment. He also ripped off a lot of people in the IMFC and even the kindle version of the book that could be bought in amazon has been cancelled.... Is a sad news I know but it is the true.

I exchanged mails with him and I even think there's a quote from me in the book, I used to think he was such a cool guy but what he has done (I dunno know if his guilty of rape), ripping people's money sucks big, big time
 
Hey, sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I've got a few copies of the book lying around, if someone is still interested...

Edit: I can give them at 20€ plus postage. They're hardcover, 300 pages. You'll get them, no worries, I think that Forostar and harrisdevot will vouch for me.
 
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