Relentless

Relentless by Name, Relentless by Nature

If you are English you will be familiar with the concept of 'Marmite': a strongly flavoured, black, sticky food derived from brewer's yeast. In essence you either love it, or hate it; there's no middle ground.

Opinions on Yngwie are similar.

I first stumbled across his music in 1988. I'd heard of him through anecdotes in guitar magazines, but was not prepared for what I ended up hearing. It was insane, beautiful ,epic and unlike anything I'd heard before. I desperately tried to emulate his style, and was almost evangelical about his music, but I neither achieved his level of dexterity, or won many friends through his music.

This was at a time when being seriously proficient at something was seriously uncool. Any song with more than three or four chords and four beats to a bar required an unacceptable level of commitment and was therefore to be derided. Being good was ok, but being 'better' marked you out as a social outcast.

There are two significant moments that I still remember vividly when my concept of guitar playing changed dramatically. The first was hearing Van Halen's 'Eruption' in the Demontfort Bar in Leicester in February 1987 and the second was hearing Yngwie's 'Far Beyond The Sun' about a year later whilst at University. The latter made the bigger impact (Sorry Eddie).

Yngwie as a person has always been elusive - more of a phenomenon than an individual, and this book goes some of the way to explain why that is so. Ask your granny what she thinks of his 'Live in Leningrad' performance and words like 'Arrogant', 'Bombastic', 'Flashy' would probably be in the mix somewhere. And she'd be right, but the words 'prolific', 'talented', 'driven' and 'perfectionist' would also apply.

Yngwie is a showman and you either like his shows, or you don't, but behind that lies a individual who is striving for his concept of art, and he's true to it. He's struggled to be accepted; resisted overt commercialisation; lived the rock and roll lifestyle; been shafted by his management; used, abused, almost being declared dead and known his fair share of personal tragedy. All of this he has poured into his music. Every. Last. Bit.

The book is written from the point of view of a Happy Ending. A father comfortable in his own skin who has achieved much, but has more to give. In it he sheds light on why he is who he is; his drives, and in particular a single minded quest for perfection. Some of it may come across as arrogant, maybe far fetched, but he knows he's good at what he does and this book explains the method and motivation behind the externally perceived 'madness'.

It is also a book about knowing your limits - but refusing to accept them and always striving for more. There is a wry sense of humour in here too which goes some way to get past the Rock God facade. He tells a good story and the book has pace which makes it an easy read.

If you already have an opinion about this long haired, Viking-inspired, guitar-melting musician then this book probably won't change your mind, but it will help you to understand him better.

As I said. Marmite. Go-on, try it. You just might like it...