This got posted yesterday on the fluff list--on accounta Joonyah asked the question there...but a wise woman from the Atlanta contingent (actually, I think she now IS the Atlanta contingent) clued me in on my connfusion. I may have inadvertantly crossed the Prime Rib Directive. Here's the post-fluff posr: > >>Has anyone read volume II of Guralnick's bio yet? I keep meaning to >>go get a copy.... >>--junior > >Sure have. And what a long sad trip this one is! > First off, IMHO, Guralncik needs some sort of special award for entering a >field in which there is already a vast array of lousy, speculative book >and interpretations of very little info-and doing the hard homework to >assemble the facts. In the wake of all those Biblical interpretations, >recipe books, memoirs by people who once cut his dog's hair, and even Greil >Marcus, the 2 volumes of this epic really were much needed. > >That said, the facts of the matter--not the author-- make Vol 2 (Careless >Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley) a sometimes difficult long read. >Guralnick's theory is simple, elegant, and, I think, unassailable. Having >made the case so well in Vol 1. (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis >Presley) that Elvis was a serious, deliberate, hard-working artist very >much in control of his work when it was at its best (and far from a pawn of >Col. Parker or anyone else)...he has to show the all-too-careless unwinding >in this second part. Volukme One was Elvis taking control; Volume two is >losing it. And he loses it, surely, because of elements of his own nature >as key as those that made him what he'd first become. That's what the >books about--and, by the way--it also shows how ongoing life events that >bring, force or let Elvis take charge of his music again, and to some >degree, his life...momentarily, produced all of the first-rate or even >second-rate moments in the post-Army, longest, part of his career. The >Comeback Specials begin in his head. You'll wnat to read this if you care. >but it's hard stuff. > >While you're at it: Everly Bros Book. >Available in paper now (The Elvis is not in paperback yet) is Roger >White's "The Everly Brothers: Walk Right Back"--which fits here nicely, >since, as the title suggests, it's the story of how THAT popwerful duo >repeatedly renewed themselves and kept coming back...even when they weren't >speaking.. > > Also notable for much detail on matters of interest here--such as the >relation of their father Ike's career to theirs, his to Chet Atkins' et al, >placinmg these boys firmly in a "rock out of Kentucky" tradition. One side >benefit for me: it led me to pick up their often forgotten >return-to-Nashville comeback album "Pass the Chicken and Listen", produced >by Atkins in 1972. It includes THEIR version of the Bryants' "Rocky Top," >and John Prine's "Paradise" and, finally, Buddy Holly's "Not Fade >Away"--all memorable, and pretty well forgotten. Read the book--and you >cna find the disc. (On "One Way Records/BMG"). > >And also, speaking of latter day comebacks, I've recently read and recommen: > "Go Cat Go: Rockabilly Music and Its Makers" by Craig Morrison. > This is in that great and generally authoritative series "MUSIC IN >AMERICAN LIFE" from the University of Illinois Press--same place as the >Rosenberg Bluegrass history and the best-known Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills >bios. This shouldn't be confused with the Carl Perkins book with the same >main title BTW--but it's a good solid discussion of what rockabilly is >(accoridng to various arguers!), where it's been, and how it managed to >come back. Only in hard back so far, but a must for rockabillies--who never >originally were or wanted to be called that! > >Barry >All typos guaranteed. >
