Review by Choice Review
After several hundred books on Elvis Presley, what could recommend another Elvis biography--the first of a two-volume set? Guralnick goes far beyond a meticulously researched portrait of Presley's early years (1935-58); he captures for the first time the symbiosis between his subject and postwar America, in which public attitudes toward music, race, and sexuality, to name but a few issues, would inexorably change. Presley, like his contemporary Marilyn Monroe, by force of personality and talent swept away the complacency of the Eisenhower years and helped define a new, youth-oriented culture. Guralnick, with several critically acclaimed music books including Feeling Like Going Home (1971) and Lost Highway (CH, May'80), already to his credit, writes as though he were present at all that transpired. Like David Halberstam's The Fifties (1993), Last Train to Memphis has the power to invoke America's recent past. Illustrated, with copious notes and an excellent bibliography and index, Guralnick's work is highly recommended for American studies students at all levels and for general audiences. H. A. Keesing; University of Maryland at College Park
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Forty years ago this month, during a break in an unsuccessful recording session at Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis, a shy, well-mannered though strangely dressed young singer started fooling around with the old blues song That's All Right. The session guitarist and bass player joined in, and in the control booth, Phillips realized this was the synthesis of hillbilly music and rhythm and blues he'd been looking for. Pretty soon, Elvis Presley was making hit records, his public appearances were mob scenes, and Hollywood was calling. Retelling the oft-told early Elvis story soberly, thoroughly, and unsensationally, Guralnick depicts Elvis as a naive yet extremely talented boy whose dream of stardom came true, leaving him a virtual prisoner of his own success. Realized through scores of interviews and hours of in-depth research, Guralnick's Elvis is ignorant of worldly matters, seemingly without artifice, but a quick study; he aims to please, wants to be a good role model, and is genuinely distressed when some find his gyrations vulgar, even pornographic. He loves his mother excessively and will not sleep with hometown girlfriends. The first half of Guralnick's projected two-volume biography is eminently engrossing. Taking pains to keep the story fresh and flowing and refraining from foreshadowing and editorializing, Guralnick lets the facts speak for themselves. If you really want only one Elvis biography, let this sensitive book be it. (Reviewed July 1994)0316332208Benjamin Segedin
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Given the passion evident in most books about Elvis Presley (1935-1977), the scrupulously dispassionate tone of this new biography, the first of a projected two volumes, is admirable and startling. Guralnick (Lost Highway) lets the facts speak for themselves, more or less, by providing solid background and quoting at length from people who knew Elvis as well as the contemporary press. In retelling the familiar story of a poor Southern boy's meteoric rise to unprecedented fame, Guralnick eschews the conventional wisdom-Elvis was an instinctive artist whose career was trashed by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and by movie and record company executives-to present a more complex picture. He shows those associated with Elvis struggling to get a handle on a new music form, rock 'n' roll, that they barely understood. At times, one wishes the author were more open about his own opinions. But this welcome relief from the hysterical tone of most Elvis books closes somberly with the performer's induction into the Army and the death of his beloved mother in 1958. Photos. Author tour. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Another work on Presley? Since Guralnick is ``one of the best, most respected popular music historians'' in the business (Sweet Soul Blues Music, LJ 6/1/ 86), this could be good. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The first volume of two in what is bound to be the definitive biography of the King. Whereas Albert Goldman, in his infamous trash biography (Elvis, 1981), served up an overstuffed, doped-up Elvis in a one- sided portrait of an American nightmare, Guralnick (Sweet Soul Music, 1986, etc.) takes a more sensible and sensitive approach, tracing the roots of an American dream. The son of a ne'er-do-well father and an unnaturally devoted mother, an only child whose twin brother died at birth, Elvis grew up sheltered and alone. The fact that his father made little attempt to lift his family out of poverty turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because they remained just one tiny rung up the social ladder from their black neighbors--and their music. From an early age, Elvis heard and admired gospel and rhythm and blues. Amazingly, his own style seems to have emerged full-grown; he took only a few guitar lessons, performed little in high school, and to all outward appearances was ``beyond shy,'' in the words of his first producer, Sam Phillips. Thanks to Phillips, who patiently oversaw his first sessions, the real Elvis quickly emerged: a dynamic performer who knew instinctively how to bring his audience to a frenzy and rapidly became a star. Guralnick perfectly captures Elvis's mixture of naïveté and shrewdness: He carried a joy buzzer to his first meeting with RCA executives but also carefully practiced every stage movement for maximum effect. Still, Elvis repeatedly expressed his fears that he would ``go out like a light, just like I came on.'' This volume ends in 1958, when Elvis was inducted into the Army and his beloved mother died. The year marked the end of a youthful innocence and the beginning of a long and sorry decline. A serious, musically literate, and historically attuned biography. An American epic that belongs on every bookshelf. (20 b&w photos) (Author tour)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
