Rating: 
Summary: This REALLY IS one of the best biographies of anybody, ever!
Review: Extremely well-written bio, it took me right back to the 50's. Shows how important Sam Phillips was in the genesis of Elvis' "new" style of music. Gives glimpses into the King's initially very conservative moral stand - no drinking or smoking. Sometimes he even read from the Bible to his dates. The book takes us to the day he is shipped out to Germany. Towards the later chapters, darkness seems to creep into Elvis' life. He is very fearful, and the death of his mother appears to almost destroy his self-confidence. It gives great insight into just how and why Elvis' music was truly revolutionary. Shows how Elvis rose to the top thanks to three forces. First of course was his own talent, drive, ambition and energy. Then there was Sam Phillips who not only recognized that this phenomenon was totally new and different, but helped steer Elvis in the right direction musically. And finally there was the very clever Colonel Tom Parker, who was like a field general obsessed with effectively promoting Elvis' career. All in all, this book is hard to put down - in fact one wishes it would never end because it is such an enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: A slice of Southern history
Review: This is one of those rare biographies that transcend its subject. The rise of Elvis is fascinating and true Elvis fans will find a wealth of information in the book, but there is also much more to take from this well researched tome. The discussion of the music of Memphis, the sources that influenced Elvis and the rise of rock and roll make this book a terrific addition to anyone's library who is interested in music or the south. The relationship between Presley and his many women is discussed here and so is the complex interaction between him and his family. Perhaps his most interesting relationship is with his manager, Colonel Parker. How that relationship shaped his career certainly makes for an interesting read. The author does as fine a job as I have ever seen of documenting his sources and treating his subject with respect, but not awe. This is one of the best bio's I have ever read. I highly recommend this book to students of Elvis, pop music, the south or to anyone looking to be exposed to a world that no longer exists.
Rating:
Summary: Guralnick Gives Us Back the Music!
Review: Peter Guralnick -- with both love and meticulous scholarship -- has written a supremely ethical work of cultural archaeology. With meticulous care and fairness -- but with no sugarcoating whatsoever -- he excavates Elvis out of the layers of rumor, innuendo, and mystery that have conspired over the years to make him a caricature and a joke rather than a human being. Gurlanick gives us back the artist (who first thrilled me on 78s) and exorcizes so much of the snobby and dismissive trashy gossip (Goldman) that has obscured Elvis for almost 40 years. I don't mean that a saint emerges. No way. But in Guralnick's telling, a brilliant musician and excruciatingly vulnerable human being pushes aside the fat guy in the gold Vegas suit. The result? The music -- in all its glory and raw excitement -- returns to take its rightful and deserved place. The best books (with Guralnick's 2nd volume) about rock and roll ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Elvis 101
Review: "Last Train to Memphis" and its sequel, "Careless Love", make a deeply engrossing, carefully researched, finely written biography of Elvis Presley. Author Peter Guralnick took eleven years to exhaustively research sources and interview people who knew Elvis personally and would tell their firsthand experiences. Guralnick's scholarly approach automatically eschews any hint of the fan adoration that can taint celebrity biographies. Guralnick might even have erred on the dry side rather than the juicy or dishy side of the story. This is all to the good, because Elvis' life story, a fantastic, zany, epic arc through American pop culture, is one that needs no embellishment and is served well by a measure of journalistic restraint. Guralnick made a wise choice with the two-book format, because in Elvis' life there was a distinct "Rise and Fall." "Last Train to Memphis" is the rise: "Careless Love" is the fall. In each volume, Guralnick reveals much not just about Elvis, but about the people who were his family and closest friends and how their actions and relationships to him and to each other shaped Elvis into the man he became. Accounts of his school days, his early days as a musician, his early girlfriends, and his family life all flesh him out as a human being and penetrate the shell of celebrity to offer a three-dimesional glimpse of the individual and his own ideas and aspirations and insecurities. The first volume ends with the death of Elvis' mother, a loss that sent him into the first tailspin of many, from which he never seemed to recover. After reading this volume, you will be hooked on the story and will want to immediately begin the second volume, which is much darker and sadder as the King's world starts to unwind, chronicling his spiraling drug habit and his battles both public and personal. The second volume is catalogued and reported as dispassionately as the first, so that the same unblinking honesty that gave "Last Train" such sparkle and joy reveals the true depth of Elvis' isolation without having to resort to hyperbole. Guralnick said it himself; that the rise to fame and the person were larger than life, and so too was the decline larger than life. It's an ending that leaves you feeling sad that what began so brightly should end so awfully. I read these books because I knew very little about Elvis and wanted to know his life story, and they are a deeply satisfying and very credible account of the King's life. I can't imagine that there is a better bio out there for anyone who wants to study Elvis 101.
Rating:
Summary: This REALLY IS one of the best biographies of anybody, ever!
Review: Extremely well-written bio, it took me right back to the 50's. Shows how important Sam Phillips was in the genesis of Elvis' "new" style of music. Gives glimpses into the King's initially very conservative moral stand - no drinking or smoking. Sometimes he even read from the Bible to his dates. The book takes us to the day he is shipped out to Germany. Towards the later chapters, darkness seems to creep into Elvis' life. He is very fearful, and the death of his mother appears to almost destroy his self-confidence. It gives great insight into just how and why Elvis' music was truly revolutionary. Shows how Elvis rose to the top thanks to three forces. First of course was his own talent, drive, ambition and energy. Then there was Sam Phillips who not only recognized that this phenomenon was totally new and different, but helped steer Elvis in the right direction musically. And finally there was the very clever Colonel Tom Parker, who was like a field general obsessed with effectively promoting Elvis' career. All in all, this book is hard to put down - in fact one wishes it would never end because it is such an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating History
Review: This is a book for those who love American music, not those looking for lurid scandal. Guralnick's respectful yet honest history of Elvis's rise to fame is endlessly engrossing. Not only do we meet Elvis, Gladys, and Vernon in the years before the myths took over, we meet lesser-known yet facsinating characters as Sam Phillips, the idealistic founder of Sun Records, and Dewey Phillips, the eccentric DJ who first played Elvis on the air. As Guralnick presents Memphis in the 50's, it seems so real one almost feels as though it could be visited today. You don't have to be an Elvis fan to enjoy this biography.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding - as if the author and Elvis were Siamese twins
Review: One of the best biographies I have ever read. Detailed, sensitive, written with just the right mix of empathy and detachment a biographer needs. I know two people who are about Elvis' age and grew up with him. Both of them say that the chapters dealing with the King's upbringing in Tupelo and his years at the Lauderdale Courts read like they have been written by someone who grew up with him. If you have only the slightest interest in Elvis, Memphis, Southern history, or American popular culture, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Some People Actually Think He's Dead...
Review: But it's not true...Elvis DOES live...in the pages of Guralnick's outstanding biography of Elvis Presley, a biography that will stand the test of time as the definitive study of the King of Rock n Roll. In Volume One, Guralnick takes us from Elvis' humble beginnings in Tupelo, Mississippi to his departure for Army duty in Germany twenty-three years later. In between, readers will be fascinated with what they THOUGHT they knew about Elvis. LAST TRAIN differs from other books about Elvis in two very distinct ways: First, the author gives us first hand accounts from the people who were actually there. There's no tabloid journalism or second-hand anecdotes. Guralnick has done his research and it shows. Second, Elvis is never presented as an icon or an idol. Guralnick has the unique ability to step back away from the action as an impartial observer and give us an extraordinarily clear image of what Elvis was really like - a really nice, clean, religious kid who was consumed with music and making people happy. You can almost feel the electricity of the recording sessions at Sun Studios. You can watch Sam Phillips as he realizes that this boy could change the course of popular music forever. Elvis' girls, friends, musicians...they're all here and they all have a piece of the story to tell. And what about the "Colonel" Tom Parker? Genius or huckster? Of course, the hysteria is recorded as well. After all, it's part of the story. Crazed fans were nothing new. After all, girls had been going nuts over singers like Frank Sinatra and many others for years. But the world had never seen anything like this? How can you explain it? Guralnick never really comes right out with an explanation, but you'll be able to pick it up between the lines. But you'll enjoy the book so much in the process, all you'll care about is what happens next. The writing, the storytelling, the descriptions...it's all outstanding. But if I had to pick two moments that really struck me, one would be Elvis near his popularity peak looking out of a train window. He saw a lone dog running in a field and longed for the freedom to roam the world unhindered by masses of admirers. It's a very simple, but powerful image of things to come. The other is the [end of life] of Elvis' mother near the end of the first volume. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever read, Elvis kneels beside his deceased mother's body, crying out that he would give up all of his success and go back to digging ditches if he could only have her back again. If you have dry eyes at the end of this book, your heart needs to be jumpstarted. Like all good writers, Guralnick expertly foreshadows the tragic events that will take place in Volume Two. Even if you think you know the full Elvis story, you'll learn plenty by reading this book. The only bad part about finishing Volume One is not having a copy of Volume Two nearby. Buy both. You won't be sorry. 488 pages of text, 50 pages of notes and bibliography
Rating:
Summary: Reverent and Respectful
Review: Guralnick takes a scholarly approach to an American Pop Icon, giving a detailed, fact-based account of The King without the sensationalistic, tabloid-style trashiness found in other quickly-written-for-profit, exploitative Elvis books. He divides his work into two books: the first, Last Train to Memphis, traces his meteoric rise, while the second explores more aspects of his superstardom and then his decline. Guralnick's books on Elvis Presley are a welcome addition for those interested in a serious, respectful treatise on a talented, generous, and complex artist.
Rating:
Summary: Entrancing read
Review: This book is one of the best, if not the best, I've ever read about Elvis Presley. It is very well written in an original way. I'm almost through reading it for the second time. To be able to get all of the information in this book, it is a must read more than once! You won't be able to put it down. Not only is it a great book for Elvis fans, but also for the avid reader. It describes Elvis' influences and surroundings and people in his early life and career in an accurate, yet exciting, way. This insightful biography of Elvis will open your eyes to more than just his image. It will help you understand the "real" Elvis. Emotions run high as you read about his first gigs, girlfriends, frenzied fans, Hollywood life, army concerns and his Mother. To own "Last Train to Memphis" is an inspiration.
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