Rating: 
Summary: great bio
Review: Peter Guralnick demonstrated in his definitive history of Soul music, Sweet Soul Music : Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, that he has a nearly unique grasp of the singular way in which popular music and the political culture intersect in American society. Along with Robert Palmer (Deep Blues) and Greil Marcus (Mystery Train), he has helped to craft a still pretty slender body of literature which takes pop music and its impact seriously, but also places it within a larger societal context. Now, in his two part biography of Elvis Presley, he has set out to strip away both the mythology (Volume One) and the demonology (Volume Two) that obscure Elvis and to restore some reasonable sense of perspective on the man and his music. In so doing, he offers us a new and useful opportunity to understand the personal and societal forces that converged to make him into The King, one of the genuine cultural icons of the 20th Century, and to trigger the Rock & Roll Era. There are several main factors that Guralnick cites, which appear to have had a particular influence on how events transpired. First is the city of Memphis itself, which served as a nearly perfect crucible for forging the blend of Gospel, Country, Blues and Rhythm & Blues that made up Elvis's sound. A southern city, but not Deep South, there was at least limited interaction between the white and black worlds. But most importantly for this story, the city was saturated with music. Second, Sam Phillips, owner of his own fledgling Sun Records operation, was on the scene looking for a white act that could bring the black sound to a mass audience: Sam Phillips possessed an almost Whitmanesque belief not just in the nobility of the American dream but in the nobility of that dream as it filtered down to its most downtrodden citizen, the Negro. 'I saw--I don't remember when, but I saw as a child--I thought to myself: suppose that I would have been born black. Suppose that I would have been born a little bit more down on the economic ladder. I think I felt from the beginning the total inequity of man's inhumanity to his brother. And it didn't take its place with me of getting up in the pulpit and preaching. It took the aspect with me that someday I would act on my feelings, I would show them on an individual, one-to-one basis.' Finally, there was the man, actually he was more of a boy at the beginning, Elvis Presley. And Elvis was himself the product of several forces. There was the impoverished kind of white trash milieu from which Elvis came and which gave him a sense of alienation and otherness. As Phillips said of him: He tried not to show it, but he felt so inferior. He reminded me of a black man in that way; his insecurity was so markedly like that of a black person. Then there was his mother, Gladys, who--in addition to raising him to be polite, respectful, humble, even deferential--also gave him unconditional love, bordering on worship, which he returned in kind. These forces combined, as so often seems to be the case, to make him insecure on the one hand, particularly in the manner in which he approached and dealt with people, but, on the other, left him burning with an inner certainty that he was special and was meant to accomplish great things. All of these forces combined into a volatile mix in the Sun recording studios on July 5, 1954. Phillips had brought Elvis in to work with a couple of local musicians, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, because he wanted them to do some ballads and Elvis had done some demos there, which Philips was not overwhelmed by but he thought Elvis had some potential as a ballad singer. The session was pretty desultory, if not downright unsuccessful, until that inevitable, now mythical, moment when during a break Elvis started fooling around doing Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's old blues tune "That's All Right [Mama]". Phillips, initially shocked that this quiet white mama's boy even new the song, immediately recognized that this was just the type of thing that he had been looking for and got them to record it. All of the tumblers had clicked into place. It was the nature of Memphis that Elvis and Sam had been exposed to, more like drenched in, the music of the black community. Sam happened to be looking for someone who could transport that music and, most importantly, the style and atmospherics of the music, into the white community. And in walks Elvis, that quintessential hybrid of insecurity and manifest destiny. If success did not come overnight it did come quickly and Guralnick masterfully charts the meteoric rise that took them up the charts and took Elvis to television and then to Hollywood. This first volume also sees Colonel Parker take over from Sam, the purchase of Graceland, the eventual breakup of the original band, the death of Elvis's mother and his induction into the Army. Guralnick makes it all seem fresh and exciting, carrying the reader along on the tide of events. An incredible number of famous names stud the narrative and prove to have significant roles to play, including: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Snow, B.B. King, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eddy Arnold, Bill Monroe, Steve Allen, Milton Berle and, of course, Ed Sullivan. This is a great biography, one that should especially appeal to folks whose only image of Elvis is the fat, sweaty, drug-addled lounge lizard of popular caricature. GRADE: A
Rating:
Summary: fantastic look at Elvis and '50s American culture and music
Review: Wonderfully detailed chroncling of Elvis Presley's life and music, put into the perspective of 1950s America. The book covers Elvis' life up until the time his mother dies and he is shipped to Germany. This is a breathtaking story of a young boy with a dream that was beyond anything anyone in his circumstances could imagine or anything he could ever have expected to attain. Last Train to Memphis takes the reader through the evolution of music into rock 'n' roll and shows us the mores of the times, as well as all the people who helped Elvis along the way. It makes one anxious to get on to volume 2, Careless Love.
Rating:
Summary: Who was Elvis before he was known by anyone outside Memphis?
Review: Peter Guralnick makes the reader feel as if he is actually in the company of a young and shy Elvis Presley--BEFORE he is "ELVIS." A fascinating read about a true American success story (the sequel outlines the unfortunate demise of Elvis). Without a doubt, this is the definitive book about Elvis Presley.
Rating:
Summary: WITHOUT A DOUBT: THE BEST ELVIS PRESLEY BIOGRAPHY
Review: Every book written about Elvis Presley lacks two things: the essence of the person and a full explanation of the magic of Elvis Presley. Galarchuk's book "Last Train to Memphis" provides the answer to both questions, plus much more. This book will appeal to readers who are not fans of Presley's music because it the book describes Presley rise to the top of the music industry with the hype or destruction of most Presley books. A strongpoint of the book is the early 1950s, the period when Elvis emerged from a shy, poor, and sheltered teenager with a into a mega star with an unlimited one. He also dispells the critics who do not respect Presley's musical talent giving him little or no credit for the production of his music. Galarchuk very strongly illustrates that Elvis was the driving force behind the musical material in the early years before Colonel Parker took complete control of Presley's career. The secret of this book is the number of unfamilar persons who knew Elvis and were able to provide insights to the man that have never been heard before. The most interesting voice from these persons was Dixie Locke, who knew Elvis better than anyone because she was there when he crossed the bridge from the unknown Elvis into the bright lights where he became "The King" and would never be able to go back to the "old" Elvis again.
Rating:
Summary: THE ONLY "ELVIS" BOOK YOU EVER NEED TO READ.
Review: Even if you've read 25 five other Elvis books & think you've heard it all before, your in for a real treat with this book. Well written, interesting, Often illuminating thoughts & emotions of "the king" are disclosed at a very entertaining & well crafted pace to make you re-experience the Real life of Elvis as he himself lived it. This book gets to the heart of Elvis's life, Dreams, Woes, & Dispare. It teaches you that even "the King" had lots of normal, human feelings. You see in all to clear detail how many around him manipulated him for their own concerns. As surprising & sad as it is, after reading this book, you almost don't envy Elvis, but almost feel sorry for him & how he let his own life & destiny slip from his own control & never really went back to what he really was famous for, Rock & Roll. Overall: The Absolute, definitive, last word book on Elvis Presley's Miraculous rise as a living legend, right down to his fall as a sad & lonely, & confused normal human being. The King is Dead....But his Name Lives on!
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: this is a good book on one of musics most important Artists ever.everybody knows that LITTLE RICHARD Is THE KING OF ROCK-N-ROLL!but that Elvis was a important Musical figure.this book does a solid job of tracing his upbringing and his rise into the spotlight.
Rating:
Summary: Heir To The Rock and Roll Throne
Review: Dee-Dee Da Dee Dee Listen to the first Sun Records single by Elvis, "Thats Alright". This was the song that captivated Sam Phillips late one night in the studios at the near end of Elvis's first recording session. It was unlike anything he had ever heard. Because it was Rock And Roll. And it was done by Elvis months BEFORE Bill Haley and The Comets recorded Rock Around The Clock. Galarchuck captures an Elvis far removed from the myths, misunderstandings, and now common apathy. Galarchuck reintroduces the reader to Elvis Aron Presley. Gone are the twelve pound gold belts, diamond encrusted shoes, fried peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, excessive weight and Vegas. In its place is Elvis, too complex and talented to sum up in pithy remarks in a review. Galarchuk does not put the reader in Elvis's mind or heart as much as he puts you beside Elvis. But you know his fears, ambitions, hopes, dreams, and finally tears as his mother and then all he has worked for is gone. Read the book and then listen to the music to hear his voice.
Rating: 
Summary: The Heart of the King
Review: I have just completed Peter Guralnick's wonderful biography of Elvis' early life and can say that it is a refreshing insight, not to the hype or myth of Elvis but, to the heart of who he was. While not a big fan of Elvis' music I am a fan of biographies, both in print and on film and found this one reaches into it's subject like none I have read or seen previously. It is rare that a biographical piece ventures further than a list of fact and "almost facts" tied together in a loose story, however Guralnick has allowed us to get to know Elvis in a way that even some of the so-called "Memphis Mafia" never really did I look forward to picking up the story in volumeII Rob Earnshaw
Rating:
Summary: Feeling What Elvis Felt
Review: I can't believe that someone could actually write a book this good. I felt what Elvis was feeling at very moment; while walking down streets, in studios, everwhere. I felt I was beside him while he went though his early life. Peter Guralnick was on a roll when he wrote this. None can compare. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: "The story of the greatest entertainer who ever lived!"
Review: "This book was fantastic! I have read a lot of books about Elvis and this is by far the best.It is not only a history lesson on the birth of Rock and Roll,but a history lesson of growing up poor in the south.Buy this book you wont regret it."
| 
