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Summary: The story of a man, a place and a time
Review: I have read "Last Train" cover to cover probably 15 times in the past two years. It is without a doubt the best biography I have ever read, period. It is also the best bio of Elvis Presley ever written in this reviewer's opinion.Guralnick's tale has essentially three main characters: Elvis Presley, the city of Memphis and the 1950s. "Last Train" is the story of how those three characters affected and interacted with one another and makes the reader feel he is standing on Beale Street or on the concrete outside Sun Studio watching this man's life unfold. Guralnick's detail-obsessive research, far from being tedious, provides a sense of place and time for the story of Elvis Presley -- something often lacking in biographies that simply list the highlights and important dates of a person's life. In fact, the map of 1955 Memphis inside the hardbound volume can still be followed by visitors to Memphis today on a pilgrimmage to Elvis sites.
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Summary: Don't buy the abridged tapes!
Review: I was stuck on a long car ride with the abridged version of this book. In order to get it down onto two cassettes, the abridgers consistently managed to suck every bit of life and color out of the story, producing the Monarch Notes equivalent of the story. You could tell where the interesting quotes would have gone. I've learned my lesson; I'll only listen to unabridged tapes from now on.
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Summary: Read it !!!
Review: This is the best book on rock and roll I have ever read.(and I've read a lot of them) It has an excitement that runs through the whole book-and the passages on Elvis dealing with his mother's death are extremely well done. All in all,a most enjoyable book that is well researched,and well written
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Summary: An Icon of His Era And Of All Time
Review: Twenty years after his sudden death and a resulting public adoration that has become a peculiar form of near-sainthood, Elvis Aron Presley remains a complex, contradictory, nebulous character who has been wrongly relegated by self-appointed arbiters of high culture to a dustbin of withering disdain. The first volume of Peter Guralnick's refreshing and well-documented work, "Last Train to Memphis" looks closely at Presley the person as well as the entertainer squarely within the cultural and socioeconomic contexts in which he was brought up and scored his greatest musical successes.
The result is a powerful and insightful chronicle of a man and musician perfectly representative of his time and place in history yet oddly ahead of it in many ways. His ascent from shy Tupelo, Mississippi-born truck driver to a key fixture of contemporary American folklore is a classic example of a fierce working class aspiration for a better life. Furthermore, Presley's creative blending of a variety of Southern black and poor white musical traditions into a novel sound that shook the world was a triumph of racial integration as well as musical composition, no small feat given the U.S.'s officially sanctioned racial segregation of the mid-1950s. And, along with his innovative manager, Tom Parker, "The Pelvis" permanently transformed the public image of the popular entertainer by skillfully exploiting a then still-new medium called television.
Guralnick's treatise ends with 1958, the year which saw the death of Elvis's doting mother and his Army induction, the two occurrences considered by many to be the beginning of his tragic descent into the glitzy caricature of ham actor, decadent celebrity and portly Vegas lounge act. Perhaps a second volume may put that period into its proper perspective also. However, it may be fitting that Presley's later years and sudden death remain swathed in some controversy and mystery, because it is from that controversy and mystery that his pop cultural enshrinement has come to pass, and deservedly so.
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Summary: The true tale of the early, sweet and innocent Elvis...
Review: Such an antidote to Goldman's sleazy Elvis book -- this book literally oozes truth and reality as opposed to Goldman's hillbilly fantasies. Guralnick is the best there is when he's writing about indigenous music of the South. Loved this book, loved Sweet Soul Music, and can't wait for the sequel
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Summary: Like EP in concert... hot, sweaty, dangerous and rockin'
Review: By far the most exciting and real book ever written on EP.
Goes beyond the myth to explore the underlying story of how a confluence of time, place and talent resulted in EP's phenomenal rise from local hero to national icon. The most interesting passages, to me, describe what it was like when EP hit the stage during his first live performances. Guralnick made me FEEL what it must have been like both for EP and the crowd. Hot, sweaty, dangerous and rockin"
A real appreciation for EP as a musician.
Can't wait for the sequel
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Summary: Elvis was just a man
Review: I'm not particularly drawn to biographies, and certainly not music biographies, but I make exceptions for Elvis. I was also swayed because I have heard Peter Guralnick's books praised many times. Most satisfying about this book, volume one of Guralnick's two volume biography of Elvis Presley, was Guralnick's ability to humanize his subject. The persona of Elvis, years after his death, is such a caricature, even a joke, that it can be hard to remember that there was a real, living, breathing person named Elvis Presley. The book contained what were, for me, some fantastic revelations. For one, Elvis was nearly done in when he was a youngster, not by the difficulties of his quest for fame, but by the swiftness with which it arrived. In a year's time, he went from being a nobody to being one of the most recognizable faces in the country, a man whose presence literally caused riots whenever he appeared in public. For Elvis, it was a major struggle simply to adjust to this new life. Television documentaries and magazine articles often mention in passing that Elvis' music and persona caused quite a stir, moral outrage even, when he appeared on the scene in the 1950s. Such stories sound quaint and exaggerated in this day and age, but with the context provided by Guralnick, I was able to see how groundbreaking Elvis really was, both musically and socially. Finally, I was enthralled by Guralnick's portraits of Elvis' supporting cast, quirky characters like Elvis' mother Gladys, his manager Colonel Tom Parker, and the guy who gave him his first big break, Sam Phillips. The book rekindled my love, as it surely will rekindle yours, for the early days of rock and roll, and it left me with a serious hankering to read volume two of the biography, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley sometime real soon.
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Summary: The Elvis we all want to know and love!
Review: A recent visit to Graceland and reading this book turned me into a confirmed Elvis fan. Extremely well-researched, it dials back time to Memphis in the '50s and paints a picture of what it was like to be caught up in the phenomenon of the Elvis craze. One of the best bios I've read; you learn Elvis is a charming bundle of insecurities, humility, talent, and mamma's good manners, not to mention the overt 'all shook up' sex appeal. The second volume, Careless Love, shows the inevitable downside of his fame. Last Train is a must-read for any rock or Elvis fan and even those who don't claim him as a favorite will enjoy this biography.
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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.
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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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