false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170448793m/55176.jpg 55176 5 Until Peter Guralnick came out with <I>Last Train to Memphis</I> in 1994, most biographies of Elvis Presley--especially those written by people with varying degrees of access to his "inner circle"--were filled with starstruck adulation, and those that weren't in awe of their subject invariably went out of their way to take potshots at the rock & roll pioneer (with Albert Goldman's 1981 <I>Elvis</I> reaching now-legendary levels of bile and condescension). Guralnick's exploration of Elvis's childhood and rise to fame was notable for its factual rigorousness and its intimate appreciation of Presley's musical agenda.<p> Picking up where the first volume left off, Guralnick sees Elvis through his tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Germany, where he first met--and was captivated by--a 14-year-old girl named Priscilla Beaulieu. We may think we know the story from this point: the return to America, the near-decade of B-movies, eventual marriage to Priscilla, a brief flash of glory with the '68 comeback, and the surrealism of "fat Elvis" decked out in bejeweled white jumpsuits, culminating in a bathroom death scene. And while that summary isn't exactly <I>false</I>, Guralnick's account shows how little perspective we've had on Elvis's life until now, how a gross caricature of the final years has come to stand for the life itself. He treats every aspect of Presley's life--including forays into spiritual mysticism and the growing dependency on prescription drugs--with dignity and critical distance. More importantly, <I>Careless Love</I> continues to show that Guralnick "gets" what Presley was trying to do as an artist: "I see him in the same way that I think he saw himself from the start," the introduction states, "as someone whose ambition it was to encompass every strand of the American musical tradition." From rock to blues to country to gospel, Guralnick discusses how, at his finest moments, Elvis was able to fulfill that dream. <I>--Ron Hogan</I> 53772 1999 Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley total:316|5:166|4:122|3:25|2:2|1:1| 316 1398 450 50 4 5 false false Tue May 15 09:29:31 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 10 17:48:49 -0700 2007
i started out being a fan of the image elvis portrayed, the music that he brought into the world. then i made the mistake of wanting to get to know him as a person. after being thoroughly inspired by guralnick's first book, "last train to memphis," i d...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 21 23:30:47 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 05 14:26:30 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Mar 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 16:21:27 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 18:20:11 -0700 2009
This is Pt. 2 of a 2-volume biography. I figured I was only interested in the decline, but now I want to read Vol. 1 also.

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