peter guralnick

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classic i say, even though he seems to have a skewed agenda to prove that soul was a multiracial creation, and a tone that can sometimes border on the patronising. he is great at character portraits though and gets excellent interviews, and his knowledge is generally second to none. i like the books ive read of his.

― okokoko, Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Looking forward to reading his new Sam Cooke bio.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:17 (eighteen years ago) link

he had a hand in the sam cooke docu-dvd that came out last year or so.

― okok, Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:18 (eighteen years ago) link

offtopic, are you the jazzbo of rappages fame? do you still write?

― okok, Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:19 (eighteen years ago) link

I liked his first Elvis book okay (for someone who isn't much of a Presley fanatic) and haven't read the followup. But "Sweet Soul Music" and "It Came From Memphis" -- C and C. Totally OTM on the character portraits; so vivid that I can see a great unmade movie in my head when I read.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:21 (eighteen years ago) link

I was just thinking of Guralnick. You nailed it with the character portrait and interview angle. His piece on Merle Haggard in Lost Highway (I think) is a fantastic character portrait. That's his strength.

― Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:53 (eighteen years ago) link

"It Came from Memphis" is Robert Gordon.

I find PG a bit soft, always making everything a bit more "accessible" than it has to be. That said, he's still good. His Elvis books are flawed, since he doesn't spend all that much time talking about the music; it's all so sober and "dignified" and I think that's the wrong way to approach Elvis, even though, yeah, Elvis deserves a lot of compassion. PG is good on the '76 "Hurt" performance by EP--probably the highlight of the second volume, along with the description of the Chips Moman sessions.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 17:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Classic, haven't read the Elvis books he did, but for Sweet Soul Music alone, very good...

...and isn't most american music multiracial by default?

― Phil Dokes (sunny), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 17:53 (eighteen years ago) link

(x-post) Robert Gordon, yes. You can't believe everything I misremember on the internets.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 18:00 (eighteen years ago) link

we've done this before!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 19:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes, we did, funny that you remember that. We discussed it here:
Peter Guralnick: C/D?

Also came up here:
TS: elvis's "hound dog" vs. big mama thornton's "hound dog"

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 19:44 (eighteen years ago) link

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peter guralnick - C or D?