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greg_talbot's review
3.0
"Memphis is the capital of the large rural region that surrounds it...Ozarks to the west; distant Appalachians range cascades eastward...As a natural crossroads, the city has been influenced by many cultures, but its insulation has deterred European sophisication" (p.3). Having listened to Gordon's interview with Marc Maron recently, I became enamoured with artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Howlin Wolf.
Gordon's love letter to Memphis is both inspiring and honoring to a wide range of players and connectors that birthed rock n'roll of Sun Records, R&B of Sytx Records and countless teenagers like Alex Chilton that found unimagined ways to make music. From teenage dances, to coffeeshops like the Bitter Lemon, or the music shops selling guitars, there was a novel sound that was greatly influencing a younger generation.
Great lengths are shown how culturally the racial barriers in rock n'roll were lifted in the music/arts community. DJs like Dewey Phillips played a wide range of artists to a young generation of national listeners. With the success of Elvis, more black musicians like Little Richard and Ike Turner started to get the much deserved recognition.
The fertile ground from the depression blues artists and the excitement of Elvis and Beatles opened up a word of sound, yearning and drugs to a generation of new artists. "The music that had earned disdain when the witnesses began playing it was now the soundtrack for a generation. And everyone wanted to be a part of it." (p.215). Artists like Big Star or the Mud Boys, may not have the underground cache of Velvet Underground of the Stooges...but their influence is well documented here.
An innocence is documented here. Corporate rock doesn't have it's feet fully planted, no one here is thinking of a career in as a "rock star". Its kids playing music, far too many putting aside lessons for loud ramblings, far too many jumping into drugs and aimlessness. Here we see a city of outsiders and dreamers pushing the boundaries of music and pushing against the racist conventions of their era.
Overall, a stunningly passionate book from Gordon. In some ways more of an anthropological study of the 50s, 60s and 70s of the Memphis scene than centering on any particular stories. Full of the detail that breathes life to artistic achievements of the epicenter of Americana.
Gordon's love letter to Memphis is both inspiring and honoring to a wide range of players and connectors that birthed rock n'roll of Sun Records, R&B of Sytx Records and countless teenagers like Alex Chilton that found unimagined ways to make music. From teenage dances, to coffeeshops like the Bitter Lemon, or the music shops selling guitars, there was a novel sound that was greatly influencing a younger generation.
Great lengths are shown how culturally the racial barriers in rock n'roll were lifted in the music/arts community. DJs like Dewey Phillips played a wide range of artists to a young generation of national listeners. With the success of Elvis, more black musicians like Little Richard and Ike Turner started to get the much deserved recognition.
The fertile ground from the depression blues artists and the excitement of Elvis and Beatles opened up a word of sound, yearning and drugs to a generation of new artists. "The music that had earned disdain when the witnesses began playing it was now the soundtrack for a generation. And everyone wanted to be a part of it." (p.215). Artists like Big Star or the Mud Boys, may not have the underground cache of Velvet Underground of the Stooges...but their influence is well documented here.
An innocence is documented here. Corporate rock doesn't have it's feet fully planted, no one here is thinking of a career in as a "rock star". Its kids playing music, far too many putting aside lessons for loud ramblings, far too many jumping into drugs and aimlessness. Here we see a city of outsiders and dreamers pushing the boundaries of music and pushing against the racist conventions of their era.
Overall, a stunningly passionate book from Gordon. In some ways more of an anthropological study of the 50s, 60s and 70s of the Memphis scene than centering on any particular stories. Full of the detail that breathes life to artistic achievements of the epicenter of Americana.
esuggs's review
5.0
The much needed antidote to Greil Marcus, this is a book that lingers and shows every weird hole and dive to demonstrate the true grandeur of it's subject, rather than forcing the idea that Randy Newman was secretly who Chuck Berry was singing about in Johnny B Goode. This book is compelling and strange in the best way, compiling every incident together so one really believes there was something in the air in those days
pmovereem's review
5.0
If you are a music fan and thinking about going to Memphis for the first time, please do two things first:
1) Please read this book and listen to its companion CDs:It Came from Memphis and It Came from Memphis, Volume 2
2) Get The Kreature Comforts Lowlife Guide to Memphis (on $5 a Day). And if you insist on taking a tour, The Ultimate Memphis Rock and Roll Tour with Sherman Wilmott cannot be beat. Tell 'im Phil, the teacher from Columbia, MO, sent you!
1) Please read this book and listen to its companion CDs:It Came from Memphis and It Came from Memphis, Volume 2
2) Get The Kreature Comforts Lowlife Guide to Memphis (on $5 a Day). And if you insist on taking a tour, The Ultimate Memphis Rock and Roll Tour with Sherman Wilmott cannot be beat. Tell 'im Phil, the teacher from Columbia, MO, sent you!
andreacpowers's review
2.0
Didn't finish; stopped midway. I needed more familiar people to hang my interest on.
bhswanson's review
This is a thoroughly researched deep dive into the music scene of Memphis in the 50s through early 70s, written with flair and passion. But…it’s a really deep dive - at least deeper than I was prepared to go for another 300 pages. I can definitely see why the book got enthusiastic reviews from aficionados of Memphis and its place in music history, but I would have needed to start with more interest in - and perhaps more background knowledge of - the topic to get me all the way to the finish line.
jwmcoaching's review
3.0
Robert Gordon's 2001 expose on Memphis, Tennessee and its colorful music scene people with interesting underground characters included is like an oral tradition teaching session. It's nearly 300 pages of back porch gossip and factual chatter. And I mean that in a good way. Gordon chronicles the underside of the city's musical life; the aspects of it that not as many people know about. Especially if you're not a native. My Dad lives in Memphis, so I figured I knew the city to a certain extent. Man, I don't know anything! Gordon starts out with the early bluesmen and works his way right up to Big Star and Alex Chilton. The book gets to be a little slow in spots and it does veer towards tedium a couple of times. However, it's still a worthy read if you're a music fan of any kind.