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scott_wilson_kc 's review for:
Me: Elton John Official Autobiography
by Elton John
I am a lifelong fan: first album, first concert, loyal completist.
The man's voice is welcome and present here. But it's impossible not to wish for more of it. This is a short book for a long artistic life, and for the lifelong fan and completist, it leaves aside a great deal.
But that's also its virtue, in a way. The ease and brevity are in line with EJ's fabled facility as a songwriter. He has said that he won't labor more than half an hour over a lyric. Either the melody comes or it doesn't, and he moves on. Here, he treats his own recollections in similar fashion. What comes to mind and can be conveyed with wit, style or an eye on cordially settling a score, that's what's on the page. The details -- studio sessions, musical invention -- are largely absent.
But no complaints. It's impossible to argue with a memoir this self-effacing, even if it's not revelatory at this late date.
The man's voice is welcome and present here. But it's impossible not to wish for more of it. This is a short book for a long artistic life, and for the lifelong fan and completist, it leaves aside a great deal.
But that's also its virtue, in a way. The ease and brevity are in line with EJ's fabled facility as a songwriter. He has said that he won't labor more than half an hour over a lyric. Either the melody comes or it doesn't, and he moves on. Here, he treats his own recollections in similar fashion. What comes to mind and can be conveyed with wit, style or an eye on cordially settling a score, that's what's on the page. The details -- studio sessions, musical invention -- are largely absent.
But no complaints. It's impossible to argue with a memoir this self-effacing, even if it's not revelatory at this late date.