Synopsis
This memoir of life with The King offers an insider's perspective on the devlepment of rock and roll. Guitarist Scotty Moore's association with Elvis dates back to when he was a member of the Blue Moon Boys, the band that Elvis toured with for three years before hitting the big time. Moore went on to play on many of Elvis's legendary early recordings. In the prologue, Keith Richards emphatically sings Moore's praises.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-08-01 |
| Size | | Height: | 8.8 in | | Width: | 5.8 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 16.0 oz |
Industry Reviews
"The sad trajectory of Elvis Presley's life is a familiar story, but this memoir does shed a little new light on the early years."
Kirkus Reviews (05/15/1997)
"If Elvis was the pelvis, then Moore and bassist Bill Black were his first great kick in the pants....Dickerson faithfully reproduces Moore's voice, which is modest, point-blank and disdainful of myth....Moore never gets too mushy about his famous friend."
Los Angeles Times Book Review - Sarah Vowell (08/17/1997)
"Scotty Moore [was] the guitarist on those first amazing songs recorded at Sam Phillip's Sun Studios in Memphis. They started out as partners (with bassist Bill Black), but Elvis soon became the focus of the group, and Moore a $200-a-week employee. In the end, while Elvis made millions, Moore took home only a little more than $30,000....The one problem with the book, which is a valuable addition to the body of Elvisiana, is that Moore didn't want people to think that he'd really written it, and so the distancing third person makes this more of a sideman's story than it really was. The truth is that it was the synergy between Elvis, Moore and Black that made those recordings so incredible. And, though it's acknowledged too rarely, Moore's solos, particularly those on 'Good Rockin' Tonight' and 'Baby, Let's Play House'` are an important part of the foundation of rock guitar. This would be a better book if Moore had conveyed the excitement he surely must have felt that early morning in July 1954 when, after hours recording ballads that didn't quite work, Elvis began to play bluesman Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's 'That's All Right, Mama' and he and Black fell in behind him."
Washington Post Book World - David Nicholson (08/17/1997)
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