Customer Reviews

Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book was for me, unputdownable. Partly because I really didn't know that much about Elvis in detail, and was glad to find a recent book with all the updated information on his life and death. This book covers everything, although it seemed that it wanted to show negative things more than positive. I came to the conclusion that it was balanced, but perhaps just a little toward the negative. In the end he was really just a poor kid who didn't know what had hit him when he became an icon and his life a public feeding frenzy. It's revealed that Elvis died of a genetic heart condition, but it really seems more like Colonal Tom Parker killed Elvis by acting as though Elvis was a money making machine. I drew my own conclusions about Elvis a long time ago, however this book helped to understand the man behind the phenomenon and legend that is and always will be, Elvis the King.

Others have been disappointed that this book doesn't discuss Elvis' music as much as his private life. But note the title! Taken this way, it is one of the best chronologies of his life. I have read. It was interesting to read it after having just read Guralnick's 2 tomes. In fact I was sorry Guralnick didn't have the latest info on Elvis' autopsy and cause of death. It is a great book for "beginners".

Yes, much of this biography has information covered in other books, but this book pulls ALL of that information together into ONE book. Plus,it adds interviews with those who knew Elvis to give a balanced perspective of the King. No, he wasn't an angel, but he wasn't as bad as Albert Goldman's (1980) sensationized bio made him out to be. If you're a fanatical Elvis fan, you will have probably already read most of the books this bio uses. However, if you are just starting out as a "casual" Elvis fan, this is THE book to read to get started knowing about the life of King, from superstar and philanthropist to a poor boy from a dysfunctional family, warts and all. It's a fast, easy read and a book I consider a MUST for all Elvis collectors. The book doesn't hide from Elvis' bizarre side, but also takes a balanced view of his life as the one and only KING of Rock and Roll.

THis is a steady and positive job of trying to cover the King's life in only one volume. The authors achieved their intentions, and I think the book gives us a great overall picture of ELvis, both in his professional and personal life. A good reading for anyone who loves rock and roll and wants to know its main character.

After the release of "Careless Love", the definitive Elvis biography by Peter Guralnick, it is interesting to revisit this title.

Whilst "Down at the End of Lonely Street" is generally sympathetic, the focus on the more salacious aspects of Elvis' private life at the expense of an objective career analysis is perhaps a little frustrating for the serious student of music and entertainment.

( The authors' generally excellent biography of Howard Hughes was diminished for the same reason).

Nevertheless, this title is easy to read and entertaining, dealing with Elvis' later years in a non judgemental and generally sympathetic way. It is not the definitive work by any means, but a well intentioned effort that is worthy of inclusion in any collection.

A lot of work went into this book, but it lacks objectivity. It is pro-Elvis, though not excessively so, but it seems entirely too kind to Dr. Nick and Priscilla.

Dr. Nick no doubt curbed Elvis's overall drug consumption and minimized the careless peaks that would have occurred had he not been present. However, Dr. Nick was still party to the drug excess. It is difficult not to believe that his interest was primarily money at the expense of caring for Elvis. Despite receiving a hefty income, he found it necessary to borrow $200,000 from his very volatile patient. And then there was the racquetball misadventure resulting in legal estrangement. Still, I received a better appreciation for Dr. Nick's effort by reading this book. He did have a daunting task.

As regards Priscilla, the authors seem to have bought the image she has been trying to project. Finstadt's book on Priscilla presents a more plausible picture.

If Peter Guralnick's mammoth two volume biography didn't exist, this book might serve more of a purpose. But compared to the Guralnick books this is downright flimsy. There is excruciatingly little new here though there are a few early anecdotes and some interesting interviews with marginal players in the Presley story like co-stars Deborah Walley and Mary Ann Mobley who don't get interviewed in connection with Presley very often. There is also extensive interview time spent with the infamous Dr. Nick. Otherwise the book seems like a collection od press clippings that have been trotted out dozens of times before. To make things worse, it seems that in the photo sections the authors deliberately went out of their way to find the most familiar pictures available.
You would think that there wouldn't be anything new to write about Elvis but the Guralnick books were filled with revelations. He didn't stop at the familiar and wound up turning up dozens of forgotten gems just from information that had been in the public domain but had never been gathered in a contemporary work about the king.
This book has other problems besides familiarity. Elvis' music gets glossed over. For example Elvis' 1969 memphis sessions, that produced From Elvis in Memphis and "Suspicious Minds" perhaps the artistic height of his career, get a page and a half. While the authors have an appreciation for Presley's achievement they don't always appear to have the greatest understanding of it. Reading authors like Guralnick, Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus and even Ernst Jorgenson you can feel and hear the music as you read. In their descriptions the music sets off a universe of ideas. That's not the case here. There is a discography, a filmography and a list of Elvis' TV appearances in the back but these have been done better (sometimes in entire books)many times before. In fact, the discography, because of its arbitrary selections and factual errors, is useless.
So, unless you have to read every single word that has ever been written about Elvis you can miss this one.

Knowing little about the life of Elvis, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It seemed a truthful account and was well-written. I recommend it.

I picked this book of just to have something to read and it floored me. The book gives you ALL of Elvis's life and not just the sanitized versiion. I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking the TRUTH about Elvis. From his greatest moments to his lowest.

I am in the midst of reading this book and I have to say I love it. Although it explores the darker side of Elvis, it also speaks of his kind and sensitive sides. It could use more info on his music, but if you are a true fan and want to learn about the man behind the music, this is the book. CAUTION: This book will disapoint some fans who thought Elvis was a perfect person - he wasn't. All in all, it is thorough on his life and has a good bibliography.