Customer Reviews

Go Cat Go!: Rockabilly Music and Its Makers (Music in American Life)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Morrison's book is one of the best overviews of Rockabilly History that I've read. There is nothing too indepth here, but this book is not meant to do that. Instead you get the why's and hows of early Rock and Roll, the definition of what makes Rockabilly, rockabilly. You get bio's of the major, and many minor, movers and shakers of the rock and roll movement of the 50's. This book gets your foot in the door and past Elvis into the coloured and varied history of the scene. From here you can search out bio's and records on Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and The Rock and Roll Trio. A nice appendix included here is a listing of important Rockabilly albums and compilations that one can still find on the shelves. Now that you know the history you know what records to buy to experiance that history.

This book is without any doubt the best out there. Besides good biographical stories about bands and artists, you get to know a whole lot about the MUSIC rockabilly. This book also covers the cultural and sociological aspects of rockabilly. I've just finnished my major essay at the University in Trondheim (Norway) - studying music - and Morrison's book has helped me a lot. From the 50s, to the revival, and up to the present. Morrison's book covers it all!!!

I am researching about rock'n'roll, rockabilly and other rhythms of the '50s and '60s. I am enjoying this book very much and it has been very helpful to me, not only because of the loads of info about history, bands, etc. that it contains but also for the suggested reading & listening lists it gives. I strongly recommend it.

This is an interesting dip into the world of rock n' roll and rockabilly. It would have been more interesting had the copy that I purchased, not gone inexplicably from page 76 to 19!! Thus I shall never know the finer points about Carl Perkins that I was about to read!
Certainly though this book is worth getting...although a properly ordered copy might be an advantage! Deserves to be on every rocker's bookshelf!

This might have been a pretty good article, but there is just not enough interesting material for a book on the subject. Most of these guys were working class amateurs who made a couple of records. I have listened to a number of compilations that include many of the people that the author mentions. Believe me, there are no lost "masters" among them. The author cannot even really define "rockabilly" in any coherent fashion, and many of his judgments appear quite arbitrary. A short-lived, transitional phenomenon. Not worth the price unless you are a fanatic fan of the music.