Customer Reviews

What It Was Was Rockabilly

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I read the editorial reviews for this book and was looking foreward to receiving it. I was let down. The book is about 300 pages long, but only about 100 are text on the artists. The remaining pages are fairly decent discographies of the artists featured. It tracks Rockabilly from it's earliest influences like Bob Wills and Jimmie Rodgers, through the early memphis sounds (Elvis, Johnny Burnette, Sun Records), to those who "cashed in" and "refined" the Rockabilly sound (Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, various country artists). Each artists bio varies from a page to two in length and covers the general highlights of their career. The end of each chapter has the disc listing for the artists in that chapter. By no means are the bios complete or indepth, but they all seem to be well researched. But I do question the inclusion of the Beatles. Yes, they were majorly influened by Rockabilly and the likes of Gene Vincent and Carl Perkins, but they had no real effect on the rockabilly scene. I guess I was hoping for entries on some lesser known artists like Benny Joy or Sleepy LaBeef (who is listed in the Discography, but does not have an entry.). The cover has the blurb "A history of Rock and Roll"... I would label it more of a guide book. It points you in a general direction to focus your own research. And the Discographies are really nice, especially the complete Sun Singles listing. But what really was the BIG let down was the overall package. The book is riddled with grammatical errors that a simple proofreader could have corrected (much like this review...) The "Pictures" that it proudly announces on the cover are HORRIBLE. Really shoddy scans or grapics seemingly culled from a Commodore 64 image file. Or sloppily enlarged photocopies. They really detract from the product. If you just want the discography I say go for it. But if you want a book on the history of Rockabilly try Go Cat Go or Billy Poore's book. I may not have been so harsh of the book if it had been more inexpensive, 16.00 is a little steep for something of this production value.