Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick
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Book Reviews of Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke
Book Review: A Triumph of Peter Guralnick
Summary: 4 Stars
Peter Guralnick knows how to tell the history of a life, and Dream Boogie is a well written account not just of Sam Cooke but of the history of popular music at perhaps its most significant stage. The author details the coming together--forced to varying degrees from the circumstance of segregation--of gospel and blues, art and commerce, glamour and shabbiness. Guralnick brings this last combination to vivid perspective in particular: while on tour and 'Wonderful World' is high in the charts, for instance, segregation still limits Sam's choice of accommodation to run-down hotels. As Guralnick shows, however, the religious and the secular were two things that were already well entwined: Dream Boogie emphasizes how the church was rooted in material success--how preoccupied its gospel stars were with sexual and financial, as well as spiritual, concerns.
I'd like to clear up a confusion that other reviews suffer from: when Guralnick, say, talks about Sam Cooke's 'naked avariciousness', he's talking from a business opponent's point of view. This is why statements seemingly flatly contradict. We get impressions of greed and generosity, but just because words aren't in inverted commas, it doesn't mean they represent the author's beliefs. It's a literary conceit (you could call it 'shifting third person subjective' or some such if you liked), and Sam Cooke appears through this composite approach. Guralnick has said in interview that his professional intention is to 'disappear', and mostly he does--by the device of presenting a series of opinions.
Too much of Sam's life seems little more than a series of tour itineraries. It's a fault that overruns the middle section of the book, although it's tempting to accept as a by-product of honesty and thoroughness. The end, though, is filled with revelation, and it becomes clear the author has consciously chosen to concentrate even on Sam's trivial triumphs above examples of tawdriness: the death of our hero is met with such a conspicuous absence of sorrow from those closest to him that it creates an absence of sorrow in us, too--all we can feel primarily is surprise.
If you've ever wondered about the myriad personal ramifications of instantly recognizable genius, and if you want to know how things were, how things happened, at the birth of rhythm & blues--and rock & roll--this book provides answers. Dream Boogie reminds us that things only spring out of nowhere at the quantum level. Sam Cooke, after all, had contemporaries: the primary difference was *that* voice.
Book Review: So many questions remain....
Summary: 4 Stars
At our 1990 wedding reception, my wife and I had our first dance to "For Sentimental Reasons"....
Very good book, with good background to the black music business of the 1950's - 1960's and a good oblique look at the need for the civil rights movement (also have a good treatment of that in Caro's LBJ biographies, believe it or not).
But there are so many questions left concerning his murder. He had frequented the hacienda with the Upsetters in the past; should his murderer, Bertha Franklin, have known him? Researching through the internet, it appears she had shot other male customers previously, including only six months before. What exactly was her background? She probably did tolerate or profit from prostitution at that seedy hotel. One cannot take at face value the testimony of the whore Elisa Boyer (is she still alive and in prison for the murder of a boyfriend in the late 1970's??), Franklin, or the motel owner who was reportedly on the phone with Franklin at 2:30 am when this all went down. (How often did the motel owner phone the night manager in the middle of the night? Was that strange behavior for them or not?) Why didn't Bertha Franklin go for her gun when Sam Cooke was reportedly trying to bash his way in her door instead of waiting until afterwards, after he had searched the manager's apartment and was reportedly in a violent struggle with her? Did she really changer her story four times as reported in other sources? Was Sam getting ready to fire Allen Klein, his manager who gets a squeaky clean portrayal in Guralnick's book despite apparently a sharkline reputation and massive profiteering off Sam's death?
His murder would make for a fascinating book in and of itself. The one thing that is clear is that the official version isn't what happened.
Book Review: he sends you
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm giving this book 4 stars inseated of 5, because although it's an excellent book, you dont need it in order to get the most out of Sam's music. In fact some parts of it, especially those relating to Sam's dealings with women, might actually put you off the man and his (to me, outstanding) work. It's very strong on the business and financial side of things - a niche readership for that I would have thought. If you're interested in the civil rights movement of the 60s, the supporting cast looms large, including Malcolm X, Dr King and Cassius Clay. Some of the details about the way Sam and his band were treated in the South are very disturbing and illuminating, and you wonder at how the hard shell this must have formed around him never manifested itself in his resolutely positve and confident music. It seems we've come a long way in the past 40-odd years, socially and sonically, although if you do go back to those records after reading, you'll find there's not much made since which can hold a candle to his output, which ended tragically and somewhat sordidly in 1963.Book Review: The Life of Sam Cooke
Summary: 4 Stars
Enjoyable, easy read with an abundance of narrative detail.Concerned for the most part with the narrative of a single individual this book contains little analytical information of the greater social cultural context. Although it is laid out chronologically, too few dates are included making it difficult at times to keep track (e.g. timing of events of his death.)
However, Guralnick is to be commended for the exhaustive interviews of family, friends and known associates. Through them and secondary sources he paints a clear portrait of Sam's early life, his meteoric rise in gospel quartets, his crossover and astonishing contributions to the shaping of soul music, his business life and ultimate demise in a cheap fleabag hotel, shot by the manager.
Another monumental volume and must read from the pen of Peter Guralnick. If you have a specific interest in soul music or a general interest in African American music read this author.
Book Review: Sweet Voice and Good Looks
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoyed this book. This is one of several books I have read on Sam Cooke. Sam was very much into African American history. He gets brownie points for that.
He was a very interesting character, and just loved women. For me, his greatest and most touching song is "A Change is Gonna Come." However, I really love his voice the most when he was with the Soul Stirrers. It is unfortunate, that most great black singers have to water down their vocals to appeal to the white masses. He even said himself, that when he performed for his people, he dare not give them that water down crap. They don't want any bologna. They want some steak and potatoes.
It was sort of funny that when some radio personality or industry person messed him over, he'd sex their wives. Sam that was not nice.
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