Unlike the biographers of many renowned figures, Guralnick had no diaries, correspondence or much in the way of a public record to draw on. Then there are the 1969 recordings at American Studios, where he again made magic with a crack band, terrific songs like 'Suspicious Minds'' and a new commitment to his music.ĭespite the reams of material written about Elvis, this most chronicled of celebrities left little record of his inner life. This return to form is most notable in Elvis' brilliant 1968 Christmas TV special, where he recaptured lightning in a bottle with all his old charisma and a newfound musical maturity it's a great moment in rock music. But there are glorious times, too, flashes of the young prince who set rock 'n' roll and the attendant youth culture in motion. Guralnick stitches a quilt whose more sordid pieces are familiar to many: an artist who wasted his talents on unworthy material and bad movies the coterie of friends and leeches known as the 'Memphis Mafia'' the soured marriage to Priscilla the obsessions with karate and mysticism the bizarre Oval Office meeting with Richard Nixon TV sets executed in hotel rooms rampant largesse the druggobbler literally more familiar with the Physicians' Desk Reference than many doctors the lonely end in his Graceland bathroom - inspirer of no end of 'King dying on the throne'' jokes. More than 21 years have passed since Elvis was found dead in his Memphis mansion, his heart undone by vices both dietary and pharmaceutical. While 'Careless Love'' doesn't glow with the electric pulse of its predecessor - it's a different tale with a shallower arc - the two volumes seem likely to remain unsurpassed, at least until the arrival of a generation of biographers several decades removed in historical perspective.

The singer gets one in Peter Guralnick's 'Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley.'' It's the companion volume to the author's much-praised 'Last Train to Memphis,'' the 1994 chronicle of Elvis' life from his birth through early stardom to his 1958 Army induction. 10 - No matter where you stood on the Elvis Presley postage stamp issue - should the King be depicted as a snakehipped young lion or an aging sweathog in a too-tight jumpsuit? - one fact is beyond debate: As a towering figure in 20th century popular culture, the man-child from Tupelo, Miss., deserves a matching biography.

Peter guralnick elvis books