[DNL]⋙ [PDF] Dream Boogie The Triumph of Sam Cooke Peter Guralnick 9780316013291 Books

Dream Boogie The Triumph of Sam Cooke Peter Guralnick 9780316013291 Books

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Dream Boogie The Triumph of Sam Cooke Peter Guralnick 9780316013291 Books

I'm a big fan of Sam Cooke (you'd have to be to even pick up all 650 pages of Dream Boogie) and tend to think of "Bring It on Home To Me" and "A Change Is Gonna Come" as two of the most beautiful songs ever written. I was disappointed in an Entertainment Weekly review I'd read of the book that called the book a little plodding and concluded that Cooke didn't deserve the type of meticulous attention that Peter Guralnick had brought to Elvis Presley over his two heralded biographies of Presley. Well, I still don't much agree with that review, but after finally reaching the end after picking up and putting down the book for about 10 months, I at least can appreciate where the reviewer was coming from. Not only is Dream Boogie meticulous, down to the week and month, of every trip of Sam's career - from gospel singer in the Highway QC's to the Soul Stirrers, to the beginning and end of his career - it gets downright encyclopedic. There are moments in the book detailing particular contracts and formations of certain partnerships that would test the patience of anyone but the most ardent followers of the industry. For me, if the passages detailing Cooke's business life left me with anything important, it's to underscore the core tenants of Cooke's personality, for which Guralnick's approach becomes revelatory: Sam's ability to see trends as they were arising, his studied approach to the people around him, his warmth with a hint of a dagger underneath, his command of respect, and above all, his magnetism that drew everyone to him. For the first ten years of Dream Boogie, that magnetism is all you read about, really - the trail of Sam's conquests on the road, the women who swooned and screamed at his concerts, the mesmeric glow of Sam as performer. Yet something brilliant happens to the book as it enters the heyday of Sixties tumult: the seeds of Sam's personality start to become time bombs interacting with the world around him. It's fascinating to see Sam dancing around in the corner of the story of Muhammed Ali and Malcolm X, and I had had no idea of their connection before (I wasn't alive in the 60s). As personal tragedy strikes and Sam's marriage unravels we see, sort of, Sam begin to unravel, too. What makes Guralnick such a great writer is that what we don't really get is a true indication of what Sam thought, we got what people observed, and how their observations changed over the years - because the biggest mystery at the heart of Sam's great magnetism was always wondering what he was thinking. Sam's death, which I confess I knew little about prior to reading this book, is mysterious in a way, and also a culmination of the demons in his life, even without knowing the full truth about it. In the end, it took me a long time to get there, but Dream Boogie took a figure I was fascinated by and pointed a camera at him in a way that got me to watch both him and the world around him with a thoroughness and clarity I'd never experienced before.


Tags : Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke [Peter Guralnick] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. One of the most influential singers and songwriters of all time, Sam Cooke was among the first to blend gospel music and secular themes--the early foundation of soul music. He was the opposite of Elvis: a black performer who appealed to white audiences,Peter Guralnick,Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke,Back Bay Books,0316013293,Composers & Musicians,African American sound recording executives and producers,African American sound recording executives and producers;Biography.,Cooke, Sam,Soul music;Biography.,Soul musicians - United States,Soul musicians;United States;Biography.,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Cultural, Ethnic & Regional General,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Music,BLACK MUSICIANS AND THEIR MUSIC,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography & AutobiographyCultural, Ethnic & Regional - General,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: arts & entertainment,Composers & Musicians - General,Cultural Heritage,GENERAL,General Adult,Music industry; Singer; Soul singers; Soul music; African American men,Non-Fiction,POPULAR MUSIC,United States

Dream Boogie The Triumph of Sam Cooke Peter Guralnick 9780316013291 Books Reviews

Guralnick's penchant for intricate detail makes for a long but thoroughly enjoyable read.
Know more about the life and legend of this entertainer than I ever imagined. I couldn't put it down, but there are a few gaps in the storytelling near the end. Used internet to fill them in.
The book is interesting and reads well. If you're a Sam Cooke fan this read will give you a good depiction of his life.
A biography that is as intriguing as his music.
To me, Sam Cooke music was always light weight and so I always considered him a lightweight as I am not a huge fan of pop music. In Peter Guralnick's detailed, insightful book, Cooke is revealed to be so much more. Sam's gospel and family roots in Chicago are explained with entertaining tidbits which include his friends and colleagues such as Lou Rawls, Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor.

Cooke was a trailblazer in the music industry Like Ray Charles, he transformed gospel to pop music. He wrote the bulk of his own material-which to me is the mark of a total recording artist, transcending singing. Lastly, Cooke was one of the first artists who took total control of the business end of his career and cut out a lot of the middlemen who profit off the talent of others.

The book does everything a biography is supposed to do and more. It carefully researches the details of Sam Cooke's life and shocking and controversial death. It also offers insight into Sam's motivations, artistry and tragic flaws.
It's been around for a while and a lot of reviews have been written here and most of them have offer the same sort of praise this one will. Much as I have loved Cooke's music for nearly all of my life, and much as I have lived the last 10 years w/in a stone's throw of his childhood and young adult home, I actually never knew a great deal about Cooke's life outside of the basic bullet-points. I am very pleased to have read this and gotten to know the man, even though some of it I'd just have soon not have known. Such is life; such are lives.

Not going to be long and involved - this is a marvelously researched and written biography of the man who was an icon. If you have the slightest interest in the man himself, and I will assume you do if you are reading reviews of a biography of him, then cut to the chase and order this. You will be pleased that you did. And it will send you right back to those magical records.
The author did an outstanding job in detailing the gospel roots, the challenge of cross-over recording and performing. and the later social activism of Sam Cooke.
I don't personally like the current trend in book publishing of scattering pictures throughout the book instead of having them in a single, easily accessable, location for reference, or, conversely, of putting all footnotes in the back of the book without even noting them in the text, but that's a very minor criticism and I loved the Discography at the end and have ordered a couple of gospel and pop CD's for traveling!
A great read for anyone who loves the music and wants to know more about the entertainer, businessman and loyal friend that was Sam Cooke.
I'm a big fan of Sam Cooke (you'd have to be to even pick up all 650 pages of Dream Boogie) and tend to think of "Bring It on Home To Me" and "A Change Is Gonna Come" as two of the most beautiful songs ever written. I was disappointed in an Entertainment Weekly review I'd read of the book that called the book a little plodding and concluded that Cooke didn't deserve the type of meticulous attention that Peter Guralnick had brought to Elvis Presley over his two heralded biographies of Presley. Well, I still don't much agree with that review, but after finally reaching the end after picking up and putting down the book for about 10 months, I at least can appreciate where the reviewer was coming from. Not only is Dream Boogie meticulous, down to the week and month, of every trip of Sam's career - from gospel singer in the Highway QC's to the Soul Stirrers, to the beginning and end of his career - it gets downright encyclopedic. There are moments in the book detailing particular contracts and formations of certain partnerships that would test the patience of anyone but the most ardent followers of the industry. For me, if the passages detailing Cooke's business life left me with anything important, it's to underscore the core tenants of Cooke's personality, for which Guralnick's approach becomes revelatory Sam's ability to see trends as they were arising, his studied approach to the people around him, his warmth with a hint of a dagger underneath, his command of respect, and above all, his magnetism that drew everyone to him. For the first ten years of Dream Boogie, that magnetism is all you read about, really - the trail of Sam's conquests on the road, the women who swooned and screamed at his concerts, the mesmeric glow of Sam as performer. Yet something brilliant happens to the book as it enters the heyday of Sixties tumult the seeds of Sam's personality start to become time bombs interacting with the world around him. It's fascinating to see Sam dancing around in the corner of the story of Muhammed Ali and Malcolm X, and I had had no idea of their connection before (I wasn't alive in the 60s). As personal tragedy strikes and Sam's marriage unravels we see, sort of, Sam begin to unravel, too. What makes Guralnick such a great writer is that what we don't really get is a true indication of what Sam thought, we got what people observed, and how their observations changed over the years - because the biggest mystery at the heart of Sam's great magnetism was always wondering what he was thinking. Sam's death, which I confess I knew little about prior to reading this book, is mysterious in a way, and also a culmination of the demons in his life, even without knowing the full truth about it. In the end, it took me a long time to get there, but Dream Boogie took a figure I was fascinated by and pointed a camera at him in a way that got me to watch both him and the world around him with a thoroughness and clarity I'd never experienced before.