Peter Perrett and The Only Ones pushed the boundaries of pop/rock out of the punk/new wave scene and into realms of poetry, brilliance, dark emotion and painful love. The spearhead of this push was Peter Perrett, and the life that powered these songs and his music is interpreted here by Ms. Antonia, who has also brought Johnny Thunders under her magnifying glass recently. Her personal contact with Perrett and others in the band has brought out the poignant facts about his love life with women and narcotics that forge the essence of The Only Ones songs. A must for fans of Pop Culture and anyone who wants to know why the single "Another girl, another Planet" is the best pop song of all time.

If you've taken the time to seek this book out, I don't need to waste my breath telling you how great The Only Ones were. If you blinked in the late 70's, you missed them. I heard them for the first time on tour in the mid-90's and knew nothing about them. Aside from the lyrics and a few liner notes, all I knew about Peter Perrett was that he dropped out of sight. I didn't have to read to deeply between the lines to figure out the guy had a major heroin habit. Around the time of my initial interest, WOKE UP STICKY came out and it sounded like the past 18 years never happened. He seemed to pick up right where he left off, totally unphazed by a decade and a half of ever changing musical fads and trends. Though loathe to read books of this nature, my curiousity got the best of me.

I have to say the squalid details are here for you to peruse. The facts are none too far from the world Perrett's depicted in his lyrics. But what Nina Antonia does, is give you a candid portrait behind all the lurid rumors. The whole story for better or worse. From the decadant hopeful to the years of doped out anonymity. Like any good photographer, she hits all possible angles: The whining brat, the soulful artist, the scrutinizing drug dealer, the doting father. What she doesn't do is judge her subject, or offer any 2-bit psychoanalysis. Nor does she morbidly romanticize the more sordid aspects of her "homme fatale".

Needless to say, I didn't walk away with another sad luck story about wasted talent. It's there on his albums for all to hear. Though the facts behind it all seem less enigmatic, the man behind it all remains ever more so. In short, this biography takes no prisoners and makes no apologies.

Back in the late-70s, the punk explosion spawned a ton of great singles, but perhaps the best one belonged to Peter Perrett's Only Ones with "Another Girl, Another Planet." A sweeping guitar intro snaked around Perrett's Lou Reed-in-outer-space vocals, and a true classic was born. Even The Replacements found a place for this tune in their sets towards the end of their career.

Since those heady days, however, Perrett has been one of rock's least-celebrated casualties. Virtually unknown in the U.S. and pretty much forgotten in his home country, Perrett has spent the past twenty-odd years in a drug-induced haze, although there does seem to be times when he's gotten it together enough to write and play, most notably from 1994-'96 with The One. Since then, it's been pretty quiet on his end, with one of his sons periodically updating the family web site with news of his dad's latest ventures (as well as pretty depressing info on the state of the Perrett family finances...).

As with her past bios of the Dolls and Johnny Thunders, Nina Antonia has once again done a bang-up job of relating the horrors of a rock 'n' roll life reduced to drugged-out drudgery. Perrett comes across as a severly depressed, yet childlike, individual, a man who's been so pampered throughout his life, that he whines if his toast isn't buttered in a certain way. Indeed, Perrett has lived a rock 'n' roll life without ever actually became a full-fledged rock star.

Like her Thunders bio, Antonia makes a convincing case for Perrett's place in rock history, as well as making one aware that this guy was one messed-up and truly wasted talent. Here's hoping that some enterprising movie-maker can find a place for "Another Girl..." in a summer blockbuster or even a car commercial - it's a true classic that deserves to be heard by all. And if that puts a few pounds in the pocket of its' creator, then more's the better.

A different and valuable analysis of Elvis Presley presenting the basis for his behavior in later life. I found a great deal of it plausible and very helpful in my understanding of the man. However, much of the reasoning seemed contorted and overextended with rambling, sometimes disjointed and overworked passages. It was like listening to Allen Greenspan before a congressional committee. I felt that the author made some conflicting statements. Most difficult for me to accept was the degree to which Elvis's life was supposedly shaped by the death of his twin at birth. But then I'm no psychologist.

I read this book AFTER reading the 2 book biography of Elvis by Peter Guralnick and I think that is how best to read this. While Guralnick gives the 'definative' story of Elvis and what happened to him, I think "The Inner Elvis" explains the WHY of it all. There is in this book the 'missing link' the explanation of why, and how Elvis was so affected by the early years of his life and the psychological effects of such things as his mother's over protection "enmeshment", his dead twin brother amongst other things. This book, I found, was a fascinating read but if you haven't read the full biography of Elvis' life and were looking for it here then there's a lot of detail missing, but that isn't what the author intended, I believe. His point and explanations are very well made & I rate this a 5 star read.

The Inner Elvis was, for me, an identical twin, like reading a highly suspenseful mystery or spy novel. I devoured each page, each new pyschological insight.

As the author reveals through extensive research of events, interviews, recordings, Elvis Presely was, in large part, shaped by his lost (br)other and their one source, their mother.

Dr. Whitmer's "discovery", so to speak, of the origin of Elvis' unique musical style is nothing short of brilliant, spot on. I am sure music critics and scholars would scoff at his view but as an identical twin and a musician I understood it perfectly.

I look forward to any further explorations Dr. Whitmer may pursue in the psychological study of twins.

A great read.

Charlie Wine

After reading "Taxi", I was glad it was over. The novel is good for historical information and what Harry did, but does not hold any entertainment value (I only enjoyed the factual information in this book, rather than it being fun to read). This biography was poorly written and contained many typographical errors. If you are interested in Harry and his life, I do suggest reading this piece, for it has many enlightening facts. Those of you who are interested in enlightenment, I suggest reading a Western Civilizations text book from the 1950's, it will have comparative entertainment value to that of "Taxi."

I had no idea that this book existed, so being a die hard Chapin fan I snatched it off the shelf when I saw it. While an interesting read it could have used a bit more polishing. Learning more details of Harry's story songs was a positive, as was learning what really turned his personal life around. His music always moved me, but I was more touched to learn that the efforts to save his marriage was why he became such an effective activist. It did seem a bit overlong at times, however, and Coan's refusal to even mention 'the widows' name as he slammed her in the introduction seemed mean spirited. If he had told us a bit more as to why there was a fallout between them it would have been more constructive. Still, if you loved Chapin's music, as so many obviously did, and do, it's a worthwhile read.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding the release of Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story. For a variety of reasons, the book lost the support of Harry's family. Accordingly, the book was rushed to print and appears to have missed having a final round of editing done, as there are typos throughout. However, it remains an extremely valuable source on Harry's life -- providing insight into many of the stories beyond the songs, and telling tales about the events that shaped the life of the man able to write songs like "A Better Place To Be." There are factual errors in the book, and it is likely that some events have been embellished. (It's easy to see how this could happen given Harry's own proclivity to fib for the sake of telling a great yarn and given the fact that the book still hadn't been finally reviewed by Chapin before he died.) Nonetheless, the book is an extremely interesting read providing great insight into the life of Harry Chapin; just be sure you take everything with a grain of salt.

I was slightly disappointed with this novel.It seems to shift back and forth,from being overly brutal to extremly sentimental.It's one of those "man vs. nature" with a bit of genetical engineering thrown in.I groaned when Comm. Stone found that his "soul mate" was a Wild Thing.This is so typical of "man vs. nature" books.And it definatly would have been more dramatic if Stone had died(yes,Picard and Deanna would be staying about how strange yet amazing Stone was...but...).I expected more from Peter David,who usually writes more interesting things,but this IS a good book for Riker fans,as it shows some of his past and explores his personnality,and that's why I decided to read it.

Star Trek-The Next Generation: A Rock and a Hard Place written by Peter David is a double plotted book. As Commander Riker is given leave of the U.S.S. Enterprise to help with the terraforming of the planet Paradise and his replacement on the Enterprise is Commander Quintin Stone.

Only Peter David could write such a compelling story with a double plot and keep the reader's intrest till the blockbuster ending. First off you'll be reading about the terraforming of the planet Paradise where it's Commander Riker vs. Nature storyline. We get a fleshing out of the character of Riker and we get to see how he does without of the influence of Captain Jean-Luc Picard looming overhead. As Riker is pitted against an unforgiving environment where unter the best of circumstances "unforgiving" would be a mild term.

We alernate plotlines to the next confrontation, that of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise vs. Quintin Stone. Stone is considered here as the prototype for Peter David's Captain Mackenzie Calhoun in the ST-New Frontier series. Rough around the edges, quite strong-minded, with a quick wit, and radically novel solutions to problems, this is how Quintin Stone is portrayed.

David hasn't lost his wit either as he pulls off the double plot with an ending the is both clever and stunning. You've got to read it to believe it. Confrontation between Store and Riker is all I'm going to tell you the rest you'll have to read for yourself. This book is a solid 4 stars, not quite as good as "Imzadi" but close.

Both plots keep the reader's intrest and I'd like to see further Quintin Stone books as he seems to be a very intresting character... a kind of by the seat of your pants, guy. This is a good read and you'll finish it wanting another story with the same character called Quintin Stone.

I have considered Peter David the best writer of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels for quite some time, with "Imzadi" the cream of the crop. In "A Rock and a Hard Place," David presents Commander Quintin Stone, who is quite possibly the most original and fascinating character created in a Next Generation novel.

Commander Riker is given temporary leave from the Enterprise to help the terraformers on the brutal ice planet ironically called Paradise deal with problems maintaining their schedule. Stone arrives to take Riker's place despite the insistence of his former captain that the man is a "loose cannon," "space case," and completely "impossible." It does not take Captain Picard long to see why. When Stone leads an away team to deal with a hostage situation on the planet Culinan, his outrageous solution has Captain Picard convinced the man is insane, Counselor Troi insisting he is not, and Dr. Crusher wondering about the massive scarring on the Commander's back.

The book basically alternates chapters between Riker on Paradise and Stone aboard the Enterprise. The latter plot line is so fascinating that you begrudge spending time on the other one, although you know in the end the two men are going to have some sort of confrontation that will solve the mystery of Quintin Stone. All we know is that Stone tells everybody a completely different story regarding his past and that he has a really big chip on his shoulder about the Prime Directive. All you need to know before you read the book is that the payoff for this mystery is an absolute stunner.

"A Rock and a Hard Place" is also worth a second look because Quintin Stone is obvious prototype for Captain Mackenzie Calhoun in Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier series. Granted, Calhoun is not as psychotic as Stone, but each shares the ability to find creative ways of getting things done. Stone was always the one character from a Next Generation novel that I would have liked to have seen pop up again, and this is sort of like getting my wish granted.

First of all, I should say that I find the Elvis and his life interesting, as much for what it says about the US as it does about the man, but I'm not a big fan. So I'll let everyone else argue about who swiped whose cut and whether Priscilla's book really gave you the inside story. As for "Careless Love," it's a letdown. "Last Train to Memphis" was a wonderful biography, and Guralnick brings the same dedication and care to this volume. But frankly, the King's life got pretty boring after the Army. By the chapter "Spiritual Awakenings" we already have a doped-out Elvis exploring karate and spiritualism whilst surrounded by women and flunky friends. I thought, "Hey, we're almost done here!" but good heavens, there's 400 more pages of the same thing left to go. Who slept with whom, who did drugs with whom, who recorded which lackluster tracks and how much money Elvis and the Colonel made for each lackluster concert. It does drag on. Guralnick has tried to write the authoritative biography of Elvis, and had clearly put a ton of work into this. Don't listen to the gripes about footnotes, etc. The man has done his homework. The problem is his subject - late Elvis lets him down. Maybe the King just refused to let people see his depths - or perhaps he just wasn't that deep to begin with. For example, maybe Elvis devoted himself to karate because it fulfilled a deep spiritual emptiness. Or maybe he was just addled with prescription drugs. It's hard to find psychological insights about a man who died with a dozen drugs in his system. In the end, "Careless Love" is a well-written catalog of excess and failure. It lacks the drive and spirit of "Last Train to Memphis," but you know what? So did the latter-day Elvis.

Though Amazon readers have the unique ability to pass out five-star reviews as if they were John Rockefeller dishing out dimes, Careless Love is certainly worthy of the high praise it has received. (Unfortunately, Mr. Rivers seems to have distracted some readers from the overall quality of Guralnick's book.) The last two hundreds pages alone are worth the cover price. Here, Guralnick's years of research and reportorial skills shine, as he tells of the true "unmaking" Elvis Presley. The author heightens the sadness by writing this as a tale of suspense: Even though we know exactly what is going to happen, Guralnick makes us hope that, yes, this time Elvis going to turn it around. The brief moments when Elvis revived interest in performing and recording serve only to make his extended periods of apathy all the more depressing. The only real criticism worth leveling at Guralnick is that the first third of the book occasionally gets bogged down in the details of this trip to the fairgrounds or that jaunt to Vegas--after a while, the escapades become indistinguishable from one another. Then again, after having read the entire book, one finds that that blurring is, in many ways, precisely the author's point; for much of the 1960s, Elvis was merely adrift, occupying his time with meaningless escapades and surrounding himself with jackals and sycophants. Even those who dislike, or claim to be uninterested in, Elvis Presley cannot help but be moved by Guralnick's excellent account.

In his long awaited sequel to "Last Train To Memphis" Peter Guralnick has proven that he is (in MY mind) the "Premier Rock n' Roll Biographer" of our time. After reading "Last Train" nearly four years ago, I immediately began the search for a date of the release of the promised "second half" of Elvis' life. (It was THAT good.)

Guralnick does not let his readers down. He once again portrays Elvis in an honest light. Without pulling a single punch this book takes us on the sad and wasted path of the undoing of The King. We are shown an Elvis that is NOT the tabloid joke that he has been reduced to since his death. Mr. Guralnick has done what many thought could not have been done: He has allowed us to SEE Elvis for the first time.

Guralnick never loses sight of what the Elvis story was originally all about: The Music.

He lovingly presents the facts of a talented young man's glorious rise to super-stardom then he carefully constructs the details of Elvis' deconstruction.

The attention to detail is immediately impressive as he succeeds in getting the reader to "see the chipped paint on the door knob". Never dull, this biography is the perfect example of how some stories are best told (and read) in multiple volumes.

My advice for any aspiring Elvis biographers out there: Give up. The job is DONE.

My thanks to Peter Guralnick.

I'm very puzzled by the purpose and intent of this book. The author seems to have a genuine appreciation for the revolution in extraordinary, personal filmmaking in American film in the 1970s. Yet the book itself is filled with the nastiest, pettiest, disgusting portrayals of the remarkable filmmakers, writers, actors, and cinematographers who made those films. The basis of the entire book appears to be extensive interviews with hundreds of people in the industry -- all of whom have personal vendettas and scores to settle (because they are all ex-husbands, ex-wives, ex-lovers, or bitter competitors). The result is that the portrayal of every director, producer, filmmaker, and actor is that of a loathsome, arrogant, egotistical, infantile monster. Personally, it was no pleasure for me to see Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Pauline Kael, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Terry Malick, and dozens of others presented as inhuman, venal, insane, and vicious. Some of the gossip is no doubt true, and I imagine the world of producing and making movies is quite unpleasant. But there is no balance, or insight, to counter the ugly gossip that Biskind exclusively relies upon. Most surprisingly of all, there is no appreciation of the greatness, the sensitivity, the richness of the films that were made. At the very least, the book would have been much more fascinating if Biskind demonstrated how out of all the Hollywood self-indulgence, back-biting, arrogance, and egotism arose the sensitive, powerful, complex, humane, and moving, and often funny works of art, like The Godfather films, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Chinatown, Cabaret, Nashville, Taxi Driver, Days of Heaven, Five Easy Pieces, Bonnie & Clyde, Reds, The Last Picture Show, and The Deer Hunter. There is virtually no discussion about how, despite the ways in which the people who worked on these films appeared to be out of control, half-insane on drugs, climbing over each other's backs, betraying friends, lovers, husbands and wives, the end result was films of great beauty. Nor is there any sense of what any of the subjects of the book brought to the films they made, or what special talents or visions they may have had. The subject matter, and the unrelenting gossip and nasty stories, make for very engaging reading, I'll admit -- but I wanted to take a shower when I had finished the book. This is NOT the book that the filmmakers of the nineteen-seventies deserve.

It's hard not to enjoy a book chock full of nasty gossip about famous people, but by the time you reach the end of Biskind's book, you may be as tired of the author as you are of the self-indulgent directors he profiles.

The book is undeniably fun to read -- after all, who doesn't enjoy watching smug hippies with more pretension than talent self-destruct? But Biskind's writing is slap-dash at best. He often changes from last to first names even when referring to minor figures, causing the reader to return to earlier paragraphs to figure out exactly who is taking drugs with whom. Or who is sleeping with whom. Or backstabbing. Or stealing writing credits. Or attending Ho Chi Minh rallies. Etc.

Biskind is almost as bad a film critic as he is a writer. He can't seem to tell the difference between truly dreadful films like Easy Rider and Shampoo (which deserve to be remembered, if at all, as cultural artifacts) from genuine achievements like The Last Picture Show or McCabe and Mrs. Miller. He simply loves them all.

All except Star Wars and Jaws, that is. In fact, Spielberg and Lucas come in for lots of gratuitous criticism simply for being more interested in telling stories than deconstructing genre -- or experimenting with drugs or smuggling Huey Newton into Cuba.

In the end, Biskind never does resolve his fervor for the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll generation's work and politics from the undeniable evidence that their self-indulgence was ultimately ruinous. But there are so few books about film and the film industry that make for good popular reading, you simply have to make the best of what you get. We'll just have to wait for a book where the skill of the author is up to the fascinating subject.

I really liked this book. It's a very entertaining read. Not many of the filmmakers chronicled come off very well as human beings - but somehow Biskind enables them all to retain their humanity. The story of movies in the 70s is extremely absorbing.

I take exception to the general thesis that Jaws and then Star Wars created an infantilization of Hollywood that "destroyed" the creative moviemaking prevalent early in the decade. Biskind has only chosen to focus on the films that are remembered today from the 70s, not necessarily those that were most popular with audiences then. Yes, it's true that Godfather, Exorcist, Jaws, and Star Wars were the biggest hits of the decade. But it's not like McCabe and Mrs Miller, Last Picture Show, Mean Streets, Chinatown, and the Conversation made a splash at the box office. In fact, when those movies came out, they were largely ignored by the general public in favor of some huge box office hits that Biskind ignores - such as Towering Inferno, the Sting, Poseidon Adventure, Love Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and Airport. Those hits were the exact same sort of pre-packaged, glossy entertainment Hollywood has always produced. Personally, I like those kinds of movies a lot better than the brutal, gory nihilism of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. But the point is that this is what Hollywood has ALWAYS been about - including in the early 70s - and it is historically inaccurate to suggest that Star Wars and Jaws changed the way the studios did business.

I have to agree with the negative reviewer who said words to the effect of, 'I hate to give a negative review to a book about prog but I have to.' Having read considerable progressive rock internet information and reviews for the last 6 months, and almost exhausted that source (except for the hard-to-read Gibraltar Encyclopedia) I picked up the book looking for a little more in-depth info on history and bands, but there was little of either. Before buying this book you should really be aware that the history is very brief, simplistic, and repetitive, and is really informative only to a complete novice in prog or even rock history. Some of the statements, such as that "Days of Future Passed" is the first progressive album, are quite silly. Because of the layout of the pages in this section, for some unfathomable reason only about two-thirds of each page contain text, the rest highlight names, thus reducing drastically the information content. The band reviews at the end are equally laughable since they consist of at most two or three sentences, most of which believe it or not are a sentence of the nature, "sounds like Genesis." In fact those three words are repeated probably four times per page in the last 50 pp of the book!! Without a downloadable mp3 site like audiogalaxy it would be absolutely hopeless to weed through the hundreds of entries about prog bands in the reviews section since the music is described so unimaginatively and without any kind of indication of the overall quality or status of a given band. God help the unfortunate individual who buys a CD based on Jerry Lucky's [...]reviews! Anyhow, there being so few books about prog, it's really disappointing to say this one is so awful, but it is. Don't buy!

I have really enjoyed reading "The Progressive Rock Files". I have read the recent narrative books by Macan, Stump and Martin... all very informative and insightful... I liked Macan's the best because it is the most complete and best organized. This is more of a reference book... I also have the Billboard Guide to Progressive Music and it is good, but I like Lucky's book better because of the great timeline History section, the Definitions section and also the timeline Map. And of course the A-Z listing is a great guide for band info. and discographies. It has become an invaluable resource for me in researching bands and artists. It is best suited to the intermediate or advanced prog fan who does not need a lot of opinions thrown at them. The author is very clear on his intentions to be factual and complete without succumbing to personal preferences. He is also striving to make a complete definition of prog rock, not in an effort to 'box in' the genre, but to settle the argument so that we can go on and just enjoy the music. With this as a guide, I know I will for many years to come.

I have really enjoyed reading "The Progressive Rock Files". I have read the recent books by Macan, Stump and Martin... all very informative and insightful... I liked Macan's the best because it is the most complete and best organized. I also have the Billboard Guide to Progressive Music and it is good, but I like "The Progressive Rock Files" better because of the great timeline History section, the Definitions section and also the timeline Map on p.299. And of course the A-Z listing is a great guide for band info. and discographies. I have referred to the band listings so many times that the pages are getting worn. It has turned out to be an invaluable reference in researching bands and artists. I recommend the book to intermediate and advanced prog rock fans who do not need a lot of opinions thrown at them. The author is very clear on his intentions to be factual and complete without succumbing to personal preferences. He is also striving to make a complete definition of prog rock, not in an effort to 'box in' the genre, but to settle the argument so that we can go on and just enjoy the music. With this as a guide, I know I will for many years to come.

The only persons I would recommend this book to are those who may be moving to Utah from out of state and want to better understand the unique (bizarre?) Utah culture. This is what the book is good at: describing the differences between Utah and Nevada cultures. The fact that I had to fight to finish it should be telling enough. The writing is alright but the characters are not compelling. It's not a great book but may be of use to some people.

The language is fast but takes on an emptiness that reflects the Nevada desert. The story is an interesting one with sudden twists (making crop circles, drag racing on the salt flats)and takes on a slightly religious tone towards the end, but not overly so that the author becomes self-indulgent. Funny, interesting, great characters, vivid descriptions. I highly recommend it.

I gave this book to my mother, and she was reading it in her car while stopped at red lights. The book's philosophical and racy passages are equally engaging; the descriptions of the landscape open spaces in your mind.

If this book does not become a classic, I will be shocked and appalled. The murder of political rock musicians has long been a subject of speculation. Wish I had a nickel for every time the death of Morrison or Lennon was brought up, followed by the refrain "I'll bet the government did it." Constantine not only lays out the killing program and operations in detail, he provides the intelligence community documents in which the deaths of outspoken musicians were mandated. Who can doubt it when the CIA's own files contain orders to kill? Some programmed zombies out there subject to media manipulation will have a hard time with the many epiphonies that Covert War offers, but reality is often hard to take, even many years after the fact. This is a dispiriting, and as Constantine keeps reminding us, fascist culture, but much needed reforms will never come about until people who have become complacent and satisfied with the status quo gather as much courage as writers like Constantine possesses in his little finger.The debunkers can eat cake - I'll take this feast of buried truths any day over the pablum the media turns out to quell the national conscience and turn us all into mindless ultraconformists. This is the dark side of the air-conditioned nightmare that is Amerika. A fine book, recommended to everyone who loves rock music.

I have never picked up a book on rock n' roll deaths quite like this one. Each chapter is a gold mine of information, teeming with fresh insights on the deaths of John Lennon, Tupac Shakur, etc. There are many who would like to silence Constantine, and so some reviews will no doubt appear here criticizing the book erroneously. David Goldberg's review, for instance (above) makes false claims. This IS Alex Constantine's best work to date, and that is saying a great deal, because he is the most articulate anti-fascist researcher around. This book is long overdue, and yet it is far ahead of its time. Bravo, Alex, on an excellent read.

The revolution will not be televised, Alex Constantine is a writer who is exposing the right wing fasict (terrorist) intelligence agencies of the USA. Read this and you will be enlightened. And to those who call it Conspiracy theories??? These people are brainwashed by the corporate-owned media. ...