I Heard It Through The Grapevine
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The Independent describes this book as "A workman like account of the singer's progress from the Motown hit machine... until his final days of cocaine craziness", which I think is a pretty good assessment. Sharon Davies, as a former executive at Motown is party to information which many others are not, it also gave her easy access to the stars themselves. It is no surprise therefore that the content of the book is not only rich in detail but also many personal descriptions. Thankfully she resists the temptation to turn this into yet another history of the Motown Record Corporation, and although the companies intrigues cannot be entirely ignored her references to them are relevant and kept to the bare minimum. She also resists the temptation to spend too much energy giving mini biographies of other key players in the story, and again where information on others is included it is minimal and relevant. In short it is a very focussed piece of writing indeed. It is difficult not to compare this book with Steve Turner's "Trouble Man", and having read that first it was hard to see how Sharon Davies might add anything new. In truth they are actually very different indeed and complement each other very nicely. Turner's book is mostly concerned with the psychology of Marvin Gaye, and in trying to explain his often troubled mind and irrational behaviour. Sharon Davies by comparison is much more concerned with a factual account of events and to a large extent resists trying to interpret them. On the rare occasions she does so one can't help feeling that her interpretations are more biased in Marvin's favour than other writers might have been. In summary this is a strong factual account without being in any way spectacular, and is more the work of a journalist than an author. None the less it is well worth reading even if the reader is in possession of other Gaye biographies. Chances are that it will sit nicely alongside them. |
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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