Where Did Our Love Go
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It's hard to suppress the yawns when you pick up yet another book about Motown, but this is a reaction which would not be doing this book justice. In the first place this is a new edition of a tome that was first published in 1985. The accusation that it contains nothing new is fair in the context of 2004, but when first written this was probably revolutionary stuff. In its day it was greeted by rave reviews, and Q magazine listed it as one of their 50 greatest rock books of all time. It is unfortunate that so much has been printed in subsequent autobiographies since that startling revelations of 25 years ago are common knowledge today. The author's new preface to the 2003 edition is little compensation for the simple fact the subject matter is now extremely dated indeed. From the perspective of 1985, this is in fact a stunningly good book. It is thoroughly researched and extremely well written. The main advantage this book has over other Motown texts is that it is so skilfully balanced. Nelson George seems to have accurately identified the key Motown players, whether they received the accolades or not. He is clear and concise in identifying their contributions to the rise and fall of Motown and ascribes them due page space accordingly. The blurb implies that Berry Gordy did not give this project his wholehearted support, and there is no doubt there are sections which are critical of him. Nonetheless, from the perspective of an impartial observer I would say there is enough positive comment about him to suggest that George has remained scrupulously fair in this aspect also. Two decades ago I would have put this book in the essential reading category, these days however I have my reservations. For anybody wanting to find out about Motown for the first time, this is as good a place, if not better than most, to start. If like me you've already read a lot of Motown biographies, then this will probably tell you little that you didn't know already. |
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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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