Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke
Book Review: Guralnick delivers again!
Summary: 5 Stars
A wonderful read! It is well-researched and full of details regarding Cooke's career. It is presented in an interesting but easy to read style. It's not just about Sam Cooke but the times he lived in. The civil rights struggle is a central part of this book. Sam Cooke is a fascinating and historically important musical career and Guralnick brings Cooke's life and career into focus. Highly recommended.
Paul Evans
Book Review: A BIG letdown...I expected more from a 600 page biography
Summary: 1 Stars
This book was exhausting - and I am an avid reader. I labored to get thru it. Instead of focusing on WHO Sam was, the book is littered with technical details of his songs, publishing, recording sessions, tours, and the like. The only personality in this book is Barbara - her story was interwoven throughout the book, like a secondary plot. To be honest - it kept me reading, she did not sugarcoat at ALL. There were some input from Sam's family, JW Alexander, Bobby Womack and later Allen Klein - but is was not as consistant to me.
There were instances in this book, where I thought the author was not objective in his writing. Times where I had to go back over a paragraph to see if he was quoting someone, or if that was his personal opinion. Also like another poster mentioned, there were details about his relationship with Allen Klein that were left out. This book left me with more questions than answers, and I too would have wanted to know what became of his family, years later. What of the "outside" children? What about his daughters? Are they getting any money at all from Sam's work?
If you want a good read about Mr Cooke, I will suggest "You Send Me, The Life and Times of Sam Cooke" by Daniel Wolff. That book will have you feeling like you were there, and not like an outsider looking in, as in this book.
Book Review: "Dream Boogie" An earth-plowing tiring type of read...
Summary: 1 Stars
I have put this book down more often than I have picked it up to read again. I have skipped pages and pages of it and the only reason that I insists on finishing it, it's because I hope that there is something there worth it.
This book is full of historical information and irrelevant details that should not have been included. It seems that Peter Guralnick gathered every word of available historical information on the subject, and strung them together into exhaustive sentences and equally exhaustive chapters.
I thought that this book will answer some of my questions about Sam Cooke, but it did not, even though the author seems to have talked to miriads of people and recorded their opinions as facts, whether relevant or not.
And so I am still left to wonder what did Sam Cooke find out about his business manager, Allen Klein, that made him decide to fire him? Just what is the relationship between Peter and Allen? Is Peter Guralnick employed by Allen Klein? I know that he wrote the liner notes to quite a few of Sam Cooke's records.
I adore Sam Cooke and I am very disappointed in this book. To me "Dream Boogie" is like a senior High School student's paper, only much longer. I rate this book with one star and that is only because of its subject. Sam Cooke it the right subject but Peter Guralnick did a very lacking job of telling us about Sam Cooke.
Book Review: "Dream Boogie". What's not in it.
Summary: 1 Stars
I admire and love Sam Cooke enormously. I am in awe of what he accomplished in such a short period of time.
I have read a lot of what's been written about him and I have also read almost every article that Peter Guralnick wrote about Sam Cooke and read every interview he gave about Sam Cooke.
From the very first of these articles, I noticed immediately how obviously biased Guralnick was toward Allen Klein, Sam's business menager and also the owner of Sam Cooke's estate.
About a year ago, when a group of us talked on the web about Guralnick and "Dream Boogie", I said that I was hoping that Guralnick will be objective and will not give us a kind of "In Praise Of Allen Klein" story. Consequently, shortly after this book was out, I asked those who read it by then, whether Guralnick discussed the fact that Sam was planning to fire Allen Klein. The answer was negative but there were comments that in their opinion, Guralnick was partial to Klein, or that he was favoring Klein or that he was slanted toward Klein.
I had a very informed opinion why Guralnick deliberately omitted this issue in his book. Like anybody who has read anything about the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, I too knew about Allen Klein's infamy as the business manager of these two groups and his subsequent jail term. But then I read the book "Our Uncle Sam" by Erik Greene, and my "informed opinion" became a definite certainty, a definite knowledge.
Guralnick kept mum on this subject to avoid any negative light being cast on Allen Klein. If he included this issue in his book then he would have had to explain the reasons for the Rolling Stones firing Allen Klein in 1972 and filing a lawsuit against him for $29 million. He would also had to explain the reason's for the three Beatles--John, Ringo, and George filing a lawsuit against Klein too, in 1973, and that six years later Allen Klein was sent to jail for violations stemming from his mismanagent of the Beatles' company. Paul was the only one who heeded Mick Jagger's warning against hiring Allen Klein as his business manager. (all these facts are public record.)
In addition to the above, Guralnick would have had to explain the role that the "inside man", J.W. Alexander, played in making it possible for Klein to become the sole owner of "Tracey", which Sam established to be the parent company of all of his enterprises. And the role Linda (Sam's and Barbara's daugheter) played in "giving" the Sam Cooke Publishing Company to Allen Klein. This company was set up by Sam to take over control of the copyrights to his music catalog, once the original copyrights expeired in 1985. This company belonged to all of Sam's children who were his heirs.
Taking into account the above information and considering additional pertinent information that's available about this issue, I truly believe that it is very reasonable to conclude that Guralnick deliberately chose not to include this topic in "Dream Boogie". I believe that he did so out of concern and fear that a closer scrutiny of this whole issue will expose the true nature of the manner in which Sam Cooke's estate was handled.
Any author writing a biography owes it to his readers to be objective and accurate and non-biased; otherwise he compromises his integrity. Any author writing a biography about Sam Cooke must include and discuss the fact that Sam Cooke was planning to fire Allen Klein and the reasons behind it; especially since Allen Klein ended up owning Sam's artistic legacy--everything that Sam created with his sweat and hard work and most probably even paid with his life for...
For the deliberate exclusion of this issue from "Dream Boogie", and for the numerous discrepancies and inaccuracies, I am rating Guralnick with zero stars. I am giving the book one star solely for the historical facts it contains. In my opinion, the information provided by Barbara and by Bobby Womack and by J.W. Alexander and by Allen Klein is unreliable and suspect unless it is accompanied by nonrefutable supporting confirmation.
Sam Cooke always rates more than five stars.
Book Review: Exhaustingly Detailed
Summary: 2 Stars
I've always had a need to dig deeper and find out more about those who have made an impact on me. I long to know what made them click. I adore Sam Cooke and knew little about him. I was hoping that this book would provide insight on the life of this man whoes voice I love.
I am sorely disappointed with this book. The only thing preventing me from putting it down (unfortunately, I'm still in the middle of it) is sheer stubborness and the hope that it will redeem itself soon. I've probably skipped more pages than I've read. It's a pity that Sam isn't here to tell his own tale. It seems as if the author was able to locate everyone else who ever came in contact with him and allowed them to include their thoughts and opinions, whether the observation was pertinant to the story or not. I believe that many passages could simply have been ommited. And that if they were, the book would have been a far better (and shorter) read.