This book originally came out in the wake of the infamous "bodyguard book" entitled "Elvis: What Happened?". Parker, who was a dear friend of Elvis Presley's, presents an Elvis in this book who is not a drug abuser, adulterer, or the middle-aged adolescent he was determined to be. Parker sugarcoats Presley's shortcomings to the point where the reader wants to say, "Oh, come on!"

For instance, Parker blames a love affair for the break-up of Presley's marriage to Priscilla. However, the love affair was not with another woman, but with the fans! That Presley put his love of the fans above his love for Priscilla. Everyone else who knew Presley, even Priscilla herself, has admitted the real reasons for the break-up.

The edition of the book I read contains many great pictures of Presley taken in the last couple of years before his death, when he was starting to look middle-aged, but was not the bloated wreck he was when he died.

The book is good when Parker talks of his friendship with Presley, but Parker, in my opinion, was only trying to defend his late friend, though his defenses were too over-the-top to be believed 100%.

This book is a good counter-balance to "Elvis: What Happened?", and, taken together, the two books probably show as complete a picture of Presley as could have been presented at the time.

Of all the books on Paul McCartney, this is the best one on his career, post-Beatles. Unlike most other bios, this one gets about as deep as it can in telling Wings' story.

I found this book very even-handed in its approach. No whitewashes or hatchet jobs. It even tells the stories of the recordings of some of McCartney's and Wings' lesser works, "Ram" and "Red Rose Speedway," two albums rarely discussed in other books.

The book offers a list of every Wings concert, as well as the set lists from their tours.

As of now, this is the best Wings bio out there, and is worthy of any McCartney fan's time.

"Uh-Huh" was one of the few true rock albums of the early 80s. Aside from the Rolling Stones' "Undercover," this album showed that rock was more than Casio keyboards and synthesized drums. We get a dose of high-octane rock and roll that makes this album a true treasure.

At a time when Michael Jackson's "Beat It," The Culture Club, and acts of that ilk saturated the airwaves ad nauseum, Mellencamp offered a breath of fresh air with "Uh-Huh." It still holds up almost 20 years later.

A lot of Mellencamp's later material hasn't held up as well as "Uh-Huh," though he is still one of America's greatest rock assets.

Though it was reported that the guys in Led Zeppelin detested the term "heavy metal," "Physical Graffiti" is the ultimate "heavy metal" album. Though there is no "Stairway To Heaven" on this LP, it stands out as Zep's best work.

Many other genres of music are covered on this LP: blues, acoustic, Mideastern. One of Zep's best songs, "Ten Years Gone," still tugs at my heartstrings. "The Rover" is one of Zep's best rockers, and "Down By The Seaside" mellows you out. The centerpeice of "Graffiti," "Kashmir," stands as one of the Top Five Zep classics.

I would put this up there with the Stones' "Exile On Main Street" and KISS's "Destroyer" as being among the best albums of the 70s. They don't rock like this one.

This album did for KISS what "Sgt. Pepper," or even "Revolver," did for The Beatles. The KISS sound, epitomised on "Alive!," was bumped up a notch on "Destroyer."
Many fans have criticized "Destroyer" for producer Bob Ezrin's use of strings and a choir, but he added a new dimension to KISS that made them more interesting. If groups are not allowed to experiment a little, they will grow stale. Every KISS album shouldn't sound like a re-hash of "Dressed To Kill," though that was a good album in itself.
The segue between "Detroit Rock City" and "King Of The Nightime World" is still the best in rock, and no one has been able to better it, much less duplicate it.
This album showed KISS at their creative peak, with "Love Gun" being the only album aftewards to give "Destroyer" a run for its money.
It's also been revealed in Gene Simmons' excellent autobiography, "KISS and Make-Up," that Ace Frehley played very few of the excellent guitar solos on "Destroyer," and that a session player had to fill in.
"Destoyer" was a milestone album of the 1970s, not only for KISS, but for rock in general.

This was a very insightful book written by one of the best reporters in Washington. Though most of the book's contents are public knowledge, and were continually broadcast on the cable news stations, Sammon provided comments and perspective from people "on the ground" that wasn't covered by the major media.

Al Gore is portrayed as a desperate man who was more than willing to tear the country apart in order to win the Presidency. His ego was such that he put his own interests far above the nation's, thus dragging the ordeal out longer than necessary and creating deep divides in the nation that will take years, if not decades, to heal.

The book also showed how the Democratic Party, once a revered and respected political entity, could sink to very low depths in order to gain power. The use of catty personal attacks against Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and the attempted "blackmailing" of Bush electors is spelled out here, and it only diminishes the Democrats. The books shows that the Democratic Party has been "Clintonized" and has now become the Mafia of American politics, run by political thugs and shysters. As I finished the book, I could fully understand why the United States Supreme Court had to end this charade.

The real star of this movie is Gene Hackman, who is in most of the scenes. I was disappointed in this movie, in that I had hoped it would have been the types of Clint Eastwood western I've always liked. Instead, it is too preachy, and listening to Eastwood's character moralize about killing and violence was a bit too much. What little action there was, however, was excellent. If one is viewing "Unforgiven" and expecting to see another "High Plains Drifter" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales," they will be sadly disappointed. Eastwood could have done better and made a western more true to his form.

This is probably the best Stones album of the 80s. I had told friends that I've always liked rock albums that left me tired and spent after I listened to them. This album does it. The songs are mostly hard-charging rockers that show the Stones at their roughest and dirtiest since the "Beggar's Banquet"/"Let It Bleed" era, or even since "Sticky Fingers" and "Exile on Main Street."

There is no "Angie" or "Ruby Tuesday" on this LP. This album assaults you and doesn't let up until the final fade-out of "It Must Be Hell." The heavy guitar solo on "Too Tough" shows that Ron Wood is no lightweight (Keith Richards admitted in a 1984 interview that this was Woodie's solo.).

Comapred to the over-polished and produced "Emotional Rescue" and the light rock of "Tattoo You," "Undercover" is raw, angry, and some of the best rock the Stones have ever produced.

This album sounds more like a collection of rhythm tracks Keith was recording for a Stones album, than a bona fide solo album. It's still great, as it shows Keith in his purest form.

The opening track, "999," sounds like an instrumental track with vocals added at the last minute, which give it its edge. The opening chords of "Wicked As It Seems" sounds like the Stones' "Love Is Strong" in its infant stage. "Running Too Deep" is not long enough, and sounds like a rhythm track in need of a guitar solo, but it shows Keith to be the superior rhythm guitar player in rock. "Will But You Won't" follows in the same vein.

The songs on this album are better than some of Keith's solo offerings with the Stones, aside from "Happy," "Before They Make Me Run," and "Little T & A." I can't wait for Keith's next solo effort. How about some recordings from Keith and Ronnie Wood's 70s band, The New Barbarians?

I bought my first copy of this classic LP about 20 years ago, and after listening to it once, I didn't like it. I spent years fast-forwarding through much of it, as I felt the album contained too much filler and too many throw-aways.

After forcing myself to sit through "Exile" during a long road trip, I began to appreciate it more. I have found myself listening to it all the way through more and more, though I like some songs more than others.

Until "Some Girls," this was the best Stones LP of the 70s. Its predecessor, "Sticky Fingers," had a few good songs on it, but I always felt that album was incomplete. This one is not only complete, its cup runneth over.

The best songs, "Tumbling Dice," "Happy," and "All Down The Line," are greatly complemented by the rest of the tracks. "Sweet Virginia" is a classic, while "Torn and Frayed" is one of the best songs the Stones have, to my knowledge, never played live. The lyrics in "Torn" are great.

There are enough tracks on "Exile" to make a great single album, but the Stones must have felt a compulsion to release a double album at the time, much as The Beatles did in 1968 with The White Album.

If The Stones had waited a year and substituted some tracks from "Goats Head Soup" and "It's Only Rock and Roll" with some of the throw-aways on "Exile," this album could have become the ultimate Stones album of the 70s.

In all, a keeper and one of the 10 best classic rock albums.