Sun Records: An Oral History

I started reading this book in Memphis and finished it in New Orleans so geographically, my environment enabled me to get a flavor for the books' content. This book is quite conversational and easy to follow. Anyone interested in the personalities of the artists or other decision makers of this period will find it worth their time to get a copy. Some of the interviewees are quite philosophical as they put things in perspective in retrospect. Consider these comments: "But timing is everything. If you walk across the street one second you get across and everything's fine. You try it again five seconds later and a bus runs over you. . . sometimes it's just not in the cards at that particular time. There's no point in crying about it."This is an insightful book. In any human actions, relationships are important. This issue is addressed as a description of Sam Phillips' handling of artists is given, when we're told, "I think the most important thing I learned from being around Sam was, the thing I was most amazed by, was his ability to handle people, to the get the most our of people, to put people ata ease and get the most out of them." You can see large portions of the interviews are written just as people responded, without editing. That keeps the material lively and conversational.