With meticulous care and fairness -- but with no sugarcoating whatsoever -- he excavates Elvis out of the layers of rumor, innuendo, and mystery that have conspired over the years to make him a caricature and a joke rather than a human being.

Gurlanick gives us back the artist (who first thrilled me on 78s) and exorcizes so much of the snobby and dismissive trashy gossip (Goldman) that has obscured Elvis for almost 40 years.

I don't mean that a saint emerges. No way. But in Guralnick's telling, a brilliant musician and excruciatingly vulnerable human being pushes aside the fat guy in the gold Vegas suit.

The result? The music -- in all its glory and raw excitement -- returns to take its rightful and deserved place.

The best books (with Guralnick's 2nd volume) about rock and roll ever written.

You don't have to be an Elvis fan to enjoy this biography.

In Volume One, Guralnick takes us from Elvis' humble beginnings in Tupelo, Mississippi to his departure for Army duty in Germany twenty-three years later. In between, readers will be fascinated with what they THOUGHT they knew about Elvis. LAST TRAIN differs from other books about Elvis in two very distinct ways: First, the author gives us first hand accounts from the people who were actually there. There's no tabloid journalism or second-hand anecdotes. Guralnick has done his research and it shows. Second, Elvis is never presented as an icon or an idol. Guralnick has the unique ability to step back away from the action as an impartial observer and give us an extraordinarily clear image of what Elvis was really like - a really nice, clean, religious kid who was consumed with music and making people happy.

You can almost feel the electricity of the recording sessions at Sun Studios. You can watch Sam Phillips as he realizes that this boy could change the course of popular music forever. Elvis' girls, friends, musicians...they're all here and they all have a piece of the story to tell. And what about the "Colonel" Tom Parker? Genius or huckster?

Of course, the hysteria is recorded as well. After all, it's part of the story. Crazed fans were nothing new. After all, girls had been going nuts over singers like Frank Sinatra and many others for years. But the world had never seen anything like this? How can you explain it? Guralnick never really comes right out with an explanation, but you'll be able to pick it up between the lines. But you'll enjoy the book so much in the process, all you'll care about is what happens next.

The writing, the storytelling, the descriptions...it's all outstanding. But if I had to pick two moments that really struck me, one would be Elvis near his popularity peak looking out of a train window. He saw a lone dog running in a field and longed for the freedom to roam the world unhindered by masses of admirers. It's a very simple, but powerful image of things to come. The other is the [end of life] of Elvis' mother near the end of the first volume. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever read, Elvis kneels beside his deceased mother's body, crying out that he would give up all of his success and go back to digging ditches if he could only have her back again. If you have dry eyes at the end of this book, your heart needs to be jumpstarted.

Like all good writers, Guralnick expertly foreshadows the tragic events that will take place in Volume Two. Even if you think you know the full Elvis story, you'll learn plenty by reading this book. The only bad part about finishing Volume One is not having a copy of Volume Two nearby. Buy both. You won't be sorry.

488 pages of text, 50 pages of notes and bibliography