Patrick Carr (1)

In High Fidelity (2000) John Cusack as Rob Gordon says, "But I have to say my all-time favorite book is Johnny Cash's autobiography Cash by Johnny Cash."

I now can see why this quip bears scrutiny. I have read, literally, hundreds of biographies in my life and this is one of the very best. Cash's personality and depth exude from these pages as if he was telling the reader personally his recollections and thoughts around the table in his tour bus "Unit One" between one stop and another. This show more feels very personal and authentic. Cash brings in history of the South, country music and more in revealing chapters that each read like a topical essay on his Bible spirituality, battles with drug addiction, sense of home and family, love for his wife June Carter Cash and more. show less

You really hear Johnny Cash's distinctive voice come across in this sincere and conversational memoir. Particularly in the earlier parts of the book, it is quite powerful in its stories, observations and even its prose. The anecdotal, non-chronological structure of the book is very bracing and readable, though it does presume some foreknowledge on the part of the reader of the general arc of Cash's career.

Towards the end, however, the vignette-like structure starts to become disjointed and show more the book runs out of steam. It loses its grave but grateful tone, and the final chapters read like an extended Acknowledgements page. Regardless, it is a rare 'celebrity' memoir that delivers, and while you don't become educated about his complete biography, you do get from the intimate, natural conversation with him a sense of the essence of the Man in Black. show less

Going in, I prepared myself to take "Backstage Passes" by Angela Bowie with a grain of salt and realize that, like in any memoir, there would be embellishments. I found the book to be mildly interesting until page 272 of the hardcover where the author clearly stated it to be 1979 and that she was riding in a limo in LA with Keith Moon, who DIED IN 1978. Ok, so maybe that was a typo? But it gets worse. She also claims that on the same afternoon, she met up with Led Zeppelin and their show more bodyguard John Bindon -- who was not associated with Zeppelin after 1977. In fact Zeppelin as a group never toured the US after 1977! She didn’t mix up her years either, because she also states that after her afternoon with Moon that he died just a few months later. Therefore it couldn’t have been 1979 and it couldn’t have been 1977. If it was 1978 she definitely did not meet up with Zeppelin. Once glaring inconsistencies (lies!) such as these appear in a book, I’m done. No part of the book before or after can be considered believable. show less

How much fact, how much fiction? Who knows. Some stuff rings true and doesn't sound too OTT, while some (the bizarre exorcism of the house pool leaving a satanic stain on the bottom) certainly does. I can only assume the tales of coke filled Bowie doing very little except taking coke and staying in his LA home with hangers on are a BIT exaggerated, given he produced albums during that time. But he himself has said at some point he left the USA to survive, so some must be true. I didn't show more really understand why they still saw each other into the late 70s at all, given the way she describes their relationship (or lack of it by then). Perhaps she was more needy of still being Mrs Bowie than she let on.

The book doesn't always flow easily and Angie's thoughts and preambles before getting to the point of each tale aren't always terribly interesting - she does love the sound of her own voice a bit.

Bowie was a bit of a charmer of people, and a pretty cold user of people - that much we know already; she confirms it here but no great surprise. There is no doubt she is one feisty lady in her own right but it does sound like she got chewed up and spat out, same as many others did. But in her case, she ended up rather burned by the experience, which is sad. But likeable - well neither of them come across as likeable. Her choice of friends and partners shows she inhabited a shallow world with shallow "good time" people and enjoyed being there.

The book was a charity shop find, and that's where it will head back to now I've read it. show less