David Buckley's new Elton biography is quite disappointing.
Elizabeth Rosenthal's "His Song" is still the best.
I hope she will write the updates for what happened in the recent 10
years.

On Feb 19, 8:37 am, "nisimoto" <nisim...@aol.com> wrote:
> David Buckley's new Elton biography is quite disappointing.
> Elizabeth Rosenthal's "His Song" is still the best.
> I hope she will write the updates for what happened in the recent 10
> years.

I enjoyed "His Song" a lot actually (as would any Elton John fan I
suppose) but Philip Norman's book was not written by a diehard fan
which legitimizes it more in my view. The excitement and wonder in
Elton's rise to fame, along with the discovery of his own talents, is
blunted by Rosenthal's mission to micro-analyze the songs - which is
difficult to pull of even if you're a musicologist which to my
knowledge she is not.

For all the criticism for Philip Norman not concentrating more on the
music, "His Song" never addresses the dropoff in ambition and, yes
folks, quality as the John/Taupin partnership wore on into the
80's...the conversion from highbrow rock into middlebrow and lowbrow
pop. The lack of a critical eye makes her ruminations on Elton's
music very fun for an Elton John fan but ultimately not very
memorable.

Philip Norman's book made me an Elton John diehard fan. "His Song"
serves to rally the already existing base.

[jenilo]

I would love to read his biography.