The celebrated Mr. Kaye is an excellent writer, with an amazing two-record project, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968, to his credit. Released in 1972, Nuggets resurrected many great rock records and most especially the attitude that those sizzling pieces of protopunk represented. I recall Kaye's insightful essay in Creem about the Beatles' Red (1962-1966) and Blue (1967-1970) anthologies in 1973. Then there's his steady guitar work on Patti Smith Group albums.
So it was a shock to acquire the much anticipated Lightning Striking and find that his editors and proofreaders let Kaye down big time--their work is abysmal. I don't have an Amazon account so I tried to find a way to put my disappointment into a public forum, hoping that Kaye's bunch would see it. I chose Greil Marcus' website and the "Ask Greil" column, where I detailed the many flubs in the May 7, 2022 post.
Commenting on my gripes, Marcus observed that in the publication process, transcribing miscues can occur after the draft is ready to roll. He said he'd seen some of the work in advance, describing Kaye's expertise as "vast and specific," adding, "this is someone who used to memorize labels on 45s."
The book details some of the most earthshaking moments in rock'n'roll, starting with Cleveland, 1952, and continuing toward the present. There are some really well written passages in Lightning Striking, and impressive that Kaye viewed Olympia as a satellite city of Seattle where Nirvana's breakthrough is concerned. There are a slew of books that don't mention Kurt Cobain's Aberdeen and Olympia roots at all, a sad omission for many Washingtonians; one can still drive down Pear Street in my adopted hometown and see the apartment where Cobain lived.
Here's a partial list of the goofs, but I must quit before the book takes over my life again. Time for an exorcism!
Pg. 11--Elvis' debut single on Sun was "That's All Right" (three words and no "Mama").
Pg. 14--Presley went to Humes High School, not "Hume."
Pg. 15--The Crew Cuts ('50s vocal group) is two words.
Pg. 36--Legendary songwriter Jerry Leiber's surname is not "Lieber."
Pg. 36--Elvis' 1972 hit is "Burning Love," not "Burnin'."
Pg. 41--The character in Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" "shot a man in Reno," not
"killed a man in Reno."
Pg. 48--Charlie Rich's stellar 1959 song is "Lonely Weekends," not "Lonely Weekend."
Pg. 48--Elvis is said to have a "child bride in tow" (Priscilla) when he finished his Army duty in 1960. Priscilla didn't become his wife until 1967.
Pg. 52--Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio was "the only place in town" to cut records in 1952. Fine, but...
Pg. 54--New Orleans' Professor Longhair cut records at National Recorders in 1952, so I guess there was more than an "only place in town" for recording.
Pg. 73--Country & Western, not "country-western" is the correct term.
Pg. 75--Smiley Lewis first cut "One Night" and the following words are "of sin." Elvis sang the opening words as "one night with you." In the book, Elvis' version is listed as "One Night (Of Love)," not a truly descriptive title, because the song was originally about an orgy.
Pg. 77--Typical but still inexcusable misspelling of Stevie Ray Vaughan's last name (it's not "Vaughn").
Pg. 84--The great East L.A. band Thee Midniters is spelled "Thee Midnighters."
Pg. 115--Phil Spector's group was the Teddy Bears (two words, not one).
Pg. 115--Buddy Holly's cover of the Paul Anka song is "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," not "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (although that's in the lyrics).
Pg. 133--John Lennon and Paul McCartney met on July 6, 1957, not "June 6"--it's now common knowledge.
Pg. 148--"Raunchy" was by Bill Justis, not Link Wray.
Pg. 148--The Beatles cut "That'll Be the Day" at a tiny studio in Liverpool in 1958. The B-side was an original song, "In Spite of All the Danger," not Elvis' "Trying to Get to You."
Pg. 149--The Beatles played six nights a week in Hamburg in 1960 (and spent fewer hours onstage as time went on). Not "seven."
Pg. 150--Beatles expert and researcher Mark Lewisohn has published Ringo's first nickname as Richy and not "Ritchie" for at least a decade now.
Pg. 165--The Searchers' "What Have They Done to the Rain" is listed as "What Have You Done to the Rain."
Pg. 193--Jefferson Airplane's first vocalist Signe Anderson is called "Signe Tole." Her full name was Signe Toly Anderson.
Pg. 205, 209--The song is simply "Ball and Chain," not "Love Is a Like a Ball and Chain"
Pg. 208--Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers" is not titled "Volunteers of America."
Pg. 208--David Crosby's song "Triad," about a threesome, is called "Trinity." Insert joke here.
Pg. 208--The Airplane's Bless Its Pointed Little Head album is called "Bless Your Pointy Little Head." Ouch!
Pg. 209--Janis Joplin died in October 1970, not October 1971. They got it right on the following page.
Pg. 212--Love's "My Little Red Book" is recast as "Little Red Book."
Pg. 214--Lyrics for the Stooges' "1969" are listed as "and now I'm gonna be 22/another year with nothin' to do." In the studio take, that's not the couplet.
Pg. 222--The Beatles' Second Album (US) supposedly includes "Twist and Shout"; it does not. And it was originally by the Isley Brothers, not the Contours.
and so on and so on and scooby dooby doo. I didn't finish the book. I'm out of here.