Charles R. Cross
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Very informative, but weak and irritating writing style. 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
I'm just re-reading Cross's book for the second time. I thought I would give it a second chance. I was quite irritated by it the first time, although the wealth of detail on Jimi's diificult early life in particular was very interesting and for me completely new.
Second time around I am even more irritated by Cross's style and errors. He seems to me to be guity of just guessing when he doesn't know for sure, and of stating 'as fact' stories from people which in reality are more likely merely unconfirmed (unconfirmable?) personal anecdotes.
E.g. 1
he repeats an 'eyewitnesses' incorrect description of what Jimi wore during his performance at Monterey. Jeez... How easy would that be to check???
E.g.2
He says the Rainbow bridge concert at Maui began with a Hare Krishna group leading the assembled in chanting 'Om'. (Er... but Hare Krishna's DO NOT chant 'Om'). Cross presumably guessed who the group leading the chanting was.
That might not seem like such a crime. But why do that?
AND I feel sure if he did that on this 'fact' he'll have done it elsewhere. Bad scholarship and bad biography writing.
How about not knowing the difference between 'Voodo Chile' and Voodo Child (Slight return) and referring to them as if they are ONE song.
Or referring to Eva Sunqvist as his "favourite Swedish groupie" at a time when he hadn't even met her yet as she was an anonymous fan who had sent him roses at each swedish gig and who was a virgin prior to her encounter with Jimi. Etc., etc.
There are many other facts like this which he got wrong, and many stories that seem to be hyped up to my mind.
E.g the 'not serving clowns' anecdote that he made so much of in the beginning (and then repeated later on in the book). I'm sure it has some grain of truth in it, but Cross appears to have accepted Noel's probably fuzzily remembered anecdote and then embellished it himself.
Another example is Jimi supposedly spending a couple of hours one night playing well-known Jazz standards with a lounge pianist in Morocco. Jimi knew "two hours" worth of "Jazz standards"??? Sure. Right.
More likely that the pianist played some jazz standards and that Jimi sat in and improvised along with him.
Am I being too pedantic?
It just seems to me that Cross is adding to the mythology...and haven't we had enough of that already..?
Fans of this book may ask 'what else can be done when all we have to go on is people's stories from forty years ago'?
Obviously, any author of Cross's age HAS TO rely on anecdotes - but there are other and better ways of choosing and expressing the same information.
So, here are some requests to Charles to consider before the next reprint:
1. Present anecdotes as anecdotal and DO NOT dress them up AS FACT.
2. State your sources.
3. Make it clear when there is a difference of opinion about a supposed event and let us the reader decide.
Compare his method with John McDermott and Eddie Kramer's book,"Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight" or the excellent book Not Necessarily Stoned, But Beautiful: The Making of "Are You Experienced" by Sean Egan.
Those are examples of a more honest and therefore more accurately informative way to go about biography. And those books are therefore in my opinion a much more enjoyable read and are much better written.
To give him his due, Charles Cross HAS gathered together a lot of fascinating material that I - as a long-time Hendrix fan - was unaware of before. He has often put some events in a time frame and context that I hadn't understood properly or so well before. So I am glad to have the book. But Charles rarely qoutes his sources. Which makes it harder to guage the accuracy of the info or for anyone to check it. By doing so he also thereby raises his own status to that of THE storyteller and quasi-witness instead of what he is in reality which is a mere chronicler of stories from others long AFTER the events. See how he starts off his book with himself centre-stage discovering Lucille's grave and taking Leon there. I think this says a lot about his approach. i.e. I detect a lot of 'look what I know/have discovered' all the way through his book. Which is OK, as he clearly has unearthed a great deal of little-known information.
But its precisely that lack of humility that allows him to justify making up facts when he doesn't know the detail and shows his lack of respect to his readers assuming most of us won't notice.
I read many people championing this book as THE definitive Hendrix Biography.
Well, I agree it is a welcome addition. But, In my opinion, there are a good deal better books out there. THE definitive Hendrix Biography? Nah!
This book definitely is NOT that, in my opinion. Not by a long way.
Editorial Review:
Now in paperback, the national bestselling biography of American musical icon Jimi Hendrix It has been more than thirty-five years since Jimi Hendrix died, but his music and spirit are still very much alive for his fans everywhere. Charles R. Cross vividly recounts the life of Hendrix, from his difficult childhood and adolescence in Seattle through his incredible rise to celebrity in London’s swinging sixties. It is the story of an outrageous life -- with legendary tales of sex, drugs, and excess -- while it also reveals a man who struggled to accept his role as idol and who privately craved the kind of normal family life he never had. Using never-before-seen documents and private letters, and based on hundreds of interviews with those who knew Hendrix -- many of whom had never before agreed to be interviewed -- Room Full of Mirrors unlocks the vast mystery of one of music’s most enduring legends.
