Search - Hunter S. Thompson :: The Gonzo Tapes:The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

For a specific audience only!

Wintertiger | 11/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This item is very difficult to rate, as some will love it and most will not care for it. Do not buy this item unless you are a serious Gonzophile who is interested in Hunter's actual process in creating stories, as well as getting some insight into the realities of his life.



Do not buy it if you expect lots of gonzo bad craziness on the tapes: The Vegas portions are pretty pedestrian. Even when he is stoned, you are not experiencing the powerful internal experience; you are listening to it from the outside, and it can sound somewhat tired. You do get a couple interesting hints about how much was real and what really happened, but you have to listen carefully. This is Hunter Thompson the person, not Raoul Duke the personna.



As this is raw material, the sound quality can be really bad sometimes. Music and other conversations can occasionally make it really hard to hear.



You will hear a drug-wrecked Thompson totally incapacitated and useless in Kinsasha, and what he says in Cozumel in 1973 will definitely surprise you. The Politics book period is strangely absent, a shame because for me that was the period where his writing went from brilliant to chaotic.



I found the great hell of being a famous writer shown too often: everyone tries to tell you what your story is. Acosta does it in Vegas and Acapulco (it was eventually the reason for their falling-out), Wenner does it on the Vegas book, and Gloria Emerson goes to great length to put her Fear and Loathing in Saigon concept into him before he goes (the problem is that you cannot elogize the history of a place where you have never been).



The "Guts Ball" section will show pretty clearly why brainstorming a novel on mushrooms is a bad idea, and the Freud Cocaine self-test did not sound like any fun at all.



You will not find out how Hunter got that terrific prose style and those sharp insights onto the page. Both are basically absent from the tapes. The best part of Hunter came when it was just him and his Selectric, and the tape player wasn't running then.



So buy this if you are an aficionado seeking insight into the reality of Hunter Thompson, the kind of aficionado who read his letters collections and liked the Gonzo book of photos. Honestly, the joy of Hunter Thompson is in his writing, and most people would probably be happiest with his major works."

Gonzo Going Gonzo

Ryan Gallagher | Gurnee, IL USA | 11/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Hunter in the middle of his verbal notes. Sometimes he's in a car taking notes on the day as Hell's Angels are drunk and yelling in the background, and sometimes he's out of it with Oscar in Las Vegas. Some people complain that there is too much static or interference. Well, you try and do this kind of crazed in depth journalism Known as Gonzo, and get crisp clean recordings. It's part of the charm, and part of the story. Well worth the price. We will always miss you Hunter."

Fantastic for serious fans!

A. Mccune | Manchester, NH | 12/16/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Meticulous. These tapes serve as a fantastic companion to the books covered in this series. It gives the listener a window into the mind of one of the 20th centuries most brilliant writers. Thompson was meticulous in his audio notebooks. This is a sampling of some of the hours upon hours of those tapes. Producer Don Fleming does a great job of making 40 year old tapes audible. There are still imperfections, but if your a completist, this is what your looking for.



Best part of the entire series: The actual audio from the "Taco Stand" scene from the book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" which is transcribed nearly verbatim in the book.



The only missing part of this series would be Hunter's political work. As this was a companion to the Gonzo documentary, the scope of the work started with that and did not include his political work. Hopefully, they make a "Gonzo Tapes 2" for those...If they do, I'll buy it.



I would have given it one more star if they would have included the political era stuff..."