Rating: 
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: "Touch Me I'm Sick" not only has an incredible visual impact - it tells the important story of a monumental movement in the history of rock music through the eyes of Charles Peterson as a participant in the Seattle music scene and as an artist. In the early days before the world caught on to "grunge", he not only found himself at the core of this groundbreaking new change in rock n' roll, but in a position to communicate it visually for everyone outside of his home city. In the years since the grunge revolution there has not been an unequivocal youth culture movement on this scale and Peterson not only helped to define it, but captured it forever on film. Part of the whole hysterical attraction and one of the aspects that drew an entire generation to Seattle beyond the music is that Peterson's photographs did not just articulate the sound, but expressed the feeling of raw excitement of being at a rock n' roll show in a club. Peterson compelled - and still compels -the viewer to share his experience of the music rather than simply look at a photograph of a musician on stage. I think it is interesting as a reader/viewer of "Touch Me" that it also tells the story of Peterson's photography over 17 years as a kind of visual notebook during this period in his life. Simply put, there is no pretension or unnecessary commentary here, Charles and his work are the real deal.
Rating:
Summary: A CRAZED, KINETIC MASTERPIECE!
Review: A divine marriage of vision, design and subject matter. Peterson's wild, free and spontaneous shooting style provides the perfect visual metaphor for the beer-stained and adrenaline-stoked Seattle grunge era. His pictures look like the music sounds - reckless, courageous, and always threatening to spin completely out of control. An aggresive book design and a minimum of text keeps the emphasis where it belongs - on the music's energy and the exhilarating, ritual co-dependence of performers and fans. You can't slam out power chords on a Leica M6 - but Peterson comes closer than any other "Rock" photographer at pulling it off. DSR
Rating:
Summary: too good to be true
Review: As Charles said at his book release party, "This is your story, too," and it is. It's not just Nirvana and Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, it's the audiences and the energy and the feeling. This is the real story of "grunge," or rather what the media slapped a big fat label on and tried to shove it down the world's throat. It is big and beautiful and full of all the energy of what it was like, is like, to be THERE at a show. No photographer's pit for him, no three-songs-and-you're-out. Mark Arm's All-Star clad feet on the dashboard of a van, Ed Vedder looking bored and lonely in the back of a bus somewhere in Europe, Fastbacks fans in Japan, Chris Cornell not looking like that guy who sings with Audioslave, Thurston Moore looking like someone you do NOT want to p*ss off, Pearl Jam walking to their plane looking all the world like the Rolling Stones in 1975. Mosh pits when they still meant something (well, maybe), Carrie Brownstein lookin a little bit like a guitar heroine (which she is). Oh, and let's not forget those terrifically embarassing photos of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament when they were somewhere between heavy metal and new wave. This is a piece of history. Buy it. Own it. Love it.
Rating:
Summary: too good to be true
Review: As Charles said at his book release party, "This is your story, too," and it is. It's not just Nirvana and Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, it's the audiences and the energy and the feeling. This is the real story of "grunge," or rather what the media slapped a big fat label on and tried to shove it down the world's throat. It is big and beautiful and full of all the energy of what it was like, is like, to be THERE at a show. No photographer's pit for him, no three-songs-and-you're-out. Mark Arm's All-Star clad feet on the dashboard of a van, Ed Vedder looking bored and lonely in the back of a bus somewhere in Europe, Fastbacks fans in Japan, Chris Cornell not looking like that guy who sings with Audioslave, Thurston Moore looking like someone you do NOT want to p*ss off, Pearl Jam walking to their plane looking all the world like the Rolling Stones in 1975. Mosh pits when they still meant something (well, maybe), Carrie Brownstein lookin a little bit like a guitar heroine (which she is). Oh, and let's not forget those terrifically embarassing photos of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament when they were somewhere between heavy metal and new wave. This is a piece of history. Buy it. Own it. Love it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection of Photos
Review: Charles Peterson's latest offering of photos is nothing short of brilliance. His is the sort of brilliance that comes from living in and loving the world that he is capturing on film. Charles is a master at capturing a moment in time, a moment so fleeting that even if you were standing next to him you might miss it yourself... But Charles captures the moment with such precision that from simply viewing the photos you can feel the power of the music, smell the cigarette smoke in the air, hear the roar of the crowd, and expreience the crush of the most pit 10, 15, even 20 years later. Punk, Rock, Metal... If you are a fan of music this book is not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection of Photos
Review: Charles Peterson's latest offering of photos is nothing short of brilliance. His is the sort of brilliance that comes from living in and loving the world that he is capturing on film. Charles is a master at capturing a moment in time, a moment so fleeting that even if you were standing next to him you might miss it yourself... But Charles captures the moment with such precision that from simply viewing the photos you can feel the power of the music, smell the cigarette smoke in the air, hear the roar of the crowd, and expreience the crush of the most pit 10, 15, even 20 years later. Punk, Rock, Metal... If you are a fan of music this book is not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: larger then rock and roll
Review: Charles Peterson's photographs make tangible an unwashed world of sound. More then just a pictoral history of the Seattle grunge scene, Peterson does a extraordinary job at depicting the motion and abandon of adolescent energy. Sure there are images (candid and captivating) of the usual suspects (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mud Honey) but the images taken at shows all over the world of the audience members in mosh pits, stage diving, and totally rocking out start talking about something much larger then rock and roll and reveal the solid artistic nature of Peterson's work. Touch Me I'm Sick is more then mere photo documentary of a particular time in musical history it reveals disaffected youth attempting to connect with something much larger.
Rating:
Summary: Great photographer for someone who wasn't there
Review: E' Bom Demais! Even if you weren't around in the day, Charles' photographs tell magnificent stories, each one. Where most R&R "picture takers" go wrong is in forgeting the passion and the association between the audience and the music. "Touch me I'm Sick" captiures those perfect moments, putting you right down on the floor to trip over somebody who spent all their money downinga $3 pitchers. Right On!
Rating:
Summary: Worth every peso
Review: E' Bom Demais! Even if you weren't around in the day, Charles' photographs tell magnificent stories, each one. Where most R&R "picture takers" go wrong is in forgeting the passion and the association between the audience and the music. "Touch me I'm Sick" captiures those perfect moments, putting you right down on the floor to trip over somebody who spent all their money downinga $3 pitchers. Right On!
Rating:
Summary: Worth every peso
Review: E' Bom Demais! Even if you weren't around in the day, Charles' photographs tell magnificent stories, each one. Where most R&R "picture takers" go wrong is in forgeting the passion and the association between the audience and the music. "Touch me I'm Sick" captiures those perfect moments, putting you right down on the floor to trip over somebody who spent all their money downinga $3 pitchers. Right On!
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