COLLECTING MUSIC & FILM MEMORABILIA

My love of music dates back to the early-seventies and over the fifty years that followed my music collection has gone from vinyl and cassettes to Compact Discs and, despite not being a great fan of the medium, digital downloads.

Anyone that knows me will know that I have a wide taste in music and listen to everything from rock 'n' roll to blues, country, Americana, country rock, pop and even jazz and orchestral. To be honest the only styles I am not interested in are rap and opera.

Just a few of my favourite artists are Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles and The Beach Boys, although this is only a small section of my music tastes.

I also enjoy films although my tastes are the films from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s rather than the big blockbusters from the past few decades. However, there are still some favourites from the later years with Die Hard being top of my list. My favourite male and female movie stars all date back to the great days of Hollywood... James Stewart and Gene Tierney. You can read more about Gene Tierney here on my blog in the article Gene Tierney - Hollywood Beauty.

Although not an avid collector who has to have everything, I do collect items of music and film memorabilia including promo CDs, press photos, sheet music, lobby cards and press books. A few items from my collection are pictured below.

This brings me to books on collecting music and film memorabilia of which I have several in my library including The Lyle Price Guide - Film & Rock 'n' Roll Collectables by Tony Curtis,  The Elvis Collector - An Introductory Guide To Collecting UK Film Memorabilia 1956-1977 and The Elvis Collector - An Introductory Guide To Collecting UK Memorabilia 1956-1977 the latter two compiled and written by Harry Carrigan.

I recently received three books from Schiffer Publishing which cover Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Sheet Music from the 1960s, all three of which are reviewed below.

Elvis Presley Memorabilia - An Unauthorized Collectors Guide (Sean O'Neil) (Schiffer Publishing 2001 - ISBN 0-7643-1382-7) 

Following a brief introduction which covers prices and counterfeit items the 160-page book is split into seven chapters which cover Elvis' career - Elvis In Concert, Elvis Presley Enterprises and Novelty Items, Sun Records and RCA Victor Records, Magazines, The Movies, One-of-a-Kind and Autographs, Photos and Other Paper. Each chapter opens with a short introduction.

The Concert section features early press ads, photo albums that were sold at the concerts, ticket stubs and much more. Moving into the seventies there are more ads and souvenir photo albums, a few which I still have in my own collection.

The items produced by Elvis Enterprises ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous with record cases, photo cards and record players to jewellery and even  'I Like Elvis' and 'I Hate Elvis' badges, the Colonel certainly catered for both camps.

The Records section was of special interest to me as I love the old RCA ads and various sheet music featured.

Of the remaining sections there are various magazines from the 1950s through to the 1970s, movie posters, lobby cards and advertising, rare items that don't fit in any other part of the book, so are given their own chapter and finally some festive items. Christmas was a special time for Elvis and every year the Colonel produced a postcard, some classy and others less so... Elvis in a jumpsuit by a Christmas tree!

The book is beautifully produced, with mostly colour illustrations and includes a brief description of each item along with the then current values.

The Beatles Yesterday & Tomorrow - A Collector's Guide To Beatles Memorabilia (Courtney McWilliams) (Schiffer Publishing 1999 - ISBN 0-7643-0852-1) 

A preface explaining condition of memorabilia and an introduction that covers the early days of the group in Liverpool and Hamburg is followed by nine chapters covering various areas of collecting. Over 210-pages  the book covers - Vintage Beatles, All Movie Memorabilia, Fan Club Memorabilia, Jewellery, The Beatles As Art, Music Mediums, Ephemera, Solo Efforts and Something New.

Following the same format as the Elvis book this is a treasure trove of Beatles memorabilia, beautifully illustrated with an introduction to each chapter and every item has a brief description and guide to value.

I really enjoyed the sections on the movies with all the posters, lobby cards, press ads and stills. The records section includes the well known UK releases but also the albums released on Capitol in America, Beatles '65, The Early Beatles and Beatles VI. The infamous 'Butcher Cover' which was originally planned to be the cover of the Capitol album The Beatles Yesterday and Today is also included. One of the rarest Beatles items that nowadays is almost impossible to find and is worth at least the $6,000 - $12,000 value quoted for a copy in mint condition.

Like Elvis Presley there are items that fall into the same category... from the sublime to the ridiculous. Beatles wigs, masks, lunch boxes, thermos flasks and, depending who your favourite band members was, badges with 'I Love Paul', 'I Love John', 'I Love George' and 'I Love Ringo'. I couldn't see any 'I Hate The Beatles' badges and maybe none were ever produced.

A chapter on their solo work seems to devote more pages to John Lennon than Paul, George or Ringo which is had to understand when you look at the amount of solo work released by the other three ex-Beatles.

The final chapter, Something New, covers some of the more recent items available and those issued after the break-up in the 1970s.

Collecting Rock 'n' Roll Sheet Music Of The 1960s  (Valerie Carallo) (Schiffer Publishing 2006 - ISBN 0-7643-2373-3) 

Split over 176-pages this book includes an introduction which explains what sheet music is, the differences between USA, UK and Australian sheet music and value and condition. The book then covers seven different genres of music - Twist and Shout (The Beatles), Wipe Out (Surf and Folk), Psychotic Reaction (Garage, Hard Rock and Psychedelia), Lightnin' Strikes (Pop and Rock), Going To A Go-Go (R&B, Soul and Motown), Catch Us If You Can (The British Invasion) and Thank U Very Much (Bubblegum, Girl Groups, Novelty Songs etc).

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on The Beatles with many great cover images and designs including those for Ask Me Why, A Day In The Life, Till There Was You, Girl and Back In The U.S.S.R. A few foreign items are displayed... Tu Mano Cogere (I Want To Hold Your Hand) from Spain, Elle (Il) T'Auime (She Loves You) from France and the German issue of Twist im Blut (Twist And Shout).

Many of my favourite artists are covered in the book with The Beach Boys featured heavily with Sloop John B, Dance Dance Dance, The Man With All The Toys, God Only Knows and my personal favourite sheet music cover from the group, Surfer Girl.

With over 600 illustrations there are too many to cover in this review. However, besides those already mentioned these are just a few of my personal favourites... Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob Dylan), Mrs Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel), I'm A Boy (The Who), These Boots Are Made For Walking (Nancy Sinatra), Alternate Title (The Monkees), A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash) and Ode To Billy Joe (Bobbie Gentry). The latter has the title misspelled as the title is actually Ode To Billie Joe.

Being a big fan of Linda Ronstadt I couldn't end this review without mentioning the inclusion of Different Drum by The Stone Poneys which features the lovely Linda on the cover.

Many of those, me included, who collect sheet music are not buying them because they can read music but because of the images featured on the covers many of which were rare and differed from the image featured on the 45rpm single. 

Like the Elvis and Beatles books this one is beautifully produced, illustrated in full colour and printed on high quality, glossy paper. Each chapter has a brief introduction and, like the previous books, includes a description of each item featured along with a guide to the value.

I really enjoyed going through these books and seeing the amount of items that were produced with the names Elvis Presley and The Beatles, some tacky and some very collectable. I wonder how many of the items have survived in their original packaging and in mint condition. Likewise, the sheet music book, was a fascinating insight into what is still a very collectable market.

Although all three books were originally published between 1998 and 2006 they can still be found on various sites on the internet and if you are like me and find this kind of information fascinating then I recommend checking them out.

With thanks to Victoria Hansen at Schiffer Publishing Ltd for providing copies of the books for this article.