Just published is a new book on the various Elvis Presley Extended Play albums released in the UK. In this article I will be reviewing the book but first a look back at the authors previous work.
As far back as 1980 friends and co-writers John Townson and Gordon Minto had been writing about Elvis Presley, although it would be a few years before they would publish their first book in, what would become, the ELVIS UK series.
Published by Blandford Press in 1987, ELVIS UK - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's British Record Releases 1956-1986 was greeted with critical acclaim by not only Elvis fans but also music journalists and rightly deserved being referred to as 'the Bible' when it came to Elvis releases. Despite its retail price of £45 it soon became highly collectable and sought after.
Within its 570-pages the book covered, in detail, every UK record release (singles, extended play albums and long players) issued on the HMV, RCA Victor and third-party labels between the years 1956 and 1986. Listed in chronological order each release was covered with detailed track information, composers names, release dates and chart positions, with every release cross-referenced.
Additional sections looked in detail at label and sleeve variations, including dates, a various artist listing where Elvis was featured on one or more tracks, details of promotional records and introductory sections looking at the companies who issued the records, details that appeared on the labels and a look at how records were made/pressed.
The book was illustrated, in black and white, with hundreds of record labels, album covers, photos and much more.
A list of every song was included which showed where each appeared and referenced to the relevant page numbers of the book.
The pair were often asked when it would be made available again, but realising this would not be a financially viable option for either themselves or the publisher they chose a different route by making the original book available as a digital downloadable flipbook.
For those who don't know, a flipbook is an interactive digital publication that features a realistic page-flip effect. It looks just like a traditional printed book with pages that can be turned over but allows added interactive elements like page navigation and links. It is much easier to read and navigate than a basic pdf and is becoming a popular option for writers who are looking for a way to offer their books digitally.
Issued in 2021 the digital flipbook included an extra 60-pages which covered re-issues of LPs, a discussion about mastering, a section on the RCA 'Golden Grooves' label and a fascinating essay on the Making of ELVIS UK.
Once again, these additional pages were illustrated throughout with labels, sleeves and other images, mostly in colour.
Priced at just £20 the flipbook is available from their website www.elvisukbooks.co.uk
Meanwhile, back in 2002 they published their second book, ELVIS UK2 - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's British Record Releases 1986-2002, which overlapped and picked up the story from where the first book ended.
Running to just over 370 pages the book covers all the UK vinyl releases from 1985 through to 2002 with every single, extended play and LP album examined in detail. Like the previous book there are sections on promotional issues, rarities, releases that featured one or more Elvis tracks, a full song title index and interesting facts on industry background.
A welcome inclusion is an interview with Roger Semon who co-produces many of the Elvis releases throughout the world.
Once again it was well received by fans and music historians alike. Originally only available in printed format, the book originally retailed at £35 though there are a very small number of copies available selling for just £11, once again from their website www.elvisukbooks.co.uk
Moving on from the vinyl releases covered in the first two books, this volume turns the attention to the compact discs released on the RCA, BMG and FTD labels in the UK between 1983 and 2005 while also being cross-referenced to other territories.
Like the previous books there are full track details and composers for every release along with relevant or interesting facts and images of front and back covers and the discs themselves. Live releases also include recording locations, dates and times.
Those interested in CD singles, promotional releases and in-house promos will find a wealth of information about these particular releases.
An extensive song title index lists every version of every song allowing the reader to search for their favourite track and all the relevant information.
Priced at £50, the downloadable flipbook is available from www.elvisukbooks.co.uk and when you order you can request a complimentary copy of a CD, ELVIS UK presents Beyond The Legend. This 23-track CD includes songs which charted in the UK and were not included on the first ever Elvis CD, The Legend and included extensive liner notes. Among the tracks are, Mystery Train, Paralyzed, Young And Beautiful, Hard Headed Woman, I Feel So Bad and many more great tracks. Also included is a 10-minute interview from 1956.
A change of direction came in 2022 with the publication, in flipbook format only, of ELVIS UK - Cover Story - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's EP & LP Sleeves 1956-1977.
Within the 286-pages of this book the authors take a comprehensive look at the covers of the extended play and albums released between 1956 and 1977 in the UK. It makes the perfect companion to ELVIS UK, complementing and extending the information included in their first book.
Illustrated in full colour, it not only features the original front and back covers but also the photos used on the covers along with many alternate images. There are also loads of original adverts to study.
The wealth of information includes printing companies, sleeve notes, details of sleeve designs unique to the UK and a list of all the releases with details of who took the photos, the date and where it was taken.
Other sections cover inserts, record shops, sleeve manufacture and stickers. Everything you need to know about the sleeves, their design and production is covered here.
Once again it was welcomed by fans and music historians. Currently only available in flipbook format, the book retails at £15 and can be ordered from www.elvisukbooks.co.uk
It was only a year before the authors published their fifth book, at the time another digital flip book, in the series, ELVIS UK - Beyond RCA - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's British Non-RCA LPs 1974-1997. However, that is now available as a soft-backed print copy priced at £45 which includes post and packing in the UK.
As the title suggests this 377-page volume takes a detailed look at those Elvis albums released in the UK on labels other than RCA, including Arcade, K-Tel, Readers Digest, Charly and many others.
The book deals with the albums individually in a detailed way with illustrations of covers, labels, adverts and newspaper articles/reviews. The accompanying text provides extensive background information and previously unpublished information from the various record company files.
Each entry starts with a header detailing information about the material featured including the songs and/or spoken word content and composers.
Like previous books there is a detailed index of the songs with recording dates listed along with which album the songs appear on and details of outtakes where applicable. A nice addition is the index of the spoken word entries showing where and when they were recorded.
This bring us to the latest book in the series.
I always loved the extended play format and had several in my collection including Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, In A Tender Mood and Elvis Sails. The latest book brings back many memories of owning these releases.
ELVIS UK - Extended - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's British EP Releases 1957-2001 has just been made available and, unlike earlier titles, this book is only available in printed form.
Running to 502-pages it is the ultimate guide to the extended play albums released in the UK between 1957 and 2001 and complements the earlier books. The amount of work that has gone into this volume can be judged when you realise that the section covering extended players in the 1987 book ELVIS UK covered just 46-pages.
Every release is covered in great details and follows the style and layout of earlier books with a header giving information on the songs or spoken word included on the release, composer credits and release dates.
Front and back covers are shown along with the labels. There is an incredible amount of detail about the various label differences that occurred over the years when they were re-issued.
There is a wealth of other illustrative material with newspaper articles, reviews and record company ads.
A few months later a second set was issued with, among other originals, Peace In The Valley, A Touch Of Gold (three volumes), Flaming Star and Love In Las Vegas. Like the first set there was another disc of G. I. Blues Outtakes and Collectors Gold, with four 1961 studio outtakes.
Besides the detailed look at each release there are sections on the history of the format, their popularity and decline along with unpublished record company information, technical details about manufacture, tax code and pricing details, significant events of the period, demo extended plays and how to spot fakes.
This book contains contributions by Roger Semon, Bob Jones and Mike Walker whose work included the two EP Collections and which make for interesting reading.
As with previous books in the series this one includes a song index giving the reader all the information they would need about recording dates, where each song appeared and when it was recorded.
As with ELVIS UK - Beyond RCA - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's British Non-RCA LPs 1974-1997, this volume is only available from www.nowdigthis.co.uk priced at £58 including post and packing.
These books are the last words on their subjects and every Elvis fan should have them in their collection. They are a great and invaluable reference source for Elvis releases and I refer to them regularly when working on any Elvis articles for my blog.
I'm not sure what plans John and Gordon have for future projects but I am sure there will be more volumes and essential purchases for the Elvis collector... I can't wait.
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