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.

A WHOLE LOTTA SHAKY

Shakin' Stevens was the UK's biggest selling singles artist of the 1980s with over thirty Top 40 hit singles, four chart-toppers, a string of successful albums and sell out tours across the UK and Europe. However, it wasn't an overnight success.

His recording and performing career had started in the late-1960's when, having changed his name from Michael Barratt, he fronted the rock 'n' roll band Shakin' Stevens and The Sunsets. They gained a recording contract with Parlophone Records and released the album A Legend, produced by Dave Edmunds who would go on to play a part in his later career. They toured night after night across the length and breadth of the UK but didn't achieve the success they deserved. However, in Europe they had several hits and were also a regular on the concert circuit.

In 1977, following the death of Elvis Presley, Jack Good was holding auditions for his West End musical Elvis! He had seen the Sunsets at a gig in London and asked Shaky, as he was often called at this time, to audition for the middle-period Elvis. Good was so impressed and offered him the role. A cast album was released featuring many of his songs from the show including King Creole, Dixieland Rock, Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do and Tupelo Mississipi Flash. The show ran for six-months during which time The Sunsets were expecting him to return but his career was set to take him on a more successful path.

Following the closing of the musical, Jack Good revived the Oh Boy! show and Shaky was a regular on this and the follow-up show, Let's Rock, which ran for thirty weeks and was broadcast here and in the USA.

During this period, pre- and post- Elvis!, Shaky had the chance to record material with Charlie Gillett and Mike Hurst for Track Records. Several singles were released including Somebody Touched Me, Never, Spooky and Treat Her Right. He then teamed up with two new producers, Mike Shaw and John Fenton and recorded an album, Shakin' Stevens, released in 1978 and which featured sax player Alan Holmes from the legendary band Sounds Incorporated. Unfortunately Track Records closed down soon after but his future was assured and he was signed up by Epic Records, who released some of his recently recorded material. Several unreleased recordings and rarities from this period found a release on an album titled The Track Years, released in 1983 after he had hit the big time.

This led to his first chart success with a re-worked cover of Hot Dog, a song originally recorded by Buck Owens and a career move that would make him one of the most successful recording and touring artists of the 1980s. He signed a management deal with Freya Miller in 1979 and she suggested he end his association with The Sunsets and pursue a solo career.

Hot Dog, and the follow-up Hey Mae, were successful and a sign of what was to come but his career really took off with the release of the single Marie, Marie and in concert he would often credit the song as... "the one which kicked it all off for me."

His first number one was another re-working of an old song, This Ole House, originally recorded by Rosemary Clooney. He followed with a run of top ten hits including three more that reached the top spot... Green Door, Oh Julie and Merry Christmas Everyone. 

He was a regular on TV shows including Top Of The Pops, toured every year to sell-out audiences across the UK and Europe and released hit after hit including You Drive Me Crazy, Give Me Your Heart Tonight, A Love Worth Waiting For, Teardrops, Breaking Up My Heart, Cry Just A Little Bit and A Letter To You. It wasn't only the singles that charted and he placed several albums on the chart including Marie Marie (later renamed This Ole House to capitalise on the success of the single), Shaky (which reached number one), The Bob Won't Stop, Lipstick, Powder And Paint and A Whole Lotta Shaky.

By the 1990s success started to slip away and although still a big draw on the concert circuit his records failed to make much impression on the charts. His highest placed single from this period was another festive offering, The Best Christmas Of Them All which only just scraped into the top twenty. He only released two albums in the nineties, There Are Two Kinds Of Music... Rock 'N' Roll and Merry Christmas Everyone.

It would be sixteen years before he would release a new album, Now Listen, and a further nine years before his most recent studio album, the excellent Echoes Of Our Times, an album based on research into his family history and a complete departure from his rock and roll days. It became his first chart album to reach the top thirty in over three decades.

With the advent of CD, and despite all the hit singles and albums, Shaky's back-catalogue was largely ignored by the record companies and it was several years before his material started appearing on CD and even then it was mainly hit compilations like The Epic Years, The Hits Of..., The Collection and Red Hot And Rockin'. This changed in 2009 with the release of the 10-CD and digital download, The Epic Masters which included all his albums, except Merry Christmas Everyone. I could never understand why it was omitted but maybe the fact it had already been released on CD was the reason it wasn't included. Each CD featured bonus tracks and there was a CD of 12" extended mixes. However, this still left plenty of material unavailable on CD.

This brings us to the release of what is without doubt the definitive Shakin' Stevens release... Fire In The Blood.

The set contains 19 CDs with 266 tracks, many making their first appearance on CD and many more rare and unreleased tracks.

The set includes all his studio albums from Shakin' Stevens to Echoes Of Our Times. What I really like about this new release is the fact that the albums are presented as the originals with no bonus tracks. 

With the exception of some 'live' b-sides, Shaky never released a live album and this new set gives us two. First up is a recording from The Paris Theatre in London first broadcast on Radio in 1980. Highlights from this show include Don't Bug Me Baby, Don't Knock Upon My Door, A Big Hunk Of Love and Marie, Marie. I actually recorded this off the radio at the time and still have the cassette.  The second is a recording from his 2019 tour of Europe and the UK which features many of the tracks from his current album, Echoes Of Our Times, along with several earlier hits. Both are welcome additions to this impressive collection.

But wait, there is more. Four discs of live, rare and previously unreleased tracks, most of which are making their first appearance on CD. Many of his singles were never included on albums and these are also present on these discs. Along with the extended versions, remixes, acoustic versions, b-sides and live tracks are two previously unreleased songs, I Need You Now and Wild At Heart.

The music is matched by the deluxe packaging. Presented in a bound 12" x 12" illustrated hard-backed book with an essay by Paul Sexton it also includes a reproduction promo poster, the Oh Julie sheet music, a 36-page tour brochure, art prints and an autograph book signed by Shakin' Stevens. An impressive package which, with a retail price of under £100, has to be one of the best 'value-for-money' career retrospectives I've ever seen.

I have followed Shaky's career since 1977 when I first saw him in the Elvis! musical and went twice more before its run ended. I bought every single and album and have seen him in concert more than a dozen times. I was also fortunate to have worked for him on a number of archive related projects covering his recording and touring career. This new set is a reminder of those great singles, albums and concerts and is worth every penny. Pick up a copy while you can as I am sure it will soon become a collectors item and end up being offered for crazy prices on various online sites.

There is 'A Whole Lotta Shaky' for your money.