Book Description

Elvis Presley never did get the chance to write that book, but accumulated in these pages are the words and phrases he may have chosen if he had. Elvis -- Word for Word leaves behind all the hearsay and rumors to get down to the essence of the man.

What you'll read are Elvis's words and only Elvis's words. From his first minor radio appearance to the last letter he wrote before his death, Elvis -- Word for Word includes only what can verifiably be traced back to Presley. You'll see the actual letters he wrote to fans, lovers, and friends as well as photographs, many rare or unknown, that chronicle his meteoric rise to fame. You'll experience the voice of Elvis at the beginning of his career -- youthful and naïve -- and you'll hear this voice grow and mature, becoming tired and jaded as the years progress. This is the story of Elvis that has never been told. A story in his own words, word for word. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Elvis-Word for Word - glad The King could sing!
What he said, exactly how he said it... From his first minor radio appearance to the last letter he wrote before his death. Verifiable Elvis Presley telegrams, letters to fans, his lovers & friends as well quips with a slew of rare & unknown photographs.

Elvis & Jerry became friends in 1967, when they both lived in Memphis, Tennessee. Jerry was a deejay then & played The King's disks the most. For more than two decades, when someone calls Graceland asking about Elvis collectibles, they are routinely referred to Jerry Osborne & his series of Presley reference books.

Elvis was not noted for his conversational skills however, I have a feeling we didn't know how funny he actually could be. He cracked some deadpan, off-the-cuff quips that you can just hear him drawl

This has to be for dyed-in-the-wool devotees who want to know every "Thank you" & "Oh Yeah!" & "Yes sir" The King ever uttered or his simple, polite Thank You Notes, congratulatory telegrams & holiday greetings. Sometimes I get the distinct impression that The King just didn't understand what all the fuss was about nor why anyone would want to ask some of the innane questions they did. When he was asked about music, however, he waxed positively poetic!

In his letters, Elvis did quite well, even has a lilt that comes through & it's surprising to see just who he wrote to. There is also a fascinating photographic history of this Legend's public life - a who's who of show business & movies!

If you know any Elvis fans & want to give them the ultimate present, then Jerry Osborne's Elvis-Word for Word is as good as it gets! For my full review do check out [my website].

Straight from the horse's mouth!
The thing about Elvis is he never wrote an autobiography, so for too long "the real" Elvis had to be revealed by "those who knew him."

Finally here's a comprehensive collection of things Elvis really said.

In this book are transcriptions of press conferences, concerts, and letters.

The biggest thrill for me was the publication of the letters Elvis wrote Anita Wood while he was in the Army. As far as I know, she hasn't allowed them to be shown previously (in the P.S.'s Elvis tells her to never show them to anyone).

Remake of other books
I bought Elvis Word for Word in hopes of getting a somewhat personal insight into Mr. Presley's ambitions and desires in life other than performing. I felt this book made him seem somewhat out of it during his last few years of performing. The book made him seemed like a lonely, angry soul looking for a way out.

Through Elvis' eyes
Through the years, lots of books have been published with Elvisquotations such as: "And then he said/He said something like...etc. Never before has there been a book, that wrote exactly what Elvis said about what. No interpretations from writers, friends, family, producers or any other person except than those of Elvis himself.

The book chronologically writes down Elvis' words, from the interviews in Shreveport Louisiana (October 1954), several phonecall conversations while he was in the army (1958-1960), a very long speech from Las Vegas in 1974 (as released at the bootleg CD "Desert Storm") and letters.

About 130 black and white pictures can be found inside this book, including a picture of the last letter Elvis wrote (5 August 1977) and copies of several telegrams. In a way, this book can be considered as Elvis' autobiography, because the main focus of this book is what Elvis thought, said and wrote (and you can trace all the words Elvis said yourself, because every time the source is mentioned---mostly tapes, LPs, CDs, handwritten letters etc.)

Essential for your Elvis library!
One of the best insights into the thoughts of Elvis. Painstakingly researched and thoroughly documented. A true treasure! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Completely objective, serious work.
[Referring to the 1982 Midas edition]: It has been almost 20 years since I purchased this book and in that time have found no book on the subject to be as informative - the author uses a "music appreciation" approach and provides an invaluable work which surpasses all other similiar works I've found. The individual tracks are examined for their musical value and originality, whereas other writing either recounts the tracks' actual session history or gives a highly subjective view. In a few cases here the author does gloss over some very worthy songs and albums (i.e. "You'll Never Walk Alone" single and the 1974 live Memphis album, etc.), but the overall presentation is excellent. I am not aware of any "updated" edition, but considering that RCA has, since the mid-80s, basically opened the floodgates for Presley previously unissued material, I hope that such a book would be forthcoming from this writer. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must read for anyone interested the Elvis phenomenon.
Popular Culture writer George Plasketes lays tracks through "the mystery terrain" of American culture since Elvis began his second career in 1977. This book is a must read for Elfans and Presley-phobes, as well as those with earnest interest or casual curiosity. Whether you think Elvis is king or kitsch or you are just wondering why E.P. has dominated the cultural landscape of the late 20th Century this book is for you. Cultural scholars and students will find the comprehensive bibliography, discography and filmography/videography priceless. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

bootleg elvis
i bought this book a few years ago to compare the
recorded amounts of unauthorized material
and knowing if i had ever kept up with
the out put, from the time i was a teenager.

the book was historical, informative and shows
what exactly what the fans, collectors want.

it's a must have book for a serious collector

Excellent resource, needs to be updated
I have had this book for many years, and as of the publication date it was the most complete source available for the illegal recordings of Elvis Presley. Cotten and Dewitt must have heard every single Elvis bootleg record ever issued, and the authors provide information of when the recordings were made, the packaging, and highlights of each record. The book is a consumer guide of sorts directing collectors to the best bootlegs available.

Of course, the main problem with this book is that it is close to twenty years old. I would like to see an updated book, which would include CD issues. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a full-color Elvis Presley Photo Book of pictures taken by Keith Alverson between 1972 and 1977. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A seu gosto
Gostaria que escrevessem em portugues ou espanhol meu ingles é pessimo. eu quero comprar este livro como devo fazer?

manoel

Picture pleasure
Well, what can we say about this one? It's not often that we are in need for words, but this time the cooperation between Keith Alverson, Ed Bonja and Elvis Unlimited made us looking for the right expressions. It is amazing how much this production has improved compared to the first book by Elvis Unlimited, "Elvis Shot by Bonja". Besides the much better quality in print and the hardcover it is also edited very well. Where you stumbled over the misprints in the first one, this one is almost free of them. 

As said, the printing itself is much better, although there are some pictures of lesser quality, probably due to the source. Still the quality never gets annoying and often it is even amazing, especially the Huntsville pictures are outstanding. Also the choice for printing a lot of the pictures horizontally was a very good one, indeed those pictures deserve it!

The book covers a lot of Elvis' concerts from July 3, 1973 to June 26, 1977. As always it is painful to see the decline but merely it contains great photos with an amazingly good looking Elvis on most of them. As said before the Huntsville photos from 1975 are amazing, and surely they deserve the major place they have in the book. A lot of the pictures are known, but having Keith's work collected like this and in this quality is great. Obviously Keith Alverson likes the jumpsuits more than the two piece suits, but we were delighted to have a fair amount of pictures of those latter.

As Keith already told us in our interview with him the book doesn't contain much text. An introduction of one and a half page, and some remarks on particular concerts is all you'll find, besides the dating of the pictures. Talking about those dates, our very own "date freak", the editor for our Picture of the Week, found a discrepancy in a comparison with Skar's "The Concert Years". Where on a picture dated May 3, 1975 Elvis wears a blue outfit with blue/gold ornaments, Skar tells us he wore a blue suit with red ornaments (2.30 pm), or a white suit with blue ornaments (8.30 pm). Gladly Keith was able to clarify this for us. He is sure that his picture is dated well, and only regrets they forgot to print the time of the show (8.30) with the picture. Keith also stated that during the afternoon show Elvis wore the navy blue with red ornaments, he took a picture of Elvis arriving in the parking lot that day.

We can not come up with much more than a deeply meant "Go and buy it! You won't be sorry". ... Read more

Reviews (1)

At last, an objective view of Presley's movies.
McLafferty is clearly a film scholar and his frequent introduction of background material on Directors, Producers, Writers and Actors is enlightening to those who previously thought that the personnel working on Elvis movies came out of a factory and returned there after the two weeks it took to make the picture.

The author tries to lead the reader into an acceptance of the '60s Presley movies as being part of a genre which simply requires the audience to be entertained, not challenged. He also asks us to put them in the context of the star's career progression and maturity.

The notable Presley movies (there are a half-dozen) are highlighted and the differing and diverse reasons for the credibility of these few is proposed by the author.

A serious book on what is not normally a serious subject. It addresses important questions on the premier entertainer of the 20th Century's seeming 'lapse' during the movie period in a way that other biographers merely skim. This book should be kept available until a better one comes along. As of yet, none has. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Orleans Magazine, published by MC Media, LLC on October 1, 1994. The length of the article is 8087 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Elvis Presley impersonators began performing in Louisiana a year after his death, and their performances continue to be popular. Elvis's early musical career included a stint at the Louisiana Hayride, where he met Colonel Tom Parker, who became his manager.

Citation Details
Title: Elvis in Louisiana: then and now. (Elvis Presley)
Author: Jason Berry
Publication: New Orleans Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 1994
Publisher: MC Media, LLC
Volume: v29Issue: n1Page: p39(2)

Article Type: Biography

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

In life, Elvis Presley went from childhood poverty to stardom, from world fame to dissipation and early death. As Greil Marcus shows in this remarkable book, Presley's journey after death takes him even further, pushing him beyond his own frontiers to merge with the American public consciousness-and the American subconscious. As he listens in on the public conversation that recreates Elvis after death, Marcus tracks the path of Presley's resurrection. He grafts together scattered fragments of the eclectic dialogue-snatches of movies and music, books and newspapers, photographs, posters, cartoons-and amazes us with not only what America has been saying as it raises its late king, but also what this strange obsession with a dead Elvis can tell us about America itself. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

absolutely impenetrable
I have a Ph.D., and most of the time I had no idea what Marcus was talking about.Not because of the academic jargon -- there is little or none.Because he kept dropping in names of obscure punk rock groups or fan mags or ezines and expecting me to know all about them, he kept starting discussions in the middle, and most infuriating, he assumed that readers positively worshipped Elvis, so if he alluded to what happened in Tupelo in 1957, or Elvis' relationship with his cousins, we would nod and say "oh, sure."Casual readers, beware -- in order to understand this book, you need to have read at least a dozen biographies of Elvis, watch all of his movies a dozen times, and have every word of every song he ever wrote memorized.I conclude that it's not a cultural obsession at all, to anyone but the author.

The best cultural criticism on Elvis ever. End of story
Greil Marcus's collection of randow essays and pieces is still more cohesive, fascinating, intelligent and amazing that most books written onElvis Presley. Quite simply, Marcus is one of the best writers operatingtoday. When writing about EP, most cultural critics don't have the musicalbackground, and most biographers (save Peter Guralnick & Dave Marsh)don't have the philosophical insight. Marcus does and he isn't afraid toflex his intellectual muscle and still be funny and accessible. If youcould only own 2 books on Elvis Presley, it would be this and PeterGuralnick's "Last Train To Memphis." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Nothing new, but still exciting!
The reason why I didn't rate this book higher than 3 stars, is the fact, that most Elvis fans already have seen the pictures that this book features. Still, this book is a very, very nice photo-book, which contains glossy photo's of Elvis devided into three parts: the '50's, '60's and '70's. Most pictures are included in the '60's part, which is remarkable, because most books include pictures of the '70's. The photo's are from a high quality and there is a describtion with each picture. I would like to recommend this book to every person who has just started to buy books about Elvis Presley. For the die-hard Elvis fan it isn't essential. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Paul Dowling claims to have the largest Elvis Presley record collection in the world, and he puts a good portion of it to use in this intriguing collection illustrating 226 album covers. The text is scant--the history in the album cover photos is the point here. These show the King's progress from lean, lip-curling rock idol to plumper, bouffant, Las Vegas star. Dowling also includes different versions of the same cover prepared to suit the varying tastes of Elvis' worldwide audience. RCA airbrushed in minor changes to give the Mexican Elvis a slightly more Latin macho air. The book will inevitably become a feature of any decent collection of Elvis memorabilia. ... Read more