Customer Reviews

Elvis Presley: A Life in Music : The Complete Recording Sessions

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At last a book NOT about Elvis the man, the myth, the legend...but about his MUSIC! Finally a decent describtion of his recording sessions. A must have for every Elvisfan and musiclover!

Ernst Jorgensen, together with Roger Semon, THE expert on Elvis' music, compilating all the Elvis CD's beeing released since the late 1980s/early '90s, has written THE book about Elvis' recordingsessions.

With it's hard cover, black and white picture of the '50s Elvis and over 150 pictures inside, this book really is a beauty to look at. Chronologically, ALL recordingsessions are described, from "My Happiness" in 1953 to "Moody Blue" in 1977. All songs officially recorded by Elvis can be found in this book and from each song is mentioned:

* when it was recorded;

* where it was recorded (which studio, place):

* who wrote the song;

* which musicians are playing;

* all matrixnumbers;

* the kind of soundcarrier, the song was first released at.

Further, the book contains a complete list of all legal Elvis LPs and CDs updated to 1997, including the chartposition the song(s) reached. Quite a lot pictures in this book have never before been published and all together, this is one of THE best books ever written about Elvis' musical legacy!

This is a must have book for any Elvis fan. Unfortunately, the paperback version is a poor cousin of the original hardback. First, the paperback was produced from the same proofs as the hardback, but on smaller stock. As a result many pictures - and a few captions - have been cropped; this is quite irritating. In addition, the binding is awful. After only a few weeks perusing it, the pages in my copy began to fall out. The publishers should not have allowed this to happen to such a superb reference work.

I hate to harp on the production values, because I do love what Jorgensen has done here, but advise you to order the hardback instead.

This book is for people who really care about the making of Elvis's music. The authors go into detail about the origin of songs and how they were recorded. I particulary enjoyed the musician credits - finding out who played what on the records. Even Elvis played guitar and/or piano on selected numbers. Also, because of this book and and Mr. Jorgensen's previous edition I learned that singers and musicians go through multiple takes to complete a recording. Marvelous writing!

LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS and CARELESS LOVE by Peter Guralnick are the books about Elvis Presley's personal life and they really are the reference concerning the man.
A LIFE IN MUSIC is, for the fans and anybody interested in the music business, the reference concerning Elvis Presley's music.
It's all about his records, Colonel Parker's strategies, his attitude in the recording studio, etc...
There is NO OTHER BOOK as good as this one concerning Elvis's music. Everything is here, year by year: record sales, chart positions, recording sessions dates and locations. And it's only a part of it.
Ernst Joegersen, the author, is the man who resurrected Elvis's catalogue at BMG/RCA (now SONY) from the early 90's until now. He has gathered information concerning all this since 1973 and now he is the main authority about Elvis's music.
If you like Elvis and his music, this book is an amazing source of information.

If you only have the slightest interest in the recording career of Elvis Presley, are a fan/collector or student of music history, this book will be a great reference guide for you.

For over a decade the author has been responsible for completely overhauling Elvis' catalog resulting in state-of-the-art box sets reinstating the musical legacy of Elvis Presley in an ever growing music market to the place where it belongs.

The continuing interest in his music and life simply remains a phenomenon, even the more astonishing twenty years after his passing.

The majority of books about Elvis have focused on his life and have offered little or nothing to understand the music behind the man. This book focuses on the one thing that defined Elvis Presley and remained a center piece throughout his life: making music.

Putting Elvis' music into historical perspective - after all those years - was certainly a challenging task to begin with, and the author has succeeded in providing a critical view and a thorough re-evaluation of his music and its place in music history today.

The material is carefully conceived and structured around his recording sessions starting with the earliest SUN acetates in 1953 (which were only discovered and made available a few years ago) and ending with the painful recordings to the June 1977 CBS TV-Special, which probably would have never aired, hadn't Elvis passed away untimely on August 16th, 1977.

For each recording session the stage is set in terms of background, song selection process and marketing decisions by his company as well as insights into Elvis' likes or dislikes of the material. All songs are listed including matrix numbers, take numbers, publishers and reference CD's.

The accompanying text to each session (which is really the heart of the book) walks us through the songs in chronological order and offers a fascinating insight to the mood, circumstances and energy of each recording session. Even references to comments made by Elvis himself during the! sessions are given.

A separate appendix provides an overview of the 200 or so officially released alternate outtakes from these sessions; material, for which Elvis collectors worldwide seem to have an insatiable craving for.

Ive never seen a recording guide like this one.It has all the recording info,serial numbers,recording dates and who played/produced all the sessions.Its a fantastic book with intresting insights from the author as well.If youre seeking the recording history on Elvis,this is the book for you!Check it out.

Ernst Jorgensen has pulled of a remarkable feat. He's managed to turn an Elvis Presley reference book into something which will appeal not only to Elvis fans, but to everybody who ever caught a few bars of Jailhouse Rock on the radio. Not only that, he has written a book that will leave the reader depserate to hear the music he is describing.

Unlike the similar tomes by Joe Tunzi (Recording Sessions 1 & 2) this book does not claim to be the last word in trivia. If all you care about is knowing when and where a particlar song was recorded, or what it's matrix number was, then stick to Joe. If however you want an appreciation of the music, and want to know the circumstances surrounding it's recording, the text which accompanies the (still very detailed) session information will have you enthralled.

If you are a fan, you will want this book, and having bought it you will never regret it. If you are not a fan, you NEED this book. And having read it, you will become a fan.

This is an amazing and exhaustive look at Elvis' recording sessions. Lots of great detail and anecdotes as well as references to in-studio comments by Elvis, producers and musicians. Ernst Jorgensen is obviously a fan, but he has the ability to look at the music objectively. By the way, this book is not titled "Elvis Fashion: A Life in Music" as Amazon lists it. It's "Elvis Presley: A Life in Music." Strange typo, great book. Buy it.

This book started off so good that I couldn't put it down. The author leaves no stone unturned in the 50's. Everything you wanted to know about how Elvis, the colonel, and RCA went about their business is there in black and white. You find out how and why every recording was recorded. You'll feel like you were there in the studio with Elvis and also behind the desk in the colonel's office.

But come 1961 or '62 this book starts slipping big time, especially pursuant to Elvis' movie recordings. Whereas for the 50's the author wrote paragraph after paragraph detailing each recording session, for certain 60's sessions all he did was give the statistics (song, publisher, catalog number, etc.) Near the end of the 60's and on into the 70's the author gets back on track and gives us plenty of background. But I can't help but be disappointed with approximately 1962-1966.

I loved this book. In England we have a term for the obsessive fan with an unhealthy fascination for trivia. Taking note of the favored coat of the trainspotter (chap at rail station writing down train serial numbers), we call 'em "anorak"s. This is book for "anorak"s. Guess that makes me one.

The text is really well written. Jorgensen is the world's premier expert on Presley's music, and an excellent archivist for his record label too. However, all the factual information contained here (dates, take numbers etc...) is easily found here on the internet. Thus very nearly making this book superfluous.