Customer Reviews

The Essential Elvis: The Life and Legacy of the King as Revealed Through 112 of His Most Significant Songs

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"The Essential Elvis" is a thoughtful exploration of the King's music from 1954 until his death in 1977. It's an important and much-needed work that concentrates solely on Presley's artistry. Authors Samuel Roy and Tom Aspell break free from the ill-informed mythology of most Elvis publications by re-examining Presley's work in provocative, exciting ways. You may not agree with all of the writers' criticisms, but it encourages you to track down the 112 Elvis recordings listed in their book.

This excellent book is about what was most important to Elvis and his fans: his songs and music. One of the most significant things the authors said about Elvis is the following words: «The first and best thing that can be done for Elvis Presley is to lessen the emphasis that has been placed on his later years and focus on the talent and genius that define the King.....one of the reasons for his demise was because he cared and felt too much...it got to the point that being Elvis Presley was one of the hardest jobs in the world». I agree completely with the authors and, as a fan, my only wish is that this book will make the people, who don't respect Elvis, see the light...

There have been 4,567 books written about Elvis, mostly by people who have never known him, but whose third cousin's sixth-removed niece might have once dated Elvis' former schoolteacher's third wife. Then there's "The Essential Elvis." What makes this book so different is that Samuel Roy and Tom Aspell trace Elvis' life and legacy through personal history as well as 112 of his most significant songs. The book doesn't proclaim to be an expose or definitive history (it's neither); what it is is a clear portrait of the Man Who Would Be King, told through behind-the-scenes knowledge that uncovers and pieces
together the story of a man, his times, talent and cultural influences. And the 20 photographs -- many of which have never been published --- add a nice touch.

Samuel Roy wrote a pretty good book on Elvis in 1985 called Prophet Of Power. I highly recomend it over this. The judgment calls musically by the authors are too snarky, kind of like they are looking down on you if you disagre with them. The personal info on Elvis' decline has some very lurid gosip not writen as fact in any credible book. Why some of these things are even in there are beyond me as I thought this book was going to be about the music. Not only do they repeat these facts but sit in judgment on what Elvis did. It's demeaning to him. Anyhow the pictures were great, but I know personally that the man who supplied many of them felt the same way as I do about the book. Roy makes it clear in his other book that he wants Elvis to have his deserved place in history. To be fair his love for some of the music is made clear in this book as well. Yet why bring up the kind of uglyness only Goldman and Nash wrote about when trying to defend Elvis' place in history. A bunch of pyscho babble weighs down what could have been a good book.

This book sticks to the music, and what music it was, or should I say, what music *made* - sometimes from situational film material. But this work sticks mainly to A-list, non-soundtrack recordings.
Whether he stuck closely to the demo, or reference disc, or completely reworked the tune, he made it at least interesting and listenable, and those that didn't make that cut (like "Hey Jude") are given a fair chance.
Since '68, I still can't believe what he did with "You'll Never Walk Alone"; discovering years later it was he on piano working out a "head" arrangement on the spot, made it seem even greater. This book will remind you why you liked a particular track in the first place or why you should have. At age 17, I didn't appreciate the depth of this performance, which in this book is described with masterful strokes. Another revelation for me was in reading about "Crying In The Chapel". I've always enjoyed Elvis' record of it, but thought he could have put more *voice* on it. Roy and Aspell evaluated the number as a whole and brought out nuances which have caused me to realize that it, too, is A-list.
I would have been happy to find reviews of movie fluff entries like "Sand Castles" or "Shake That Tambourine", but let's hope we get an "alternate take edition" of this fine manuscript.

THIS NOVEL SHOULD GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOKS TO EVER BE WRITTEN ABOUT THE KING OF ROCK -N- ROLL . IT'S REALLY GOOD . IT TELL'S THE STORY BEHIND 112 OF THE KINGS GREATEST AND NOT SO GREATEST SONGS .IT FOCUSES ON WHAT REALLY IS GREAT ABOUT ELVIS' LIFE HIS MUSIC !

It sounds like a good angle to look at Elvis' music. I'm looking forward to its publication! And I plan on picking up a copy as soon as possible!