Review by Trevor Cajiao - Elvis: The Man And His Music
Over 432 pages, this comprehensive story of Elvis‘ record releases in all the European territories, beginning in 1956, delivers all sorts of wonderful (and sometimes weird!) information, offering all kinds of facts, figures and knowledgeable insights. A quick glance at some of the chapter headings gives an example of the kind of thing included: “Pushing Presley Globally”; “The First ‘Red’ Elvis Record”; “RCA Victor's Unknown U.S. Export Pressings”; “European Picture Sleeve Singles”; “Sweden, Land Of The EP”; “Vinyl Comes To Norway”; “The Early Finnish Charts”; “Elvis On The Electra RCA Label”, and so forth.
The attention to detail is breathtaking, with authors Sigbjorn Stabursvik and Hans Otto Engwold really knowing their subject inside out. it's not just a book of lists and pictures; everything is linked by informative text that turns up all sorts of “new” bits and pieces - all interesting parts of the jigsaw, some of it anecdotal, all of it thanks to detailed research.
The earliest known Elvis release outside of the US was a Canadian 45 and 78 incarnation of ‘I Forgot To Remember To Forget’ / ‘Mystery Train’ in December 1955. In Europe, it would appear that we Brits were the first - in March '56 with ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ / ‘I Was The One’ - closely followed by the likes of France, Brazil, Sweden and Argentina. A plethora of releases engulfed Europe in the years ahead and this book tells the story of how they came about. Along the way, it explains things like how Sweden engineered most of the Presley product for Northern Europe, offers a guide to the various releases from all the European territories, and presents complete discographies for countries like Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
As well as illustrations of all picture sleeves and labels, there’s a wealth of press cuttings, trade ads, correspondence and all kinds of memorabilia. The first mention of Elvis Presley in the UK press? That was in the December 31st 1955 issue of Melody Maker; a small article describing the 20-year-old Hillbilly Cat as “the new rage” who “wears pink pants and a black coat, and owns a Cadillac painted pink with a black top“.
Away from the detailing of the actual records themselves, various side issues are introduced too. These include pieces on vintage record players, disc manufacturing itself and Elvis’ meeting with princesses from Denmark, Sweden and Norway on the set of G.I. Blues.
Dotted about are fascinating, little-known tales, such as the one about Egil Monn-Iversen, a jazz-loving advisor to A/S Nera (RCA licensees in Norway) who suggested they pass on ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ because “the soloist wasn't worth bragging about, the quartet singing with him not good enough, and the backing terrible...no, horrible!” Then there was the gold record presented to Elvis in Germany in 1959. This was for sales of ‘King Creole’, but unfortunately the copper-plated disc misspelled his surname as “Presly”. A corrected record was hastily produced and duly presented to Elvis, but the original misspelled version still exists in the collection of the engraver who made the error. There’s more to the story than that, but you’ll have to get the book...
Mistakes on commercial pressings are also covered, from the Swedish EP that listed three songs per side but only played two, to the Swedish 45 crediting ‘MT BABY LEFT ME’, and various others.
Elvis records pressed in Germany is a story within itself involving Teldec manufacturing RCA‘s initial releases, records produced for US Army troops stationed in Germany, EPs imported to Sweden etc. In total there were no fewer than 47 EPs pressed in Germany, including their own version of the Perfect For Parties and Wake Up To Music promos, as well as highly collectable titles such as Rockin‘ Presley, Good Rockin’ Tonight and O Sole Mio. Differences in later pressings are discussed too - the addition of German text, alternative sleeve designs etc.
Until recently, so little was known about Norwegian Elvis LPs that collectors were unaware as to how many actually existed. The answer is finally revealed here: there were three of them. However, it's no wonder they’ve been shrouded in mystery for so long when you look at the sales figures. His second LP, Elvis, only moved 175 copies, Elvis’ Golden Records shifted 240, while the King Creole soundtrack was the best-seller with 291 copies sold.
Correspondence from Nera, dated March 13 1958, states that “LPs account for only 3% of the Norwegian record market. Nera supplies between 1/3 and 1/4 of all 45 singles and EPs sold."
As for Sweden, only one Elvis record was pressed there during his lifetime (‘Its Now Or Never’ - as ‘O Sole Mio‘) in 1960. Instead they relied on importing discs from other countries. Immediately following Elvis’ death in 1977, however, Moody Blue became the first of thirteen albums pressed in the country - one of which (The Las Vegas Years) was originally one of the eight albums in the Elvis Aron Presley box-set.
Black RCA labels, blue RCA labels, tri-centres, solid centres, picture sleeves, company sleeves... everything a lover of vinyl needs to get totally immersed and lost in. You can dip into the book's content anywhere and find something of interest. Some of the minutiae may be a little too much for some, but it's all part of the precise nature of the work and the authors should be congratulated for leaving no stone unturned.
Scattered amongst all the record paraphernalia are several colour and black and white shots of Elvis (mainly from the early days) and the printing quality is quite superb.
As a bonus, the package comes with a vinyl EP originally planned for release in Sweden in 1956 but ultimately shelved. its story is also explained in detail.
There‘ll be stuff in How RCA Brought Elvis To Europe that even diehard fans won't have seen before. It’s a top quality work in every way and deserves to be in the collection of every serious Presley fan.
