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The Elvis Files, Vol. 1 1953-1956

By ElvisNews.com/ Lex, May 14, 2013 | Book

The first volume of Erik Lorentzen’s book series The Elvis Files was released as 5th. 

Design

The design is as beautiful as the earlier volumes. I can’t add anything more to what I said previously about this series. Trying to find other superlatives is a waste of time, you simply have to see it yourself.

Content

This volume is by far my favourite until now and I guess it will stay that way, because I am not particularly fond of the jumpsuit period and beside that we already have some outstanding books on that. This volume is a nice addition to Ernst Jorgensen’s The Boy From Tupelo. It covers about the same period and to me this is Elvis at his best… the raw energy jumps from most pictures.

Of course there are quite some known pictures, but thumbing through it, reading the numerous articles from that time is one of the better time killers.

Conclusion

I know this is a pretty short review, but I am really out of words for this quality series by now. If you know the previous volumes, you know what to expect. If you don't and can afford it (I realize it can get pretty costly)... you should meet them ;-).

alanfalk wrote on May 14, 2013
My favorite Elvis period is 53-77, and yes that includes the fantastic jumpsuits and the Moody Blue album. Soon I will have the first 5 books, and then I will look forward to the last two ( I really don't have a problem with Elvis being overweight, but I feel sorry for his bad health and mood swings. I'll bet that he looked better in 76 than most of us who write on this site does today, and I never had a problem either with that he was not perfect, as many of the people who criticize him all the time seems to have ).
benny scott wrote on May 14, 2013
Of course he wasn't perfect, none of us is ! We are humans and humans make mistakes , but to me he will always be the one and only as an artist, singer and great great human being. Always El.
Natha wrote on May 15, 2013
I agree with Benny. I always wonder why some people focus on other things than his music. It's the music that counts. Listen to his music and clean up your own backyard. In my life I witnessed that there is one typical behavior. When a man is trying to do good, others tend to find fault and keep on bashing the person with that. Maybe because one feels uneasy by that persons effort. While at the same time if a person who doesn't really make that effort is doing something 'wrong' nobody really cares or talks about. Why should one, as it is not out of the ordinary. I think that holds for ELVIS too. As a star brighter than other stars one seems to tend to trying to diminish that star by focussing on other things than that what makes him that star. About the book: I also think that this one is the most interesting volume of the series. I don't have time to kill, but if I would have I would happily glance through this volume.
benny scott wrote on May 15, 2013
Yep Natha, to me too this is the most important volume of the series. That doesn't mean I don't like the other volumes. Just like alanfalk I like our man's whole career, but the fifties must have been fabulous for fans like Dgirl, Oldscudder,Steve V and many others, lucky devils living in the USA and being so much closer to whitness the revolution in music Elvis brought to the world in those days.(I'm happy for them they had the joy and excitement of it !) At that time here in Europe we even didn't know about the Sun label at all. How I wish I had been there at the time ! Always El.