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Counting Down Elvis - His 100 Finest Songs

By ElvisNews.com/ Lex, July 28, 2019 | Book

Counting Down is a series on artists and composers listing their 100 best or finest songs. Mark Duffett, a reader in media and cultural studies at Chester University compiled his list of Elvis songs.

Design 

There is not much of a design, the only picture is on the front. The text lay-out is pleasant. It is clear that the author is an academic. The used sources are all clearly mentioned through (foot)notes, there is a bibliography and an extended index.

Content

As Mark Duffett states himself, lists like this are arbitrary. With a few exceptions I can understand the choices made (but why does one leave ‘I Just Can’t Help Believin’’out?). Sometimes the sources (albums) of the songs are a bit weird (Viva Las Vegas) and renaming the EP Elvis Sails into Elvis Sales was hilarious, but that was the only real error I found so far (halfway through the list).

In general the book is a very informative read, even for long time fans like me. Sometimes previous versions are highlighted, on other songs there is background information on the authors. Most of the time the author manages to convince the reader why a song made the list.

Conclusion

Entertaining and informative, worth the time. It is good to have another book on what really matters: the songs.

 

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