Two new magazines arrived this week. First and best of them all: Elvis - The Man And His Music. This 91st issue has a very nice article on the original recordings of some of Elvis' 70's recordings. Furthermore there is an interview with Johnny Christopher, writer of a couple of songs Elvis recorded, a closer look on Hawaii '61. Of course the regulars are present too: news, letters and reviews, among those a huge review (and a very good one) of Boxcar's The Final Curtain.
The second magazine this week is #32 of ElvisMatters. As always the presentation is beautiful. The magazine foucsses on the news and this issue has extra room for the recent deaths of Myrna Smith and Sherill Nielsen. Furthermore there is a Dutch translation of the EIN review of The Complete Masters set (the translation ends with proper credit to EIN).
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I received both magazines 2 days ago. TM&HM : real good ! Probably one of the best, maybe the best ( I can't be member of all the others, so I can't judge.) As for Elvis Matters : "The" magazine for Belgian and Dutch fans .The language is Dutch, so not everybody is able to understand the content, but the lay-out, pictures, quality of the glossy paper and very interesting articles makes this magazine a real top-notch product. Great ! Always El.
Elvis the Man and his Music is still the best Elvis magazine out there. There are other great Elvis magazines out there, but ETMAHM is still the best. Intelligently written, with interesting topics, and that goed for every issue. Never an bad one. I still remember when they first began to advertise (in sister magazine "Now Dig This") - the ad said don't expect to find articles like "why I named my hamster Elvis". Those type of articles were common before ETMAHM, but no longer. This magazine raised the bar.
My favourite is 'Essential Elvis'. Concentrates on 'all' eras of Elvis' career and does not neglect Elvis The Icon or what effect Elvis is having on today's world. It also has exclusive 'work in progress' news from Sony and excellent interviews with Elvis related contacts. 'Essential Elvis' is a progressive publication and does not just dwell on the past.
Mr. Q hijacks another post. Love your comment about "exclusive 'work in progress' news from Sony". When was the last time Sony issued an Elvis release of any real worth apart from Love Songs, Greatest Hits and the like? Their last excuse for a release was 'Viva Elvis' and we all know what a turkey that was. Some even claimed its remixes to be better than the originals, but such folk are just an embarrassment and would sell the whole of Elvis's legacy for peanuts in order for him to be back in the charts. I'm surprised 'Essential Elvis' is still going after they were stopped from being official FTD dealers. Must've been quite a blow to such a "progressive publication" (a phrase I'd love you to explain, Mr. Q.)
I don't think Brian has hijacked anything, he is merely adding to the conversation, something some always fail to achieve with their constant negativity. I can understand exactly what Brian means when he compares "Elvis The Man and His Music" to "Essential Elvis". The former magazine is very much a historic publication, it focuses on Elvis' lifetime career wheras the latter also covers new happenings such as Elvis Week, etc. This gives the two magazines a very different feel and why I like them both equally for different reasons. Essential Elvis still sell FTD product, they are all available on their website. I buy the majority of mine from them. Brian has no need to explain himself, one only has to read his posting to understand exactly what he is saying.
Essential Elvis sell FTDs on their website at inflated prices, that's because they can't get them direct from FTD anymore. They were cut off a while back for getting caught selling stuff they weren't supposed to be selling. Now they have to get their FTDs through a third party and hike up the price accordingly. That's why they never have new releases in stock for a while after the discs first come out. This isn't meant as a negative post, I'm just stating the facts as they are. Sometimes the truth is looked upon by some as negativity. That's life.
