Early Elvis: The Sun Years

A little more than a week ago we reviewed the second part of Bill E. Burk’s Early Elvis Trilogy. Now it is time for the final, “The Sun Years”.

Design

About the design we can’t say more than 9 days ago: The book has a drawing by the well known artist Betty Harper on the front. The page lay-out is very clear, and a good paragraph division makes it very easy to read. The pictures are collected in two sections of glossy paper and are printed well, especially regarding the age of the originals.

Content

Unlike “The Tupelo Years” and “The Humes Years” this book is more than a chapter wise collection of interviews. Main reason is the enormous amount of input Burk got. The result is impressive. Mainly short recollections of people who were there at the early shows as audience, promoter or whatever, written together in Bill’s known light style. It is a very easy read, even for those that do not have English as native language. The book is basically chronological, but sometimes if there is an obvious need for it, Burk jumps back and forth. Next to the shorter recollections of mostly “unknown” people there are a couple of larger contributions by people that were really involved (e.g. Sam Phillips D.J. Fontana). Throughout the book you’ll learn some interesting facts, like Elvis introducing a later famous couple to each other, Elvis having a musician (not Scotty or Bill!) in his car during the famous car fire in 1955, and more…

Conclusion

Together with Guralnick’s Last Train and “Elvis In Texas” this book is must for those that want to know the ins and outs of the early career of The King Of Rock’n’Roll.