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Flashback (Book + CD)

May 29, 2004 | Book
The second book on the Follow That Dream label is again a cooperation between Sherif Hanna and Ernst Michael Jorgensen. Are these two well known names in the Elvis world a guarantee for a great release?

The book

This release is an “audiovisual documentary” as the authors put it. And that is probably the right description for this book and CD combination. The book shows Elvis transition from the Hillbilly Cat or Atomic Powered Singer to the true King of Rock and Roll who reigned the music scene before he gave it all up for Uncle Sam by leaving his kingdom for Europe.

Browsing a book dealing with the period 1955 – 1958 you automatically think of the Ger Rijff books on the fifties. Picture wise you can compare the books, presentation wise Ger Rijff’s books are a class of their own, but this comes close.

Ernst Jorgensen and Sherif Hanna collected a lot of original and new pictures and tried to share them “promptly” with the Elvis fans. This book contains some real beautiful gems, capturing the essence of Elvis and Rock and Roll in the fifties. No matter how long Elvis reigned as King of Rock and Roll, the fifties were his era. If his fate would have been the same as that of James Dean, his impact in these years would already be enough to make him a legend.

The images in this book clearly show that: from the Hayride pictures to his first Vegas appearances (with a great shot of Elvis and Scotty dueling on guitar) and from his taste of clothes, enjoying himself off stage while in Vegas or conquering Miami as seen through the lens of Alfred Wertheimer.

Many of the pictures are new or different shots of series we all know since BMG uses these pictures a lot. Shots from Miami were used for the “Close Up” box, a picture from the sessions at Radio Recorders graces the cover of the “Platinum” box and a shot from an RCA press series is used on the “Today, Tomorrow And Forever” box set. Thanks to this book you get a more complete view.

Most pictures in the book are black and white, but the few color ones really paint a different picture of images you know by heart. We didn’t realize that Elvis wore a green jacket on his second Sullivan appearance, but simply knew these as black and white from the TV show.

The highlights? Well there are too many, but the Tupelo state fair shots remain favorite because they capture both Elvis and the audience, painting a complete fifties picture.

Off course there are a few minors too. The text with background information is collected on two pages at the beginning of the book; this means you have to look it up while browsing the book. The design of the book leaves enough space to add a few lines alongside the pictures for additional information. The designer “solved” this with the chapter title in the footer, but this isn’t very satisfactory. Some of the images are a bit grainy, but that is partly due to blowing up old photos and a low resolution of print. The dark pictures on a dark background don’t work that well either, looking at Ger Rijff’s books you can see there are easy solutions to present the images a bit better.

The CD

With Ernst Jorgensen as the co-author you have the great opportunity to release an interesting CD with a book, and not another Hayride compilation you get so often with books on this era. The combination of the book and the CD make it a true audiovisual documentary.
Just like the images capture the essence of Elvis, so do the tracks on this CD. These tracks are the basis of Rock and Roll and Elvis’ rise, or transition as the authors put it, to fame. With out-takes of rockers like Lawdy, Miss Clawdy”, “Shake, Rattle And Roll”, Rip It Up” and especially “A Big Hunk O’ Love” combined with ballads as “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You” and “Loving You“ you enjoy browsing these pictures even more since these were the songs recorded during the sessions and live appearances you see.
From the out-takes only three are previously unreleased, “Heartbreak Hotel” (take 5), “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You” (take 16) and “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” (take 6) , the others have found their way to the fans through various releases over the years. The version of "Treat Me Nice" is the most remarkable in the binaureal section.

Conclusion

Just like the “The Way It Was” book this book is what it says to be, an “audiovisual documentary”. These are the books serving the fans best. But hopefully the price will drop on future releases, so no fan has to miss these releases.

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Buy at Amazon.co.uk
TonyP wrote on June 22, 2004
My suggestion would be to put the CD in a proper case and download the fantastic flashback artwork created by a guy who goes by the name Nightrider on the FECC board. It's outstanding work. Look under the altnernate artwork section of the board and find the link for nightrider designs. Print off on good quality paper and it looks sensational :-)
CapiTrueno wrote on June 11, 2004
I received the book today and it's fantastic! Highly recommended...
Tupelo wrote on June 05, 2004
It's great book and a great sounding CD, I think it is essential. Please no softback covers for such quality. I agree on the cardboard sleeve.
MV wrote on June 01, 2004
It's a great book,but IS expensive.I paid £37. Maybe a softback cover could have been used to reduce cost. A proper cardboard sleeve for the cd would also have been nice.
Elvisftdfan wrote on June 14, 2004
This is a great book with fantastic pics. The disc has great alt takes of among others Treat Me Nice and Loving you. All unreleased. The only let down of the book is the flimsy plastic sleeve for the cd. This book is very expensive and I would have hoped for a better way to keeep the cd.
Gladyslove wrote on November 18, 2004
This book and the Cd is really fantastic. On the CD are some tracks of one of my favourite and one of the best Session Elvis had ever done, the Session from 10. and 11. of June ´58. A real gas! But not only the CD is what I like it´s also the fantastic book. The only thing that disturb me is the price. In Austria it´s about ca. 70 Euro, that´s too much.But I´m a devoted collector so I had to buy it! It´s worth it. Elvisly yours.
glennd wrote on November 26, 2004
There are two things I don´t like: 1. It is to expensive, and 2. There is no cover for the Cd. Also on the first book. The book and the Cd for themselves are fabolous. Great stuff ! TCB.