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Memphis Recording Service II – 1955 The Rise Of Elvis Presley

By ElvisNews.com / Kees, December 04, 2006 | Book
Memphis Recording Service II – 1955 The Rise of Elvis Presley

Volume two of this colourful series is available, this time with video footage.

Design

Like volume one this edition comes as a pretty complete package with a book, DVD and vinyl single, presented in a keep-box.

Content

The book

This soft cover book is a hefty one with 350 full colour pages. The wordt "colour" is perhaps the most controversial item regarding this release, as it was its predecessor. The book contain material from 1955 and most pictures are black and white, or should I say are originally black and white. The author decided to add some colour to history. Some of the colourization looks very good, but often the colours chosen for the pictures are too bright. I prefer the original black and white. Just think of the great “Elvis At 21” book from Alfred Wertheimer in full colour … With material like this the occasional colour image is like the cherry on the cake, let’s keep it that way.

With quite a few fifties books on the shelves we still found a lot of new pictures and memorabilia of this historic year, really fun to browse through. It makes me realize what we will miss over 25 years with electronic e-cards and other electronic promotional material.

Browsing through the text we get a detailed story of a young man with his three partners working their way through the south of the United States – burning thousands of miles and an occasional Cadillac - and to the top of the music industry. With a few free days coming up we’ll do some studying with this material. A minor of the book is the floppy cover, we can understand that it doesn’t fit in the package, but a big book like this needs a hard cover.

The DVD

The DVD contains the earliest known Elvis footage, fun to see, nice to have but very short. Joseph Pirzada did some real searching to discover little gems like this.

The audio part contains 40 remastered live (1955) and studio (1954) tracks. They sound really good especially regarding the source. But unfortunately nothing new but a few intros. With an interesting book like this we enjoy the matching soundtrack. The minor is that the setup of the DVD is widescreen, and not all televisions have that.

The Vinyl

The vinyl disc is a nice touch, especially the use of the original mother stamper to produce it.

Conclusion

The conclusion is very simple, if you like Elvis’ early years, this is a real nice package to have; a well written and “colourfully” illustrated history of 1955 with a matching soundtrack. Looking at a nice package like this we do wonder what Ernst Jorgensen will come up with (any time soon we hope). How much material can there be out there?

You can still participate in (y)our interview with the author and win a copy of the set. Use the banner "Ask Joseph Pirzada" on the left.

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Buy at Amazon.co.uk
Greg Nolan wrote on December 13, 2006
I recently got Volume One and I think I'll probably bite for Volume 2, as well. Various criticisms aside, most Sun buffs realize that one can enjoy these sets *and* the upcoming Sun box on FTD.
Danny Fisher wrote on December 13, 2006
These MRS sets are disappointing, the vinyl on Volume 2 is unplayable and the sound is bad. They should have warned fans about this.
Greg Nolan wrote on December 20, 2006
It's good to have freely-stated opinions but I'm trying to reconcile some of the negativity these sets are getting with the more postive reviews, such as that of Kees, above. As he aptly writes: "The conclusion is very simple, if you like Elvis’ early years, this is a real nice package to have; a well written and “colourfully” illustrated history of 1955 with a matching soundtrack." With Volume One, I feel that way and I hope Volume 2 proves to be the same.
Roy M wrote on December 24, 2006
Sorry to say this but this release is junk, they couldn’t even use the complete Mae Axton interview as released on the EPE book/cd treasures! Also they claim more material for Tweedlee Dee, if so where did they hide it? Shows how much effort they made. Obviously they did not research this release as much as they would like you to believe! And I haven’t even mentioned the badly colorized pictures and a record that won’t even play without damaging your record player! The sound is also bad beyond believe. I have low resolution 64kbps MP3s that sound twice as good as this incomplete set! Avoid at all costs. Save your cash and get the new FTD Sun release that is said to be out soon with new unreleased live and studio material.
benny wrote on December 25, 2006
i have just got this as a present for xmas & love it. its the best book about the sun era & dont know what everyones moaning about. even if the record was the best sound in the world i wouldnt play it cos thats not what i bought it for, i bought it to read & the record & cd was an added bonus. its great & if you like the sun era buy it. thanks & merry xmas
MR61 wrote on December 27, 2006
I told you benny its ok isnt it dont believe every thing you read merry chistmas mark61
benny wrote on December 28, 2006
yes mr61, you said its good & i knew it was a good book cos i bought vol 1 & loved that too. thanks & happy new year