Elvis: A Celebration

Book

ElvisNews review

Design

On the front there is a beautiful black and white picture of Elvis. This picture was a publicity photo for the film 'Love Me Tender'. This hardcover book contains 608 pages. The photos are printed on high quality glossy paper. Most photos are black and white, but also many are in full colour. The layout is very tasteful.


Content


The book has ten chapters and an introduction. The book starts with 'Prologue' as the first chapter, in which Elvis' child and teenager years are shown. Many archive pictures, news photographs, rare memorabilia, movie stills and candid never-before-published images of Elvis make us realize that Elvis is one of the true icons of the 20th century. Almost each picture is dated by year and has a short note.


In my opinion the book looks very tasteful. Unfortunately the book contains many images of Elvis we already know. But after 25 years that can be expected. Fortunately there are several pictures we don't know yet. Each photo has its own short note which sometimes isn't 100 percent. A little more research, by people who know something about Elvis, would do miracles, I guess. But the facts by the pictures are nice to read. Many things we already knew, but had forgotten.


Only negative thing is that I didn't understand the sequence of the pictures. While the order of the chapters is very logical (that is chronological), we see pictures from 1969 after pictures of 1973. I think seeing the pictures in chronological order too would be better.


Conclusion


I think the author Mike Evans has done a great job. Compiled with the authorization and assistance of the Elvis Presley Estate, and using exclusive material supplied from the official archive, located in Memphis Tennessee, Elvis: A Celebration is a great tribute to the King of Rock 'n' Roll and marks the 25th anniversary of his death.