Elvis Presley: A Life in Music — The Complete Recording Sessions

by Ernst Jorgensen, Peter Guralnick

For the first time, the complete story of Elvis Presley's recording career is told in this remarkable book. With exclusive access to the RCA vaults, producer Ernst Jorgensen brings to intimate life every moment that Elvis spent in the studio--from the spontaneous joy of his early sessions to the intensely creative periods of his later career. At once the definitive recording session guide and a compellingly readable narrative, this is the ultimate companion to the singer and his songs.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

Reviews

[Bubba]

This book tells a sad story. I read the first 130 pages or so, which describes his pre-army recordings, and then forced myself to skim through the last few hundred which discuss his decent into madness. Madness? How else can you explain a guy who goes from inventing rock n' roll in Memphis, combining R&B, Country, Gospel, Blues and Pop in songs like "Mystery Train," to recording utter crap like "Yoga is as yoga does" for the "Easy Come Easy Go Soundtrack"? He did make a comeback in the late 60s, but he had already spent 9 years churning out some of the silliest nonsense ever put on record. What a waste of talent. Everybody blames the Colonel, but this guy was savy, he knew what he was doing. His friends recalled that he wouldn’t let them play his records at parties at Graceland, saying things like “turn that crap off.” He was also known to be so amused at the stupidity of the stuff he was recording that he could barely keep from laughing long enough to get it on tape. He only had himself to blame. At least we can listen to the early stuff, and forget the stupid movies, and later fat/amphetamine/incoherent stage babble/paranoid/Howard Hughes period.

[Garrett Cash]

A delightfully comprehensive work that gets the attention to where we should be looking: the music. It has all the information about every session you could possibly want, plus a lot of good extras, like many studio photos I had never seen. It can be read for reference or straight through. I read everything up until the army and skimmed the rest. Jorgensen is a real fan, an excellent writer, and an astute observer. A must have book on the King for sure.

[Neal Umphred]

If I had to own two books on Elvis Presley, it would be two of these three (listed alphabetically by author):

• Peter Guralnick: Last Train To Memphis

• Ernst Jorgensen: Elvis Presley: A Life in Music – The Complete Recording Sessions

• Greil Marcus: Mystery Train

'Nuff said?

[William Cairns]

I just love this type of book, and Ernst hits this one out of the park.

Much like Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles Complete Recording Sessions, this chronicles the studio (and live) recordings of Elvis in chronological order. This type of book can sometimes be just a slog of just data in the hands of some writers, or filled with educated guesses from people without access to the actual source material, but Ernst had direct access and with this knowledge he also makes it all quite interesting and very readable.

In my opinion, this book and Peter Guralnick’s two-volume biography are the two most essential books about Elvis Presley.

[Vincenzo Ridente]

If you want a perfect reference book of Elvis Presley's recording career this is the book you need it goes through all the time Elvis spent every recording session

[Hjörtur Ingvi]

Fantastic. Highly recommended, although ripe for a new edition.

[Joe]

Bubba Rowe gave this book 3-stars based on the story of Elvis's life and with that I won't argue. However as a reference book to E's recording sessions and their documentation therein, it deserves 5-stars. I compromised and gave it 4-stars overall despite the fact that session info was the main thrust of the book.

[Cheryl Jewhurst]

Absolutely my favorite Elvis ever! Forget the gossip, forget the rumors. Forget the he said/she said. This book is about Elvis in the studio. Every session, every recording. The details are all here. Who played what, who was late, who had cold..you're there everyday in the recording studio with Elvis.

This is the genius that was Elvis.

[LebCt186]

Outstanding comprehensive analysis of Elvis Presley's recorded work. Brings you into the studio and onto the stage with the musicians, producers, writers and engineers who were there and provides analysis of the music produced from each session.

[Brian Quick]

Covers the most important aspect of his life...the music. Great details, real insight into the creative process.