April 28 - Mighty Marble Vinyl

Due for release from the Magic of Vinyl on May 3, 2019 is the “marble colored” vinyl LP “G.I. In Germany”.

Side A: Arrival in Friedberg / Germany / Muß I Denn (Wooden Heart) / Frankfort Special / Tonight Is So Right For Love (G´schichten aus dem Wiener Wald) / Blue Suede Shoes / Jailhouse Rock / Tutti Frutti / A Big Hunk O` Love / Don‘t / She‘s Not You  /Good Luck Charm 
Side B: G.I. Blues / My Wish Came True / Fool Such As I / No More (La Paloma) / I Need Your Love Tonight / What‘s She Really Like / Return To Sender / Stuck On You / Surrender 
Bonus home-recording: Spanish Eyes.

The Mighty Elvis

Due for release from Yoe Books on November 12, 2019 is the 72-page graphic biography “The Mighty Elvis: A Graphic Biography” by Seymour Chwast (illustrator) and Steven Brower (text). 

Synopsis:

Revel in this commemoration of Elvis' life in the form of an art book told through the unique vision of legendary designer and illustrator Seymour Chwast.

Spearheading a new music form that, combined with an attitude and a look, would change the world, Elvis Presley became one of the most important cultural figures of the second half of the 20th century. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this book presents an enhanced portrait of one of America's greatest celebrities.

With text by author Steven Brower (Satchmo: The Life and Art of Louis Armstrong), The Mighty Elvis reminds us of the continuing stardom of one of the most popular American singers of all time. Through Chwast's illustrations, cartoons, and comics we get to relive his early life, his meteoric rise to fame and how he was affected by, and in turn, affected the world of music in the many genres he mastered. The book covers his first appearances on television, Graceland, his meeting with President Nixon, his wedding to Priscilla, and much more. Millions of fans loved him, purchased his records, attended his sold out shows and went to his thirty-three films. Death, forty years ago, has not diminished his fame. "Elvis Lives!" 

The Mighty Elvis celebrates, in art and design, the life of a great icon of American popular culture!

(Source: Magic of Vinyl / Amazon)

April 27 - 50 Million Buyers Can't Be Wrong

Offered for sale in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 15 May in New York is one of the most iconic images of 20th-century art, Andy Warhol’s "Double Elvis" (Ferus Type). The silkscreen ink and silver paint artwork uniting two of the most venerated figures of modern times - the King of Rock’n’Roll and the Prince of Pop Art - is signed, inscribed and dated "elvis Andy Warhol 63" and has an estimate of US$ $50,000,000-70,000,000. 

Description from Christies:

Elvis Presley, dressed as a gunslinger in a publicity shot for the movie Flaming Star, takes his place in a flat, empty surface that, for Warhol, functions as a looking glass that reflects the overlapping nuances of celebrity, filmmaking, desire, and performance in Sixties America.

Warhol had been fascinated by the glittering allure of Hollywood since he was a child. Double Elvis, painted in the summer of 1963, pays tribute to a larger-than-life superstar whose international fame brought him the level of celebrity Warhol so coveted and admired. 

Having already cemented his position as the king of Pop in New York, the artist himself would go on to reach the same dizzy heights, having reshaped the visual arts with his profound awareness of the way mass media defines the norms of contemporary experience.

Presley allowed Warhol to get to the heart of the 1960s. ‘Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century,’ said the composer Leonard Bernstein. ‘He introduced the beat to everything and he changed everything — music, language, clothes. It’s a whole new social revolution — the sixties came from it.’

Warhol’s his first reference to the singer had been made earlier, in 1956, while still working as a commercial illustrator. In a series of collage drawings of shoes shown in a two-page spread in Life magazine, Warhol had given each the name of a celebrity — James Dean, Julie Andrews and Truman Capote being among the others. 

The ‘Elvis Presely’ was an old-fashioned cavalier’s boot in gold leaf, adorned with a floral rosette and studded with stars. The ‘James Dean’, by contrast, was a sturdy, spurred jackboot. 

For his 1963 exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in West Hollywood, Warhol chose a 1960 studio portrait of Elvis Presley to reproduce. When the picture was taken, Presley had recently returned from his two-year service in the US Army. His absence from America and his stream of formulaic Hollywood movies and assembly-line soundtracks meant that his status as a genuine cultural force had been neutered. Hollywood’s product-like packaging of Presley made him ripe subject matter for Warhol.

Warhol had already completed a group of initial ‘Studio Type’ Elvises but for the show at the Ferus Gallery he had something more dramatic in mind. With the help of his new assistant, the poet Gerard Malanga, he completed a series whose composition would embody the ‘silver screen’ of cinema. Displaced from any sense of narrative or locale onto pure, shining surface, they became celluloid ciphers, highlighting the artifice of Elvis’s performance — and were conceived specifically to conquer the West Coast.

The very method by which Warhol delivered them is almost as famous as the works themselves. The gallery’s director Irving Blum did not receive individual canvases but a single, enormous roll of canvas with a box of differently sized stretcher bars. Warhol’s instructions to Blum were to cut them and hang them as he saw fit. 

This apparent relinquishing of control was anything but for Warhol had predetermined the size of each canvas with the stretcher bars he sent to Blum, which he knew would have to be matched to the groups of single, double and multi-figure Elvises. Shown in concert with a series of silkscreens depicting Liz Taylor, they made for a mesmerising, iterated display of cinematic archetype. 
The Ferus installation can be read as a barbed comment on the repetitive nature of the Western genre, a mass-produced product — like Presley himself — that was not unlike the Campbell’s Soup cans Warhol showed at the gallery the previous year. 

It can also be argued that Warhol was playing up the over-amped artifice of his subject. Through Double Elvis’s  spaceless silver background, we are made all the more aware that what we are seeing is an actor posing for the camera. The repetition is rigid and unmoving; Double Elvis presents not the West’s cowboy ideal but a second-hand type-figure being played, somewhat ineptly, by the character of Elvis Presley.

There were also similarities between Warhol and Elvis, as the author John Carlin has pointed out: ‘both came from humble backgrounds and meteorically captured their respective fields in a way that seemed to break entirely with the past. Each betrayed his initial talent as soon as it became known, and opted for a blank and apparently superficial parody of earlier styles which surprisingly expanded, rather than alienated, their audience. Warhol’s own manufactured persona was that of a vacuum or mirror. 

‘Both went into film as a means of exploring the mythic dimensions of their celebrity. On the surface both men shared a scandalous lack of taste. Particularly as both took repetition and superficiality to mask an obscure but vital aspect of their work: the desire for transcendence or annihilation without compromise, setting up a profound ambivalence on the part of both artist and audience as to whether the product was trash or tragedy.’ 

Perhaps a more convincing equivalence might be drawn not between the artist and Elvis, but between Warhol and the blank, silver surface on which the image of Elvis is screened. Warhol’s own manufactured persona was that of a vacuum or mirror. ‘If you want to know all about Andy Warhol,’ he said, ‘then just look at the surface: of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it.’ In his early interviews, Warhol commonly adopted a mirroring strategy by bouncing questions back to his interviewer. 

As well as the large-scale use of silver paint in the Elvis works, 1963 saw Warhol’s associate Billy Name cover the interior of the Factory in reflective aluminium foil. And in that same year, Warhol replaced his own grey hairpiece with a metallic silver wig. His use of reflection would reach its apotheosis in the Silver Clouds, floating balloons first shown at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1966.

Of the 22 extant ‘Ferus Type’ Elvis works, 11 are in museum collections, including the canvas Bob Dylan insisted on taking in exchange for his presence in a Warhol film, which is now housed at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

(Source: Christies / FECC)

April 26 - Weekly Chart Update (Updated April 30)

Released today is the 4 CD set “Love Me Tender” from the Membran (Major Babies) label. 

Charts

The weekly global chart update. Elvis Presley’s Record Store Day LP "Live at the International" dropped off the European charts but debuted on several US Billboard charts. 

US Billboard Charts:

• US Billboard Top Current Albums chart: “Elvis: International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada: August 23, 1969” new entry at #63. 
• US Billboard Top Album Sales chart: “Elvis: International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada: August 23, 1969” new entry at #81.
• US Billboard Top Christian Albums chart: “Elvis: Ultimate Gospel” dropped from #35 to #38. 
• US Billboard Rock Album Sales chart: “Elvis: International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada: August 23, 1969” new entry at #31. 
• US Billboard Rock Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped off the chart from last week’s #40 spot.
• US Billboard Country Album Sales chart: “Elvis: International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada: August 23, 1969” new entry at #9. 
• US Billboard Country Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped from #28 to #31.
• US Billboard Country Catalog Albums chart: “Heart and Soul” climbed from #21 to #18.
• US Billboard Christian Albums Sales chart: “Where No One Stands Alone” remained steady at 26.
• US Billboard Soundtrack Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped off the chart from last week’s #13 spot.

Official UK charts:

• Official UK Streaming Albums chart: “The 50 Greatest Hits” re-entry at #79.
• Official UK Vinyl Albums chart: “Live at the International” dropped off the chart after lat week’s new entry at #34. 
• Official UK Physical Albums chart: “Live at the International” dropped off the chart after last week’s new entry at #80. 
• Official UK Music DVD chart: "Elvis The Searcher" climbed from #23 to #15.
• Official UK Music DVD chart: "Elvis Lives - Live From Memphis" climbed from #43 to #30.
• Official Christian and Gospel Albums Chart Top 20: "Where No One Stands Alone" remained steady at #15.

Official Scottish Album charts:

• Official Scottish Album chart: “Elvis at the Movies - 60 Essential Recordings” climbed from #41 to #28. 
• Official Scottish Album chart: “The Real … Elvis” re-entry at #75.

Dutch charts:

• Dutch Vinyl 33 chart: “Live at the International” dropped off the chart after last week’s new entry at #17. 

Australian charts:

• Australian ARIA Music DVD chart: '68 Comeback Special (50th Anniversary Edition) dropped from #9 to #10.

Elvis character details for Elvis biopic

With production set to begin in January 2020, the studio is searching for an actor between the ages of 18 and 29 to portray the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. The character details for the titular role in the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic read: "Vulnerable, but with a strong sense of his own destiny. Although shy, he has the enthusiasm of someone who dreams of being big. This is Elvis before he’s famous and adopts his famed persona".

The Great Gatsby’ director Baz Luhrmann is directing the pic, which will star Tom Hanks as Presley’s manager, Tom Parker. Parker both helped Presley rise to fame and hurt him in the process. He never let Presley tour outside the US and took 50% of Presley’s earnings. No release date for the project has been set.

(Source: UK Mix Forum / Billboard / Dutchcharts / Official Chart Company / GWW / ARIA / Google / Amazon)

April 25 - King Creole in 4K

The classic 1958 “King Creole” movie will debut during Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs May 11, 2019 in a new 4K digital restorated version. Actress Jan Shepard is scheduled to appear as a special guest. 

Synopsis: 
Elvis’s third starring role remains his best work on screen. He plays 19-year old Danny Fisher who is struggling to finish high school while living in a French Quarter flat with an unemployed father (Dean Jagger) and sister (Jan Shepard). The rebellious teen-ager navigates a veritable tightrope between a legitimate singing career and a wholesome girl friend (Dolores Hart) vs. a criminal life while romancing the mistress (Carolyn Jones) of a vicious gangster (Walter Matthau). Produced by Hal Wallis and deftly helmed by Curtiz on location in New Orleans, this musical crime drama established Elvis as a legitimate actor with a stellar supporting cast including Paul Stewart and Vic Morrow.   

April 24 - New Documentary

English singer Colin Paul is currently working on a new documentary about the day Elvis died and its aftermath. In the introduction to the documentary, entitled "42 @ 42" he explains how it affected him when he was on a tour of Scotland with his parents in Oban. 

The documentary will mainly include news broadcasts from the US, UK and some from Europe, as well as interviews with those who were there, some recent interviews and some from that time. The documentary was inspired by his good friend Carey Rayburn in Memphis, who produced the documentary "8.16" a few years ago. "8.16" focused primarily on the fans and how they felt. Last week Paul traveled back to Oban (for the first time since 1977) with his family to film the intro. "42 @ 42" will be released on August 16, 2019 and will be available for free on YouTube. 

Anne Neyland Died

Anne Neyland, who portrayed a love interest of Elvis Presley's character in the 1957 movie Jailhouse Rock, died Wednesday, her family announced. She was 84. 

Neyland played Laury Jackson and Presley starred as Vince Everett, a construction worker who accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl, in Jailhouse Rock, the singer's third movie overall and first at MGM. 


"These last three years he's been so used to people tearing at him wherever he goes that he's drawn-into as hell," Neyland once told Photoplay. "He's so used to being alone with a few close friends and going for drives and playing records that you can't get him out of it."

She dated Presley during the making of the film and for a spell afterward.

(Source FECC / ElvisMatters / The Hollywood Reporter)

David Winder Died

The English-American actor, dancer, choreographer, producer, film distributor, director and screenwriter David Winters died. He was the dance choreographer for “Viva Las Vegas” (1964), “Girl Happy” and “Tickle Me” (both 1965) and “Easy Come, Easy Go” (1967). 

(Source: various)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all Elvis fans (Joe Petruccio style :-))

(Source: Joe Petruccio on Twitter)

April 20 - From Elvis Celebration to U2 Service

Due for release May 2019 is the Dutch book "From Elvis Celebration to U2 Service - The Use of Pop Music in the Church" (original title "Van Elvis-viering tot U2-dienst - Het gebruik van popmuziek in de kerk) by Fred Omvlee, Jan Andries de Boer and Piet van Die. 

The book describes how to organize and prepare a church service around pop music. Many pop songs contain a religious layer. No wonder that pop music is increasingly being given a place in church celebrations. The Top 2000 services and the Elvis celebrations are well known in The Netherlands. In this book, the authors elaborate on the religious content of pop music and its value to the church. There seem to be many artists whose music can get a place in church services, such as BLØF, U2, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. The book concludes with a small theology of pop music.

Auction

Several Elvis Presley items were up for auction at the Gotta Have Rock And Roll auction. Not all sold, but a Gibson guitar used by Elvis Presley in the movie "Girl Happy"sold for US $ 50.053. 


(Source: Elvis Kapel / UEPS / Gotta Have Rock and Roll)

April 19 - Chart Update (Updated 21/04)

The weekly global chart update. Elvis Presley is dropping on most charts, but the Record Store Day LP "Live at the International" entered the Dutch and UK vinyl album chart. As this release was limited to 3000 copies worldwide it shows the numbers it takes these days to enter the chart in 2019.

US Billboard charts:

• US Billboard Rock Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” climbed from #42 to #40.
• US Billboard Country Catalog Album chart: “Heart and Soul” dropped from #12 to #21.
• US Billboard Country Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped from #22 to #28.
• US Billboard Top Christian Album chart: “Elvis: Ultimate Gospel” remained steady at #35. 
• US Christian Album, Sales chart: “Where No One Stands Alone” climbed from #27 to #26.
• US Billboard Soundtracks chart: The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped off the chart from last week’s #25 spot.
• US Billboard Soundtrack Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped from #12 to #13.

Official UK charts:

• Official Vinyl Albums Chart Top 40 chart: "Live at the International" new entry at #38.
• Official Albums Streaming Album chart: "The 50 Greatest Hits" dropped off the chart from last week’s #99 spot.
• Official Physical Album chart: "Live at the International" new entry at #80.
• Official UK Record Store Album chart: "Live at the International" new entry at #34.
• Official UK Music DVD chart: "Elvis The Searcher" dropped from #22 to #23.
• Official UK Music DVD chart: "Elvis Lives - Live From Memphis" dropped from #29 to #43.
• Official UK Christian and Gospel Album chart: "Where No One Stands Alone" dropped from #10 to #15.

Official Scottish charts: 

• Official Scottish Album chart: “Elvis at the Movies - 60 Essential Recordings” dropped from #32 to #41.
• Official Scottish Album chart: "The Real ... Elvis" dropped off the chart from last week’s #59 spot.

Dutch charts:

• Dutch Vinyl 33 chart: "Live at the International" new entry at #17.

Australian charts:

• Australian ARIA Music DVD chart: "'68 Comeback Special (50th Anniversary Edition)" dropped from #7 to #9.
• ARIA Music DVD Chart Top 40: "The King of Rock and Roll - 30 Hit Performances and More" dropped off the chart from last week's re-entry at #30.

(Source: Official Chart Company / Billboard / UK Mix / Dutch charts / ARIA / Martin)

April 18 - Elvis Sings Harmony

After nearly 11 years absence the Reel Trax import-label, known for their "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Where No One Stands Alone" compilations is back with a new project entitled "Elvis Sings The Harmony".

From the press-release:
Elvis' love for singing harmony has its roots in his love for gospel choirs. It is absolutely common and even necessary to be able to sing harmony when you do gospel songs, unless you are always on lead vocals. From the very early stages of his career the “King” never really needed to do any harmony part. He had his beloved “Jordanaires” with him who did a great job all of the time. Later on there were plenty of other background singers who always could do the job (and did it of course) absolutely fantastic! Maybe Elvis chose to do his own harmony in the recording studio on a couple of songs because he could do it (and very well for sure). Maybe he got the idea from his own “home recordings” which we know quite a few of (as early as 1958)? One thing is clear: First you have to have the ability to do it. There have been many singers in show business who have not been able to do their own harmony because they simply did not know how to do it (you’ve got to have an “ear” for that)! Elvis did a great job on all of the songs you hear on this brand new CD, there’s no doubt. The one which is best known is certainly the legendary 1969 recording “Suspicious Minds”. But there sure is much more to explore on “Elvis Sings The Harmony” CD!

All tracks used for this project were taken from best possible sources available to date. Many of songs were individually restored and corrected and some are previously unreleased on CD. This unique release is presented in a de-luxe six-panel digipack with many unusual photos.

Tracks: I'm Yours - Could I Fall In Love (Harmony Vocal Overdub) - Singing Tree (Remake With Harmony Vocals) - Gentle On My Mind (Different Mix) - Don't Cry Daddy (Taken From Acetate) - Mama Liked The Roses (Harmony Vocal Overdub) - Suspicious Minds (Master Take Without Fade) - True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - Power Of My Love - Do You Know Who I Am -  Bridge Over Troubled Water (Master Without Overdubbed Applause) - There Goes My Everything - Snowbird (Take 6) - Miracle Of The Rosary - Separate Ways - For The Good Times (Harmony Vocal Overdub) - It's Midnight - Promised Land (Take 6) - T-R-O-U-B-L-E (Harmony Vocal Overdub)

Bonus Songs: Could I Fall In Love (Harmony Vocal) - Don't Cry Daddy (Master Take 3 With Vocal Overdub) - Mama Liked The Roses (Different Harmony Vocal) - Suspicious Minds (Isolated Harmony Vocals Only) - Power Of My Love (Harmony Vocal Version) - Do You Know Who I Am (Harmony Vocal Version) - Bridge Over Troubled Water (Stereo version With Vocal Repair And Harmony Vocal Overdub) - Promised Land ("This Is Elvis" - Edit).

(Source: FECC)

April 16 - The Spirit of Elvis

A new book entitled “Elvis The Spirit of '76 - Live in Champaign October 1976” by Kieran Davis has been released. The 136-page hardcover book documents Elvis' only concert performance in Champaign on October 22, 1976 in black and white photographs.

This book differs from other publications from Kieran Davis as it is far more pictorial, with 90% being dedicated to the photographs taken at the concert by Joe Wilske. 

There is also a ‘collectors edition' that comes with the exact same book but also includes an original, one off 7x5 inch photograph printed in 1976 by the photographer who's pictures we have used in the book. Every photo is different and there is only one of each. 

In addition you get an original souvenir seller's inventory sheet from the night of the concert. Every one of these is unique, being an original tour document showing how many tour books, posters etc. a particular vendor sold and how much they earned in commission. Each is an original document actually used by the Elvis Presley Show and not a copy. Each photo and souvenir sheet is over 40 years old Limited to 30 sets only. Once they're gone that's it.

(Source: The Elvis Presley Show)

April 15 - From Georgia To Florida

The Follow That Dream collectors label announced the release of the double CD "From Georgia To Florida". This 5 inch digipack features Elvis in great form from his shows at the Coliseum in Macon on April 24, 1975 and Lakeland (afternoon show) on April 27, 1975. The latter show is previously unreleased. The show from April 24 has been released (in part) on the import-titles "In the Heart of Georgia", "Southern Nights" and "Elvis In Florida". 

CD 1 - 24.04.1975 Coliseum, Macon, Georgia:
Talk - Love Me - If You Love Me (Let Me Know) - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me - Big Boss Man - It’s Midnight - Promised Land - Fairytale - Burning Love - Introductions Including: What’d I Say and School Days - My Boy - T-R-O-U-B-L-E - I’ll Remember You - Let Me Be There - American Trilogy - Can’t Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp.

CD 2 - 27.04.1975 A/S - Civic Center Arena, Lakeland, Florida:
Talk - Love Me - If You Love Me (Let Me Know) - Love Me Tender - (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear / Don’t Be Cruel - Help Me - Burning Love - Introductions Including: Johnny B. Goode and School Days - My Boy - T-R-O-U-B-L-E - Why Me Lord - Let Me Be There - Hawaiian Wedding Song - Hound Dog - American Trilogy - Can’t Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp.

Songwriter Les Reed Died

Songwriter Les Reed died at the age of 83. Elvis Presley recorded three songs (co-)written by Les Reed: "This Is Our Dance", "Sylvia" and "Girl Of Mine". His songs were recorded by The Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Petula Clark, Ray Conniff, Connie Francis,  Shirley Bassey, Bing Crosby and many more. 

(Source: FTD / Club Elvis Espana / FECC / Elvis Telegraph :-) / Wikipedia)

April 14 - Elvis 1956 - 1958 - 1976

Elvis author and researcher, Paul Belard, has published two new volumes in his ongoing project to present a comprehensive pictorial record of Elvis' life. His new titles are "Elvis 1956 - January - February" and "Elvis September 1958 - Germany Bound".

The author has several other titles nearing completion including "Elvis May 1956", "Elvis October 1958" and "Elvis November-December 1958", as well as the thematic volumes entitled "Elvis A Humanitarian", "Elvis Badges, Cops and Guns" and finally "Advertising Elvis".

Welcome To South Bend, Indiana

The Verve import-label re-issued the October 26, 1976 performance as recorded on October 20th, 1976 at the Notre Dame Athletic Center in South Bend, Indiana. The new title: "Welcome To South Bend, Indiana". This concert was previously released on the LoneStart import-release "Eternal flame" in 2002 and also in 2005 and 2015 with a new covers.

Tracks: Also Sprach Zarathustra - See See Rider - I Got A Woman / Amen - Elvis Welcomes The Audience - Love Me - If You Love Me, Let Me Know - You Gave Me A Mountain - Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Talks To The Audience - Help Me - All Shook Up - Teddy Bear / Don‘t Be Cruel - And I Love You So - Fever - Steamroller Blues - Band Introductions - Early Mornin‘ Rain - What‘d I Say / Johnny Be Goode - Ronnie Tutt Solo - Jerry Scheff Solo - Tony Brown Solo - Love Letters - School Days - Hurt - Hound Dog - Funny How Time Slips Away - Little Darlin‘ - Can‘t Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp - Elvis Has Left The Building.

(Source: Elvis Information Network / FECC Forum)

April 13 - Record Store Day

Five Elvis Presley LP's were officially released today for Record Store Day. All limited editions and officially only available on this day (although some popped-up earlier). The Sony Legacy LP is limited to 3000 copies, the Memphis Recording Service titles are (said to be) limited to 500 copies each and the French VPI releases are limited to 1000 copies. 

Sony Legacy released "Live At The International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV August 23, 1969", The UK based Memphis Recording Service" released "Complete 50's Movie Masters and Alternate Recordings" and "Made in Germany - Private Recordings" and the French VPI Records released "I Sing All Kinds" on white colored vinyl and "Elvis In Paris: 60th Anniversary" in the colors of the French flag, red, white and blue.

Variety has nominated their 25 Best Record Store day releases and Elvis Presley, “Live at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV August 23, 1969” is one of them. They noted:

Elvis’ so-called comeback special is rightly revered. What came immediately after, a little less so. But there’s a forthcoming CD box set devoted to the very first run of shows he did in Las Vegas, when he was still riding high off that network special, that represented his first real live gigs in 11 years, that aims to make the case that Elvis in Vegas was initially a beautiful thing, however sour things went before his demise. 

In advance of the new 1969 box-set, they’ve issued one complete live show as a two-LP set just for RSD, and the prototype for the TCB Band is as smoking as the still-in-fighting-trim Presley.

Inspirational Quotes

Due for release from Carlton Books in the UK on July 11, 2019 is the 192 -page book "Little Book Of Elvis Presley: Inspirational Quotes From The King Of Rock 'n' Roll" by music journalist Malcolm Croft.

(Source: Carlton Books / Elvis Club Berlin / MRS / Amazon / Variety / Elvis Information Network).

April 12 - Silver Chart Update (Update 16/04)

The weekly global Elvis Presley chart update. Unfortunately Elvis drops on most  charts. 

US Billboard charts:

• US Billboard Rock Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped from #41 to #42.
• US Billboard Country Album Sales chart: “The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped from #15 to #22.
• US Billboard Country Catalog Album chart: “Heart and Soul”  dropped from #11 to #12.
• US Billboard Country Catalog Album chart: “Elvis: Ultimate Gospel” dropped off the chart from last week’s #21 spot.
• US Billboard Top Christian Album chart: “Elvis: Ultimate Gospel” remained steady at #35.
• US Billboard Christian Album Sales chart: “Where No One Stands Alone” climbed from #30 to #27.
• US Billboard Soundtracks chart: The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” dropped from #20 to #25.
• US Billboard Soundtrack Album Sales chart: The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special (Soundtrack)” remained steady at #12.

Official UK charts:

• Official Albums Streaming Album chart: "The 50 Greatest Hits" dropped from #97 to #99. 
• Official Christian and Gospel Album chart: “Where No One Stands Alone” dropped from #9 to #10.
• Official Music Video chart: "Elvis The Searcher" dropped from, #18 to #22.
• Official Music Video chart: "Elvis Lives - Live From Memphis" climbed from #40 to #29.

Official Scottish charts:

• Official Scottish Album chart: "Elvis at the Movies - 60 Essential Recordings" dropped from #26 to #32.
• Official Scottish Album chart: "The Real ... Elvis" climbed from #73 to #59.

Official Irish charts:

• Irish IRMA Music DVD chart: “Elvis The Searcher” dropped off the chart after last week's re-entry at #4.

Australian ARIA charts:

• ARIA Music DVD Chart Top 40: "'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition" climbed from #5 to #4.
• ARIA Music DVD Chart Top 40: "The King of Rock and Roll - 30 Hit Performances and More" re-entry at #30.

Classic Albums

Due for release from the Reel to Reel label on May 24, 2019 are the 4-CD digi-pack sets “The USA Singles Collection 1954-1962 Plus Bonus EP’s” containing " Something for everyone", "Blue Hawaii", "Pot Luck" and "Girls! Girls! Girls!" with additional tracks and  “Elvis Presley Vol. 2 - Four Classic Albums Plus EP’s and Singles".

Tracks The USA Singles Collection 1954-1962 Plus Bonus EP’s: 
CD 1: That's All Right Mama - Blue Moon Of Kentucky - Good Rockin' Tonight - I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine - Milkcow Blues Boogie - You're A Heartbreaker - Baby, Let's Play House - I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone - Mystery Trai -0 I Forgot To Remember To Forge - Heartbreak Hotel - I Was The On - I Want You, I Need You, I Love Yo - My Baby Left Me - Hound Dog - Don't Be Cruel - Blue Suede Shoes - Tutti Frutti - I Got A Woman - I'm Counting On You - I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry - Tryin' To Get To You - I Love You Because

CD 2: Blue Moon - Just Because - Money Honey - One Sided Love Affair - Lawdy Miss Clawdy - Shake Rattle And Roll - Love Me Tender - Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be) - Playing For Keeps - Too Much - All Shook Up - That's When Your Heartaches Begin - (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Loving You - Jailhouse Rock - Treat Me Nice - Don't - I Beg Of You - Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - Doncha Think It's Time - Hard Headed Woman - Don't Ask Me Why - One Night - I Got Stung

CD 3: I Need Your Love Tonight - Fool Such As I - Big Hunk O' Love - My Wish Came True - Stuck On You - Fame And Fortune - It's Now Or Never - Mess Of Blues - Are You Lonesome Tonight - I Gotta Know - Surrender - Lonely Man - I Feel So Bad - Wild In The Country - (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame - Little Sister - Can't Help Falling In Love - Rock A Hula Baby - Good Luck Charm - Anything That's Part Of You - She's Not You - Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello - Return To Sender - Where Do You Come From

CD 4: (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me) - It Is No Secret (What God Can Do) - I Believe - Take My Hand Precious Lord - I Need You So - Have I Told You Lately That I Love You - Blueberry Hill - Is It So Strange - Flaming Star - Summer Kisses Winter Tears - Follow That Dream - Angel - What A Wonderful Life - I'm Not The Marrying Kind - King Of The Whole Wide World - This Is Living - Riding The Rainbow - Home Is Where The Heart Is - I Got Lucky - A Whistling Tune

Tracks Elvis Presley Vol. 2 - Four Classic Albums Plus EP’s and Singles

CD 1: There's Always Me - Give Me The Right - It's A Sin - Sentimental Me - Starting Today - Gently - I'm Comin' Home - In Your Arms - Put The Blame On Me - Judy - I Want You With Me - I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell - Blue Hawaii - Almost Always True - Aloha Oe - No More - Can't Help Falling In Love - Rock-A-Hula Baby - Moonlight Swim - Ku-U-I-Po (Hawaiian Sweetheart) - Ito Eats - Slicin' Sand - Hawaiian Sunset - Beach Boy Blues - Island Of Love - Hawaiian Wedding Song

CD 2: Kiss Me Quick - Just For Old Time Sake - Gonna Get Back Home Somehow - (Such An) Easy Question - Steppin' Out Of Line - I'm Yours - Something Blue - Suspicion - I Feel That I've Known You Forever - Night Rider - Fountain Of Love - That's Someone You Never Forget - Girls! Girls! Girls! - I Don't Wanna Be Tied - Where Do You Come From - I Don't Want To - We'll Be Together - A Boy Like Me, A Girl Like You - Earth Boy - Return To Sender - Because Of Love - Thanks To The Rolling Sea - Song Of The Shrimp - The Walls Have Ears - We're Coming In Loaded

CD 3: Flaming Star - Summer Kisses Winter Tears - Follow The Dream - Angel - What A Wonderful Life - I'm Not The Marrying Kind - King Of The Whole Wide World - This Is Living - Riding The Rainbow - Home Is Where The Heart Is - I Got Lucky - A Whistling Tune - Let Me - Poor Boy - We're Gonna Move - Is It So Strange - Young And Beautiful - I Want To Be Free - Don't Leave Me Now (Version 2) - (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care

CD 4: Surrender - Lonely Man - I Feel So Bad - Wild In The Country - (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame - Little Sister - Good Luck Charm - Anything That's Part Of You - She's Not You - Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello - That's All Right Mama - Blue Moon Of Kentucky - Good Rockin' Tonight - I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine - Milkcow Blues Boogie - You're A Heartbreaker - Baby Let's Play House - I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone - Mystery Train - I Forgot To Remember To Forget

Long Live The King

The Spanish Casa Editorial Jatziri publisher published the 48-page magazine special "Elvis Presley - Long Live The King".

Silver Award

The British Phonographic Industry, B.P.I., awarded the LP / CD the 1997 "Jailhouse Rock" album a Silver Award for the sales over 60,000 copies (streams plus digital downloads plus physical sales) in the U.K.  

(Source: UK Mix / Billboard / Official Chart Company / IRMA / ARIA)

April 11 - Vegas Unboxing

Here is a video of the unboxing of the Record Store Day release "Live At The International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV August 23, 1969" by The 'In' Groove record store.

(Source: FECC / The 'In' Groove) 

April 10 - Elvis Rocks in 1975

Due this month from the Graceland import-label is the 4 CD set "Elvis - Help Me make It Through The Night: Elvis Rocks In 1975". This import-set longbox comes with an 8-page booklet. 

The concerts on this disc: 
CD1: 19.03.1975 M/S - Las Vegas & 04.05.1975 E/S Lake Charles.
CD2: 24.04.1975 - Coliseum, Macon, Georgia:
CD3: 25.04.1975 - Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida:
CD4: 31.03.1975 M/S - Las Vegas & 28.04.1975 E/S Lake Charles.

CD 1 - 19.03.1975 D/S - Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas:
Joe Guercio Orchestra Opening - Introduction Of "Voice" / Going Back To Memphis Tomorrow - Into The Father´s House - Introduction Of "The Sweet Inspirations" / Philadelphia Freedom - Introductions / Stevie Wonder Medley - Jackie Kahane Comedy Sketch
19.03.1975 M/S - Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas: Big Boss Man -  My Boy - I'll Remember You - Hound Dog - An American Trilogy - If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
04.05.1975 A/S - Civic Center, Lake Charles, Louisiana: Help Me
04.05.1975 E/S - Civic Center, Lake Charles, Louisiana: Steamroller Blues - Why Me Lord?

CD 2 - 24.04.1975 - Coliseum, Macon, Georgia:
Good Evening Ladies And Gentlemen - Love Me - If You Love Me (Let Me Know) - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Big Boss Man - It's Midnight - Promised Land - Fairytale - Burning Love - Band Introductions - What'd I Say (James Burton) - Drum Solo (Runnie Tutt)  - Bass Solo (Jerry Scheff) - Piano Solo (Glen D. Hardin) - Band Introductions - School Days (Joe Guercio Orchestra) - My Boy - T-R-O-U-B-L-E - I'll Remember You - Let Me Be There - An American Trilogy - Can't Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp

CD 3 - 25.04.1975 - Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida:
Good Evening Ladies And Gentlemen - Love Me - If You Love Me (Let Me Know) - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Big Boss Man - It's Midnight - Burning Love - Band Introductions - What'd I Say (James Burton) - Drum Solo (Runnie Tutt)  - Bass Solo (Jerry Scheff) - Piano Solo (Glen D. Hardin) - Band Introductions - School Days (Joe Guercio Orchestra) - My Boy - T-R-O-U-B-L-E - I'll Remember You - Let Me Be There - An American Trilogy - Funny How Time Slips Away - That´s All Right - Heartbreak Hotel

CD 4 - 31.03.1975 M/S - Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas:
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - The Wonder Of You - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Little Darling - Hawaiian Wedding Song - Fairytale - Burning Love

28.04.1975 E/S - Civic Center, Lake Charles, Louisiana:
When It's My Time (JD Sumner & The Stamps) - Burning Love - Band Introductions - What'd I Say (James Burton) - Drum Solo (Runnie Tutt)  - Bass Solo (Jerry Scheff) - Piano Solo (Glen D. Hardin) - Band Introductions - School Days (Joe Guercio Orchestra) - My Boy - Help Me Make It Through The Night - Let Me Be There - An American Trilogy - Talking To The Audience - Hawaiian Wedding Song - Hound Dog - Can't Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp.

Elvis' Graceland To be moved out of Memphis?

April 1, 2019 was over one week ago but The Financial Times and several UK newspapers mentioned the possibility that the Graceland mansion could be moved to the other side of the world due to the ongoing dispute between Joel Weinshanker and the City of Memphis on the expansion of the attractions around Graceland.

In the midst of a dispute with the city of Memphis, the man who manages Elvis Presley’s former home and the surrounding attractions made an extraordinary threat: Graceland might leave Memphis and find a new place to dwell.

“We had an offer ten days ago to move Graceland to Japan,” Joel Weinshanker, managing director of Elvis Presley Enterprises, said. “We had two offers to move to the Middle East and one (to move) to China. They offered us more profit than we could ever make in Memphis.”

The idea that Graceland could be dismantled and shipped overseas, like the old London Bridge that was sent to Arizona, has been forestalled, however, by an expected deal that would grant tax incentives on a $US100 million expansion.

There would be a hangar for Elvis’s planes, an enlarged guesthouse for visitors and a club modelled on the carpet-walled Jungle Room, an eccentrically decorated living room in Elvis’s mansion. The city council is expected to approve the deal this month. 

It had been held up by concerns over a 6000-seat concert arena planned in the expansion. The city had previously agreed that it would only allow for the use of public funds on a single concert venue, an arena that is also the home of the local basketball team.

A lawyer for Mr Weinshanker’s company told the Memphis Business Journal last week that the agreement reached with the city would preclude the use of funds from tax incentives on the new concert arena.

Mr Weinshanker said that Graceland already had a soundstage where it could hold concerts and a 500-seat theatre inside a newly built guesthouse, that has replaced the elderly Heartbreak Hotel. The concert arena “will be done by 2022”, he said on Monday. “We have a deal with Live Nation, we will have about fifty concerts a year.”

He acknowledged that it was rather unlikely that Graceland would have been moved. “No matter how famous Elvis got, no matter how much money he made, he always came back to Memphis,” he added.

He said that dollars $US750,000 from the tax break scheme would be reinvested into a local community project. Mr Weinshanker, 48, said that this was in keeping with the spirit of the King: when he was alive “he would go down to the gates, there would be 50 people waiting for him, he would say: ‘Let’s go to the movie theatre,’ and he would pay for their tickets, buy them all popcorn,” he said.

An archivist had found plans suggesting that he had hoped to build a guesthouse too, Mr Weinshanker said, but he added: “It wasn’t as big as the one we built.” Under the expansion plan the guesthouse, which has 450 rooms, would get another 150. The hangar for Elvis’s planes would also function as a party space, he said. “We get all the time people wanting to have parties at Graceland.”

He said Elvis’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, 51, was “very involved” in the project. “When she knows what is happening, she has this little smirk. It’s the way Elvis would  have done it,” he said. “When she speaks, you are looking at her dad.”

After the White House, Graceland is the most-visited private home in the US, drawing 600,000 people last year. It was opened to the public in 1982, five years after the death of Elvis, and as the mansion became a place of pilgrimage, Elvis Presley Enterprises took over the shopping centre across the road, which was steadily filling up with souvenir shops.

Lisa Marie Presley still owns the mansion and its gardens, but has made it permanently available to Elvis Presley Enterprises, in which she has a share. Mr Weinshanker took over the company in 2013.

(Source: Various / Elvis Club Berlin / Wall Street Journal / The Times)

April 09 - Burning Burgers at the International

The Sony Legacy exclusive Record Store double LP “Live At The International Hotel” is out, a few days before Record Store Day 2019. The LP contains a sticker that states “from the upcoming box set covering all of the August 1969 live recordings”. So the rumored “1969 Las Vegas” set appears to be confirmed. 

Description for the RSD LP: 

Following his triumphant comeback special for NBC at the end of 1968, Elvis Presley made a highly-publicized return to live performance in 1969, booking an exclusive engagement at The International Hotel in Las Vegas. Elvis treated audiences to a raucous rock set inspired by the recent sessions to his just-released studio album From Elvis In Memphis, backed by vocal groups The Imperials and The Sweet Inspirations as well as an early version of his famed TCB Band. Live In Las Vegas 1969 showcases this incredible, important phase in Elvis’ career with a previously unreleased set from the first of many engagements at The International Hotel.

Burning Burgers

The US based Applebee’s used Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" in a new burger commercial for their "Bigger Bolder Grill Burgers". 

(Source: FECC / eBay / YouTube)