With the release of their new book, ‘From Memphis To Tokyo - A Reference Guide To The Absolute Mastery of Elvis’ Japanese Vinyl’, the “dynamic duo”, Dick Dekker and David Ward, the not so dynamic duo Nigel Patterson (Elvis Information Network) and Kees Mouwen (Elvis Day By Day), went treasure hunting in the land of the rising sun to discover what gems can be found in their new discography about Elvis’ Japanese vinyl ... and learning a few new Japanese words in the process.
Firstly, can you introduce yourself, and since you’re both not new to writing on Elvis, can you share something about your earlier work?
I started collecting Elvis’ Japanese releases after seeing my wife’s record collection (none were by Elvis, although she is a fan). I had sold all my records years earlier to replace them with CDs and later realized how much I missed those vinyl records. I bought Japanese ones because they were the ones in the shops where I live.
Setting the scene: Elvis in Japan (and Asia)
I’ve never heard or read of any parental or societal outrage about Elvis in Japan like we know from the U.S. and some European countries.
The closest thing is a comment I read by a Japanese music writer who said she once heard a DJ commenting, after playing a rocking Elvis Christmas song in the 1950s, that “Jesus would be turning in his grave”.But it wasn’t until the ‘Blue Hawaii’ movie came out that his records started to sell in significant quantities. His popularity peaked in the early 1970s with the huge success of ‘That’s the Way it Is’, and spiked again in 1973 with the ‘Aloha from Hawaii’ television show and LP.
David Ward: Unfortunately, only the latter applies now as most young people in Japan have no idea who he was. He does still have a small, hardcore following, though, and there is still an active Elvis Presley Society of Japan. I suppose the things about Elvis that appeal to Japanese fans are the same as anywhere else - his charm, charisma, and amazing voice.
Me: “You obviously don’t know Elvis!”
Dick Dekker: From my side, ‘From Memphis to Taipeh’ was a way to get through the Corona misery. While working on the book, I’ve gotten many questions asking if Japanese records would also be included. When you have a look at ‘From Memphis to Tokyo’, the reason why they aren’t, is clear.
David is a great person, and very easy to work with. We both think that the product should be the best we can produce, it had to be a book we would also buy ourselves. It should be a labor of love, nothing else.
How did you approach the research and writing and keep track of/track down every LP release? It must have taken years of research, with many stumbling blocks, in chasing down so many albums and singles and all the different variations! It seems to be "Too Much" to get one's head around?
David Ward: Initially, I entered the details of my records on the Discogs website before creating my own database. For this book we’ve also had a lot of help from collectors who brought many variants to our attention.
David Ward: In my case, I submitted data to the Discogs website, I was building up a database without trying to do so. And I’ve just been adding to that reference ever since. Once we decided to go ahead with the book, we pooled our resources and got others to help us with new items and filling the blanks.
I will add that the book itself - the design and the Taking Care of Business - is all down to Dick.
Dick Dekker: David lives in Japan and speaks Japanese, so he knows everything first-hand. To me Japanese writing are only crisscross lines.
David is also a gifted writer. Everything we discussed and talked about to determine the outline and content of the book, was written down by David in a way that not many people can do. His ability to find every missing comma got him his nickname “Mr. Eagle Eyes”.
My task was to gather and scan all records and make the book ready to print. And I think that with the help of many collectors, we did a good job.
The book is over 700 pages, making it bigger than the ‘Elvis: From Memphis to Taipeh’ release. Is it complete?
David Ward: No book like this can ever be complete. No doubt after publishing we’ll find variants we haven’t seen or knew existed. However, I think it’s so close to being complete that there will never be a subsequent book, either by us or anyone else.
Do you think the book has an appeal outside the older / collector / Japanese fan base?
Dick Dekker: Record collectors all over the world love Japanese records for their impeccable quality, both for artwork and sound quality.
Just to give you an idea, for every book we sold to Japan, we sold about 20 to the rest of the world, so there are many fans and collectors of these releases out there.
RCA German and Japanese vinyl are highly regarded for their generally superior audio (and packaging) compared to RCA USA and RCA Europe / U.K. release. Do you address this in the book?
David Ward: I’ve never been convinced that Japanese records sound any better or worse than those from the U.S., the U.K. or Germany, for instance. I think the vinyl they were using in the 1980s is extremely quiet, but a couple of people have told me it wears out quite quickly.
The different, and often superior, packaging of Japanese releases is an important part of their appeal, so this is both discussed in the text and, of course, shown in the many photographs in the book.
Dick Dekker: I think that these scans in the book David refers to will speak for themselves. To me the Japanese seem to want to be proud about the product they make and “we” are proud about the money we make with the product. That’s a different approach and it shows.
Content of the book
Could you outline the key elements to the book (what readers can expect).
A book with 700 pages on Japanese vinyl is a lot. What is the importance / significance of these releases?
David Ward: These releases show how enduring and far-reaching Elvis’ appeal is, for one thing. It’s remarkable that virtually every one of the official U.S. records was also released in Japan, a country where the people don’t even speak English.
Can you imagine a record company releasing hundreds of records in the U.S., the U.K., or Australia of an artist singing in a language other than English? Not to mention the many other Elvis releases that were unique to Japan.
Dick Dekker: And, additionally to what David said, the importance of the book is that it is both a guideline for collectors and preserves the history of Japanese Elvis Presley releases.
What makes Japan an interesting country for Elvis fans? What distinguishes Japanese vinyl releases from released in other countries.
Dick Dekker: The love the Japanese producers put into their releases. Making alternate, high quality and adoring covers for their records, is what’s fascinating most collectors.
David Ward: Yes, virtually every record has something about it that’s different to the equivalent release in another country, whether it be different artwork, different songs or extras like a lyric sheet. That’s what makes the Japanese releases interesting objects for both Elvis and vinyl collectors.
What did you discover when you wrote this book that you didn't know?
A few things that made me happy were, for example, the OBI for the HP-504 ‘Golden Records’ 10-inch LP, and also the generic ‘Christmas OBI’ that David came across is very interesting for us as collectors.
Finally, I would like to mention the ‘Ski OBI’. For a long time I only knew of the existence of just one copy which was in the possession of a collector in Sydney, but a second copy has now surfaced with a collector in Hong Kong.
However, the thing that will give many collectors some sleepless nights, is the possibility to exactly date, when a record was pressed.
David Ward: Dick is right, without doubt, the biggest discovery was learning to “read” the runout areas of the records. If you have two U.S. records, one with 2S/2S stampers and the other with 9S/10S stampers, for instance, all you can really say is which one came first.
With most Japanese records, you can actually see when the record was pressed. Although not quite as culturally significant, and nowhere near as difficult to read, when I figured out how to do it, I could imagine how the scholars of hieroglyphics must have felt when they decoded them.
In fact, there are 1960s pressings of those first albums, showing that they were available right up until the reissues came out. They must have been pressed in very small quantities each time.
What were some of the most pleasing record finds in compiling the book?
David Ward: Coming across records I’d suspected existed but had never seen before, such as the red label promo version of ‘Stay Away’. Also, seeing records that I never even knew existed, such as the RCA pressing of ‘Stay Away’.
Dick Dekker: As a collector, every new variant is exciting to find. To me it was thrilling to see a few OBI’s for the very first time. And as a 10-inch freak, it was great to find 2 new label variants and 2 new inner sleeves.
Which things didn't make the book, what is missing?
Dick Dekker: Nothing we found didn’t make it into the book. The only thing we decided to do is that when a record was made by different makers (Victor Company of Japan, Victor Musical Industry or RVC Corporation) with identical labels, where only the name of the maker is different, we pictured only one label. We also tried to avoid printing the same cover art for records where only the Catalog number differs.
Otherwise, the book would have been twice as thick and very boring. Of course, the caption of the pictures tells you about this.
David Ward: Flexi-discs that came with magazines with Elvis on the cover. The discs contained cover versions of Elvis songs. Non-Elvis records with Elvis’ photo on the cover are also not included, even the ones released on Victor.
And sadly, we were unable to find the OBI for ‘Elvis’ Golden Records Volume 2’, a Japan-only title from 1959. That was particularly “kuyashii” (a great Japanese word meaning regrettable and annoying).
Does the book cover only official releases or both official and bootleg titles?
Dick Dekker: I’m not aware of any Japanese bootleg records. Some Japanese records were bootlegged / counterfeited in Europe, but these are not included.
David Ward: Dick is right, I haven’t seen them either. Bootlegs from other countries are, however, quite easy to find in Japan.
How prevalent were RCA Japan Elvis “promo” records?
David Ward: We’ve found promos for the majority of Elvis’ Japanese releases, even 1950s LPs, EPs, singles and 78s. It’s likely that promo copies were made for nearly every title. The early ones are rare, but the promos from the 1970s and 1980s are not all that rare in many cases.
Dick Dekker: Oddly enough, some LPs are harder to find with an orange label than with a white promo label. Non-white promo labels are hard to find and therefore very desirable. Throughout the book we list many promo records.
The book comes with a nice 45 RPM vinyl single; please tell us the story behind this?
Dick Dekker: This single was originally scheduled for release in November 1965 but it was eventually cancelled for reasons unknown to us. We have found the original test pressing and put the scans of it in the book. This was a nice find and we thought it would give the book something special for the collectors.
Dick Dekker: Yes and they should! I wish that I had a record guide like this when I was young.
David Ward: To help you start and find your way, our book is probably all you’ll ever need as a guide to Elvis’ Japanese releases for whatever you buy.
As far as buying Japanese vinyl goes, I’d say beware the “excellent minus” (EX-) grading of record covers when shopping online. This is a grading used by Japanese sellers and means “nice but stained”.
Our book will either tell you when it was made or show you how to find out for yourself. It will also tell you what came with the record, such as an OBI, insert, poster, and so on. There are hints in the text about how rare certain items are but it’s not a price guide.
Will fans or collectors still collect Elvis from Japan vinyl in 10 years?
Wrap-up
Do you jointly or individually have any plans for future Elvis books?
David Ward: I still want to do a book on Elvis’ movies in Japan, but it will be very costly to get all the posters, programs and other movie-related paraphernalia required to produce a good photo book. I may have to trouble my newfound Japanese friends again. I’d certainly love to work with Dick again. The project came together very smoothly.
Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
I can imagine plenty of dealers getting browned off by questions about runout areas too (laughing)
Dick Dekker: Like Melvin Presley said: Keep buying them records!
For more information on the book, and to order it directly from the author, please visit the >>> From Memphis To Tokyo page for more information and previews of the book.
You can also contact Dick Dekker at asia@theelviscloud.com