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There have been hundreds of books written about Elvis Presley since his untimely death in 1977, but not nearly enough have placed a strong focus on his music. Long-time Elvis fan, Shane Brown, seeks to rectify that with his enjoyable new book “Elvis Presley – A Listener’s Guide”.

The author’s objective is to present a “one-stop listener’s guide to the music of Elvis Presley for new and hardcore fans alike”. Brown takes a sensible chronological approach to his task, discussing each recording session in order, as well as a selection of the most interesting television performances, live concerts and informal recordings. In “re-evaluating” Elvis’ recorded output, Brown strives to avoid the rock-centric genre bias that he feels sometimes gets in the way of fair discussion of much of Elvis’ work, and instead considers each song on its individual merits. His hope is that this will “open up a new discussion on Elvis’s musical legacy in which the traditional views can be challenged”.

The idea of re-evaluating Elvis’ musical output is not a set-up for giving a pass to some of Elvis’ weaker recordings. Brown’s understanding and appreciation of Elvis’ work is evident throughout, but don’t expect any sugar-coating of the flimsiest material or performances. As a fan of Elvis’ best work, Brown’s contempt for some of the weaker musical offerings is very evident. He might even surprise you with his lack of enthusiasm for a performance that you hold dear.

For the 1950s chapters, Brown is generally in agreement with the conventional wisdom about the quality of Elvis’ performances and the importance of these recordings. He perhaps understates Elvis’ prowess as a ballad singer, but leaves the reader in no doubt that Elvis was an inspirational artist in this period, albeit susceptible to the occasional misstep. One man’s meat is another man’s poison, so readers will inevitably find themselves supporting some of Brown’s commentary and disagreeing strongly with other views, eg. I was surprised to see Elvis’ lively and enthusiastic work on “One Sided Love Affair” described as “annoying”.

Like many Elvis fans, Brown is clearly bemused by some of Elvis’ career choices, particularly regarding some of the songs that Elvis agreed to record. The weaker output, much of which was recorded for the 1960s movie soundtracks, is generally dismissed as unworthy, but Brown also mounts a defence of sorts on occasion. In the case of the “Frankie and Johnny” soundtrack, Brown does not try to elevate the songs to something that they are not, but he does note that the material was suited to the period depicted in the movie and that it is generally well performed and fun. In short, Elvis did OK with distinctly average material, which was not really good enough for an artist of his stature.

Brown is also supportive of the much better “GI Blues” soundtrack and of the movie itself, which he regards as “the nearest Elvis got to making a classic Hollywood musical”. We get a mini review of each movie, alongside the music, which is appropriate given that the soundtracks form an important part of the movies. This also helps to put the song choices in their correct context, ie as bizarre as it is to think that Elvis agreed to record the likes of “Dominic,” it would have been utterly unthinkable for him to have done so for a non-soundtrack session.

The best of Elvis’ non-soundtrack recordings in the 1960s included some of his very finest work, including the superb “Elvis is Back” (1960) and “From Elvis in Memphis” (1969) albums, classic singles such as “It’s Now or Never,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” and “Suspicious Minds,” and of course the material recorded for his 1968 television special. Brown rightly heaps praise on the well-known classic material, as well as less high-profile offerings such as the “How Great Thou Art” album and material from the pre-comeback non-soundtrack sessions in 1967. He is less complimentary about some of the early 1960s non-soundtrack material as, though generally beautifully sung and often pleasant, the step-down from the heights of the first post-army sessions is evident. From the reviewer’s perspective, there were too many examples of Elvis being too good for the material.

Elvis’ personal problems in the 1970s are well documented, so it is no surprise that he wasn’t always at his best on stage or in the studio. Overall, Brown provides a fair assessment of Elvis’ musical output in his final years, which ranged from the sublime to the highly unfortunate. He’s also rightly critical of how the RCA release policy and Elvis’ own lack of assertiveness led to some regrettable decisions regarding how some of the material was presented, eg the “Burning Love and Hits From the Movies” album.

Brown’s objective to re-evaluate Elvis’ career without genre bias is welcome and at times refreshing, but ultimately the familiar broad assumptions about Elvis’ career do tend to hold true, ie Elvis was a very consistent and dynamic artist in the 1950s; he bookended the 1960s with brilliance, but recorded a lot of poor material in between; and he produced some strong material in his final decade, but was sometimes hampered by ill health and other personal/professional issues. Brown highlights gems and unfortunate missteps from all stages of Elvis’ career, but the generally accepted conclusions about the trajectory of his career remain largely unchallenged because the bad and good choices are often quite obvious. Furthermore, while Elvis was proficient in singing many genres and fans have a huge number of superb recordings to enjoy, his 1950s rock ‘n’ roll recordings are rightly regarded as his most important contribution to popular music because it was those recordings that had the most cultural and musical significance. Brown just reminds the reader that there is a lot more to Elvis than the ’50s rocker, and that’s a good thing because Elvis was never a one trick pony.

Many fans will have read Robert Matthew Walker’s “Elvis Presley – A Study in Music,” which was first published in 1979, and might wonder whether they really need another chronological overview of Elvis’ songs. The simple answer is no, probably not, but very few books are essential. What you gain from reading “Elvis Presley: A Listener’s Guide” is determined in large part by what knowledge you begin with. If you are a casual Elvis fan who is looking to delve further into the Elvis catalogue, the book provides a solid overview of the material that you should seek out and also that which isn’t so desirable. If you are a diehard fan, you won’t learn as much, but you should enjoy reading what is a well-informed opinion on Elvis’ recordings and you might find yourself revisiting certain songs that you rarely listen to. Fans will also appreciate the numerous interesting references to early music and film reviews that litter Brown’s text and elevate it beyond a simple compilation of his own thoughts on Elvis.

“Elvis Presley: A Listener’s Guide” is recommended.

Rating: 4/5

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