The King and Hi-Fi (secrets of Elvis' record collection): the June 2004 issue of Britain's excellent Record Collector magazine featured a very interesting article about what is in Elvis' personal record collection. It provides a great insight into Elvis' eclectic musical interests with many titles sure to surprise fans. The artists featured are a wide variety of names well known to fans and many artists fans will not have heard of before.

Some of the highlights (there are many more) include:

• Jingle Bells by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters is the earliest released (1943) single in the collection
• the collection includes significant numbers of R&B but remarkably few seminal rock & roll releases. The large catalog of artists included Johnny Ace, Ray Charles, Faye Adams, Joe Turner, Little Walter and Ivory Joe Hunter
• similarly, 'white' gospel recordings are well represented by names such as The Blackwood's, the Speer Family, The Statesmen, the Higher Ground and the Brock Brothers, while 'black' gospel hardly gets a look in, with only a handful of singles and LPs by artists including the Soul Stirrers, Golden Gate Quartet and the Rance Allen Group
• ballad recordings by The Clovers, the Crickets, The Platters, the Spiders, the Dominoes, Pat Boone and Glenn Miller/The Ink Spots
• the country music genre is well represented through recordings by Jimmy Little, Bobbie Gentry, Eddy Arnold, Rita Coolidge, Jim Reeves and Ray Price
• soul recordings by Smokey Robinson, Etta James, Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter and Ben E. King among many others
• records by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• choral recordings by the Bethany First Church of the Nazarene and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
• movie themes by Leonard Bernstein, Marty Gold and the Manhattan Pops
• (then contemporary rock sounds) The Allman Brothers Band , Free and Mott The Hoople records
• (then contemorary pop sounds) Jose Feliciano, Nilsson, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, Dionne Warwick and Anne Murray
• collection of speeches (In Search of Freedom) by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
• Charles Boyer's LP of spoken love songs (Where Does Love Go)
• the (symbolic single) I Can Make It With You by Jackie DeShannon
• several comedy albums including The First Family by Robert Kennedy impersonator, Vaughn Meader, and Laugh...Live from Jonathan Winters
• Red West's acetate of If Everyday Was Like Christmas (a festive theme recurred throughout Elvis' large collection with dozens of yuletide season titles)

The list of artists Elvis listened to is particularly broad. Apart from those mentioned above, others signifying an interesting cross-section of the musical rainbow are: Marty Robbins, Frank Sinatra, Brownie McGee, the Sunshine Sisters, Mac Davis, Rex Allen Jr., the New York Philharmonic, J.J. Cale, Glen Campbell, Bobby Bare, Bonnie Guitar, Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee, The Statesmen, Buck Owens, the North Cleveland Church of God, The Supremes, Jackie Wilson, Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, Dean Martin, Roy Hamilton, Adam Wade, Billy Vaughn, Della Reese, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Fontaine, Cliff Richard and Carla Thomas.

The authors (Steve Cairns and George R. White) found what they termed as some "cringeworthy" releases:

• The Andrews Sisters Greatest Hits
• Milton Berle's Songs My Mother Loved
• Hilltoppers' Present Tops In Pops

Other interesting inclusions include releases by:

• Max Bygraves Acker Bilk
• Bert Kaempfert
• Pat Boone reads from the Holy Bible
• two singles by The Partridge Family
• several "well worn LP's by David Cassidy".

Of special mention has to be Elvis' possession of "Ballads of The King (Songs of Elvis Presley)" by the Johnny Mann Singers.

And yes, for those of you wondering, Elvis' personal record collection included several of his own releases. Titles found included Elvis Is Back (reportedly well worn), Peace In The Valley (EP), A Date With Elvis (LP) and Jailhouse Rock (45rpm). However, Cairns and White state that it is "nothing like the full set".

The author's research was based on items seen at Graceland, Paul Simpson's book 'Rough Guide to Elvis', brief inventories published in Q magazine and notes provided by Scotty Moore.

Verdict: The King and Hi-Fi is a valuable new entry in our understanding of Elvis Presley the person. Until EPE releases a definitive catalog, The King and Hi-Fi is likely to stand as the most comprehensive examination of what is a most interesting subject. We recommend it to all serious Elvisphiles.

(Review, Source: EIN, 3 August 2004)

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