Elvis by the Presleys: An Intimate Look from Family and Friends

I've listened to the music of Elvis as long as I can recall. I've visited Graceland and I've lain a bouquet of yellow silk roses on his final resting place. With my daughters, I've even scribbled a message on the gates to Elvis' estate. I've read several biographies of the singer but the recent book "Elvis By The Presleys" was a disappointment.

Photographs - many from some of the Presley family's personal collections - are the one thing that makes the book worth owing. Many are candid snapshots, the type of photograph fans seldom see of their King. Others capture the glamor and homeiness of Graceland. Those who - like me - have visited Graceland will enjoy the nostaglic look at our own trips. Fans who have never made the pilgrimage to Memphis can get a feel for what the house Elvis called home is like. These photographs are the best part of the book by far.

Without the pictures, the book would be little more than a collection of rememberances from Priscilla (Elvis' ex-wife for the uniniated), his daughter Lisa, and others. Cousins recount a side of Elvis seldom seen by the fans and produce pictures of Elvis' grandmother who also made her home at Graceland. These personal stories do offer some insight into the man behind the myths but they're lukewarm. In these stories, Elvis is always good, he's ever wise, he's kind and thoughtful, he's near perfect. In short, he's all but infallible. Tales of his drug abuse (whether or not he realized that he was an addict is still under debate), the "other" women others have told about, even the girlfriend present at Graceland when he died are absent. So are any stories that paint the King in anything but a benevolent light.

It's evident that these family members - even Priscilla who divorced him - have fond memories. They loved Elvis - an Elvis that most of us never knew existed - and that's admirable. I didn't expect that the family members would dish any dirt about their most famed relative but Elvis isn't humanized either. He remains a larger-than-life caricuture of a man and that is the book's greatest failing.

Fans who want to know more about the real Elvis will be disappointed by this book. It's too sanitized, too carefully worded to let any real essence of the man escape. Priscilla's memories of being a fourteen year old romanced by a major rock-n-roll singer serving in the US Army are bland. The fact that her parents allowed her to move into Graceland as a teenager and co-habitat with Elvis (but without sex) is whitewashed until it sounds normal. Well, maybe for the King of Rock and Roll but not for most Americans in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

Elvis is depicted as a little eccentric but always good, kind, loving. He probably was - I don't dispute that. My personal take is that he was a nice young Southern man who could sing well and that Fate moved so fast that it left him bottomless, rudderless, and uncertain. In short, his fanastic fame created a prison for him rather than freeing him.

Priscilla talks about the decline in his career, a fact most most fans today forget ever happened. She blames it on his manager - Colonel Parker's - mistakes, never those of Elvis. The jewled capes and other fantastic costumes used in later years were designed to give him a new identity and give confidence - according to Priscilla. Hers is the dominant voice in the book by far which is interesting when you remember that she was the one who ended the marriage.

For Elvis fans, the book is worth a gander but unless you're attracted by the pictures, I'd try to find the volume at the local library rather than buy it. There's little new material and nothing that is either stupendous or surprising.

Elvis By The Presleys: Intimate Stories From Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, and other Family Members. Edited by David Ritz Copyright 2005 Elvis Presley Enterprises, published by Crown Publishers. Retail Price: $24.95