Review - The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book

The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book

This is a great looking book, well bound and using excellent quality of paper. Already from the cover illustrations, it is clear that this is something special, for these are not the run-of-the-mill photos we are normally served up with. The front cover is adorned with a beautiful, informal portrait of an apparently very relaxed Elvis, while the back cover shows a strangely wide-eyed Elvis (the significance of which is explained in the book's text). The large-format book presents its text in both German and English, using two columns per page, the left for German and the right for English. Strangely, although it is a book prepared and published in the EU, the English translation uses American English spelling and date formats instead of European (i.e. UK) English.

Author Andreas Roth has tried valiently to unearth the truth of what happened during these brief periods of Elvis' life, when Elvis was in the army in Germany and he took leave, during which times he visited Munich. True, Roth has to admit that there are simply too many conflicting reports to be able to be certain of everything, but he still succeeds in presenting the evidence, accompanied by some excellent photos (many previously unseen) in a highly readable book.

Charlie Hodge & Elvis Presley from the book 'Elvis In Munich'

In spite of the many difficulties involved in trying to accurately reconstruct events of almost fifty years ago, the author of 'The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book' has unearthed some fascinating facts about what Elvis did and where he went during his visits to Munich and especially about the time he spent together with attractive starlet Vera Tschechowa and with the girls of the Moulin Rouge. Roth has also discovered that Elvis made a previously unknown visit to another night-club in the city and provides four pages of excellent photos from that visit, very few of which have been previously published and none previously placed in their correct context. A perhaps less successful section of the book involves an attempt to identify the location, possibly in Munich, of the photo studio in which a number of photos of Elvis, used for record sleeves (e.g. 'Elvis Is Back') were taken. No real conclusion is reached. though the most likely candidate to date, Paulini of Munich, is eliminated.

As well as his own basic text, Roth provides transcripts of interviews he held with eyewitnesses to the events and contemporary press articles, from both German and English-language publications. The book is excellently illustrated with photographs, but also with very interesting newspaper cuttings, magazine covers and even previously unpublished publicity shots, most in black-and-white, but some in stunning colour.

Elvis throws a basketball to Robert Marquette. From the book 'Elvis In Munich'

In some ways, 'The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book' can be compared to 'Private Elvis' (1978), by Diego Cortez, which is illustrated with many of the same photos, but whose text is poorer and more superficial, giving it a much 'seedier' overall impression. To a large extent, the books complement each other, with the advantage of research and style definitely leaning towards 'The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book' and producing a much classier result.

All in all, 'The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book' is a very well produced, interesting document, revealing a lot about a few brief periods of Elvis' life about which relatively little reliable information is otherwise available.

Author: Andreas Roth
Hardback, 115 pp.

Buy The Ultimate Elvis In Munich Book

Charlie Hodge & Elvis Presley from the book 'Elvis In Munich'

Other Reactions:

'INCREDIBLE... Amazing... very high quality and very wonderful
pictures of Elvis. When will you come to Brazil?' - L. Moreno, Brazil

'The book is really, really great. Big 'thumbs up' on this book.
It is one of the best books I know about Elvis.' - Ms. G. Neumann, Germany

'It is an unbelievably wonderful book, both in content and in the quality of the paper. I don't think we have that good a quality paper in the USA.' - Bill E. Burk, Elvis World Magazine

'Just fantastic. Thank you so much for your wonderful work and research. Your book looks great. Absolutely stunning unseen pictures. I'm so glad to have your book about Elvis in my collection.' - Elena Shuvalova, Moscow / Russia

'My opinion on this book: Very informative, captivating, concise and very well-structured!!! To sum it up, it is by far the best publication on the subject.' - Manfred Wolfsberger

'My compliments for the nice job you did. This is a very impressive book!' - Rien van Houten, Holland

'I think it's really awesome! Keep 'em coming!' - Barbara S., Austria

'Sensational - that's all I can say!' - Heribert Schaack, eyewitness

'I find the book extremely well done' - Gerald Rossner, eyewitness

'You have every right to be proud of your book. Very good work, indeed. It looks most impressive and ... the contents are extremely interesting.' - David N., Belgium

'To me, one of the highlights in this book is the color photograph
of Elvis at the Exotarium in Frankfurt.' - Andreas M., Munich / Germany

'Fantastic! A combination of Caught In A Trap and Flashback!' - Chris Schefer, Munich/Germany

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