The Book :
The book comes up to the title
of the homonymous DVD but that
is the only commonness you can
find. The producers chose the
same title because the book has
the same aim as the DVD: |
Elvis - Behind The Image
The aim to show the people Elvis
like they don't know him. |
The life of the artist who can show
himself in private moments without
being beleaguered by press photographers
all the time. Time and place are
optional: At home, in Graceland,
in one of his houses in California,
in the car or in the cinema. |
The anyway
indigenous concept of the Elvis
Behind The Image book series was
even refined at this issue. 'Elvis:
Behind The Image' - The Book Vol.
2 offers the fan more than 520
photos on over 140 pages. Thereby
the candids cover all three decades
in which the king was in the spotlight
and the media was interested in
him. The 50s are mainly black/white,
the 60s and 70s are documented
with color photos. The journals
of Sandi Miller enable the reader
once again a previously unknown
insight into the private world
of Elvis. Originally Sandi Miller
was an Elvis fan but she became,
like in a dream of every Elvis
fan, a close friend of Elvis.
So she was a guest on many private
parties, and she was a lot of
times present at Elvis' home
and at rehearsals in the RCA studios. |
Sandi Miller's journals |
Even at that time she kept detailed
records in a kind of journal about
the many meetings with Elvis so
she has a lot of memories, she
has saved over the years in her
journals, to offer us. So she
can report about every detail
like it just happened yesterday.
Bud Glass was, however, able to
enthuse during his researches
other contemporary witnesses for
the project, thereunder famos
names like Jean-Marc Gargiulo
or Livio Monari, who describe
their memories at those times,
their personal moments and meetings
with Elvis detailed to the reader.
These reports are being in-depth
accompanied in the finest 'Behind
The Image' manner with sensational
photos which mirror these incidents
impressively.
Why are so many fans only crazy
about the young Elvis of the 50s?
Is it his look, his charm or his
unbiasedness or due to him standing
out from the crowd because of
being different ? Everybody has
to find the answer for himself,
but the documented incidents in
word and picture ease the search
for the right answer. There is
the young Elvis who is just having
a break and lays down in the backstage
area to relax before the concert.
There are the members of the 'Presleyettes'
fan club who come to Elvis to
the Beverly Hills Wilshire Hotel
in Los Angeles and he takes the
time to talk to them and to pose
for collective photos and doesn't
decline their wish for autographs.
You surely knew that Nick Adams
was a friend of Elvis. But do
you know the photos showing the
two Hollywood stars together ?
In Behind The Image - Welcome
To His World are not only these
moments documented with photos
but also the rare incident where
Elvis shows his friend his property
Graceland and the very rare photos
where you can also see Nick Adams's
mother for the first time. |
Photos
taken from the book 'Elvis:
Behind The Image' - Volume 2 |
Elvis
caught the attention from most
of us by a movie in TV or by a
recording in the radio. His ability
and his talent came to our home
in the best manner. But this media
shows however only one side: they
show an Elvis who knew exactly
that he had to look after every
little move and his look, and
that he was only allowed to do
tiny jokes. The other side is
offered you here in Behind The
Image. Be 'there' when Elvis stops
in front of his different gateways
with his sumptuary cars to search
the closeness to the fans: during
a short small talk, during candids
with babies or how he is making
faces or when he is not in such
a good temper but anyway he takes
5 minutes time for the fans giving
them a moment they will never
forget their whole life.
The photos document not only the
loose and easy-going kind of Elvis
during his spare time, but they
show outstandingly why the youth
of that time took Elvis as a role
model and followed suit concerning
Elvis' look and clothes. His
incomparable style should cause
him being even alive a trend setter
and that the trend he coined is
still up to date nowadays. Experience
Elvis how he is being surprised
with presents by fans in 1968
for Father's Day, how he visits
the USS Arizona War Memorial to
whose construction he has contributed
with his benefit concert in 1961
- an Elvis who is just coming
home from the shooting of the
68 TV Special and still wearing
the suit from the Gospel sequence... |
Never
before seen photos from the
50's featured in 'BTI 2 - Welcome
To His World'
|
Accompany Elvis backstage during
his Comeback engagement in 1969
in Las Vegas, be present during
the key commissioning of the first
American Stutz, experience more
about the meeting between Muhammad
Ali and Elvis and how it came
to Muhammad Ali standing suddenly
in the ring in a jumpsuit design.
Behind The Image is showing for
the first time the photos which
break all speculations off, whether
Elvis was present at the Ali-Frazier
fight in Memphis.
See Elvis' astonished face when
he suddenly meets a double of
himself, the sensational photos
of the private Elvis who leaves
the cinema with some Nunchakus
at his belt and a gun he has put
easy-going behind his belt at
the front. Experience the sport
avid Elvis in the karate studio
together with Ed Parker and how
he poses in the karate studio
in a jumpsuit for common fan photos.
The rumor that the late 70's Elvis
was only tired and dull is being
disproved by this book impressively
in reports and pictures: on one
side there is an Elvis totally
inflamed with rage, who leaves
his hotel because the air condition
has given up the ghost and runs
into the next hotel directly across
the street to escape the summerly
heat.
Imagine
Elvis two days before his death
on his Harley with a flower
arrangement on his carrier -
without the company of his bodyguards
- on his way to Forrest Hill
Cemetery where he lays down
a bouquet at his mother's grave.
Behind The Image does not only
give you the story to this surely
unique moment, but provides
also the according pictures.
Experience
for example how Elvis became
'Mr. Lipton' or how he stops
at 'Taco Bell' and why he leaves
again by saying 'Awwww f***'.
This book will lead you through
any human emotions you are able
to: You will be amazed, you
will laugh, you will cry or
you'll just be touched.
The Realization: |
|
With
the release of 'Behind
The Image - Vol.1' and 'Born
To Rock' every time new standards
were defined and set so that the
producers have made it their aim
to continue with this tradition
at the latest production. Quality
starts, as you know, outside.
Due to your bookshelf looking
good, the same dimensions as on
BTI 1 were used. As well, like
at the homonymous predecessor,
a hardcover was chosen. BTI 2
uses the same high quality printing
process how it was already used
for 'Born To Rock'. In addition
the paper got a special treatment,
a surface coating was applied,
which will protect the pages from
fingerprints remaining.
The more than 520 photos in this
book are being supplemented with
over 50 different illustrations
like memorabilia, ticket stubs,
newspaper articles or personal
items. |
You
surely know the phenomenon of
the flip-book:
A lot of small detail screens
make a complete movie in their
entirety. The unique concept Bud
Glass has created makes a movie
develop in the heads of the readers
due to every event being supplemented
not only by one picture but if
possible by the whole photo series. |
So
the comparison with a comic (
how BTI 1 was called in a review)
is pretty near. The special thing
about the 'BTI - flip-book' is
however that it is not a silent
movie, the according reports of
the contemporary witnesses give
the whole thing life. When you
read the book you will think afterwards
you would have been present in
this stories.
The aim to create a condign predecessor
who doesn't have to hide in the
shadow of the original was reached
by the producers with the thought
'evolution instead of revolution':
The fan gets on nearly 20 additional
pages more than 200 photos compared
to the first volume to the same
price and the time frame, which
covered in BTI - Vol.1 1966-1975
was now expanded to the time frame
1956-1977. |
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