Ken Burke and Dan Griffin

Foreword by Brian Setzer

Chicago Review Press, USA, 2006, Illustrated, ISBN: 1556526148.

Until this book, The Blue Moon Boys story has never before been told in such vivid, riveting detail. Treating its main characters as sublimely talented individuals with human flaws, Ken Burke & Ken Griffin paint a complex portrait of an innovative threesome/foursome, the template for the rock 'n' roll band, who produced a surging new musical force which laid the early foundations of a bourgeoning youth culture and would eventually transform our society. While most author's focus essentially on Elvis in this process, Burke & Griffin strip away layers of journalistic bias to reveal the often anionic nature of what occurred in the mid to late 1950s. It is a journey through the organic, and one which is richly rewarding in its detail, color and feeling.

Another strength is the author's penetration of the psyche of each character, bringing to the surface the emotional elements and tensions which affected each of The Blue Moon Boys during and after their direct association with Elvis.

There are many candid revelations on the character and emotional responses of Scotty, Bill and D.J. For example:

Presley's death forced a rare crack in Moore's stoic manner, causing his voice to break as he spoke about it to his fourth wife, Emily. There were too many things left unsaid between them, too many hurts and slights that should have been forgiven. In the years to come, he would bury his conflicting feelings in compulsive hard work and a lot of scotch while avoiding everything that had to do with his days as a musician. When people would ask for interviews, he would refuse by simply shaking his head and saying, "Elvis is dead".

While the professional split between Elvis and the band has been well covered in earlier books and magazine articles, Burke and Griffin give it added potency as they explain in detail, using firsthand accounts, the circumstances which led to the split, the reconciliation, and beyond.

Taking the reader behind the scenes of the recording process, Burke & Griffin offer us tantalising insights into the dramas and successes often bubbling below and above the surface. On the positive side:

The result was sensational. The transformation of Bill Monroe's bluegrass standard [Blue Moon of Kentucky] into an R&B-fed rocker is one of the undisputed highlights of Elvis Presley's recording career. Oozing low-register sex appeal on the tension-building hooks ("Blue moon! Blue moon! Keep a-shin' bright") and yelping in joyous release on the verses, Monroe's mournful waltz-tempo ditty was reinvented into an R&B-tinged country rocker

On another incident:

Still struggling with his new electric bass (which was easier to hear during concerts) Bill Black reportedly couldn't master the song's intro. Frustrated, he thre the instrument down and walked out of the studio. without saying a word, Presley picked up the bass and, with Leiber recording a guide vocal, recorded the part himself - and he did a pretty good job of it, too.

The inability of RCA studio technicians to replicate the Sun Studio sound, sex crazed girls, concert riots, DJ Fontana's early days playing in strip joints, all these and a lot more are deftly woven into the luminous fabric of The Blue Moon Boys. It is eye opening stuff blending the ups, downs and stimulating adventures of a band which, at the time, could not have known that it was creating musical history.

The mention of drugs in 1956 and one incident where Elvis was apparently hospitalised to have his stomach pumped, may surprise many readers as it lends credence to the story, most recently promoted by the Denson brothers, that Elvis was a pill popper before he entered the Army. However, this is hardly a material issue in a narrative which reveres its flawed protagonists and eloquently stamps their place at the forefront of rock 'n' roll history.

The author's are blunt in their assessment of Elvis sans The Blue Moon Boys in the late 60s-early 70's, observing: In the world of late 1960s-early 1970s pop, Presley was actually better off without his old gang. It's hard to imagine Moore, Fontana, and the Jordanaires executing some of the material he would hit the charts with over the next few years: "In The Ghetto", "Suspicious Minds", "Kentucky Rain," and others...

Despite the confidence Presley displayed in performing the newer material in concert, the much-hyped studio LP these songs were drawn from, Elvis Is Back, was a relative failure. One of Presley's finest blues-drenched achievements, its initial run sold around two hundred thousand copies. In contrast, the mediocre soundtrack to Blue Hawaii (whicj features the romantic ballad "Can't Help Falling In Love") became his biggest selling-album of all-time.

What "The Blue Moon Boys" lacks is a recurring injection of humor. That was an important element which helped make last year's release, Dewey & Elvis, the best of 2005.

As it stands, Burke & Griffin's book is scholarly and well researched, shedding important light on the usually overlooked role of Scotty, Bill and D.J. in the Elvis Presley story and the crystallisation of a new form of popular music.

Verdict: "The Blue Moon Boys" is an overdue entry in the Elvis book world. Well written and illuminating many little known or previously unknown facts in the rise of Elvis, it is an important release which adds to our understanding of both the emotional responses of its characters and their pivotal role(s) in the story of Elvis Aaron Presley and the growth of rock 'n' roll.

Quote:

"Elvis Presley is the supreme socio-cultural icon in the history of pop culture"

(Dr. Gary Enders)

Quote:

"Elvis is the 'glue' which holds our society together....which subconciously gives our world meaning"

(Anonymous)

Quote:

"Eventually everybody has to die, except Elvis"

(humorist Dave Barry)

Quote:

"He is the "Big Bang", and the universe he detonated is still expanding, the pieces are still flying"

(Greil Marcus, "Dead Elvis")

Quote:

"I think Elvis Presley will never be solved"

(Nick Tosches)

Quote:

"He was the most popular man that ever walked on this planet since Christ himself was here"

(Carl Perkins)

Quote:

"When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew I wasn't going to work for anybody...hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail"

(Bob Dylan)

Quote:

"When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted was to be Elvis Presley"

(Sir Paul McCartney)

Quote:

"You can't say enough good things about Elvis. He was one of a kind"

(Johnny Cash)

Quote:

"And don't think for one moment he's just a passing fancy....he's got enough of it to keep him on top for a long time"

(R. Fred Arnold, Fury magazine, Aug 1957)

Quote:

"It isn't enough to say that Elvis is kind to his parents, sends money home, and is the same unspoiled kid he was before all the commotion began. That still isn't a free ticket to behave like a sex maniac in public"

(Eddie Condon, Cosmopolitan)

Elvis records reaching #2 & #3 on the Cashbox Pop Singles chart:

#2: A Fool Such As I (1959)

#2: A Big Hunk Of Love (1959)

#3: Hard Headed Woman (1958)

#3: One Night (1958)

#3: (You're The Devil) In Disguise (1963)

Elvis Facts:

Tickets for Elvis' show on March 29, 1957 in St. Louis cost $2.00 to $2.50

While in Germany Elvis was hospitalised with tonsillitis in October 1959

Despite being an illegal immigrant, photographic evidence shows Colonel Tom Parker traveled to Canada with Elvis in 1957

Elvis strongly believed there weren't enough good songs in King Creole to justify releasing a soundtrack album. RCA initially agreed, releasing two very successful EPs from the movie. A soundtrack LP eventually followed

During the 1960s Elvis had his own football team, Elvis Presley Enterprises, which played in the Memphis touch football league. In the 1962 final, EPE narrowly lost to Delta Automatic Transmission, 6-13

In Clambake, (Elvis) Scott Hayward's driving licence shows February 23, 1940...taking 5 years off Elvis' real age

In the 1970s Elvis was offered $5m to stage a concert in front of the Pyramids in Egypt. When the Colonel declined the offer, Saudi billionaires raised the offer to $10m