Elsewhere Farren has made no secret of the fact that he, like many teenagers of his generation, was profoundly affected by the young Elvis, and also acknowledges the debt owed by ensuing generations to Elvis's early legacy. In addition to his own adulation of Elvis, Farren's credentials as a music journalist could mean that it would have only been a matter of time before he would write a book about Elvis anyway. He has since put his name to several other works on Elvis. However, putting aside whatever motives Farren had for producing this book, it provides the nearest to a complete picture of Presley in his own words that was possible from a limited legacy of interviews. Presley was not renowned for prolific public outpourings, perhaps due more to Colonel Tom Parker's design than his own, particularly throughout the sixties.

This book then draws mainly on assorted newspaper and radio interviews from the 1950s, which, unfortunately, as Mick points out was an era when interviews weren't geared to anything more cerebral or thought provoking than questions like 'What's your favourite colour?' etc. This is probably nowhere else more apparent than in the first chapter "Early Messages to the Fans" where some of his comments are completely at odds with his bad boy, provocative hip swivelling image. He comes across as a good wholesome American boy, who is six feet tall, 195 pounds, doesn't drink or smoke, and who one day looks forward to settling down with a home and a family. The next fourteen chapters deal with subjects such as "Rock 'n' Roll", and "The Movies". But even if you wanted to read about the squirrel stews of a poor childhood, or his prediliction for fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches forget it! The closest you're gonna get to Elvis's quaffing habits are that he usually gulped down quick sandwiches between shows, and he enjoyed 'having a big dinner with three pork chops and plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy'. The cheeseburgers and fries wouldn't come until later!

To help supplement the interviews there are numerous photos, 'many of them very rare pictures of the raw young Elvis in action'. Certainly there is enough written and photographic material here to satisfy the most zealous fan, but you still get the impression that something's lacking. Presley seems to be holding back, restrained, censored, or maybe it was just the nature of 1950s interviews after all. Whatever, it means that his comments appear rather flaccid and lightweight at times, and the book concludes, appropriately enough, with his "Last Statement to the Press" in which he concludes somewhat humbly 'I hope I haven't bored you'. To be fair though, in light of subsequent revelations about the Colonel's control over Elvis, it could be construed that some of his comments were not necessarily 'his own words', or perhaps he really was that vacuous. But regardless of some of the banal responses to some equally inane questions - which inevitably crop up throughout the book - this is as close as you're gonna get to what came out of the horse's mouth.