Co-writers and friends, John Townson and Gordon Minto, have been collaborating on writing about all aspects of Elvis’s UK record releases since 1980. Each of their Elvis UK series of books have been greeted with critical acclaim by fans and collectors, principally for their comprehensive, exacting and exhaustive detail and accuracy.
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The authors’ first collaboration was Elvis UK (which also featured contributions by George Richardson) which was several years in the making and was published by Blandford Press in 1987. It was greeted with great enthusiasm by fans and reviewers alike and quickly went on to become extremely collectible and highly sought after, despite its high retail price tag at the time (£45).
The reviews were universally favourable and, among other things, it has often been referred as ‘… the bible’ regarding Elvis’s UK record releases as it dealt with every release individually: each single, EP, LP – and other miscellaneous releases – in great detail. Indeed, the highly influential Record Collector magazine chose it as its third best music book release of 1987. Copies of Elvis UK now exchange hands for multiples of its original selling price. But by the end of the 1980s, the book was out of print.
When first issued in 2002, the self-published Elvis UK2 The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley’s British Record Releases 1986-2002 more or less picked up where the first volume left off. It too was hailed as being an invaluable guide to Elvis’s UK record releases, especially during a period when vinyl sales were declining and losing out to compact discs.
The next project – Elvis UK3 – a mammoth 1400-page digital book focused entirely on compact disc releases between 1983 and 2005. It too met with great interest and acclaim. Then, in 2021, having been repeatedly asked if and when the original book would be re-issued (though this was never a practical or financially viable proposition. The authors set about transferring the original book into a digital format, adding 60 newly written bonus pages.
Further digital books followed until the authors – bowing to popular demand – reverted to producing softback editions, including Beyond RCA. Extended and Cover Story.
The latest series, launched in July 2026, which deals with all the LP album releases between 1956-2005 almost completes the full revision of the original Elvis UK book.
Finally, please note that while the digital flip book editions are no longer advertised for sale, anyone interested in owning a copy, – especially overseas collectors deterred by high postage costs – please email us at [email protected] and we will do what we can to help.
All of the currently available titles can be seen in the Store.