Review

Paul Belard's publishing objective is to effectively do what has been done by other author's in a dominantly narrative form, by presenting the Elvis story (close to day by day) in a predominately visual format. Consistent with his intent to record the Elvis story chronologically in pictures, there is minimal text, Belard letting the hundreds of impressive images tell the story. What narrative there is includes a one-page Preface, each day being introduced by brief text describing the major events of that 24 hour period and some historic documents and fan recollections.
The book also features a number of fascinating and rare "archival" media and industry news reports.about the period covered.

The page design is very effective. The paper stock is of matte type with each page framed in black. The visuals are uniformly of a high standard and many are rare - there are a very small number of poor quality images which Belard has included due to their rarity and historical interest. As a group, the images are an eye-pleasing mix of many black and white and a smaller number of color photos. Many images are full page in size.
Verdict: Elvis historian Paul Belard's Elvis April 1956 is another fine release in his series of Elvis photo-books aimed at presenting a full history of the Elvis story in visual form. Its strength is in bringing together all of the most important and rare photos relating to this month in Elvis' life.
Nigel Patterson for the Elvis International Network.