Music photo archivist Michael Ochs developed an addiction to rock 'n' roll in the early '50s. To feed his habit, Ochs headed the publicity departments of Columbia, Shelter and ABC Records in the '60s and '70s. He has also been a disc jockey, taught a rock-history course for UCLA and written for such magazines as Rock, Melody Maker, Cashbox and Crawdaddy. Ochs established the Michael Ochs Archives in the mid-'70s. The archives currently house millions of photographs and more than 100,000 albums and singles.

Elvis Presley is arguably the most photographed star in the history of rock 'n' roll, and Ochs possesses one of the largest stores of Elvis pictures this side of Graceland. Guiding us through a selection of Elvis images both iconic and lesser-known, Ochs, in his own words, delivers his impressions of the Hillbilly Cat who would be King.



RCA Records Promotional Photo, 1956: I believe this was the first color handout from RCA [Elvis' label]. They gave it to newspapers as 35mm slides. The way they deified him, from the colors to the lighting to the pose, it's totally godlike. If you want an image that sums up the true beauty of rock 'n' roll, this is so beatific it's almost beyond description.

'Loving You,' February 1957: I was offered that outfit years ago. One of the set decorators had one of the three copies of that outfit, and he offered to sell it to me for $10,000 in the early '70s. And I went, "I can't afford that." It's probably worth a couple of hundred thousand now.

'Jailhouse Rock,' 1957: For some reason, people think this typifies the real Elvis. I don't think it does. I think the importance of this photo is that besides Elvis being the father of rock 'n' roll, it shows that he had some natural smarts. In 'Jailhouse Rock,' he personally choreographed all those dance numbers. Those were all his ideas. His gyrations put Michael Jackson to shame.

'Blue Hawaii,' April 1961: This picture totally illustrates his unfortunate movie career. I especially love the fake rock that's holding the surfboard. The whole thing exemplifies his Hollywood years. This was a Paramount [Studios] giveaway -- they sent out 8x10 color positives to the newspapers, which is very unusual.

'Milton Berle Show' Rehearsal, June 1956: There was a photographer for the teen magazines named Earl Leaf, and Earl mostly shot movie stars. The only two '50s rock 'n' roll sessions he's done have been for Ricky Nelson, and he got to photograph Elvis at this 'Milton Berle Show' rehearsal. I think Earl Leaf's shots are just as good as Alfred Wertheimer's. You can see the complete intensity -- just riveting.

Backstage at the 'Milton Berle Show,' June 1956: Again, this [Earl Leaf photo] just reminds me of an Alfred Wertheimer shot. The great thing about Elvis was he was very natural. He was so into the moment and into being Elvis the simple country boy, versus the biggest-selling recording artist in the country. He was always true to himself. To capture that -- that's not posing, that just him.

Elvis on 'Milton Berle Show,' June 1956: This is also an Earl Leaf shot. It's the only time I have ever seen Elvis with his trio -- Scotty, Bill and D.J. -- and the Jordanaires all in the same shot. To me, that's just totally unique. And then you throw in the general feel of the extras -- the girls sitting there -- and the fake Colony Music Shop background. But the key thing is that I've never seen all of them together in one picture.

'Love Me Tender' Sessions, August 1956: This is Elvis the first time he ever recorded without his usual musicians. He's at the 20th Century Fox soundstage studio. There's the novelty of him playing piano, which one seldom sees. Here he is in a whole new milieu -- he's in L.A. There's an openness and yet a startledness and a freshness about this shot.

The 'Million Dollar Quartet,' December 1956: It was a Carl Perkins recording session at Sun Records. Elvis stopped by to see what's happening -- this was a year after he left Sun for RCA. Jerry Lee Lewis was always hanging around the studio -- he hadn't quite made it yet. So the three of them started goofing around, and [Sun Studio owner] Sam Phillips was smart enough to leave the tape running. After awhile, Sam realized the was an amazing occurrence, so he calls Johnny Cash and says, "Get over here quick!" So Cash comes over, and Sam calls the Memphis Press-Scimitar [newspaper] to send a reporter over right away, and they sent one with a photographer, fortunately.

Elvis' "'68 Comeback Special," June 1968: This is the most iconic image of that period -- the NBC comeback TV show. As good-looking as he was in the '50s, he was never better-looking than in this brief period. This is the epitome of Elvis' sexuality and sensuality -- to me, it just captures it all.

• PhotoSynthesis With Henry Diltz
• PhotoSynthesis With Danny Clinch
• PhotoSynthesis With Michael Ochs
• PhotoSynthesis With Neal Preston
• PhotoSynthesis With Bob Gruen