Customer Reviews

Elvis Presley

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the Elvis recording going into popular domain in Europe this year, RCA is finnally getting it right. The original albums, as they were, with bonus tracks, in the best possible sound, with original cover and back cover of the albums. Beautiful. The sound restoration is to write home about, using DSD technology, Elvis is suddenly alive again. You can hear him with such a clarity, every vocal inflexion he makes, it it just breathtaking, even compared to the remasters done three or four years ago. These three albums: Elvis Presley , Elvis and Loving You belong in everyone collection in this form. ESSENTIAL.

All my life I thought of Elvis as some relic of the 1950s which for some reason a fanatical group of people keep making pilgrimages to Graceland and keep buying his music. Well, I finally matured and got curious enough to genuinely try and see if I couldn't get past the pop-culture Elvis and see if I could understand just what made him a superstar.

I went shopping for "authentic" Elvis recordings. (I really hate when an artist has become so popular that the anthologies and greatest hits albums outnumber the original recordings two-to-one so that you have trouble even finding the albums in their original form.)

I stumbled on this one and bought it and...wow! This is the real deal! I feel like I'm listening to the beginning of the rock 'n roll era, and I try to imagine what happened when this was all new and just breaking on the music scene. It's like listening to history, and it's just plain well performed and fun to listen to as well. This CD is a steal!

So, now I get it. I finally get it.

This was rock and roll's first really big hit album and probably the first rock and roll album period! Of course Elvis was the first rock superstar. This album is underrated and under appreciated for its impact on popular music worldwide. It went to number 1 on the US album chart and stayed there for 10 weeks. As originally released in the US it contained 12 great songs and was a huge hit in the US and worldwide. It was an important part of the revolution in music that Elvis was leading. This reissue is even better than the original, with 6 bonus tracks including his first international hit, Heartbreak Hotel (it was not included on the original in 1956 because RCA did not want the album to hurt sales of the single; this was a common practice at the time). Despite no single being released from the original album, an EP was released including Elvis' version of Blue Suede Shoes which became a top 20 hit in the US and top 10 in the UK. Money Honey also became a minor hit and is my favorite song on the CD. This album was historic and is a must for Elvis and rock fans!

I have an appreciation for many forms of music but my musical growth stemmed from this one seed. This was the first album I ever bought when I was 9 or 10 years old (1973). Of all the music I've enjoyed in my life, my favourite genres are Rhythm & Blues, Rockabilly and Rock'n'Roll. And in the center of this musical era, you can't avoid Elvis Presley. If you collect the finest albums of the Rock'n'Roll/Rock period, this album is a must!
At the time that this album was originally released (March-April 1956), Elvis was a singles artist having only his smash hit single 'Heartbreak Hotel'/'I Was the One' on the national charts. RCA Victor's A&R man, Steve Sholes (supervisor of country and R&B recordings and the man who purchased Elvis and his Sun recordings from Sam Phillips in 1955) assembled this album from the collection of Sun singles and new RCA Victor Nashville recordings (Elvis' first RCA recording session, January 1956) where Sholes hoped to replicate the Sun sound. Sholes assembled a grab bag of Presley recordings that were not destined to be used on 7-inch singles.
The result is an album that documents an emerging new sound that will not only excite millions of young ears but will also influence many Rock, Pop and Country music artists all around North America and, more interestingly in terms of Rock history, overseas. The new sound here is Rockabilly and what we're hearing is a classic '50s Rockabilly quartet: Scotty Moore on electric, lead guitar, Bill Black on acoustic "doghouse" bass, D.J. Fontana on drums (lots of snare), and Elvis as the centerpiece, with vocals, acoustic guitar, and, for the stage audiences, gyratin' visuals. Elvis envisioned himself as a Pop ballad singer (a la Dean Martin) but this was the new style and sound that Sam Phillips, who originally produced and recorded black R&B talent at Sun Records, convinced him would make him stand out and be noticed. From 1954 to 1956, Elvis and the band honed this sound to a unique style through the sessions at Sun and through continuous live performances throughout the South. This, now, is the point where Elvis and his new sound is moving from being a regional phenomenon (via the regional Sun singles recordings, live stage performances and local radio play) to a becoming a national sensation (via a big-time record label, along with its publicity machine, and national television appearances).
Elvis came to form in a truly unique period in American music history and his style and tastes were formulated from many musical sources available to him in the early- to mid-1950s Memphis, Tennessee region: Gospel, black Rhythm & Blues/Rock'n'Roll, Pop, Country and Hillbilly (from which he helped develop Rockabilly). These sounds merged at this time and Elvis did not discriminate. He was infuenced in them all and he let them pour out developing his own style and genre.
Most of the selections were covers of other records by other artists but it's the sound that was cutting-edge, new and exciting. Five of the selections are Sun Session recordings on an album for the first time. The others are new Country and Rockabilly recordings including then-Rockabilly king, Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede Shoes' which was one of Elvis' staple live-performance numbers along with the Ray Charles, Little Richard, Joe Turner and Lloyd Price R&B covers included in the selection. I find it interesting that his covers of the R&B tunes are the most hard-hitting rockabilly numbers on the album. Critics of Elvis who diminish his contributions to Popular/Rock music due to his frequent use of cover tunes, especially those of black R&B artists. Elvis was never about "writing his own songs." Elvis was about style, performance, talent and originality. Let the Beatles and the Rolling Stones be famous for writing their own songs (even though many of their early recordings were cover songs). For me, Elvis has been the focal point from which I have been able to research my fond interests in black Rhythm & Blues music (c. 1941-62) and old Country (c. 1928-70).
Selections 1 through 12 make up the original selections from this classic album. The remaining six tracks are bonus selections which were originally three 7-inch singles recorded during the same session period.
And the album cover! It was a uniquely simple creation, it has become an often copied '50s-style design classic in itself!
Each time I listen to this seminal album, I am awed to be taken back to a truly original sound that would launch a great new era of music that has become known to us as the Rock Era! To complete the journey, I recommend this CD along with one of Elvis' Sun Session collections.
'Elvis Presley': The new sound of Rock'n'Roll, the "fad" that never died!

As a kid this album was the one that brought me to rock and roll. The new beat with its blues and country accent was the greatest. I knew when I first heard this album that something great was comming. I would sing along to this album everyday. I listned to it when I was lonly, happy,sad, or just wanted someting to listen to. I traded it to my best friend years later for something I could not live without ( I don't remember what now). I saw this advertised and said I need this.
This album along with the next one were Elvis' best they showed real raw talent. Everything else was just icing on the cake ( a lot of icing). Great cake. The voice shows real emotion and his own style. The basic style would never change. He was great in the beginning and at the end. He brought R&R to mainstream America. Parents hated him because he was honest, polite,respected his elders,did his patriotic duty, didn't drink or smoke, and was loved by their children. Think about where their priorities and values were.
I am so glad this album was made axailable for a new generation

RCA has done a fantastic job cleaning up the master tapes and giving us excellent recordings that accentuate the talents of Scotty Moore (guitar), Chet Atkins (guitar), Bill Black (bass), DJ Fontana (drums), Shorty Long (piano) and of course, Elvis Presley. The whole album is a rave up through the various harder rock, blues & country influences of Elvis Presley, recorded in four quickly assembled recording sessions in January, February, and April that really capture the raw essence of the Sun era Elvis like no other recording in Elvis's RCA catalogue.
If your looking for the rock 'n' roll Elvis, this is the cd that summarizes the period better than any other, as Elvis rips into bop-blues like One-Sided Love Affair, Ray Charles gospel like I Got a Woman, and two Little Richard covers (Tutti Frutti & Lawdy, Miss Clawdy. Throw in a few of his Sun recording in Memphis (I Love You Because, Just Because, Trying to Get to YOu, and I'll Never Let You Go) and you've got a hastily assembled but powerful record that benefits greatly from the six extra singles releases to give the album a comprehensive depth it lacked before.
The ballad side of Elvis is best represented on Elvis! (1956), but this album shows signs of his Dean Martin crooning talents with I'm Counting On YOu & I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.
Essential album, a top 100 in the history of rock 'n' roll by any critic with any mature understanding of the genre. The cover would later influence The Clash's London Calling cover (1979), not to mention the music influencing the gammit of followers.

If you're a rock-a-billy fan this album is a must for your collection. This early Elvis stuff with Scotty and the boys is rockin' Great sound quality and a nice collection of songs

The Mean Eyed Cat
KNON 89.3
Dallas Texas

This is his First Studio album. One of the best Albums of the 50s. Elvis has arguably the most recognizable voice in music history, buy this album and you will know why.

Just received my copy, and everything they said about DSD Technology and it's improvements were true! I can't stop playing this old album (his first), his Voice is amazingly "up front", the instruments sound crisp, and the hiss is all but gone. The extra tracks are from the same session and were originally left off the L.P., having these give a fuller chronological history, as some were B sides on singles.
I am now going to buy all of the other albums that have been enhanced (remastered) by DSD Technology, and even replace the albums I already have. (watch out eBay!)

Well, ya, this is a reissue on CD of an LP.
Clearly it's stood the test of time. A good
solid album as an album in itself. I think
you should get it as a supplement to a catch-
all Presley album (Best Of, Essential, etc.)
and then just enjoy playing the album.