Customer Reviews

The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

RCA Records spent the first decade after Elvis Presley's death releasing compilations wrongheaded at best (a Canadian tribute, a children's album) criminally negligent at worst (the "Elvis Medley," the re-recording "I Was The One"). BMG's takeover of RCA increased the flow of reissues, but also their quality; Elvis now stood atop the time and style he lived in, rather than had his songs sicced on trends or revivals.

"The Legendary 50s Masters" gives Presley the regal treatment given his subjects: Dylan, Clapton, Zeppelin. Its 140 songs across five discs (including rarities and a 1958 press conference), and deluxe booklet (including rare photos and author Peter Guaralnik's essay) preface and tell the first, happiest chapters of one of last century's most compelling stories.

Starting before the beginning with Elvis' original demo, "My Happiness," the songs tour his amazing first year at Sun, his RCA signing and the seismic musical and film success that followed. Before influencing the world, Elvis acknowledges his own influences, covering songs by Bing Crosby, Junior Parker, Bill Monroe, Ray Charles, and Clyde McPhatter among others. We also musically meet the supporting cast: Scotty Moore, Bill Black, D.J. Fontana, Sam Phillips, the Leiber/Stoller songwriting team, and others who painstaking created this supposed rock and roll explosion using ageless musical ingridients.

This set has so much to recommend and celebrate. Elvis' voice in all guises (growler, crooner, hillbilly) has never sounded clearer in music now nearly a half-century old. The fifth disc is a revelation, containing alternate takes of Presley's hits, a piece of the "Million Dollar Quartet" session, and three songs from his Las Vegas debut (suffice it to say his conquering of the town would come later). Even without these treats, "The Legendary 50s Masters" would, by packaging alone, be the finest posthomous Presley release and, subsequently, one of the finest box sets ever.

THE KING OF ROCK 'N' ROLL: THE COMPLETE 50's MASTERS is a four-CD set, with a bonus disc containing alternate studio takes, and a lot of "live" Elvis recordings-- MGM Grand stuff, mostly. Except for the acetate of "That's When Your Heartaches Begins" and the few alternates, DISC 5 is fluff.

The other four CDs however are a treasure trove of the music that defined "The King." From his one-of-a-kind 1953 recording booth acetate of "My Happiness" to the 1958 fast version of "Ain't That Loving You Baby," this set documents Presley's recording career in chronological order and without gaps.

The 102-page long box-sized book includes sessionography, discography, color photos of all LP, EP and 45 picture sleeves, an excellent bio in easy to read print, and lots of other color and B&W photos. Sound quality is excellent. This one gets five stars for the biggest star of all!

TOTAL RUNNING TIMES --
DISC ONE -- 71:22
DISC TWO -- 70:40
DISC THREE -- 71:49
DISC FOUR -- 62:39
DISC FIVE (Rare And Rockin')-- 61:31

Elvis is the singer who made rock'n'roll popular, although even in his early years he did not limit his music to that genre. This compilation containing (supposedly) every song that Elvis recorded during the fifties, plus alternate versions of some of them, shows just how good Elvis was at several different styles.

Here you get all his famous rockers including Heartbreak hotel, Don't be cruel, Blue suede shoes, Hound dog, Mystery train, Paralyzed, Party, All shook up, Jailhouse rock, Teddy bear and One night, together with great covers of Tutti fruiti, Shake rattle and roll and other classics. Of course, you also get his recording of That's alright Mama, the song that secured his recording contract.

Elvis also recorded a number of country songs, though not as many as he did later in his career. Sometimes (as with Blue moon of Kentucky), he re-interpreted them very differently from the originals, but most of his covers were more faithful, albeit adapted to his own style. I forgot to remember to forget, Old Shep, Have I told you lately that I love you, Your cheating heart and Fool such as I are among the country songs to be found here.

Elvis also recorded some brilliant pop ballads in the fifties. Love me tender is the most famous but there are plenty of others. Among the lesser known ones, I particularly like As long as I have you. Gospel music was important to Elvis and here you can find Peace in the valley, Take my hand precious lord, It is no secret and I believe. You also get the eight Christmas songs that Elvis recorded in the fifties including Blue Christmas and Santa bring my baby back.

This is the first of three boxed sets covering the music of Elvis. While the boxes for the sixties and seventies (which I reviewed a long time ago) are by no means complete, the music he recorded in the fits easily fits on five CD's. Indeed, there is enough room left for a long interview at the end of CD 4 (which I could have done without) and an entire CD of rarities.

This box illustrates just why Elvis was such a powerful influence on popular music in the fifties.

Elvis' monumental records of the 1950s are second to no one. The King earned his crown in the 50's and this set proves why. This set starts off with the 1953 acetate "My Happiness" which is the first time Elvis' voice was recorded on a record. After that piece of history, the first disc moves on to his most important recordings of all time and probably the most important recordings by any rock n roller, his Sun Sessions. Kicking off with "That's All Right", Presley began his smashing of music barriers and the soaring if his unmatched popularity. Other great Sun tunes (all of them are great, really) are "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Baby Let's Play House" and the final Sun tune, "Mystery Train". By time Elvis' recording deal was sold to RCA in November of 1955, the latter was climbing the national country charts and Elvis was a huge star in the southeastern portion of the US. The first disc wraps up with Elvis' first RCA sessions which produced classics such as "My Baby Left Me", "I Was The One", "Blue Suede Shoes" and his first #1 national hit "Heartbreak Hotel". The 2nd disc opens up with the phoenominal Lloyd Price cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" which Elvis makes his own and continues through his 1956 material which includes covers such as "Shake Rattle and Roll", "Long Tall Sally", "Ready Teddy" and "Rip It Up", ballads "Love Me Tender", "Love Me", "Anyway You Want Me" and biggest double sided 45 single ever "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" as well as many other treats. The 2nd disc closes and the 3rd disc begins with his 1957 material which nearly equals his '56 output in quality. All the big '57 hits are on here such as "All Shook Up", "Teddy Bear", "Loving You" and "Jailhouse Rock" as well as a handful of gospel songs, eight of his best Christmas tunes and the original "One Night" version which is titled "One Night Of Sin". I never cared much for the music from his fourth movie, King Creole so Im not going to go out of my way to praise to first part of disc 4, but the second half showcases Elvis' final tunes before his army hitch. Such songs as "A Fool Such As I", "I Need Your Love Tonight", "A Big Hunk O Love" and others rank up there with some of the most important songs he ever sang as well as arguable the last great true rock n roll songs of the 50's. Disc 4 closes with a nice 15 minute or so interview with Elvis before his departure overseas. Disc 5 is a mixed bag of treats which features mostly previously unreleased alternate takes of his 50's recordings or previously unreleased live performances as well as another acetate "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" which was recorded about six months after "My Happiness" and about 6 months before "That's All Right". Elvis later went on to record "Thats When Your Heartaches Begin" in 1957 and was the B side of his smash hit "All Shook Up".

Like the 60's and 70's set, this also features a wonderful booklet with pictures, stories, and session notes.

Most of these recordings, alone, are classics by themselves. When they are put together in an box set, you have the ultimate of ultimate, the complete recordings of arguably the most famous rock n roll performer and singer of all time from a decade in time where he could do little to no wrong.

If God appeared and said I could have only one box set, or even one collection of music on cd, this is the one I would choose. This set is the only way someone, who did not actually live during the 1950's and through the initial Elvis mania, could even come close to understanding what it was like and do grasp his impact on music and culture. The great thing about this set is that it covers, even though all in the late '50's, different aspects of Elvis' carrer. It contains the Sun Sessions, the birth of Rock and Roll, the recordings of, probably, his four best movies and movie soundtracks, His most successful and best Christmas music, great early gospel performances, alternate and rare studio and live recordings and of course, all the other secular recordings of the decade. This box set argues not that he was and still is the King of Rock and Roll alone, but the King of Popular Music.

At almost 20 years old, this box set seems rather dated, and potentially dozens of new Elvis collections, compilations, and stereo remasters have been released in the past decade of Elvis mania. Don't be fooled, this box set may not have high quality stereo remasters of songs like say Elvis #1s or The Essential Elvis, but it does offer a lot of rare and complete recordings Elvis made in the 50s, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, it includes every single record singe he released during the start of his career in the 50s, to the end of the decade when he was serving in the army. That consists of over 100 songs, some of which never hit big, including his early songs that received little publicity when he was with Sun Records before he switched over to RCA and struck gold. A majority of this set consists of his RCA recordings spanning between 1956-1959, including a Christmas album and a few gospel singles. The first disc consists mainly of his Sun Studio recordings, including his first song My Happiness, which is a very rare gem and technically intended for more of a personal recording. The next three discs focus exclusively on his early RCA albums and recordings, which was when Elvis was at the height of his career and emerged as America's new favorite singer, spawning over a dozen top 10 singles in less than 4 years. These include his top songs like Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, and Don't be Cruel. Elvis sang a variety of music from gospel, to country, to blues, to rock n roll. As seen in his early recordings, he had soul and a voice that almost made him seem black. If you are an Elvis fan this collection does complete justice for the young Elvis of the 50's when he was the new sensation and I believe Elvis' 50's recordings are his best and outshine his later material. He had so many good songs and could sing them with such soul and energy, and the backup instruments accompany his style perfectly. The final disc contains rare takes from early concerts and demo versions of songs. Overall the perfect compilation, that does complete justice for fans of Elvis. It has pretty much everything Elvis put forth in the 50s, and that is when Elvis was at the top of his game. The booklet that is included also contains history of Elvis in his early years and interviews from people Elvis played with or knew and also his discography of the 50's and album covers with tons of pictures.

If you're an Elvis Presley fan there is no need to go into the details of the music that gave birth to R&R - it's all here. Everything he recorded in the 1950s. If you were born in 1977 or later and only know of The King from hearsay, this box-set is a musical history lesson.

Adding to the lustre of this wonderful collection from RCA Victor is the multi-page book containing numerous photographs, record label reproductions, including the Sun 78 rpm issues, all his LP/EP covers, poster reproductions, a complete 1950s discography, and reams of fascinating liner notes by Peter Guralnick.

There is also an advertisement giving you a compete listing of Elvis videos, along with a sheet of 36 "collectable" stamps depicting his album covers.

All in all, a marvelous collection which truly lives up to the adjective "essential" like no other.

It seems that every month RCA is cranking out some new compilation or "Best of" package of Elvis. But now finally, RCA gets it right! This box set features almost every song he recorded in the 50's in chronological order. It's fun to listen to each CD back to back (perfect for a road trip!) because Elvis' voice literally gets better with each song. If you're new to the world of Elvis you'll be amazed how many brilliant tracks there are that were never hits. It's also fun to hear Elvis before he was "in the Zone". For example, the opening track "My Happiness" which I recently learned on a tour of Sun Records in Memphis, didn't impress owner Sam Phillips at all. It's plain to see why. While Elvis had a fine voice, it didn't exactly scream out "Superstar" until he starting rocking out. In fact, in took Elvis a while to develop the real crooner voice. Although he enjoyed ballads, he didn't have the training or maturity to conquer slow songs until he returned from the Army. (Which is why the 60's box-set is so essential. His voice was golden by then!) Listening to early efforts like "Love Me Tender" in which his voice barely stays in key, one can only imagine how much better that song could've been sung by the post Army Elvis! However, he does a terrific job on ballads like "Don't" and "Is it so Strange". Elvis will always be the King, not because he wrote songs (he didn't) or because he was the greatest singer that ever lived (he wasn't) but because he had a gift for taking any song and making it his own. Countless musicians and engineers who've worked with him on these recordings went from scoffing at him (prior to meeting him) to calling him a "genius". That's something a lot of people will never get but us Elvis fanatics and those who were lucky enough to have worked with him. Nobody has influenced more artists or been copied more than him. And this collection explains why. Forget the myths, the tabloids, the rumors, and the Vegas years, this is the real Elvis; a man who truly loved and understood Rock 'N Roll.

This five CD box set features all of Elvis Presley's 1950s master recordings. Besides the master recordings, there are a few other things here. There are excerpts from a press conference given by Elvis when he went into the army. There are also demo tapes, alternate takes and some live recordings. Just about everything Elvis recorded in the 1950s was great, so you can't go wrong with this.

This is the definitive early Elvis recordings collection to own as well as begin one's journey when understanding where the roots of rock and roll began and forever changed the face of popular music. It is appropriately titled, ELVIS THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL: THE COMPLETE 50's MASTERS. These are master recordings that cover the years 1953-1959, and includes all of his legendary and classic hits, such as "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "Love Me Tender," and "Don't Be Cruel." Once one hears the somewhat haunting opening track, "My Happiness," a song made famous by Connie Francis, and subsequent unreleased tracks within the five CDs that have not been heard before, there is no doubt that Elvis had indeed an immaculate voice where he crossed musical genres and boundaries: blues, country, soul, gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly; undoubtedly he said it all during a Sun recording session, " I don't sound like nobody."

RCA and BMG music exceptionally and lovingly compiled this box set. Besides the five CDs, there also includes a beautifully presented souvenir book that provides a detailed chronology of Elvis's recordings, which includes his Sun and RCA records session dates as well as soundtrack sessions, catalog numbers of each US and UK album release, and most importantly, the book illustrates the excitement of Elvis mania with the display of photographs, singles, album covers, and short anecdotes and reminiscences of various sessions as noted by Peter Guralnick.

ELVIS THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL box set will leave one breathless. Elvis Presley was one of a kind, and continues to be emulated by fans and new generations alike as they discover and rediscover his music. Indeed, Elvis is still everywhere.