Sings Leiber & Stoller

Elvis Presley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 9, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000008JKJ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,474 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You don't like crazy music., August 23, 2007

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sings Leiber & Stoller (Audio CD)

This CD compiles the songs of Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller that were recorded by Elvis Presley. The first one of their songs that Elvis recorded was "Hound Dog", which had been an R&B hit for Big Mama Thornton a few years earlier. After that song became a smash hit for Elvis, Lieber & Stoller were asked if they had any other songs that might be suitable for Elvis. They submitted "Love Me", which had previously been a flop song, but Elvis turned it into a hit. Soon after that, Leiber & Stoller started writing songs specifically for Elvis. They wrote songs for his early movies Loving You, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole, along with a couple of non-soundtrack songs. Most of these songs were excellent, but Leiber & Stoller soon had a falling out with Elvis. It wasn't Elvis himself that they were upset with, but rather his manager Col. Parker, who wanted them to give Elvis a percentage of their songwriting royalties. They didn't like that at all, so they vowed never to write any more songs for Elvis. They stuck to that vow for the most part, with a few exceptions, including the time they helped out Doc Pomus with "She's Not You" (which is not included here because of Doc's involvement). So, most of the Leiber & Stoller songs Elvis recorded after 1960 were cover versions of songs previously recorded by other performers, from "Girls Girls Girls" up to "Saved" (which was part of the "Gospel Medley" in The '68 Comeback Special and is somewhat awkwardly edited to leave out the other songs in the medley). One of the main attractions of the CD when it came out was the first release of the Elvis/Ann-Margret duet "You're the Boss", although it's now available elsewhere. Elvis recorded two Leiber & Stoller songs in June of 1973, "If You Don't Come Back" and "Three Corn Patches", which are not included on this CD. It's true that they aren't particularly good songs, but they still should have been included for completeness sake. But this is still a very good CD of Elvis singing songs by a great songwriting team.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this CD is a winner, August 26, 2005

By 

COMPUTERJAZZMAN "computerjazzman" (Cliffside Park, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sings Leiber & Stoller (Audio CD)

putting together all of the Elvis songs penned by Leiber & Stoller was a stroke of genius. This CD showcases both the talent of Elvis as well as the great songwriting duo. Although a couple of the songs are well known (standard) Elvis tunes, there are some other gems here and the CD works on all levels, you will enjoy it for sure.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection, Tribute To Leiber & Stoller, January 12, 2006

By 

D.C. Hanoy (Athens, Georgia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sings Leiber & Stoller (Audio CD)

This relatively unknown album, even among long-time fans, is one of Elvis's best single disc, non-"greatest hits" collections put together by RCA/BMG (actually RCA UK). Unlike many other questionable rehashes put out by his label (does anyone remember Elvis Sings for Children and Grownups Too!), this collection contains great songs based on an artistically sound and well-deserving concept: Elvis performing songs written by a single composer, or in this case, songwriting team. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ("We didn't write songs, we wrote records") wrote some of Elvis's biggest hits, many appearing in his early (and best) films: Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and King Creole. This collection, put out on CD in 1991 in digitally remastered form, has great liner notes by Leiber & Stoller, as well as a great cover photo of Elvis and the songwriters perusing the sheet music to "Jailhouse Rock." It makes a great companion piece to the even less-well-known 'Elvis Sings Mort Shuman & Doc Pomus' (also known as 'Elvis Chante'), the other great songwriting team that Elvis frequently turned to for hits.