Customer Reviews

Something for Everybody

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In its original form, SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY wouldn't qualify as one of Elvis' greatest albums. While a solid enough package of songs overall, the 1961 LP boasts neither any hit singles nor any particularly stunning musical moments. Its division into an A side of ballads and a B side of rockers makes for some repetitive stretches, and the decision to hijack what would have been its strongest number ("I Feel So Bad") for a single required RCA to pad the album with a rather out-of-place movie tune ("I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell"). The result, as the title suggests, is a decidedly mixed bag, with a few strong performances ("There's Always Me" and "Gently" stand out among the ballads; "Put the Blame on Me" and "I Want You With Me" highlight the rhythm side) amid a lot of undistinguished filler. Not bad, certainly, but very much an album geared toward the Elvis enthusiast.
As reissued on CD, however, SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY is an altogether different and starrier collection, effectively anthologizing the King's 1961 non-movie work and proving decisively what a riveting and gifted performer the post-army Elvis was. This startling transformation is accomplished by a mere half-dozen bonus tracks, opening with the classic "Surrender" (which showed Elvis scaling new highs as a vocalist and introduced a greater degree of complexity in his records' arrangements) and continuing through the celebrated singles "I Feel So Bad," "His Latest Flame," "Little Sister" and "Good Luck Charm," all of which rank among the King's very best 1960s work and several of which would make the short list of his greatest songs in any era. Similarly impressive is "Anything That's Part of You," a melancholy ballad which almost prefigures the heart-rending performances Elvis would start committing to tape nearly a decade later. The addition of these outstanding songs turns a largely mediocre album into a tight, tough forty-minute compendium of one of the King's better years, and a package truly worthy of its name.

This is a terrific album. If you are adding to your Elvis collection, then this should be at the top of the list. Crammed full of great songs. My personal favourite, Put The Blame On Me, is terrific. Puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. Why this wasn't a huge hit, I don't know. His Latest Flame, I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell, Sentimental Me, Little Sister - could you ask for anything more!? Anything That's Part of You - what a song! Should have been one of his biggest hits.

This is one Elvis CD to put on, put your feet up and just listen. Even better, put it on in the car and sing at the top of your voice.

This is one you must own. Even if you're not a huge Elvis fan, this one should be in your collection.

Something For Everybody is by far one of Elvis's best albums.
This remastered version has the added hits, Marie's The Name among others. From the romantic solo's to the hard rockin hits, this cd has everything!

Released in 1961, this was Elvis' third non-soundtrack album since returning from US Army duty. The album was a big hit, reaching number 1 in the US and number 2 in the UK. The first half of the CD is primarily ballads with the last half is uptempo rockers. This is one of Elvis' best album and an outstanding example of early 1960's pop and rock.

Every cut is good. Elvis had it.

Have played this hundreds of times over the years & never tire of it.
Beats anything the Beatles put out.

This is what the good 60`music is all about.
Very good singer,good musicians and best sound possible.
You have never heard Elvis`s voice as clear as this,amazing sound.It does contain outtakes from sessions,lots of them.Hear Elvis work out "Little sister" in studio live,and other well known classics.
Music is awesome,very good stereo effect.
They do not have such good stereo seperatinon these days.You can`t live without this cd,test your hifi set with Elvis now.

This album may have been Elvis' goal from the beginning: a chance to express the "glory of love", as he sees and feels it. Although the entire second side is [tacitly] for the guys, the whole project exudes a very rarified vision of romance. His ballad singing is unlike *anything* he had done before, or anything anybody else had done before. Ofcourse Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Tony Martin, and thousands of others could deliver a love song. But here Elvis takes the listener to a special place on several songs, to wit, the album OPENER - the rather grandiose celebration of the heart, "There's Always Me", a Don Robertson composition, featuring a magnificent high note ending. (I still can't believe that the engineers allowed most of that long note to be drowned out!). The performance was so successful it was deemed worthy of a single A side issue in '67! Another fine effort is "It's A Sin", a country ballad from the '40s. This is perhaps Elvis' most impressive example of his new near-falsetto ballad style. His vibrato was never stronger. "Gently" is a rhythm ballad, more in the folk tradition. There are a few other amazing entries here. Unfortunately, there is very little else in this collection for the fan who likes to move to the grooves. Two professional entries "Give Me The Right" and "Sentimental Me", fall in between the romance-or-rock scenario, too heavy for Romance, and too light for Rock. Both needed a middle-eight in the style of "One Night". The uptempo tunes are well-arranged, and feature exciting solos, but the man himself never sustains a real raucous sound - most of the medium to fast numbers are also sung in the genteel manner. The closest thing to the '50s Elvis, or even the 1960 "Elvis Is Back" Elvis is "I Want You With Me", somewhat similiar in structure to "Trouble" from King Croeole, and "Put The Blame On Me", a funky striptease beat which showed up nicely in the under-appreciated Tickle Me. The additional 1961 cuts ofcourse elevate the original 12-tuner - too bad "Little Sister", "...His Latest Flame", and "I Feel So Bad" couldn't have been in the starting lineup. (Although the afficionados know that they were great non-LP 45s at the time).

This Cd is awesome. The songs on this CD are great. One of my favorites is There's always me.

When Elvis got out of the army, he made a bunch of great studio albums and soundtracks, he was at the top of his game while recording and it shows on this album! The sound quality is great, Elvis never goes off key or makes a mistake, he really studied these songs before coming to the stufio to record. It's hard to find a bad take of any of the songs, even the ones they didn't use are wonderful!

As with the CD versions of his first two vinyl LPs for RCA - Elvis Presley and Elvis - this one adds six [tracks 1 and 13 to 17] to the original CD version [2370-2-R] of the June 1961 vinyl LP put out by RCA/BMG a few years ago.

As I speculated in my review of the CD Elvis, this was probably due to the changing habits of consumers who, after getting over the novelty of the CD format, wanted something more than the 10- or 12-selection issues that permeated the market back then.