Customer Reviews

Such a Night: The Essential Elvis 6

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Such a Night: Essential Elvis Volume 6" is a stellar compilation of alternate takes from Elvis Presley's Nashville sessions during 1960-64. The best of these studio recordings show remarkable versatility and style, particularly "Give Me the Right," "Fever" and "I'm Comin' Home." It's also great to hear alternate versions of Elvis classics such as "Little Sister" and "It Hurts Me." With the exception of Presley's Memphis sessions in 1969, these Nashville tracks represent his best studio work during the 1960s. "Such a Night" once again proves that Elvis made his finest music after his return from military service.

Wow, I just can't get enough of this one. The sound is amazing and the cuts are out of this world.Vocally, Elvis may not have EVER sounded better than he did during this period of his life. Hats off too BMG for an OUTSTANDING product. It is A MUST HAVE.

There was nothing wrong with Elvis Presley after he came out of the army as this excellent selection of 20 Nashville studio cuts from 1960-64 amply proves. Yet the fact remains that his voice had changed and that the material he recorded was quite different from the regular pre-army stuff. The raw rock `n' roll was replaced by milder rock and pop, as illustrated by "Such A Night", "Stuck On You", "Night Rider", "Little Sister", and "Suspicion". In ballads like "Fever", "I Met Her Today", and "It Hurts Me" Elvis had never sounded better, attaining a kind of vocal perfection that is quite awesome. If there is anything that links these songs then it must be the quest for perfection by Elvis and his band. That these are "only" outtakes, some of them sounding at least as good as the masters, makes it even more amazing. The sound quality of this CD is outstanding. Highly recommended.

"Elvis Is Back" has always been one of my favorite albums and naturally not long after this 6th essential Elvis volume was released, I went to the store and purchased it. I had pretty high expectations. They were surely met and exceeded. The first five out of six songs are alternates from the "Elvis Is Back" sessions and are just wonderful, very crisp and clear. The remaining 13 songs span 7 Nashville sessions and years 1961-1964. Highlights from the disc are the title track, "Give Me The Right", "I'm Coming Home", "Night Rider", "Memphis" and "It Hurts Me". Overall, RCA/BMG did a great job of selecting good quality outtakes and mixing the studio atmosphere of the sessions to create a great feel for how these tunes were cut 40 years ago.
Ranks with Essential Elvis 3 as my top two favorites from the Essential Elvis series. A definite must have.

You'll either love this CD or think it's unnecessary (I love it). It would be great to hear the complete 'Elvis is Back!' sessions, alternate takes & all, just to see how the songs progressed (Note: That's Chet Atkins complimenting Elvis after the botched take of 'Stuck On You'). The reissued 18-track CD of 'Elvis is Back!' combined with this CD make a formidable case for those who claim that Elvis was at his peak vocally right after his discharge from the Army. His voice was still strong enough that he did not have to rely as heavily on his vibrato, which he tended to do -- sometimes annoyingly so -- during the late 60s & 70s. Also, song selection was generally good, sometimes great (it got a lot worse before it got better), and the studio band was awesome -- probably the best of that era, and not equaled until the Motown gang and L.A.'s Wrecking Crew hit their stride a few years later. Hats off to the original sound engineers/producers as well as those responsible for the remastering/reissue. You won't find many forty-year-old recordings that sound this good.

I have to ask this question, because this volume is labeled volume 6, despite the fact that RCA never issued volume 5 of this series. What gives?

Now onto the CD itself... lovely packaging and a gorgeous remastering job. As for the material, there's some great stuff here, primarily in the early "Elvis is Back" portion of the disc. But thing begins to bog down a bit in the second half as the material grows spottier. You could rightly argue that Elvis' material grew weaker on the whole over the 1960-64 period covered by this disc. Nonetheless, the King still had much better tricks up his sleeve than the soppy likes of "(Such An) Easy Question," "There's Always Me," "I Met Her Today," and "Please Don't Drag That String Around."

Anyone coming to this disc expecting significantly different arrangements or radically reworked approaches to these songs will be disappointed. However, there are some excellent vocal performances scattered across this disc, and subtle differences in approach on a handful of songs. There's also a moderate amount of the breakdowns and between-take jokes and banter that devoted Elvis fans -- myself included -- find charming in any collection of his outtakes. The nonconverted will just scratch their heads at the inclusion of this material.

Finally, I have to second the concerns of the reviewer below who notes that at least 4 of these tracks have already had (only marginally different) alternate takes issued elsewhere. And these songs aren't even particularly strong ones! You really get the feeling that RCA is milking its vault of Elvis alternate takes for every drop they can squeeze from it .... Otherwise, they'd just issue, in this case, a whole disc of alternates from the "Elvis is Back" sessions, which would be a far more focused and enjoyable collection than this uneven, occasionally brilliant, grab-bag of odds and ends...

There have been numerous attempts to repackage the Kings work over the years. While other releases have met the challenge, this cd by far outshines them all! Elvis never sounded better than this period. If I had to offer one disc to a person who never heard Elvis before, this would be the one. From the soulful "Fever" to the classic "Girl Of My Best Friend", it's easy to see why he's called the King!

Superb soundquality. Most of the material is unreleased to most, at least officially. It's great to hear the development of some of the songs, compared with the original. Sometimes it is obvious why Elvis did another take, sometimes you wonder "Why the heck didn't they take this one?". Highlights: Make Me Know It, The Girl of My Best Friend, Little Sister, Give Me the Right and Memphis Tennessee.

i never really listened to Elvis before and now I dont kno why. I like it alot

Thank you, 3,000 Miles to Graceland (also proving that Kevin Costner is an INCREDIBLE bad guy) and the Essential Elvis, Vol. 6: Such a Night, for giving me my new favorite Elvis song - "Such a Night." I cannot get enough of this tune... and this CD, and I am NOT a fan of live recordings.

This entire CD is truly fantastic and has songs that I (a child of the 70's) did not know existed, but are just fantastic - from country sounds to beach beats, this is pure Elvis, before the drugs and incoherence of later live recordings, post-military.

Give it a listen - you won't be doing much forwarding through these songs - they are too good. Elvis' version of Little Sister is great, too - and Fever, I mean come ON... good stuff here, people.