Customer Reviews

Top Ten Hits

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This collection of Elvis songs is perfect for someone who is interested in having the best of his single releases. For those of us who grew up hearing these songs being played as the background to the movie of our everyday lives, each brings back some dusty memories; hitching a ride in a friends reworked '51 Ford and hearing "Jailhouse Rock" for the first time, or driving to Pennsylvania for my older sister's wedding and listening to "Don't be Cruel " as we hurtled down the highway. Yet much of this music came relatively later in his career, which is to say after he returned from the Army after a two year absence doing his patriotic duty.

So we have quite a mixture of different kinds of Elvis music, for what came after he returned was far less edgy and different than it had been before. Now he seemed to stick much more closely to a formulaic kind of song, much more main stream in songs like "Stuck On You, "Good Luck Charm", and "Return To Sender". Which isn't to say they were not good or that we didn't like them. But a lot of what he recorded in the 1963-67 timeframe was a lot like what everyone else was doing, or had been doing, in pop music.

Yet there are some innovative and impressive songs here, such as "It's Now Or Never", which was almost operatic in its delivery. This was a side of Elvis we had never recognized in any of his previous work, and he showed exactly how good a voice he had to work with. So we have quite a range here, from the early work like "Good Rocking Tonight", "Baby, Let's Play House", "All Shook Up", and "Heartbreak Hotel", as well as some softer and more mainstream work like "She's Not You", "Devil In Disguise', and "Suspicious Minds". Anyone giving a good listen to the range on this CD can see just what kind of musical legs this guy had. Enjoy!

Had more top ten hits than Elvis and this 2 CD set proves why. From Early rockers like Jailhouse Rock and Hound Dog to polished ballads like Cant Help Falling In Love and Are You Lonesome Tonight to even a single Gospel entry Crying in the Chapel, this wonderful set gives a nice overview of why Elvis's music was and still is so great.

The only reason that , I think, this cd hasn't sold millions more is that RCA keeps pumping out these ridiculous Elvis "HITS" compilations every year! if the public wasn't over saturated with these type releases, then GREAT ones like this could have a better chance to appealing to ALL AGES of NEWER fans and selling ALOT more than the 3x platinum certification it holds now. If your looking for elvis' commercial heyday, it's all here! simply put, it's the best greatest hits cd i have ever owned!

I am a fan of Elvis for many years.....and at 50 years old when I see him or hear him perform on one of his old movies or concerts or just on the radio I get that feeling of when I was young. He will always be the King of Rock and Roll. At one time in my life I owned all his movies and record albums but of all of them this is my favorite. It has the collection of all his famous songs more so that any other collection. Thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts......

"The Top 10 Hits" comes exactly as advertised. A modest picture of Elvis Presley is on the cover, a list of songs on each disc, when they charted, how high they reached. It contains no previously unseen photos, no essays addressing his historical significance or the ridiculously high pedestal the man (as opposed to his music) rests on in American culture.

These two discs contain the songs Presley fans, then and now, most closely identify him (and part of themselves) with. The fast, furious rush of #1 smashes that ignited his career are all here, in chronological order. So too, one Top 10 hit from his movie years (1963's "Bossa Nova Baby"), one gospel song (1965's beloved "Crying In The Chapel") and the final suite from his second creative period in Memphis (the #1s "Suspicious Minds" and Mac Davis' "In The Ghetto," and the wrenchingly sad "Don't Cry Daddy.") This CD puts the most popular songs front and center and shows (for the most part, the passable "Bossa Nova Baby" notwithstanding) that Elvis fans let the cream of his music rise to the top. New fans should start here, older fans know this is not the last Elvis musical stop.

The title pretty much says it all on this one. You get two CDs containing all 38 (count them-38) top ten hits recorded by the King of Rock and Roll, everything from Heartbreak Hotel (1956) to Burning Love (1972). The tracks are arranged in order based on the date they debuted on the charts, but the listings also feature the recording date and highest chart position of each song. If someone asks you what Elvis' last number one song was, you will have no trouble answering the question (Suspicious Minds), nor will you have to look far to determine just how many number one hits the King had (18). The most amazing thing about Elvis' early hits is how many B sides topped the charts-Don't Be Cruel, if you can imagine it, was a B side hit (the A side was Hound Dog). There's really no need to go through the songs on this two-CD set; if you don't happen to recognize a title, you will surely know the song when you hear it. Elvis' music is timeless, and this is the ultimate Elvis time capsule. I can't imagine any reason for an Elvis fan to not own these CDs, and I cannot imagine a better way to introduce the King of Rock and Roll to someone unfamiliar with his incredible musical legacy.

I'll start this review by stating that for the casual fan who is ONLY interested in Elvis's hits, you clearly can't go wrong with this set.

However, it is important to realize that much of Elvis's greatest material is missing from this set, most notably his sessions for Sun Records, which was probably the best material he ever recorded. Additionally, none of his bluesy material or gospel is included; the set "overlooks" the brunt of his country work as well. Therefore, if you are single set that will give you a summary of Elvis's career, look elsewhere. If you want to hear songs you've likely already heard, this set is for you.

It is ridiculous that this is not in print - it is by far the best collection with almost all of the RCA songs that matter and none of the ones that don't. This, along with two other purchases, will give you all of the Elvis you need:

"Sunrise" - for obvious reasons
"Memphis 1969" - for "Kentucky Rain", "Stranger in my own Hometown" and alternates to the problematic take of "Suspicious Minds" on this set.

A number of the reviews for this 2-Cd set comment on the simplicity of the packaging, the absence of any liner notes or illustrations--simply a roster of all of Elvis Presley's US Top Ten hits with their recording dates and highest chart positions. Since I bought a used copy, I was glad to know that nothing was missing. And actually, what's there really is enough. In this day and age, you can find out all you need to know about Elvis's life, music and cultural significance at the drop of a Google. There's something almost refreshing about a fairly exhaustive collection of an American icon that says, in effect, "Here's the music. Listen to it. Really LISTEN to it."

I grew up listening to Elvis, but I didn't come of age until the post-Beatle era. Elvis was one of my older sister's favorites (and even then, she preferred Ricky Nelson--as I recall). But I certainly heard the records, mostly on the radio or on TV. And I thought I knew them pretty darn well, thank you very much.

But now I find I was wrong. Not ever having a particularly good sound system in my early years, I didn't have a clue as to how well produced many of these songs were. I was vaguely aware that there were any number of true rockers among his hits, and a quite a bit of cheese in the arrangements of some of the others. But here's the thing, as downright campy as some of the more schlockier numbers might have seemed on the radio, most of them come across quite well. Even the pseudo-operatic numbers like "It's Now Or Never" (a pop re-working of "O Solo Mio") or "Surrender" are actually kind of charming when you pay close attention to the Euro-style arrangements and the overly elaborate (but endearing) background vocals. They're really kinda fun.
But yeah, I still prefer the rockier Elvis. And I'm just as glad to hear a schlock-masterpiece like "Surrender" followed by a rootsy, bluesy rocker like "Feel So Bad." Not everything the King recorded after his discharge from the Army was diluted rock. It wasn't the Sun Sessions, but most of it had a good beat and you could dance to it. And for the most part, his vocals were spot on. Listening to these tracks on a pretty good system, I find myself more impressed by his singing than ever. He didn't have Roy Orbison's range, but he could be equally expressive.

Many fans will probably tell you that the first CD in the set has the lion's share of the classics. It's not an unfair assessment, since it's hard to beat the youthful exuberance of "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," and even the slightly skewed "Heartbreak Hotel," among others. But the second disk has numerous strengths too. Like many a chronologically arranged collection, it closes out a shade weaker than it began. The schlock factor was increasing, and on rockier fare like "Burning Love," there are signs that he is huffing and puffing his way through the song. The background vocals on "Wonder of You" sound more compensatory than complementary. It's jarring.

You could almost be justified in wishing that the collection cut off just a bit earlier (and some purists would probably say, "Cut it down to ONE strong disk"). Well, there are more streamlined collections out there, of course. But there is something satisfying about the relative completeness of this set. It's the whole picture, warts, wheeze and all. There's something honest, refreshing and actually quite
majestic about the scope of the project. It's a fitting tribute to the King, after all.

This collection is for people who want a little more than the "Best of," but who doesn't want a lot of filler material. Being "the King," and having a recording career covering two decades, there is a lot of good Elvis to choose from.

This collection has all of his top ten hits, which means you are not necessarily getting his best stuff, but only what was popular. We gauge the Beatles by their albums, but we gauge the King by his songs, since their careers and styles were different. None of the Beatles did time in the Army, or focused on a movie career like Elvis. Elvis was not a recording artist, or a composer/songwriter, but an entertainer. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that Elvis put the "E" in entertainment. He makes Madonna look like a wannabee!

This is a double CD with the hits listed chronologically, so you are hearing the evolving Elvis, as he gets his feel for the studio, and adds that to his natural talents and irreplaceable voice. It is then the perfect survey of Elvis's impact on the music industry and the other lesser artists.

He was quite versatile, within his genre of rockabilly and roll, and managed to keep his country roots as he became studioized. Even doing "Bossa Nova, Baby" smells of hayseed and leather.

The copies are flawless, and have a clean re-mastering process, so they tracks almost sound fresh. The linear notes are also helpful. It is a nice picture of the thin Elvis, which looks like a potage stamp, even though I prefer the later Elvis that I remember seeing on TV as a lad.