Elvis Presley : Essential Elvis Presley

CD [Cover Art for Elvis Presley / Essential Elvis Presley]

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Your Price: $15.14 (List Price: $17.96)
Rated 9 with 3 responses
Availability: In Stock
Sell date: 1/2007
Label: Rca Records/Sbme
Mfg's Catalog#: 89048
CDC Part#: 342646
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 Notes & Reviews
 
Oldies
 
A really great compilation, with 'Reconsider Baby' a highlight, along with 'Kentucky Rain'...great recording quality!
- Peter Wakeford, 05/29/2007, Australia

Full title is: Essential Elvis Presley [RCA/Sony BMG]


The problem with compiling an essential best-of compilation covering the phenomenon that was (and is) Elvis Presley is the very man himself, who has passed from this mortal coil into the iconic pop culture stratosphere where even his own death is questioned and Elvis sightings are as frequent as fleas. Then there are the thousands of performers who daily dress up as Presley himself and sally forth into the world like perfectly gyrating replicas of either the early or later Elvis (body physics dictate that you can't be both). Elvis may have left the building, but not really. His image is everywhere, and his fans are legion and devout. So how does one pick his essential sides when 'Do the Clam' is a classic in the Kingdom of Presley simply because Elvis did it? He recorded Tony Joe White's 'Polk Salad Annie' in 1970. It was hardly the best version ever of 'Polk Salad Annie' but it was Elvis' version of 'Polk Salad Annie,' which puts it in rarefied class of its own, and making it, like 'Do the Clam,' absolutely essential in some quarters. When you're larger than life, words like essential have to expand or be left wanting. The Essential Elvis Presley boils this imposing legacy down to two discs of 20 tracks each, and approaches the problem of what is truly essential by choosing to compile all of Elvis' significant charting hits, beginning with his 1954 cover of Arthur Crudup's 'That's All Right' from Sam Phillips' Sun Records and continuing chronologically through Presley's long association with RCA Records through the year 1976. That means, while there's no version of 'Do the Clam' ( 'Polk Salad Annie' is here, though), there are classic sides like 1956's 'Heartbreak Hotel,' 'Don't Be Cruel,' 'Hound Dog,' and 'Love Me Tender,' 1957's 'Jailhouse Rock,' 1961's 'Little Sister,' and 1969's 'In the Ghetto,' 'Suspicious Minds,' and 'Kentucky Rain.' There are 17 number one hits and a whole lot more. Elvis fanatics are going to complain about what isn't here, of course. Elvis is the King, after all, and therefore by definition everything he recorded ought to be essential. And everything he recorded is indeed essential on some level. But these are the sides that broke through to the deepest level of the world pop culture that Elvis helped create. These are the songs that broke him and then sustained him on radio and television and at the movie theaters. Die-hard Elvis fans will undoubtedly already have everything collected here. This is a set instead for folks who want to have at least one Elvis anthology in their collections, and want the hits they remember and don't much care if those hits are from the early Elvis or the later Elvis or the dear departed Elvis. Just the hits, bartender, shaken not stirred. That means no version of 'Do the Clam,' singular as it is. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Finally the king of rock 'n' roll available in the critically acclaimed Essential series! The Essential series has sold 18 million units worldwide. Definitive, career-spanning and comprehensive including 17 number one hits. This is a CD must have for die-hard fans and casual music buyers commemorating the 30th anniversary of Elvis's death on 2007. Mastered using DSD technology for optimum sound quality.

 
 Tracks and Sound Clips   Click here for the Windows Media player
 
That's All Right - 1:57 Play the Windows Media clip
Baby, Let's Play House - 2:17 Play the Windows Media clip
Mystery Train - 2:29 Play the Windows Media clip
Heartbreak Hotel - 2:09 Play the Windows Media clip
I Was the One - 2:33 Play the Windows Media clip
Blue Suede Shoes - 2:00 Play the Windows Media clip
Hound Dog - 2:17 Play the Windows Media clip
Don't Be Cruel - 2:03 Play the Windows Media clip
Love Me Tender - 2:42 Play the Windows Media clip
All Shook Up - 1:59 Play the Windows Media clip
(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me) - 3:22 Play the Windows Media clip
Jailhouse Rock - 2:36 Play the Windows Media clip
Trouble - 2:18 Play the Windows Media clip
Fever - 3:33 Play the Windows Media clip
It's Now or Never - 3:16 Play the Windows Media clip
Reconsider Baby - 3:44 Play the Windows Media clip
Are You Lonesome Tonight? - 3:08 Play the Windows Media clip
Little Sister - 2:32 Play the Windows Media clip
Follow That Dream - 1:38 Play the Windows Media clip
Can't Help Falling in Love - 2:57 Play the Windows Media clip
Return to Sender - 2:09 Play the Windows Media clip
(You're The) Devil in Disguise - 2:20 Play the Windows Media clip
Bossa Nova Baby - 2:07 Play the Windows Media clip
Viva Las Vegas - 2:25 Play the Windows Media clip
Big Boss Man - 2:52 Play the Windows Media clip
Little Less Conversation - 2:13 Play the Windows Media clip
If I Can Dream - 3:10 Play the Windows Media clip
Memories - 3:07 Play the Windows Media clip
In the Ghetto - 2:57 Play the Windows Media clip
Suspicious Minds - 4:32 Play the Windows Media clip
Don't Cry Daddy - 2:47 Play the Windows Media clip
Kentucky Rain - 3:19 Play the Windows Media clip
Polk Salad Annie - 4:49 Play the Windows Media clip
Wonder of You - 2:35 Play the Windows Media clip
I Just Can't Help Believin' - 4:39 Play the Windows Media clip
Burning Love - 2:58 Play the Windows Media clip
Always on My Mind - 3:39 Play the Windows Media clip
Steamroller Blues - 3:08 Play the Windows Media clip
Hurt - 2:08 Play the Windows Media clip
Moody Blue - 2:48 Play the Windows Media clip
 Recommendations

People who buy elvis presley CDS may also enjoy, in order of descending probability, the works of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Everly Brothers.

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