ELVIS PRESLEY BMG 1999
CD VERSION
Reviewed by: George
Nelson 2002/05/15/
I would like to
first thank Andylon for giving me a chance to do the reviews
on Elvis BMG CD reviews in a categorical order starting with
his first album till his last cd release in 1977 and beyond
for this fantastic website.
For the first review
I am going to review the CD ELVIS PRESLEY. "Elvis Presley"
was the name of Elvis's first LP for RCA. Released in March
of 1956 it quickly sold a million copies. In 1984 RCA again
released "ELVIS PRESLEY" on the new music format
of Compact Disc. Fortunately by 1999, they recovered a lot
of first generation tapes and made a decent sounding album
out of it. This review is of the 1999 version.
The 1999 version
of "Elvis Presley" was part of the Elvis restoration
program or "Artist of the Century" campaign. The
1999 version had more to offer than the 1984 version. One
thing they had was an 8 page booklet with rare pictures and
information about the recordings. The 1999 version also featured
6 bonus tracks.
On July 05, 1954
Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black made there first
official recording together at Sun Studios in Memphis. It
had been a country hit, called "I Love You Because".
Not really a sign of what was to come. It was a pretty straight
version of the song. 5 takes were recorded. The version used
on the CD was a splice of takes 2 & 4 and it deleted the
spoken part. After this song was recorded, history was made
when the trio recorded the classic "That's all Right".
August 19, 1954
Elvis, Scotty, and Bill once again went into sun studios and
cut 3 songs and 2 appeared on this CD. "Blue Moon"
and "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')". "Blue
Moon" went from being an up tempo pop song to a slow
almost sad song, leaving out the happy ending. It's a beautiful
rendition. 6 takes were recorded of Blue Moon , take 6 became
the master. "I'll Never Let You Go" starts off very
slow, like most Elvis fans know, Elvis loved ballads, so this
was a chance for him to do a ballad. At the end, Elvis speeds
the tempo up to almost double the speed.
In September of
1954 three more versions of "I'll Never Let you Go (Little
Darlin)" were tried. Only one outtake managed to survive
and that was released on "A Golden Celebration"
In 1984. "Just Because" was another song tried out
with two different arrangements at that time. Only one version
survives and that's the version heard on this CD. It's a very
up tempo tune.
In July of 1955
Elvis went back into Sun Studio for his last "official"
studio recording for the label. The last song recorded at
this session has become a classic. "Trying to Get to
You" is probably one of Elvis' best rarely heard performances.
You can't hear any piano playing on the song, although rumor
has it Elvis played piano on this song.
Now we go to the
RCA Years. January 10, 1956, 2 days after his 21st birthday,
Elvis recorded for the first time with RCA VICTOR. The first
song tried out was a rhythm and blues song called "I
Got a Woman". Elvis had made an attempt in February of
1955 at Sun Studio, but it either didn't get completed or
Elvis wasn't satisfied with it. Take 8 became the master.
A song not on the original album but on the CD re-release
is "Heartbreak Hotel". This is Elvis' first single
to go gold. The sound of the song is different. RCA in an
attempt to capture the Sun Sound, put a speaker out in their
hall and recorded the echo from that. It almost ruins the
song. Take 7 is the master.
The Final song from
this day's session is a song Elvis had performed on the Louisiana
Hayride several times. Another r&b recording, "Money
Honey". "Money Honey" was spliced together.
The next day January 11, 1956 Elvis recorded 2 more songs.
"I'm Counting on You" and "I Was the One".
"I'm Counting on You" is a country song and there's
no denying it. However it's a good song. "I Was the One"
was the flip side of Heartbreak Hotel. The song did not appear
on the original album. Elvis often stated that "I Was
the One" was his favorite.
January 30, 1956
was the first time Elvis Recorded in a New York Studio and
the feel of the songs are different. "Blue Suede Shoes"
was the first to be recorded. "Blue Suede Shoes",
despite the fact it was a hit for Carl Perkins is more associated
with Elvis.
"My Baby Left
Me" was another song that didn't appear on the album,
but was the flip side of Elvis' 2nd number one hit "I
Want You, I Need You, I Love You". A great R & B
recording.
"One-Sided
Love Affair" is probably one of the lesser known Elvis
recordings. Although Elvis does a great job on this. It's
album filler more or less, not saying that's bad it's just
not a song that always pops in your mind when you hear the
name Elvis. The same can be said about "I'm Gonna Sit
Right Down and Cry (over you)". Good song, just not one
that gets played often. However without these two songs this
CD would be bare.
"Tutti Frutti"
would become the flip side of "Blue Suede Shoes"
when released in September 1956. Even though it didn't chart,
it became a huge hit.
The last day of
the New York sessions brought a great version of "Lawdy,
Miss Clawdy". This song would be released on a single
backed with "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Unfortunately
it did not chart. These songs did not appear on an album until
1959 when released on "For LP Fans Only" with altered
sound. They are appropriately placed here.
The final Song on
this disc, just seems out of place. "I Want You, I Need
You, I Love You", is a good song but it just doesn't
fit. A little background about this song, Elvis flew for the
first time to make it to Nashville, in time to record, and
the plan he was in ran out of gas. Fortunately the pilot remembered
the reserve tank.
This album represents
the first million selling album in music history. ELVIS PRESLEY
represents country, rock, pop and rhythm & blues and even
though it is a hodgepodge of songs from several sessions,
There's just something unique about this album