01. “Elvis Presley” (1956)
The explosive cover design visualizes the revolt, but RCA feared that this spook called Rock’n’Roll could soon be over. After all, they had just invested $35,000 in the Memphis sensation, so there was no time to waste. So sessions were set up to mix some unused tracks from Sun Records with current hits like “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Tutti Frutti”.
02. Elvis (1956)
After Presley’s debut LP had set several new sales records despite the noticeable lack of stylistic coherence, it was only a few months later “Elvis” added, an album from a single source. D.J. Fontana’s drums were now further up the mix, the Jordanaires thickened the sound, and there’s something manic about Elvis’ vocals that border on frenzy, like on the Little Richard howls “Rip It Up,” “Ready Teddy,” and “Long.” Tall Sally”.
03. Loving You (1957)
Half soundtrack, includes “Loving You” on page 1 consistently excellent songs, mostly uptempo and not only to be heard but also to be seen in the film of the same name about the unexpectedly steep career of a talented young singer. Elvis is in top form on the latently menacing “Mean Woman Blues”, while the rather trivial and sometimes overly sentimental songs on the second side have nothing to do with the film.
04. King Creole (1958)
The best of many soundtracks, perfectly suited to the film: a handsome boy from a good family gets on the wrong track in New Orleans, gets involved with crooks and gets involved in a robbery. The film and songs draw their tension from this dangerous mixture, but the music is exciting even without pictures, especially “Hard Headed Woman”, “Trouble” and the fast-paced title track with convincingly flammable local color.
05. “Elvis Is Back!” (1960)
Despite all the prophecies of doom, Elvis had not let the military buy him his nerve, as a singer he was even more potent than before after the long forced break. “Elvis Is Back!” proves this impressively, even if the old fury had now given way to more controlled phrasing. Elvis demonstrates a flair for the subtle, whether in an intimate clinch with the blues or in eloquent dialogue with a slippery saxophone. A triumphant comeback.
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06. Pot Luck (1962)
Colonel Tom Parker’s contracts envisaged three films a year, with the limited studio time in between the primacy of the single. The primary goal was the next million seller, and what didn’t seem suitable for a hit ended up on B-sides or a stopgap LP like “Pot Luck”. Nevertheless, among the recordings made in Nashville in 1961 there are also extremely respectable songs. “Suspicion” is particularly unsettling, Elvis worries: “Why torture me?”
07. Comeback Special (1968)
He had survived the army as well as the many banal Hollywood films, but by the end of the sixties Elvis had become an anachronism. Painfully aware of this, he ended his self-imposed exile from show business and pulled off a brilliant live show on NBC television that catapulted him back into the limelight. Spontaneous, full of relish, revitalized, that’s how Elvis showed himself to his audience. “It’s been too long,” was his celebrated summary.
08. From Elvis In Memphis (1969)
After the TV triumph, Presley went to Memphis to the American Studio, where, under the aegis of Chips Moman and with the participation of a number of session cracks, an album was created that presented the king of rock ‘n’ roll as a veritable soulman. An album without fillers, but with many highlights, above all “Long Black Limousine”, the tragic story of a homecoming in a hearse, told with bitter seriousness in a voice shrouded in mourning.
09. Back in Memphis (1970)
Another album fed from the Moman sessions, also superb although not quite up to par with its predecessor. Percy Mayfield’s “Stranger In My Own Home Town” is outstanding, but other songs also prove to be splendid showcases for Presley’s vocalistic flair, not least Mort Shuman’s “You’ll Think Of Me”. Here the singer is lifted onto a soul plateau of choir, horns and dobro licks, from where he radiates his aura.
10. Elvis Country (1971)
Recorded in tandem with the sometimes too thick ballads by “That’s the Way It Is”puts “Elvis Country” the more substantive alternative. The concept album is subtitled ‘I’m 10,000 -Years Old’ in a nod to a humorous traditional, and we like to accompany the King to musical places that inspired him in his early teens, like ‘Little Cabin On The Hill” including fiddle and fingerpicking. essential? No, but worthy of all honor.
More highlights
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