Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

This 60th Anniversary 60-CD Deluxe Edition celebrates RCA Victor's signing of Elvis Presley-The King of rock 'n' roll. Features all of the albums Elvis recorded and RCA released in his lifetime: studio, soundtrack, and live. It also includes compilations released that featured unreleased songs or songs new to the LP format. The Album Collection represents album sales in the U.S. of 135 million! Collectively, Elvis has RIAA certified sales of singles, EPs and albums equaling 25x multi-platinum, 52x platinum and 92x gold awards given for U.S. sales alone! Estimated worldwide sales are in excess of one billion! Highlights include: Elvis' iconic first two studio albums, Elvis Presley and Elvis released in 1956. All 17 of his film soundtrack LPs including Loving You, King Creole, G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii and Roustabout. The legendary NBC-TV special Elvis; the 1969 American Sound sessions that spawned From Elvis In Memphis and Back In Memphis; and 1970s triumphs On Stage (1970), Elvis As Recorded Live At Madison Square Garden (1972) and Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite (1973). Original album packaging has been painstakingly restored including gatefold/die cut sleeves, original RCA Victor inserts, stickers and more. CD labels replicate original side 1 labels.

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

As it turned out, Today would be the last full studio album Elvis Presley recorded in his life. Headed out to Hollywood to collect the Grammy he won for Best Inspirational Performance of 1975 (it was awarded for a live version of "How Great Thou Art"), Presley booked sessions in RCA's L.A. Studio C with his longtime producer Felton Jarvis and settled in to knock out ten songs over the course of three days. Because it opens with the rollicking boogie "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" - a legitimate throwback to the dawn of rock & roll -- and also finds space for the down-and-dirty gospel-soul groove of "Shake a Hand" and Billy Swan's cheerful "I Can Help," Today was pegged upon its initial release as something of a return to Elvis' Sun roots, but the rest of the record plays straight down the middle: a collection of Presley's preferred majestic ballads and MOR pop tempered by a touch of lushly produced Nashville country. This combination had long been a winning one for Elvis -- it's the blend developed in the wake of 1971's Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) - but in 1975, it was slightly past its sell-by date, so it didn't quite sell in blockbuster numbers ("T-R-O-U-B-L-E" did turn into a hit, nearly cracking the country Top Ten and revived in 1992 by Travis Tritt). Nevertheless, these era-specific concerns fade over time and leave Today standing as an excellent latter-day Elvis album. Those rockabilly revivals find Presley game and loose, as does a nimble version of the Statler Brothers' "Susan When She Tried"; the trio of orchestrated ballads (Don McLean's "And I Love You So," Jerry Chesnut's "Woman Without Love," Troy Seals' "Pieces of My Life") give Elvis an opportunity to find a moving heart beating underneath the shine, a skill that also enlivens an almost corny version of the '60s standard "Green, Green Grass of Home"; while the country reinvention of the Pointer Sisters' "Fairytale" and the soulful rendition of Gregg Gordon's "Bringin' It Back" are expert adult contemporary - gorgeous and skirting the edges of being overwrought. Added up, Today touches upon nearly everything he did well in the mid-'70s - a nice portrait of Elvis at a time when he was still an active, thriving working musician and a record that remains easy to enjoy today. ~Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine~

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

By 1976 Elvis was recording at home in Graceland, cutting what would be the final recordings of his career. Filled with bathos and showing little rock & roll vitality, these remain interesting nonetheless, as it implied his accepting his age somewhat and attempting to combine old-fashioned, melodramatic soul with contemporary country-pop. While the pain and decay are evident - especially in hindsight - Elvis could still sing: "Hurt" is excellent, one of his best and, on "Danny Boy," Elvis reaches with an aching falsetto that closes the song, appropriately. Still, this is hardly the album to begin your collection with. ~Review by Neal Umphred~

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

The last Elvis Presley album released in the singer's lifetime, Moody Blue has a somewhat checkered history, especially among fans. Issued two months before Presley died, the album sold moderately well until Presley died -- then it soared up the charts to number three, as his most current album, and it ultimately sold two million copies. As to the music, the original ten-song album was a mixed bag of live recordings, interspersed with new studio work from the previous fall at Graceland. For all of its slapped-together feel, however, Moody Blue held up. The title song, authored by Mark James (who'd previously written "Suspicious Minds"), was just about as good a single as Elvis released in the 1970s, topping the country charts earlier in 1977; additionally, he did a superb reinterpretation of the George Jones hit "She Thinks I Still Care." "Little Darlin'" was almost more of a burlesque of the '50s rock & roll standard than a real performance, but it is more than made up for by the presence of the Johnny Ace classic "Pledging My Love," done with depth and sincerity. ~Review by Bruce Eder~

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close

×

Elvis Presley - The Album Collection: 60 CDs Deluxe Box Set (2016) {Discs 55-57}

Close