Elvis Presley – The Essential Elvis Presley (2007) [HDTracks 24bit/96kHz]

Elvis Presley – The Essential Elvis Presley (2007)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 112:01 minutes | 2,14 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover

This special two-disc collection contains all of Elvis Presley’s greatest hits, and more! The Essential Elvis Presley contains 40 tracks from the entire spectrum of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s career, and was certified Gold in 2010. Songs on this collection include “Heartbreak Hotel”, “It’s Now or Never”, “Burning Love”, and “Viva Las Vegas”.

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.

Tracklist:

CD1 #01 – That’s All Right
CD1 #02 – Baby, Let’s Play House
CD1 #03 – Mystery Train
CD1 #04 – Heartbreak Hotel
CD1 #05 – I Was the One
CD1 #06 – Blue Suede Shoes
CD1 #07 – Hound Dog
CD1 #08 – Don’t Be Cruel
CD1 #09 – Love Me Tender
CD1 #10 – All Shook Up
CD1 #11 – (There’ll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)
CD1 #12 – Jailhouse Rock
CD1 #13 – Trouble
CD1 #14 – Fever (Essential Elvis Version)
CD1 #15 – It’s Now or Never
CD1 #16 – Reconsider Baby (Elvis R&B Version)
CD1 #17 – Are You Lonesome Tonight?
CD1 #18 – Little Sister
CD1 #19 – Follow That Dream
CD1 #20 – Can’t Help Falling in Love

CD2 #01 – Return to Sender
CD2 #02 – (You’re The) Devil in Disguise
CD2 #03 – Bossa Nova Baby
CD2 #04 – Viva Las Vegas
CD2 #05 – Big Boss Man (Elvis R&B Version)
CD2 #06 – A Little Less Conversation
CD2 #07 – If I Can Dream (Stereo Mix)
CD2 #08 – Memories (Stereo Mix)
CD2 #09 – In the Ghetto
CD2 #10 – Suspicious Minds
CD2 #11 – Don’t Cry Daddy
CD2 #12 – Kentucky Rain
CD2 #13 – Polk Salad Annie (Elvis Live Version)
CD2 #14 – The Wonder of You
CD2 #15 – I Just Can’t Help Believin’
CD2 #16 – Burning Love
CD2 #17 – Always on My Mind
CD2 #18 – Steamroller Blues
CD2 #19 – Hurt (Essential Elvis Version)
CD2 #20 – Moody Blue