Elvis Presley: The Essential Elvis Presley (2LP) [LEGACY]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set packs 28 tracks from Sun to the 1970s, compiled by Elvis archivists Ernst Mikael Jorgensen and Roger Semon. He has 55 RIAA-certified singles, and music historian Joel Whitburn ranks him the No. 1 charting singles artist of all time in the US.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Compiled by Ernst Mikael Jorgensen and Roger Semon
• Sun and RCA recordings, 1954 to 1972

About the album

Every rock and roll story has to start somewhere, and this one starts with "That's All Right," the 1954 Sun single that introduced a truck driver from Memphis to the world. Side one moves fast: "Mystery Train," then the move to RCA and "Heartbreak Hotel," which went to No. 1 in four countries after RCA signed him in November 1955, then "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Love Me Tender."

The sixties bring the post-army hits, from "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" to "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Return to Sender" and "Viva Las Vegas." Then comes the comeback: "If I Can Dream" from the 1968 NBC special, followed by "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds" in 1969, and "Burning Love" rounding things off in style.

"A Little Less Conversation" is here too, the 1968 song that a 2002 remix sent back into the Top 10 around the world. It's four sides of hits in order, roughly the musical equivalent of a very good biography with the boring bits taken out.

Also at Kops: more Elvis Presley on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On RCA / Legacy (cat# 88875150731).