Search - Elvis Presley :: The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters

A must have

Jon Holland | Monticello, Georgia USA | 12/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The definitive collection of Elvis' 1950's output. What makes it great is that you get all of the Sun material plus the Christmas music,misc. live and alternate takes and an obscure audio interview. If you are a true Elvis fan then you wont find buying this set. Its worth every penny."

Tthe King of Rock & Roll: The complete 50's Masters

Ronald J. Muller | Australia | 03/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Elvis Encyclopedia

For all Elvis fans a must to have simply amazing

I don't think much more words could describe the King, you got to own it, and then relish it."

When The King Was King

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 04/18/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been doing a series of commentaries elsewhere on another site on my coming of political age in the early 1960s, but now when I am writing about musical influences I am just speaking of my coming of age, period, which was not necessarily the same thing. No question those of us who came of age biologically in the1950s are truly children of rock and roll. We were there, whether we appreciated it or not at the time, when the first, sputtering, moves away from ballady show tunes, rhymey Tin Pan Alley tunes and, most importantly, any and all music that your parents might have approved of, even liked, or at least left you alone to play in peace up in your room hit post World War II America like, well, like an atomic bomb.



Well, as most of us know anyway the subject of this review, Elvis, is gone now. But it is hard to go back to the roots of rock and roll without paying much lip service to his musical influence, his showmanship, his energy when performance time came and he was in the mood to kick up some dust, and his sneerily-etched good looks. I will tell you that Jerry Lee Lewis was most of an influence on my early music tastes than Elvis. I also believe pound for pound that Jerry Lee had more energy on any given day than Elvis could release in his early career. But on the proverbial any given day, and this day and this massive CD compilation serve as one of them, the king was the King.



Later Elvis, the Elvis of Las Vegas, except for severe aficionados, was almost entirely forgettable but in the early to mid-1950s, and maybe a little later, when he was still hungry and still wanted to fight to be king of rock he more than held his own. That is the time of this compilation and the Elvis time any serious rock aficionado, or historically-inclined rock fan wants to look at. This five CD set provides all the ammunition you will ever need for the why behind why he drove the girls wild in the 1950s, and the rest of us, just ordinary teen guys, crazy trying how to figure out to break his spell. It's wasn't pretty because no way we could win.



But enough of that. Elvis sneers, swivel hips and those long side-burns aside what in this compilation goes down in rock history. Please note that some of these songs that are outstanding example of his early work are done in several versions here, some very well done others less so. "That's Where The Heartbreak Begins" has a nice talking part. "Heartbreak Hotel", of course, although the lyrics are hardly the stuff of teen romance. The Carl Perkins rockabilly classic, "Blue Suede Shoes", which Elvis made his own. Other rockabilly classics like "That `s All Right" and "Good Rockin' Tonight". Some covers like Roy Oberson's "I Got A Woman". "Big Mama" Thornton's "Hound Dog". Ballads like "Love Me Tender" and "True Love". And so on. If you want Elvis, good bad, or indifferent this is a primer, no, a graduate course in Elvisology.



Note: I have not mentioned "One Night" above because I want to pay special to that song. On every variation in this set he smokes it. This song, more so that "Jailhouse Rock', "Heartbreak Hotel" or "Don't Be Cruel" gets my nod as the epitome of Elvis rock, sneer, and swivel. This is one time that he is not mailing it in. Now I know, finally, why those young girls of my generation were swooning, getting all sweaty and more over the mere mention of Elvis' name. On this one Jerry Lee takes a back seat, way back. Wow!



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