Search - Elvis Presley :: For Lp Fans Only

For LP Fans Only

David A Woodington | Orlando, Fl | 12/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD Version of the original vinyl release is one of Elvis' best offerings. "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" has been one of my favorites since the record album was first released. And if you were living in the rural USA in the 1950's who could not identify with "Poor Boy"? This Recording remains a classical example of raw Elvis when he was 'fresh' and 'vibrant' and wasn't yet the commercial 'Teddy Bear' he would too soon become. In a way it was a promotional record to keep Elvis in the public eye while he was serving in the Army. Still, it is an excellent collection of some of his earliest efforts and represents some of his greatest songs. And...if you are a true Elvis fan...it is certainly one of the essential Elvis releases that will always be a 'must have' part of your collection."

4 1/2 Stars

01/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK, to be fair, For LP Fans Only is no more a real Elvis Presley album than, say, Yesterday and Today was a real Beatles album - Elvis was nine months through his two-year hitch in the army and RCA needed to get something "new" in the way of an LP out on him, so they threw together a quartet of sides from his Sun Records singles that had never been on album, five of his early RCA sides (which don't sound too different from the Sun stuff stylistically) that had similarly missed being put onto long-player, and one odd song off of the Love Me Tender soundtrack EP, and voila! - a new Elvis LP. It doesn't sound like much from that description, but in its time For LP Fans Only was (along with its follow-up, A Date With Elvis) one of the choicest of all Elvis Presley albums. From 1959 until 1976, unless you wanted to try hunting down the original singles, this was the only way that any listeners got to hear the King's Sun Records singles "That's All Right," "Mystery Train," and "My Baby Left Me," and the only album to offer such early RCA sides as "Shake, Rattle & Roll" as well. Maybe it could all have been done better and more coherently, and it would've been nice if the producers had avoided the electronically rechanneled stereo through which the original mono sides were processed, but all RCA was trying to do was get some Elvis Presley material out there - they didn't get interested in the history or the particulars of the music until about 20 years later, and considering their obliviousness, they did astonishingly well. At least the songs were out there - a lot of listeners wore out copies of this album just lending them around to the uninitiated - and taken on its own terms, there weren't five more exciting rock & roll albums than this that you could buy in 1959 (or a lot of years after). It still holds up as one of the best rock & roll albums ever released, and for anyone who wants to remember (or find out) how most listeners discovered Elvis' early stuff during the 1960s and 1970s, this is one place to start. - Bruce Eder, AMG"

A CLASSIC ONE

C. Bellegarrigue | El Salvador | 02/21/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was originally a long play which was a compilation of songs that have never been in this format before; in 1959 Elvis was at the army, and RCA, without the possibility to record new Elvis songs, had the brilliant idea of compilate some of his singles, many of them from the sessions at Sun Records, like I'M HEARTBREAKER and THAT'S ALL RIGHT; here is a song from the movie Love me Tender, POOR BOY, being on LP for the first time and classic ballads like PLAYING FOR KEEPS and I WAS THE ONE. Unfortunatelly, it only has ten tracks (It could have been more if we check the cd space), but the album is very nice; I enjoyed it."