Ah, okay, I’m done with the Rewind Reviews for now, but I’m still going to talk about some 50s rock and roll. Who will be on the chopping block now? If you saw the title, or looked at the cover art of the album, you’d know it’s the King of Rock and Roll himself – Elvis Presley. I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about Elvis before, but I got a couple of albums from Presley that I wanted to talk about. The first one is his second album from 1956, simply titled, Elvis. I saw this for $4.99 at Barnes and Noble, and when I looked it up, it was an actual album, so I thought, “Why not?” That would be a neat album to listen to. I did order a copy of his debut LP on Amazon, but since I had his sophomore album, I thought I’d check it out. I had an idea of what to expect, as I do have a collection of hits from Elvis. It’s an album called Elvis 75, a greatest hits collection that came out around his 75th birthday, but I wanted to actually get into a few albums. This sophomore LP is pretty monumental, because not only is from the King, but it features a couple of his biggest songs, “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel.” To be fair, it doesn’t feature the songs on the actual album, but on the bonus tracks. That’s because they were singles only, as singles were the big thing during the late 50s, and that’s the main reason I wanted to pick it up. I did notice a few other songs, though, that were covers, such as “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up,” and “Ready Teddy,” three songs that I really like from other artists. I’ve heard versions of those songs from Little Richard and Buddy Holly, so I was rather curious to see what Elvis would bring to the table with these songs. After listening to this LP a handful of times, I like it, but I’m not super crazy about it. Here’s the thing with a lot of these older cats – I like their biggest singles, and it makes sense, because these artists were “singles artists” before that was a thing.
I like some of these deeper cuts, though, such as “Paralyzed,” “So Glad You’re Mine,” and a couple of other songs, but I mainly like the covers, or the biggest songs that appear at the end, such as “Hound Dog,” “Love Me Tender,” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” even though “Love Me” does appear on the actual album. This LP is very good, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time, I’m not super crazy about it. It’s very repetitive, although it’s interesting and well-done for what it is (and especially for the time), and Presley’s voice is consistently great. The lyrics aren’t really that interesting, either, as I never cared for a lot of the lyricism with these types of artists, because of how simplistic it is. Well, no, it’s not just that, but it’s more so about how fluffy and lightweight the lyrics are. They’re all about the same stuff, but when the songs are memorable, they really stick with you. This album is a bit long, too, because with the bonus tracks, it’s around 45 minutes. That’s a lot of time to spend with a very repetitive album, but it’s not bad. There’s just a lot of the same kind of stuff to sit through. Elvis always alternated between a few key sounds – country, soul, and rockabilly. That’s about it, and he goes through all three sounds here, and I guess there’s a bit of diversity, but not a whole lot. For 45 minutes, as well as eighteen songs, that’s overkill. I wouldn’t say this is mandatory listening, though, but check out Elvis 75, or Elvis At Sun, the 2004 compilation of all of Elvis’ first recordings at Sun Studio in 1954 – 1955. Those two albums are probably the two “essential” ones that I’d recommend, but this one isn’t bad if you want to dive a little deeper into his stuff, or you’d curious to listen to an actual album from Presley. You wouldn’t necessarily have a bad time with this, at least if you decided to listen to it, but it does get very repetitive and rather exhausting after awhile, because there is a lot to sit through, so you’re better off with a definitive collection.
