Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight

CD

Rating:

3.3 / 5

Released: 2009/12/08 by Sony Lagacy

A 4 CD set celebrating Elvis Presley's 75th birthday.

ElvisNews review

Elvis Presley would have turned 75 on January 8, 2010. In celebration of that event the RCA label, through their Legacy Series, has issued a four-CD, 100-track box set.

Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight may not contain any huge surprises nor has it unearthed any new material that had been hidden away, but what it does do it does well. It gathers all of his number one hits, some other well known material, live performances, and a few cuts that do not surface very often, assembling them in chronological order to present a nice history of his music. Everything has been digitally remastered which has given it a crystal-clear sound. In addition there is an 80-page booklet which includes a 7,000-word essay by Billy Altman, rare photos, and copious information on every track.

In the mid-fifties Elvis combined country rockabilly with black southern rhythm & blues, which coalesced into rock ‘n’ roll. When you add in his personal charisma you have an artist who emerged as a cultural phenomenon and changed the course of American music. From 1955-1977 he would record over 700 tracks and solidify his reputation as The King of Rock ‘N’ Roll.

Disc one covers his rise to fame; 1953-1957. The set begins with his 1953 recording of “My Happiness” which was a present for his mother and well worth its $4.00 investment. His mid-fifties Sun material quickly follows as songs such as “That’s All Right,” “Baby Let’s Play House,” “Blue Moon Of Kentucky,” and “Mystery Train” would jump start his career in the south and pave his way to being signed by the RCA label. By 1957 “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “All Shook Up,” “Hound Dog,” “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear,” “Too Much,” “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” and “Don’t” had all topped the singles charts in the United States and made him a star.

Disc two is the strongest from beginning to end as it culls the best of his 1958-1962 material. Tracks such as “Stuck On You,” “It’s Now Or Never,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” and “Return To Sender” are interspersed with some lesser known material including “Thrill Of Your Love,” “Doin’ The Best I Can,” “I Feel So Bad,” and “Pocketful Of Rainbows.”

Disc three, 1963-1969, wisely avoids most of his soundtrack material and concentrates on the series of strong singles that he issued during this period of his career. “Guitar Man,” “U.S. Male,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” and “Kentucky Rain” may not have reached the top of the charts but they remain some of the best songs in his catalogue. “Viva Las Vegas,” “How Great Thou Art” and perennial favorites “In The Ghetto” and “Suspicious Minds” serve to enhance this disc.

The fourth disc, 1970-1977, is the weakest as it presents material from the last part of his career, which is hit or miss. The live material just does not measure up and while “Way Down,” “Burning Love,” and “Promised Land” may be listenable, overall this is the disc I will return too least often.

Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight may not be for everyone but it is a fine addition to the Elvis Presley legacy. If you have avoided his box sets in the past or are a fan who must have everything then this is a must purchase.

(December 9, 2009: This review replaces a previous review which was removed on request of the author).

Tracklisting

Musicwizard wrote on October 19, 2009

I would have changed some of the songs but they did a good job in picking the songs in this box set. It definitely shows Elvis vocal range nicely. Even though I have these songs many times over, I will definitely be buying this one.

rodsch56 wrote on October 22, 2009

Cd and box sets are not dead as mentioned if so how can you explain "the Beatles" box sets released last month sold out in every stories and websites like "Amazon, etc.. even the sets costing a fortune and being released 2 boxes, one in mono and another in stereo , anyway,the fact is that EMI has a damn marketing and they do not release every year poor compilations like Sony does with Elvis. We´ve had enough of those repeated kind of sets!i´m tired of collecting packing istead of nice material!80 pages booklet, rare pics,big deal! if i want to see pics ONLY i´d buy a book, like the tunzi, the ftd´s, etc... mainly because they put Adam and Evil instead of so many movie hits. who on earth does it? is it to keep up the bad image of the movies era? a person who does not know Elvis career and listen to Adam and Evil, this is my heaven may not buy other Elvis sets and may laugh! one more reason to be careful if it is not for us true fans and for the public in general! beside those songs in general it is pretty good , well, after i saw yesterday the Elvis.com website is selling Elvis halloween costumes i get more and more concerned what they will do with elvis name and career! oh God! Luckly we have serious works done in Europe!

Rating: 2 / 5

Mofoca22 wrote on November 26, 2009

i look forward to this release. lots of great songs, old songs and new songs alike. well not so new cuz we have heard them all but there are many fans out there and many non fans that you could buy this as a x-mas gift to get them started on there colection. some people here argue his hollywood songs dont belong here- well guess what yes it does. dont be like epe whom dont achknowledge elvis didnt die in 73 and elvis ion concert didnt happen because your all trying to act like the 60's didnt happen that makes you hypocrites. i for one think many of his songs in the 60's were great its the movies that stunk in general. but all in all this is going to be a great release and so great i am going to skip paying my cell phone bill just to but this set lol.

Rating: 5 / 5

Musicwizard wrote on December 14, 2009

I just got my copy and couldn't wait til Christmas so I opened it and WOW let me tell you the sound is really fresh and it is as if you were right there with him. A great gift worth every penny.

skylowlow wrote on December 19, 2009

Musicwizard, it's been mastered by Vic Anesini. Should sound great indeed. Looking forward.

Rating: 3 / 5

ttwiise wrote on January 12, 2010

First of all...This set does indeed sound great, better than all the previous incarnations of these tracks and indeed they far surpass the ftd releases. A great set if this is the only set you'll ever buy but most people who have any intention of having an Elvis cd must already have at least 1 compilation already ( there have been numorous). I cannot forgive the omission of Wonder of you and girl of my best friend which bizzarly can be found on the 3 cd version of this set along with 18 other tracks not found on this one (talk about a money spinner). I know we all have our opinions and I respect the views of the reviewer above but I cannot agree with disc 4 being weak, in fact I would bet that 75% of fans go straight to this disc. All in all a great set though too expensive and 25 years too late, Buy it when it is on discount you won't be disappointed!. Let us now hope that all the masters have been done using the process used on this set and we can now buy them for the millionth and last time

Rating: 4 / 5

MickeyN wrote on January 15, 2010

So what is going on? "Elvis 75" is a four CD set with 100 songs released by Sony. Same name "Elvis 75" is a three CD set with 75 songs also released by Sony. Both have the same picture on the front. Can someone explain? Does Elvis stuff sell so well and so easily that the marketing is left to chimpanzees? (Sorry chimps, low blow). I've posted this message on a number of articles because "Elvis 75" has turned up all over the place. PS. The music is still great!

Rating: 3 / 5

JerryNodak wrote on January 21, 2010

I'm going to rate this release 5 stars for the music that's included (though I would have changed a few songs). However, I already have several collections like this and don't have need of this, Better sound not withstanding.

Rating: 5 / 5