Elvis (Remastered) - ElvisNews.com

Rating:

4.4 / 5

Released: 2005/01/11

by BMG Heritage

Remastered edition of Elvis' second album, using DSD technology.

ElvisNews review

Just out is the remastered second album by Elvis Presley, simply titled “Elvis”, 49 years after the original release we have a “new” version.

Design

This CD is a re-release in a better sound quality, so there are no changes to the design of this release. The same goes for the re-releases “Elvis Presley” and the “Loving You” soundtrack. They could have changed the “cheap looking” inside of the booklet. The yellow color and small print in a standard font could have been done more stylish so that the liner notes can be read more easily. They should have kept the side of the release white too, now part of the picture from the back is used on the side. This way the title doesn't fit into the series on the shelve.

Content

The most important news about this update is of course the audio quality. We can be short about that, it is very good. Just as with other DSD remastered CD’s Kevan Budd did a good job on these releases, the recordings sound very fresh, although we must say we have difficulty. If BMG keeps this up we will have Elvis’ complete, although slimmed down, catalogue in the best possible audio quality.

On this album Elvis showed he was an innovator, his interpretations of songs written and preformed by other showed that he was the new kid on the block, showing others the way to a new style and a new kind of music. The album track “Long Tall Sally” from Little Richard and his hit single “Hound Dog” (added as a bonus track) perfectly show this.

The additional bonus tracks are the same as on the previous (re)release of this album. The producers put the tracks back in the original order and dividing the original and bonus songs. The addition of the singles Elvis released around the time he recorded and released this album paint the complete picture of his work at the end of 1956. The addition of the bonus tracks put the strange strategy of The Colonel and BMG from 1956 straight. These songs belong together. The casual fans recognizes more hits, the avid fan gets the album in its original order with the additional songs at the end.

The CD leaves room for additional songs, with the third re-release of this album, the addition of some bonus tracks to fill the CD completely would be a nice gesture to the fan who buys this album once more.

Conclusion

Just like the re-release of “Elvis Presley” this re-release keeps Elvis’ catalogue up to date with today’s audio standards for the casual buyer. The fan has to decide for him or herself if the copy of Elvis’ second album they already own (several times) needs replacement again. But the most important conclusion, this music, almost 50 years old, hasn’t lost any of its originality and power.

Tracklisting

Tina S wrote on September 09, 2005

elvis doing what he did best rocking

Rating: 5 / 5

JerryNodak wrote on January 12, 2007

I like this album a little more than the first one. Great!! 5 stars.

Rating: 5 / 5

Mystery Rider wrote on April 04, 2007

i think the main album has ben released and re-leased more times than i have hair on my head. but BMG can spot a chump a mile away and they are laughing at u cause they get your money

Rating: 1 / 5

JimmyCool wrote on April 13, 2007

One of my very first cassettes (remember those?) when I was a child. And yes, I like it more than the first album. P.S.: Mystery Rider has to be a hairdresser, I've read a lot of his posts reffering to hair.

Rating: 5 / 5

Greg Nolan wrote on November 19, 2007

I don't know if I'd call Col. Parker's keeping of singles off the album all that strange for the time period, given that the single was itself the main focus of sales. The relatively fewer fans who were willing to cough up more dollars for a whole album of songs by an artist likely would have been put off by seeing the 45's she'd already purchased also on the 33 rpm LP edition. While Frank Sinatra and others already had albums by the '50s that had a recognizable theme, it took the '60s for the idea that the LP was the main focus. (By the late '60s and early '70s, they probably should have dropped this practice, to be sure.) With today's longer-running time, however, and the benefit of hindsight, we can enjoy the hits back in their true setting, and in this case it helps restore the idea of it being one of the greatest rock albums ever. To "Mystery Rider": would you also fault book publishers for keeping the great novels of Mark Twain and other books in the canon in print? That's an absurd comment, particularly when the artist in question hasn't set foot in a studio in 31 years. (Or anywhere, for that matter!) Give me a break: the beautifully-restored 2003 version here by Keven Budd (updated the earlier and somewhat flawed '99 version) is a must-have for novices and long-time fans.

Rating: 5 / 5

Sandman wrote on February 01, 2010

The definitive rock album. Superior in every way.

Rating: 5 / 5