Release Date: 1956
Label: RCA
A year after Sinatra makes us all sob, somebody invents Elvis Presley, and with it, the most iconic singer of the 20th century. Is he black? Is he white? Does anyone even care? Did he go forward in time and take note of the London Calling cover? It's plausible. Everything about this album is iconic- including the aforementioned sleeve. The funny thing is though, it doesn't play like a five-star album. Despite starting off with a bang ('Blue Suede Shoes'), Presley doesn't keeping rockin' like he should and seems to prefer to wander all over the place. The rock 'n' roll is great, but songs like 'Blue Moon' and 'I Love You Because' do nothing for me. I want to phone the young Elvis up and tell him to stop pussyfooting around with the slow songs and just rock. Shake your hips Elvis, shake your hips! Pitched halfway between the two styles is the country-twinged 'Trying To Get To You', which is the highlight of the album. If you want to know why The Beatles and every other 60s musician were in awe of Elvis, then Elvis Presley is the reason why. It hasn't got his best songs on it (indeed, the original version of this album didn't even have 'Heartbreak Hotel' included; though I do have a suspision singles weren't put on albums in the olden days?) but this is Elvis at his raw, natural, pre-bloated best.
Overall: 6.5/10
Favourite Track: Trying To Get To You
Next Album: The Louvin Brothers- Tragic Songs of Life
You are generally right about albums/singles in this period. They tended to keep em separate then, as singles were by far the big money makers. They'd generally eventually compile an album at a later date with the singles on
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