'Love Elvis'
BMG CD Review
|
|
A
BMG compile released to benefit from the publicity surrounding
Elvis’ 70th birthday, as well as Valentine’s Day.
Of course we have had plenty of these romantic releases
before, including the recent 2002 DSD upgrade of ‘Heart
& Soul’, ‘50 Greatest Love Songs’ and a Camden ‘Love
Songs’ cheapo (surprisingly one of the best as it featured
‘Just Pretend’ as well as ‘Doin’ The Best I Can’!)
|
 |
Obviously
this new compilation is not aimed at the Elvis collector, but
rather the general public and there is no doubt that we do need
to see this kind of mainstream Elvis compile in our local music
stores – and with its striking new cover design it looks just
fine.
For
Elvis collectors however there is nothing new in the tracklist
with the “previously unreleased” ‘For The Good Times’ actually
being the excellent version from the 6363 Sunset FTD, albeit
without the count-in. The producers credited are again Ernst
Jorgensen & Roger Semon and you must wonder how they came
up with these tracklists, and why they are always so similar.
A
new inclusion this time is the final track ‘If I Can Dream’
which is not however a love song, but rather a song of hope.
However the public’s attention has obviously been grabbed
by the image and the CD, since it is already charting - number
8 in the UK this week.
Remastered
by Vic Anesini at Sony Music, the audio quality of all the
tracks is excellent (see our Close
Up review) however most of these songs have still been taken
from the usual “source tapes” not the original Studio Masters.
These are not the remasters of ‘Elvis 30 #1s’ and are basically
the same quality as the 2002 ‘Heart & Soul’ DSD release. A
couple of songs (i.e. ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’) do have a smoother,
fuller sound but not that you’d notice without close comparison.
In
general the problem I have with these compiles is that they
all beg for the inclusion of lesser known Elvis songs that,
hopefully, might draw the general public into exploring more
of Elvis’ amazing back catalogue.
Why not feature a couple
of “unknown” gems from the American Sessions (i.e Any Day
Now, Power Of My Love, True Love Travels On A Gravel Road)
and add some publicity to the inside cover pointing to the
‘Suspicious Minds’ compile? (You know The Colonel would!)
Amazingly
none of these powerful, begging, songs have ever appeared
on a ‘Love Songs’ compile! The
power of Elvis’ voice and the production of the time are reminiscent
of the ‘A Little Less Conversation’ re-issue, so it makes
you wonder why not. Similarly one of Elvis’ most heartbreaking,
romantic, and touching love songs ever, ‘I Need Somebody To
Lean On’, has also never been on a Love Songs compilation.
(How on earth did this not make the ‘50 Greatest Love Songs’
compile when ‘Old Shep’ did?)
Again,
this song plus 'Please Don't Stop Loving Me' Tk10 & 'Home
Is Where The Heart Is' Tk14 could possibly lead people to
check out a quality movies songs compile or something else.
And, if the FTD versions of all these songs were used, the
sleeve could say “Six previously unreleased alternate takes!”
It
is interesting to note that the British CD cover with
the less confronting image, still includes the same sleeve
notes saying "The cover of this package sets the tone
with a just-this-side-of-naughty image. . a gorgeously
youthful Elvis going playfully tongue to tongue with a
local fan from Virginia" which demonstrates some slack
production values on the part of BMG England.
In fact,
too much of the inside sleeve is also wasted with unnecessarily
messy large listings & credits, whereas some more, rare,
photos might have contributed to a superior design. |
 |
The
Japanese ‘Love, Elvis’ issue also contains 2 extra final tracks,
‘Angel’ and ‘Mary In The Morning.’
Verdict - The Wertheimer cover photo is very striking and
I wish I could spot it in more Australian shops. There
is no doubt that new powerful Elvis images are needed
to get the general public to explore the CD racks, so
if ‘Love, Elvis’ replaces the too-smooth covers of other
love song compilations then this CD won’t disappoint.
(How dated was that 1998 ‘Love Songs’ cover! - (right))
After all,
24 of Elvis’ very best are included here and, as the sleeve
says, “Turn on your stereo, open your heart & surrender”. |
 |
Let's hope that Sony/BMG makes sure that Elvis’ first 3 LPs, along with ‘Suspicious Minds’ & ‘Elvis Is Back’ are on the shelves
right next to it.
EIN
postscript: With its sexy front cover image, I considered
that the CD should have in fact been called Lust, Elvis,
an Elvis emotion which for some reason hasn’t been focussed
on before. Let’s start the tracklist now… Give Me The Right;
Such A Night; Baby, Let’s Play House; Money Honey; Reconsider
Baby; It Feels So Right; One Night of Sin; Little Sister;
Burning Love; If You Talk In Your Sleep etc - If you see it
in the shops, remember that EIN suggested it first!
Click
to comment on this review
|
