ALBUM REVIEW: Elvis Presley - Elvis

    The months leading up to the release of Elvis' second album were the most formative to the King's enduring success - in May, "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" became the follow-up single to Elvis' chart-topping "Heartbreak Hotel", and pre-orders for the single hit record numbers for RCA. In July, Elvis Presley recorded and released "Don't Be Cruel", backed with "Hound Dog", and both songs would eventually go down as stone-cold classics while also proving to be his most successful single of the year; by 1961, "Don't Be Cruel" would sell in the tune of over 6 million. With both of these triumphs, Elvis Presley was rapidly becoming one of the biggest names in American culture, and was even beginning to spread over to other countries. RCA was quick to follow up on the success of these singles, as well as Elvis' first album, which eventually led to the quick turnaround for this album's creation. As you may expect from this knowledge, Elvis is virtually a continuation of the preceding album in terms of its rocking energy, but with a better polish overall and with the welcome addition of The Jordanaires' clean backup singing. Perhaps not as consistently exciting as the preceding record, but you would be hard-pressed to find any significant weaknesses in this record compared to its predecessor.

    For what it's worth, Elvis is a better sounding record than its predecessor in many rights, and I feel its for a few reasons; for one, RCA has thrown away its reliance on the Sun Sessions for this album - while I love the Sun Sessions, the fidelity difference between them and the RCA recordings is certainly noticeable. That isn't to say there's no leftovers, as "So Glad You're Mine" was recorded during the debut sessions, but it still gives the album a more consistent sound and polish. This cleaner sound is also likely from the addition of The Jordanaires' backup singing, appearing on plenty of songs throughout. They prove to be solid additions to the Presley line-up, adding some added flavor to both rocking numbers and especially the ballads - would "Love Me" truly be the same without them? Some moments are still, admittedly, a little rough production-wise - "First in Line" has a bit too much echo for my taste. I mean, really, what happened there? Overall, though, it's a very clean recording for the time, almost impressively so at points when compared to the occasionally muddy recordings of Sun. The same musicians return again for these sessions, and the talents of Moore, Black, and Fontana have only gotten better, as have the rotating line-up of piano players - Elvis himself takes on that duty on a few songs. The song selection is not dissimilar from his last album, filled with blues numbers, a few new creations, and some already classic rock & roll numbers (the album opens with "Rip It Up", and a pretty good rendition of the song at that). It's exactly what you'd expect from Elvis in that regard, and you could hardly go wrong with it.

    Speaking of the songs, let's talk about 'em; I believe the first side of this record is one of the strongest things Elvis has cut in his early days - it's a fantastic selection of songs that brilliantly balances great ballads with rock numbers. There's the aforementioned "Rip It Up", a solid rendition that does the song plenty of justice, as well as the sweet ballad "Love Me", one of Presley's strongest slower moments. There's also the Otis Blackwell-penned "Paralyzed", a great piano-lead rock number that certainly may be a knockoff of "Don't Be Cruel", but an endearing on at that. I've always loved this number, and it stands as one of my favorite Elvis album cuts - a great melody and beat throughout. There's a gruff version of "Long Tall Sally" that, while not as sharp as the original, is a great time, and the upbeat "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" is a great and optimistic response to the earlier and slower "Blue Moon" from his first album. The second side is no slouch either, even with the obvious leftover in "So Glad You're Mine" - hey, it's a killer leftover. "Anyplace is Paradise" is another sweet slower moment with a killer Presley vocal to boot, and "Ready Teddy" is yet another Little Richard moment on the album (lots of Little Richard here now that I think about it), and is similarly solid. Unfortunately, the album's weakness lies in the ending moments, with both "How's the World Treating You" and the following "How Do You Think I Feel" being a weak slap of a way to end an album that's otherwise been a punch of energy. There's also the commonly cited drivel of "Old Shep", a 4-minute slog that's really only saved by a decent Presley performance - if there's any proof that Elvis was never invincible, it's certainly "Old Shep".

    Ultimately, I don't find Elvis' sophomore release to be better than his debut - the second half kills it in this regard. Still, it was a worthy follow-up to such a killer debut, and one that was a second stronghold in the Elvis Presley Empire that was rapidly building across his catalog - with three hit singles and two great albums under his belt, Elvis was becoming a real American icon - the story of a poor boy from Tupelo in Mississippi becoming the biggest name in rock is the quintessential embodiment of the American Dream, after all. By the end of 1956, Elvis will have starred in his first film with Love Me Tender, which produced yet another hit for The King. It's an impressive amount of success in such a short time, and one that would, hopefully, carry into the following year. 1956 was a golden year for Presley, and Elvis takes a bit of that golden potential and pours it right into an album that is, at points, every bit as rocking, bluesy, and heartfelt as the album that preceded it.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Elvis.