Elvis Presley - So many albums - like an insane amount of albums!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Aug 10, 2018.

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  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Ok, it may be uncool these days, but I am still a big fan of Presley's music. I know he wasn't a writer and he was contracted to movies for too much of his career (although when I was a puppy I did enjoy those movies) but his fifties recordings, his sixties recordings and especially From Elvis In Memphis and From Memphis To Vegas and Vegas To Memphis were full of sensational rock and roll music and ballads.

    Anyhow,

    I noticed that I had nothing from the seventies and I do like some of that stuff quite a bit also (Moody Blue, Way Down, Rubberneckin, and several others) so I went to have a look at what was available, the walk a mile in my shoes box doesn't seem to cover it very well .....

    I guess I have never looked at Elvis' catalog before .... I was sort of stunned .... there are an insane number of albums. For some context, during the existence of the Beatles (who we all consider to be quite prolific , to the best of my knowledge) Elvis released about twenty four - 24 albums! ....

    This lead me to thinking about this ..... was this super excessive releasing of albums, poor management? Just the way the industry was for guys from the old school? A contractual issue? ..... I'm sure it didn't help his health and well being, especially since he made a ton of movies during that period also ....

    Here's the thing though, if we condensed that stuff to a sensible amount of albums from a modern mindset, would we be thinking of Elvis' post fifties career in a completely different way now? Was the sheer magnitude of releases cropping quality for quantity and therefor reducing the impact of his releases?

    I don't pretend to be an expert on the man, but i love that fifties box an awful lot, and the sixties box is very good also. Is there anyone here with a decent amount of knowledge that can give me the low down on this stuff I'm talking about? Does what I am saying and asking make sense? I know sometimes what I am thinking doesn't translate well into structured sentences lol

    Cheers guys
     
  2. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    He may have only made 24 in his lifetime but I have 41. I love the 4-record set Worldwide Gold Award Hits and the 8-record box set Elvis Aron Presley, as well as all of his gospel albums, especially the great His Hand In Mine. As for his '70s work, my favorite of his '70s albums is I'm 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country. It definitely shows his country roots but also contains some of the most rocking music he ever recorded, disproving the belief that he no longer rocked in the '70s. All the songs are segued together with fragments of his rollicking rendition of the folk song "I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago." IMO, it's not just his best album of the '70s but one of the best of his career.
     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    he made 24 albums during the beatles career ... That's what I mean. The album box set is 60 studio albums. during the sixties he was making like 4 albums a year or something
     
  4. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    His contract with RCA stated that he should record enough material for three albums + singles per year. His catalog is confusing but the 60 cd box set is a good way to get almost everything.
     
  5. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    OK, I see now what I overlooked before. I thought the number 24 seemed a bit small for the '50s through 1977, especially with all those soundtrack albums. Not to mention all the live albums and compilations and Col. Tom Parker's ridiculous exploitative Having Fun With Elvis On Stage.
     
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  6. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yes, it's a daunting and infinite catalog! Yet blissfully so. :)

    And it even gets worse if you really fall in love with his stuff because you may go down the road of buying non-RCA records, box sets, original singles, variations of original singles, lp's, Sun vinyl (mostly reissues or, if you are rich, possibly originals), FTD releases...etc.

    I'm so bad that his work in films is what I collect most - all the soundtracks, box sets of the soundtracks, FTD's of the soundtracks, dvd's and sets of the films themselves. I must be nuts! :p
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2018
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  7. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I think the consensus is that the 60s and 70s decade boxes did a world of good in rehabilitating Elvis' post-Army image. The former omits all of his soundtrack work, whilst the latter attempted to curate a "best of the 70s" collection.

    Still, as far as most rock critics are concerned (Dave Marsh is one exception), Elvis stopped being relevant as soon as he stopped recording "rock." So no matter how you packaged his work, some people would still dismiss it. It's also worth noting that a lot of people tend to think of artists in terms of their great album(s)...but although Elvis made many solid albums, none have ever really been widely seen as "classics" on the level of, say, Highway 61 Revisited or Pet Sounds. There's the debut, of course, but it's really more famous for its cover shot than the music it contains (anyone who picked it up because of London Calling is bound to be disappointed by much of it).

    Ultimately, since Elvis recorded on a song-by-song basis, I think it's actually best to *not* think of his work in terms of albums. That's why the decade boxes, despite their flaws, were so valuable - they presented his music without the trappings of "this belongs on album A, and this belongs on album B."
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    yea i just ordered it.
    The main thing I was thinking was, often these days the impact of Presley on the music world gets underplayed it seems. At seeing how many albums he made in such a relatively short period of time I wonder if the record companies want for quantity is what has to some degree damaged the modern eras view of his work.
     
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  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    :)
     
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  10. The Killer

    The Killer Dung Heap Rooster

    Location:
    The Cotswolds
    What the hey, just buy everything!
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    yea i can see that. cheers
     
  12. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Partly, but it's hard to ignore that a lot of the movie soundtracks and some of the 70s albums simply weren't that good. He recorded an awful lof of mediocre material and I'm a fan. But the Camden LPs such as Burning love and Hits From His Movies, Separate Ways and the infamous Having Fun With Elvis On Stage certainly didn't help. He became very successful after the TV Special in 1968 but the comeback only lasted for two or three years.
     
  13. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I have said so in more that one thread. The 60CD boxset is a good and probably the best STARTING point for new fans. Getting that set FIRST can save you a lot of money in the long run. Then you can start getting into the best sources of SQ on albums you like, Box sets and FTD for outtakes, and other collections to fill the gaps. If you are lucky enough to get The Complete Masters that is also worthwhile though you may not find it a priority now that you have order the much cheaper and still in print 60CD boxset.
     
  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    yea, that's kind of what i was feeling about it. It's like the record company pressure for product made the product not as good as it could have been from an historical aspect .... but his sales are insane as well, so maybe it worked for them
     
  15. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    The Camdens were a bit of a side deal so the Colonel split the profits 50/50% with Elvis on those. One reason there was so much product was not only because of RCA but because of the Colonel.
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    yea. i love the 50's masters box and the sixties highlights box, they were great sets. but i have always been an album guy and i know back pre 65 albums weren't really a thing so much, but it seemed the only way to get what were conceived as albums easily in that set.
     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    yea his business dealing always seemed a bit shady ... and to the detriment of his product
     
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  18. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    It was not just the annual album and singles requirements from the label that had a negative impact on Elvis’ recorded output during the 1970s. Elvis was subjected to publishing restrictions that impacted the quality of material he had to work with at his recording sessions, and he was saddled with the same producer for the entire period — a producer who was unable to constructively and productively run Elvis’ sessions. And while it was Elvis‘ decision to work with the same inept producer during that period, his management representatives and his record label never suggested or tried to facilitate a new, creative partnership with a new party. RCA did try to remove Jarvis, but it did so without a backup plan or suggestion for a new collaborator. The bottom line is that Elvis’ recording career during the 1970s not only suffered because of his own complacency, but was grossly mismanaged by his management, record label, and producer.
     
  19. joeislive

    joeislive Streets Ahead

    I concur with the other posters who recommended the 60 cd box. If you have the cash to spare ( and really the price isn't bad when you consider that some box sets with 6 cds run nearly as much!) then get it. I love that box. Has pretty much everything ( unless you really want to get into different mixes, single versions etc, at which point you become a collector!) uniformly great sound for the most part, in a handsome case that won't take up too much space and a nice little book too. Plus all the sleeves replicated to give you some more context.Some will quibble that certain tracks are added to certain albums as bonus tracks thereby ruining the historical accuracy of it, but I'd much rather they be included then not at all. It's really a great set that lets the music speak for itself. Yeah you get all the soundtracks (not all as horrible as their reputation, some are though, ditto for the 70's albums). My opinion- the man left behind more good music then bad, with this box you get all of it and judge for yourself. Can't recommend enough!
     
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    yea, that's the kind of thing that interests me.
    that's crazy.
    Do you reckon he was just so used to being in that production line that he had the blinkers on?
     
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  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    i'm looking forward to it arriving. i have never heard an actual Elvis album, just the first two 5 disc boxes that they released in the 90's (?)
     
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  22. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    If you look at how much studio material he recorded in the 70s, he didn't really record that many songs after 1971 with the exception of the two Stax sessions in 1973. Many of the albums were live albums and compilations of older material.

    1970: 37 songs
    1971: 43 songs
    1972: 7 songs
    1973: 28 songs
    1974: 0 songs
    1975: 10 songs
    1976: 16 songs
     
  23. MrSka57

    MrSka57 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse, New York
  24. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    The 60 cd box is stunning-one of my most liked collections. So much to discover
     
  25. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    Only 24 albums but Elvis music has been used in countless Elvis comps. Box sets, greatest hits and a trillion live albums as well. Elvis sells even today 2018. Like all popular musicians alive or deceased the music industry will milk the Kings music forever.

    Love the King but sometimes how much is enough. Have the RCA albums box as well love 70's Elvis, Elvis Presley Blvd and Moody Blue, Stax Sessions is awesome material.
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2018
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