Top Artists – Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley / From Elvis in Memphis

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Elvis Presley

  • Solid Double Plus (A++) sound brings Presley’s 1969 release to life on this vintage RCA pressing
  • Both sides here are superb – big, full-bodied and Tubey Magical yet exceptionally clear, spacious and open
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness, vocal presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true if you own whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market, made from who-knows-what tapes
  • 5 stars: “…one of the greatest white soul albums (and one of the greatest soul albums) ever cut, with brief but considerable forays into country, pop, and blues as well. Presley sounds rejuvenated artistically throughout the dozen cuts off the original album, and he’s supported by the best playing and backup singing of his entire recording history.”

Of the handful of Elvis albums to ever make it to the site, this is clearly the critics’ favorite, and one listen will tell you why. This is the album that single-handedly revived Elvis’ fortunes, setting the stage for his record-breaking series of shows in Las Vegas doing pretty much the type of music he had recorded for it.

The next year he would go on tour for the first time since 1957 (!)

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Elvis Presley – Moody Blue

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  • An original RCA pressing with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides
  • It also plays fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus considering the blue vinyl
  • Presley’s final studio album, released just a month before his death – not his best but there are a number of songs worth hearing here
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • “For all of its slapped-together feel, however, Moody Blue held up. The title song, authored by Mark James (who’d previously written ‘Suspicious Minds’), was just about as good a single as Elvis released in the 1970s, topping the country charts earlier in 1977; additionally, he did a superb reinterpretation of the George Jones hit ‘She Thinks I Still Care.'”

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Elvis Presley – Good Sounding on Speakers Corner Heavy Vinyl?

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Elvis Presley

Speakers Corner did this album in 2003. I liked it and recommended it at the time.

I rather doubt I would care for it these days. I have much less tolerance now than I did back then for the vague imaging, lack of ambience and overall lifeless quality their records invariably suffer from.

Of the handful of Elvis albums to ever make it to the site, this is clearly the critics’ favorite, and one listen will tell you why. This is the album that single-handedly revived Elvis’ fortunes, setting the stage for his record-breaking series of shows in Las Vegas doing pretty much the type of music he had recorded for it. The next year he would go on tour for the first time since 1957(!).

Other Pressings

As you can imagine, this album changed everything for Elvis. I first heard it the way I heard so many albums back in the late ’70s and early ’80s: on the Mobile Fidelity pressing. I was an audiophile record collector in 1981 and if MoFi was impressed enough with the sound and the music to remaster the album and offer it to their dedicated fans, of which I was clearly one, then who was I to say no to music I had never heard?

Soon enough I would learn my lesson about MoFi’s A&R department. The MoFi release of Supersax Plays Bird, a record that had virtually nothing going for it, was the last time I would ever put much stock in their opinion again. It’s audiophile collector BS, a record that might have been played once or twice and then quickly filed (numerically!) with other Mobile Fidelity records to complete the series. What will these audiophile labels do if big pharma ever comes up with a cure for obsessive/compulsive disorders, the kind that cause collectors to have to complete their collections?

As it turns out, they did a pretty good job on the Elvis album, not that I would have any way to know — back then it would not even have occurred to me to buy a standard RCA pressing and compare it to my half-speed-mastered, pressed-in-Japan, double-the-price-of-a-regular disc LP.

A decade or thereabouts later it would be obvious to me that MoFi had fooled around with the sound and that the right (heavy accent on the word “right”) real RCA pressing would be more correct and more natural (but probably not as quiet of course, but advances in cleaning technology fixed most of that and left MoFi in the dust).

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Elvis Presley / Elvis Is Back! – Our Shootout Winner from 2015

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Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Elvis Presley

For those who wish to find their own Hot Stamper pressings of the album, we say more power to you. Our helpful advice can be found at the bottom of the listing,

What a great Elvis album. Fever is the killer jam on the first side and the material throughout is of very high quality.

Finding clean real Elvis records — not those crappy compilations and vault-leftovers, but real Elvis albums from his golden period when he was the true King of Pop (sorry Michael) — has never been a walk in the park. We do the best we can.

Fortunately there are some reissues from the ’60s and ’70s that have the potential for excellent sound. This is no doubt one of them. The originals we see are pretty much a lost cause; they’re practically always scratched and full of groove damage. We’d be lucky to find one clean one every five years. (more…)

Elvis Presley / Elvis Now

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If you’ve been on the site for any time at all you know how rare it is for any Elvis album to show up in Hot Stamper form. Most of his records don’t sound good on most of the pressings we play, and far too often the best sounding pressings are just too noisy to be of any real interest to audiophiles.  

But we found this one, and it blew everything else out of the water. It’s got the glorious sound of 1972 (!) in its grooves. (more…)

Elvis Presley – Elvis

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  • Presley’s sophomore release makes its Hot Stamper debut with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish and exceptionally quiet vinyl for an Elvis album from 1956 (!)
  • This is by far the cleanest copy of an early Elvis record we have ever come across, and it sounded pretty darn right to us, although we can’t say we’ve played all that many copies – where on earth would you find them?
  • Features loads of quintessential Elvis hits, including Love Me, Old Shep, When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again, and many more
  • 5 stars: “… a more confident and bolder work than his debut, and in any other artist’s output it would have been considered a crowning achievement.”

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Elvis Presley – On Stage February 1970

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  • With superb Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound from first note to last, right up there with our Shootout Winner, this original RCA Orange Label pressing is guaranteed to sound dramatically better than any copy you’ve ever heard
  • Here’s Elvis doing songs made famous by others, proving that he can still out-rock and out-soul practically anybody alive
  • With ten million copies sold to date, this album’s appeal has transcended its time and must be considered a true Elvis Classic
  • 4 stars: “”The Wonder of You” might not have been “That’s All Right” or even “Heartbreak Hotel,” but it was a towering performance by a singer who could, even then, run circles around virtually anyone in the business this side of Roy Orbison.”

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Elvis Presley – Pot Luck

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  • Excellent Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last on this surprisingly good sounding record
  • Recorded in Nashville by the brilliant Bill Porter, and with the Jordanaires singing backup, what’s not to like?
  • If you want to know just how rich, spacious, natural and Tubey Magical Elvis’ records can sound, look no further
  • “Pot Luck was a great vehicle for Presley’s voice as it was evolving — ‘She’s Not You’ brilliantly showcased the softer, more intense singing style that had manifested itself just a few months earlier with ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love.'”

If you’ve been on the site for any time at all you know how rare it is for any Elvis album to show up in Hot Stamper form. (more…)

Elvis Presley – That’s The Way It Is

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  • With two nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sides, this copy is close to the BEST we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner
  • Big, open, and clear, this album captures Elvis live and in the studio – a unique collection that should appeal to any Elvis fan
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… [That’s The Way It Is] captures a peerless performer putting his amazing band through the paces… Elvis would record more great music in the next few years, but this record captures him at a pivotal moment when he retained the power of his 1968 comeback and had yet to succumb to all the glitz of Vegas.”

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Elvis Presley – Something For Everybody

  • This outstanding copy boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from beginning to end 
  • If you want to know just how rich, spacious, natural and Tubey Magical even a reissue Elvis record can sound, here’s your chance to find out
  • Recorded partly in Nashville by the brilliant Bill Porter, and with the Jordanaires singing backup, what’s not to like?
  • “…his voice is better than ever, and this is reflected in the arrangements, most of which are closer in spirit to the finely crafted pop symphonies of Roy Orbison than they are to any of Presley’s earlier work.” 

This pressing has the glorious sound of 1961 in its grooves.

Most of the man’s records don’t sound good on most pressings, and more often than not the best sounding pressings are just too noisy to interest most audiophiles. Not so here though, as this was one of the quietest we played in our recent shootout. (more…)