ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT Commemorates 75th Birthday Of Elvis Presley On January 8, 2010
First Definitive 4-Cd Overview Of Entire Recording Career - From 1953's "My Happiness" to 1977's Moody Blue Tracks
100 digitally restored masters include hit singles, deep album tracks, rare cuts, live performances, and all 30 #1's: "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "All Shook Up," "Jailhouse Rock," "A Big Hunk O' Love," "It's Now Or Never," "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" "Crying In The Chapel," "Can't Help Falling In Love," "Good Luck Charm," "(You're The) Devil In Disguise," "In The Ghetto," "Suspicious Minds," "Burning Love" - and more!
Deluxe 80-page full-color booklet includes rare photography and 7,000-word essay
Box set kicks off year-long slate of Elvis Presley catalog releases - and coincides with 75th birthday celebration at Graceland in Memphis, January 7-10, 2010
Available at both physical and digital retail outlets starting December 8, 2009, through RCA/Legacy - Also, 26-track 'ELVIS 75' single CD arrives January 5, 2010
"To be sure, the chart hits are of crucial importance; but only when heard in the context of some of the lesser-known artistic achievements can they present a complete picture of an artist with repertoire so vast that he released 711 master recordings during his lifetime… These tracks span Elvis' entire career, from his first personal demo in 1953 through his last hit in 1977, and even beyond that, to a 2002 worldwide smash hit remix. This is as definitive a summation of Elvis' career as has ever been attempted on four discs."
- from the preface written by Ernst Mikael Jørgensen and Roger Semon, for ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT
More than six decades have elapsed since the post-war stirrings that oozed from the primordial swamp of American southern hillbilly boogie, country and western, race music, and rhythm and blues - a gumbo stew that grabbed musicians and singers by the scruff of the neck, and led them kicking and screaming through the birth of rock and roll. There are Great Man Theories and Big Bang Theories that perennially try to pinpoint the fountainhead from which it all sprang loose. Yet it always come back to Memphis, and always come back to one man: The King Of Rock And Roll.
Elvis Aron Presley, born January 8, 1935, died August 16, 1977, age 42. In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Elvis' birth - to be celebrated on January 8, 2010 - comes the first four-CD deluxe box set collection ever to provide the definitive overview of his entire recording career. ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT, produced by long-time Elvis chronicler and biographer Ernst Mikael Jørgensen, will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting December 8, 2009, through RCA/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT presents 100 songs, a broad collection of hit singles, deep album tracks, live performances, and rarities. The tracks appear in strict chronological order of recording dates over the course of Disc 1 (1953-1957), Disc 2 (1958-1962), Disc 3 (1963-1969), and Disc 4 (1970-1977). They range from the first demo acetate that Elvis made at the Memphis Recording Service of Sun Records as a gift for his mother in 1953 ("My Happiness"), to a sampling of Sun Records sides produced by Sam Phillips in 1954-55 ("That's All Right," "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," and more), through 21 and a half years of RCA tracks, from 1956 to 1977.
[The 100th track on the box set is the JXL Radio Remix Edit created in 2002, for "A Little Less Conversation," originally a 1968 single (written by Billy Strange and Mac Davis). The remix was done by Dutch musician-producer Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL (JXL, the XL stands for Xpanding Limits). It was commissioned for Nike's World Cup ad campaign, and was commercially released in Europe as "Elvis vs. JXL." It went on to hit #1 in the UK, Australia, and more than 20 countries worldwide. In the U.S., the CD single rose to #1 on the new Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. It later became the opening theme for tv's Las Vegas series, starring James Caan on NBC.]
On January 5, 2010, RCA/Legacy will release a 26-track single CD titled ELVIS 75, featuring selections from the box set. As the year continues, RCA/Legacy will unveil a full slate of Elvis Presley catalog title reissues and compilations. (In July 2009, RCA/Legacy released a special expanded 40th anniversary Legacy Edition of 1969's From Elvis In Memphis, his legendary sessions at Chip Moman's American Studios that yielded the comeback hit singles "In the Ghetto," "Suspicious Minds," "Don't Cry Daddy" and "Kentucky Rain.")
Adding to the historical impact of ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT is the 80-page full-color booklet included in the box set. In addition to rare photography and memorabilia, the booklet will include a 7,000-word biographical essay written by Billy Altman, an award-winning music critic, journalist, historian, and educator, whose work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and People magazines. The Grammy®-nominated writer is the recipient of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for music journalism.
The release of ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT coincides with a 4-day celebration of his 75th birthday, January 7-10th, centered at the Graceland estate, outside of Memphis. In addition to the annual birthday proclamation ceremony on the front lawn of Graceland, events will include parties, dances, and panel discussions. For further information, please go to http://www.elvis.com.
From the moment in early 1956 when Elvis' first string of hits on RCA Victor proclaimed his arrival on the old 'Top 100' - "Heartbreak Hotel," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender" - there were 17 chart titles in 1956 alone - his hammerlock on rock and roll was unquestioned, his influence on the destiny of all popular music about to be engraved in stone. Even after the Beatles' conquest started in 1964, and the revolution of Bob Dylan in 1965, Elvis continued his reign on the charts, slotting nearly four dozen songs on the Hot 100 from 1964 to 1969.
The phenomenal chart statistics accumulated by Elvis come alive on this box set. As compiled by Joel Whitburn, Elvis is the top-ranked Hot 100 male artist (by far!) of the 1950s and '60s - and the only act (male, female, or group) ever to be top-ranked #1 for two separate decades. Elvis holds unassailable records for the Most Chart Hits (151), Most Top 40 Hits (104), Most RIAA Platinum Hits (28), Most RIAA Gold Hits (24), and Most Weeks Charted (1,598).
In Jørgensen's book Elvis Presley: A Life In Music (St. Martin's Press, 1998), his indispensable guide to The Complete Recording Sessions (as the book is subtitled), the author concludes his text by reflecting on the success of RCA's groundbreaking 1992 box set, The King Of Rock 'N' Roll: The Complete '50s Masters:
By that time, in our worldwide culture, the name Elvis Presley had become its own definition, requiring no other point of reference, embodying all the contradictions, all the anomalies, and all the beauty that his music at its best had achieved. "We will never agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis," declared writer Lester Bangs with the doleful romanticism of a 27-year old when he heard the news of the death. And what we agreed on most was his music.
ELVIS 75: GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT by ELVIS PRESLEY
(RCA/Legacy 88697 60625 2)
Disc 1: 1953 - 1957
1. My Happiness
2. That's All Right
3. Blue Moon Of Kentucky
4. Good Rockin' Tonight
5. Baby Let's Play House
6. Mystery Train
7. I Forgot To Remember To Forget *
8. I Got A Woman
9. Heartbreak Hotel *
10. I Was The One
11. Blue Suede Shoes
12. My Baby Left Me
13. One-Sided Love Affair
14. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
15. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
16. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You *
17. Hound Dog *
18. Don't Be Cruel *
19. Love Me Tender *
20. Love Me
21. Paralyzed
22. Too Much *
23. All Shook Up *
24. Mean Woman Blues
25. (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley
26. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear *
27. One Night *
28. Jailhouse Rock *
29. Treat Me Nice
30. Blue Christmas
31. Don't *
Disc 2: 1958 - 1962
1. Hard Headed Woman *
2. Trouble
3. King Creole
4. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
5. I Need Your Love Tonight
6. A Big Hunk O' Love *
7. (Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I *
8. Stuck On You *
9. A Mess Of Blues
10. It's Now Or Never *
11. Thrill Of Your Love
12. Such A Night
13. Are You Lonesome Tonight? *
14. Reconsider Baby
15. Doin' The Best I Can
16. Pocketful Of Rainbows
17. Surrender *
18. Crying In The Chapel *
19. I Feel So Bad
20. There's Always Me
21. Judy
22. Can't Help Falling In Love *
23. (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame *
24. Little Sister
25. Good Luck Charm *
26. Suspicion
27. She's Not You *
28. Return To Sender *
Disc 3: 1963 - 1969
1. Bossa Nova Baby
2. (You're The) Devil In Disguise *
3. (It's A) Long Lonely Highway
4. Need Somebody To Lean On
5. Viva Las Vegas
6. It Hurts Me
7. This Is My Heaven
8. Adam And Evil
9. How Great Thou Art
10. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
11. Guitar Man
12. Big Boss Man
13. Too Much Monkey Business
14. U.S. Male
15. If I Can Dream
16. Memories
17. Don't Cry Daddy
18. In The Ghetto *
19. Suspicious Minds *
20. Stranger In My Own Home Town
21. Kentucky Rain
22. Only The Strong Survive
Disc 4: 1970 - 1977
1. Polk Salad Annie (live)
2. The Fool
3. Funny How Time Slips Away
4. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
5. I Just Can't Help Believin' (live)
6. I'm Leavin'
7. An American Trilogy (live)
8. Burning Love *
9. Always On My Mind
10. Steamroller Blues (live)
11. Loving Arms
12. Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues
13. Promised Land
14. T-R-O-U-B-L-E
15. For The Heart
16. Hurt
17. Way Down *
18. Unchained Melody (live)
19. A Little Less Conversation * (JXL Radio Remix Edit, 2002)
Notes:
Tracks 2 through 7 originally issued as Sun Records single sides, all other tracks originally issued on RCA.
* titled tracks indicates track included on ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits.