Published June 26, 1992, San Jose (CA) Mercury News
''Elvis: The King of Rock 'n' Roll -- The Complete '50s Masters"
(RCA; 5 CDs, or 5 cassettes)
(star)(star)(star)(star)
If Elvis' long reign on the charts and his influence on rock 'n' roll makes him the King, then his recordings from the '50s were truly the crown jewels. It was a time when Elvis was at his rawest, his sexiest -- and his most influential. This historic set, two years in the making, features 140 tracks from that era, 14 of which have never been released before. The five CDs ($79.98) or cassettes ($69.98) comprise the master takes of all Elvis' '50s studio recordings.
More important, the sound quality is a vast improvement over past releases, even past CDs, thanks to a two-year worldwide search begun in 1988 to find the best masters available.
The production team took Elvis' early Sun recordings from 1954-55 and cleaned them up by stripping away the excess echo and reverb that RCA had added over the years and restoring them to nearly their original state. The result makes Elvis' vocals sound clearer and more up-front on "I Love You Because," for example.
On the original RCA tracks, the efforts are even more noticeable. The tracks sound much sharper and cleaner, giving them a greater urgency than ever before: Elvis' energy bursts through "Tutti-Frutti," and "Jailhouse Rock" has the intensity of a lightning bolt.
Then there are the usual unreleased goodies. Foremost among these is the world premiere of "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," the flip side of "My Happiness," Elvis' legendary $4 demo recorded in 1953 for his mother at the Sun studios. Although the demo is marred by surface noise, the young Presley sounds surprisingly confident as he performs the song in a version very close to the one he'd do later for Sun.
Other rarities include another segment from the Million Dollar Quartet session with Elvis singing "Reconsider Baby" and a bluesy 1955 acetate, "Fool, Fool, Fool," that Elvis never otherwise recorded.
The set also includes a beautiful 92-page booklet with notes by Peter Guralnick and a set of stamps of Elvis' record covers.
Separate boxed sets covering the '60s and '70s are planned. If this set is any indication, they'll be worth the wait.
