Great Showcase of Elvis as Bluesman

This is a fine, if incomplete, look at Elvis Presley's deep blues roots. Too often it is forgotten how much the singer was influenced by blues and R&B. This collection spotlights familiar blues cuts like "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," plus less known tracks like "Like A Baby."

In some ways this now out-of-print U.K. set (from 2000)is superior to the "Reconsider Baby" blues set RCA released in the '80s, featuring quite a few tunes it overlooked, and excluding a few that didn't work as well. They actually both compliment each other fairly well. Still, a few tracks, "Beach Boy Blues" (a fun Hollywood "blues" from "Blue Hawaii) and "Hot Dog" (an uptempo '50s movie rocker that is blues really in structure only) probably should have been left off.

Both sets neglected Elvis' more recently-issued '70s jam on "Tiger Man," his "Aloha" romp on "Steamroller Blues" and the barely-known soundtrack tune, "All I Needed Was the Rain," among others.

Still, there's some surprising choices of bluesy but country-flavored tracks like "Clean Up Your Own Backyard (the first issue apparently of the undubbed version), "After Loving You"(why not "Power of Your Love" from same session?), plus the great, recently-issued slow blues version of Percy Mayfield's "Stranger In My Own Hometown."

"Give Me the Right" is bluesy, but a bit lightweight for inclusion. A version of "C.C. Rider" (his regular opener later on) would have been perfect instead.

"New Orleans" is a ripe choice, but "Trouble" (also from "King Creole")is sorely missing from what we must think of as a "sampler."

A few more Sun sides, like a slow alternate of "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" would have been inspired, plus "Baby What You Want Me To Do" from the '68 Comeback "boxing ring." The latter may have been the King's favorite blues. How did they miss this?

All in all, a fine collection, with newly-commissioned, extensive liner notes. I'm happy they even tried this. It may surpass the U.S. version, and certainly is the gem of the whole (U.K. only) Elvis "Ultimate Collection." This surely is a "must" Elvis album - even if you have most or all of them on the boxsets.

In fact, RCA / BMG would find an Elvis "Blues" boxset (two cds or even three) to be a natural collection that would win raves, if paced correctly and intelligently assembled. Until then, snap this one up, along with the U.S. predecessor.