DEFINATELY ESSENTIAL ELVIS

I actually can't believe no one has reviewed this cd yet!! This is one of the greatest albums I own, without a doubt. I actually picked it up just for the Loving You cuts, but I was definately surprised with the bonuses. Let's start at the begining. First are the Love Me Tender cuts. Poor Boy, Let Me, and We're Gonna Move all sound very primitive, but that is their charm. Poor Boy is a slowed down rockabilly style song & all three songs are just great. I'll skip ahead to the Jailhouse Rock material. These songs are ones more people may be familiar with. Besides, of course, the title cut, it's flip side Treat Me Nice is on here (a hit in it's own right) plus popular cuts I Wanna Be Free, Don't Leave Me Now, and (perhaps best of all) You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care). What's really great about this however ever is they also include an alternate version of the title cut that was taken directly from the movie, where all the "cell mates" shout out lines inbetween Elvis' lyrics. In my opinion, this version is better than the well-known one. With the Loving You tracks, they also put in a couple alternate takes that had background singing in them. Party and Mean Woman Blues are both presented in both regular & alternate versions and again, in my opinion, the alternate Mean Woman Blues is much better. With all the girls screaming in the background, the song has a "recorded live" feel to it. On their own, the Loving You cuts stand up. Lonesome Cowboy, Hot Dog, Got a Lotta Lovin' to Do, and the two songs listed above rank up there with Elvis' best stuff. Paul McCartney even saw fit to cover Party on his latest cd. All in all, if you are going to invest in Elvis beyond the greatest hits cd's, this is certainly a great place to start!