Just in time for the Christmas business RCA Victor released the second longplayer of the new rock'n'roll king on October 19, 1956. In its initial sales period "Elvis" is bought 500,000 times. Billboard started to list the record on their "Pop Albums Chart" on November 10th. In total the album stayed 32 weeks and peaked at number one. The RIAA honored the domestic sales with a Gold Award (1960) and a Platinum Award (1992). Worldwide 3.5 million copies were sold, which equals 525 million paid streams of the complete album or 5.25 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Therefore Elvis' second longplayer was even more successful than his first one. Nowadays the situation is vastly different since "Elvis Presley" was requested on Spotify over 250 million times while "Elvis" clocks in at just 63 million streams.

While RCA Victor had simply used a concert picture on the cover of the first album, the label now invested some money in a photo session and even had color pictures made (back in those analogue days a color film cost much more than a black and white film). The backside of the sleeve included liner notes and promoted albums of other RCA artists.

On the streaming platforms "Elvis" is presented the way it was issued in 2016 as part of the set "The Album Collection". For this project all tracks were scanned with high-resolution equipment and remastered. Therefore the album can be presented with the golden Hi-Res emblem. The better sound of these versions is owed exclusively to the new mastering (the elimination of interfering noise). Because first one cannot turn an analogue recording into a high resolution recording just by scanning the tape with hd equipment and second even an old cd with 16 bit/44.1 kHz exceeds the auditory sense of a human being. The album has a running time of 29:47 minutes.

With the exception of "So Glad You're Mine", which was a leftover from January 1956, the album was recorded between September 1st and 3rd 1956 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by Steve Sholes and engineered by Thorne Nogar. Elvis and Scotty Moore played guitar, Bill Black was on bass, D.J. Fontana was on drums and Gordon Stoker played piano. The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hugh Jarrett, Neal Matthews and Hoyt Hawkins).

RCA Victor released the songs also on the extended players "Elvis - Volume 1", "Elvis - Volume 2" and "Stricktly Elvis". Combined these secondary exploitations sold as many copies as the longplayer.

In 2014 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Elvis", which included bonus tracks and a recording of the king's final appearance at "The Louisiana Hayride" radio show. For a review of this release tap HERE.

The rock'n'roll song was written by Robert Blackwell and John Marscalco and first released in the summer of 1956 by Little Richard. Elvis recorded his version on September 3, 1956 within 19 takes. The narrator got his pay cheque (there were no digital transfers these days) and is ready to party. It's a great performance and one of the highlights amongst the early recordings of the king. RCA Victor also released it on the extended player "Elvis - Volume 1".

The original recording was released in 1954 by Willie & Ruth, Elvis taped his cover on September 1, 1956 and approved the 9th attempt for release. It is said that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the writers of "Love Me", didn't like the king's interpretation, because he ignored the irony and sang it seriously and schmaltzy instead. But especially the female fans loved to hear him beg "Treat me like a fool, treat me mean and cruel, but love me". Just like "Rip It Up", RCA Victor also released the track on the extended player "Elvis - Volume 1". Because of its popularity the song was also included on the album "Elvis' Golden Records" (1958) and the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Records Volume 2" (1971). "Love Me" quickly became a fixed item in the king's concerts. And so the song is included on "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972), "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973), "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974) and "Elvis In Concert" (1977). A performance taped in 1968 for the television special "SINGER presents Elvis" was released in 1974 on the album "Elvis - A Legendary Performer". Unfortunately Elvis rarely met the level of the studio recording on stage.

Elvis recorded the country pop on September 2, 1956. Take 10 became the master. The original was released in 1941 by Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan, three years later Cindy Walker (no connection to Wiley) scored a top 5 hit with "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again". I like the tune very much, textually it can be summed up by "If you return to me, my life will be great again". The king included the song in his tv special "SINGER presents Elvis" (1968), RCA Victor also released the studio recording on the extended player "Elvis - Volume 1" (1956) and the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2" (1971).

Once again Elvis covers one of Little Richard's hits. The narrator sees his supposedly sick uncle John ducking down the alley with a lady named Sally and instantly knows what's going on ("...she's build for speed" means, that she doesn't need to be convinced to have sex with someone). The frivolous and funny song is performed very well by Elvis, who recorded it on September 2, 1956 within four takes. It was written by Robert Blackwell and Little Richard himself, credited under his real name Richard Penniman. RCA Victor also released the track on the extended player "Stricktly Elvis" (1957), live versions can be found on "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973) and "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974). Once again these performances are a far cry from the studio recording.

The singer drools over his loved one and assumes, she must have been the first in line when they gave out beautiful eyes, lips and everything else. Without doubt Elvis performs well, but this love song doesn't touch my soul at all. The king obviously thought differently, because he recorded 27 takes on September 3, 1956. RCA Victor later released the ballad, which was written by Aaron Schroeder and Ben Weisman directly for the king, on the extended player "Stricktly Elvis" (1957).

Elvis tryed to record "Paralized" on September 1, 1956, but finally gave up and taped 12 further takes the next day. Because he still wasn't able to reach a satisfactory result, he also recorded five instert-takes. The master is a splice of take 12 and insert-take 5. The result was also released on the ep "Elvis - Volume 1" (1956) and the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2" (1971). The song was written by Otis Blackwell and is reminiscent of "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up". But even without being too unique, the melody stays with you and the performance is flawless. For the king "Paralized" was a very lucrative song, because Colonel Parker made sure that his client was credited as a writer, too. Therefore Elvis also got half of the royalties.

This song was written and recorded by Arthur Crudup in the 1940s, Elvis covered it on January 30, 1956 at the RCA Studio in New York City/New York within ten takes. Originally "So Glad You're Mine" was taped for the king's first album, but even though it would have been one of its strongest songs it was left out at the time. Of course it wasn't just included on the longplayer "Elvis", but also on the extended player "Elvis - Volume 2".

At the time "Old Shep" must have been a real surprise, because nobody expected a sad ballad about a boy and his dog from somebody, who was said to be the king of rock'n'roll. In fact Elvis loved "Old Shep" and sang this song since his childhood days. I like the track very much, because it's one of the very few ballads, that Elvis sang well at the time. In the 1950s he was really good at uptempo songs, but he simply lacked the technique to perform the slow tunes well. On September 2, 1956 the king recorded five takes of "Old Shep", but finally approved his first attempt for release. Because of a mistake some pressings of "Elvis" include take 5 of the song. Today these versions of the album are quite expensive. RCA Victor also released "Old Shep" on the ep "Elvis - Volume 2" (1956), CAMDEN included the sad ballad on the budget lp "Separate Ways" (1972). The song was written by Red Foley, who was also the first to release it.

This is another song by Robert Blackwell and John Marscalco, that was recorded first by Little Richard. Elvis followed him on September 3, 1956 within 12 takes and delivered rock'n'roll at its best. The lyrics are bland, but the rhythm is great and the king's performance is flawless. "Ready Teddy" was also released on the extended player "Elvis - Volume 2" (1956).

The singer claims, that any place is like paradise as long as his loved one is with him. On September 2, 1956 Elvis worked hard on this slow popsong and needed 22 takes to reach a satisfactory result. The song by Joe Thomas certainly has no potential for a single, but as an album track it works just fine. "Any Place Is Paradise" can also be found on the ep "Elvis - Volume 2" (1956).

As written before, I don't regard slow songs a key competence of the young Elvis Presley, but this one he performs well. He recorded it on September 1, 1956 within seven takes, RCA Victor released it again on the extended player "Stricktly Elvis" (1957). Eddy Arnold had released the song by Chet Atkins and Boudeleaux Bryant four years earlier. The narrator meets his ex and asks her, how she's doing. He is suffering and cannot get over the end of the relationship. I like this sad ballad very much.

Elvis, Scotty and Bill (featuring the drummer Jimmie Lott) had tried to record "How Do You Think I Feel" in April 1955 at SUN Records, but didn't archive a releasable result. On September 1, 1956 they tried again and this time the 7th attempt to tape the uptempo tune was successful. "How Do You Think I Feel" was written by Wayne Walker and Webb Pierce. The original recording is by Red Sovine, later it was covered by Jimmy Rogers-Snow. RCA Victor re-released the king's version on the ep "Stricktly Elvis" (1957).