In late 2018 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "For LP Fans Only". It was a set of two compact discs and an informative booklet, housed in a 7" digipak. Even though streaming already had surpassed the physical sales, FTD stuck to the cd format and didn't distribute their product via the streaming platforms.

I guess it was a challenge to compile a collector's edition of this album, because all the tracks had been released before on other formats and therefore can be found on previous FTD releases. The solution was the inclusion of early radio- and tv-appearances of the king. These chapters are captioned with "For Radio Fans Only" and "For TV Fans Only". Besides that the compilation features home recordings, that were made while Elvis served the US Army in Germany. These recordings had surfaced in 2018, but were on public domain due to their age. So FTD was free to use them. Some of the tv recordings had been presented by RCA in the early 1980s on a boxed set named "A Golden Celebration". The collector's edition of "For LP Fans Only" presents these tracks in more complete and remastered form. Sebastian Jeansson was able to improve them a lot. The home recordings were mastered by Jan Eliasson.

In this review I will only deal with the tracks, that cannot be found on "For LP Fans Only" or other RCA and SUN releases. For a review of the original album tap HERE.

The first take is nothing but the intro, the second one is canceled after the line "well, that's all right mama". Take 3 is a complete performance on which Scotty Moore hasn't found the iconic guitar licks yet.

Elvis recorded eight takes of this ballad, the third one was selected for release. Because the song didn't fit the image of "The Hillbilly Cat", it was left in the vaults and sold to RCA in late 1955. Once again nobody saw a reason to release the track and so it stayed where it was. In 1976 "Harbor Lights" was considered to be a historic document of the early Elvis and was included on the compilation "A Legendary Performer - Volume 2". The 7th take doesn't differ too much from the master.

We get to hear the 4th and 5th take of the slow version of "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone". Take number 4 is a false start, the following attempt is a complete performance and was selected as master. In the end it was decided to release the faster version, because it fit the singer's image better.

This is Elvis' first performance on "The Louisiana Hayride". At the time this radio show was a smaller, but more progressive version of "The Grand Ole Opry" and helped to spread the young singer's popularity in the south of the USA. The future king of rock'n'roll, who was just 19 years old back then, presents his debut single. When he is asked about the new kind of sound, his answer is short and honest: "We just stumbled upon it".

On the same occasion Elvis, Scotty and Bill also presented the b-side of their first and only single. Scotty even gets some applause for his guitar solo.

On this edition of "The Louisiana Hayride" Elvis performs a song, that he would never record in the studio.

Here we have another "Hayride" performance of a song, that Elvis never taped professionally. For a long time the recording was considered to be lost, some people even doubted, that the king had sung "Hearts Of Stone" at all. The audio quality leaves a lot to be desired, but it's a rarity nevertheless.

Elvis, Scotty and Bill visited the radio station WJOI in Florance/Alabama and performed "Shake, Rattle & Roll". At the time it was quite usual, that songs were performed live during promo appearances like this. At the time the group had not recorded the song yet. They would finally tape it a year later for RCA Victor.

On January 22nd Elvis was back at "The Louisiana Hayride" and presented another song, that he would record for RCA later. The audio quality isn't too good, but that doesn't make this performance less interesting. In the background we can also hear a piano, which is quite untipical for a Presley appearance of this period.

On the same occasion Elvis also sang "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine", which was the flipside of his second single release. Once again he is accompanied by a piano.

This is another song, that Elvis would never record in the studio. 

The Blue Moon Boys also presented the b-side of their third SUN single. In contrast to the studio recording this performance also features a piano.

At the Eagles Hall in Houston/Texas the young singer presented the a-side of his second single and is running at full throttle. 

On the same occasion Elvis also performed a cover version of the Ray Charles hit "I Got A Woman". He would record it for RCA Victor a year later and keep the song in his show right up to the end.

On April 30th "The Louisiana Hayride" made a guest appearance in Gladewater/Texas. It is said, that Elvis planned to record "Tweedle Dee" and release it on a single, but in the end this never happened.

This edition of "The Louisiana Hayride" featured a performance of "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone", the b-side of the fourth SUN single. Elvis has some fun and fools around with the lyrics.

Now Elvis, Scotty and Bill also presented the a-side of the aforementioned single. The young singer lives up to the suggestive song and performs it with a lot of zest. Meanwhile Elvis obviously had gained popularity, because the MC announces him as "The Memphis Flash".

At the same "Hayride" appearance the group also performed Chuck Berry's "Maybellene". This is another song, that Elvis would never record in the studio.

This track ends the section of radio recordings and it's well chosen. The single "Mystery Train" / "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" would be the first one, which was listed on the national chart. Soon Elvis would leave SUN Records and "The Louisiana Hayride". He would enjoy his first national number one hit, would release his first album and would perform on television. His career was about to take off.

On January 28, 1956 Elvis appeared at "The Stage Show". It was the first time he could be seen on television. Even though his first single was "Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was The One", the Hillbilly Cat performed songs from his live repertoire instead. The popular DJ Bill Randall enters the stage and announces a singer, who now was about to write television history. In fact, this appearance was not all that significant, but Elvis, Scotty and Bill rocked the house and even get applause for their solos and (in the case of the lead vocalist) movements. 

Once again Elvis appeared on "The Stage Show". This time he presented one of his SUN singles and a cover version of a current hit by Little Richard. It was a bold combination, because both songs were about having sex. I doubt, that the elderly Dorsey Brothers and their conservative production team recognized the hedged contents. They surely wouldn't have allowed Elvis to bring up such a topic on their family program.

On his third appearance Elvis covered Carl Perkins' recent hit "Blue Suede Shoes" and turned the up tempo country song into pure rock'n'roll. Finally he also sang the a-side of his first RCA single. However, the part of The Dorsey Brother's Orchestra sounded quite outdated. It was obvious, that the hosts of the show had no connection to the current style of music.

The following week Elvis repeated his performance of "Tutti Frutti" and also presented the b-side of his current RCA single.

After having appeared on "The Stage Show" for four consecutive weeks, Elvis took a break of almost a month before he visited the show again. In the meantime he had gained some popularity, the audience is younger and louder than usual. The Hillbilly Cat repeated his performance from February 11th and sang "Blue Suede Shoes" as well as "Heartbreak Hotel". He calles the track his "RCA escape" (instead of "release") and rocks the house like only he could do.

The Dorsey Brothers announce the future rock'n'roll king and talk about his forthcoming screen test in Hollywood. As it turned out later, it would open up a new business segment for him. From his new album Elvis sang "Money Honey" and of course he also included his hit single "Heartbreak Hotel". It turned out to be the singer's final performance on "The Stage Show".

Elvis had moved on to "The Milton Berle Show", which had a considerably larger audience. The host announced the youngster as "singin' sensation" and the reaction of the audience also proved, that Elvis had become a star. 

With his second appearance on "The Milton Berle Show" Elvis promoted his forthcoming single "Hound Dog". During the second part of the song he halfed the tempo, moved excessively and used every trick in the book to rock the house. The audience in the studio obviously loved the performance, but many critics and television viewers were shocked. Elvis also sang the ballad "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". Jokingly Milton Berle joined in for a while, but messed up the lyrics and sang "I need you, I miss you, I love you".  

The television recordings end with Elvis' performance on "The Steve Allen Show". First the new rock'n'roll king presents the ballad "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You", then he sings "Hound Dog" to a real basset hound. Elvis took it as a personal attack from Allen, but in fact the production team of the show simply wanted to avoid a scandal a' la Milton Berle and tried to give the whole thing a humorous approach.

Elvis recorded the song professionally in 1960 for his gospel album "His Hand In Mine". Here the king and his group start the song several times, in-between we even hear a telephone ringing.

"Cool Water" was never sung outside the privat circle. It's quite interesting to hear the skillful harmonizing of the singers.

In early 1960 the king would record the song for his longplayer "Elvis Is Back!". Obviously he was already scouting for songs in late 1958.

We hear nothing but fragments of the performance. Nevertheless, they are interesting.

This one would become the title song of Elvis' first gospel album. The king switches between the religious and the secular version of the tune. At times he overdoes his part. Here and there we hear a high voice, which sounds (unintentionally) funny.

Once again we get to hear just fragments of the performance. Still it's nice to hear something, the king didn't record officially.

It took Elvis until 1973 to record the ballad professionally. But even way back in 1958 he delivered a performance worth listening to.

The early performance of "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was one of the biggest surprises, when the home recordings suddenly turned up in 2018. It was always claimed, that Elvis had recorded the song spontaneously as a favor to his manager, because "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was one of his wife's favorites. The tape reveals, that the king knew the song well as early as 1958. So it's very likely, that the ballad was on his agenda.

In contrast to the official version Elvis and his crew are belting and blaring beyond belief.