Elvis Is Back! [VINYL] [Import]

This excellent re-issue features bonus tracks recorded around the same time, featuring massive hit singles 'Are You Lonesome Tonight' 'A Mess of Blues', 'I'ts Now Or Never' plus 'Stuck On You', 'The Girl of My Best Friend', 'Such a Night' and 'Fame and Fortune' form the original, and all hit singles.

Yet these are not the highlights, as a stunning blues 'Reconsider Baby' spearheads the disc; this is the essence of Elvis and is a masterpiece.

'Like a Baby' is also blues, smoother and more rythmic and utterly sensational. 'Soldier Boy' is doo-wop/pop tremendously sung and a joy to hear.

'Dirty Dirty Feeling' was originally meant for the film 'King Creole', Elvis is relentless on this rocker as he shouts in high pitch and a feverish pace. And talking of feverish, his cover of 'Fever' betters the original, it's mesmorising as he melts into the music to create a charmingly capativating slice of cool, cool teasing pop.

Elvis is Back is stunning, it's flawless and if I Could recommend the 10 best Elvis albums it would be in there, see beleow.........

1 Sunrise
2 Elvis Presley
3 From Elvis In Memphis
4 Elvis Country
5 Elvis is Back
6 Promised Land
7 King Creole
8 Elvis
9 Memories
10 Back in Memphis

Tracks such as Girl Of My Best Friend and It's Now Or Never need no introduction but it is the lesser known numbers that make this album a worthy purchase, such as I Will Be Home Again, Soldier Boy and the pulsating and breathless Such A Night.

This album sold massively in 1960 when it only contained 12 tracks but now that the 6 CD bonus tracks have been added it really is outstanding value for money.

Anyone who likes Elvis but finds the 60's soundtrack albums a real pain to listen to should get Elvis Is Back. It was made before the formula movies and albums came along and it is much more professionally arranged and produced than some of his pre-army work.

Girl Of My Best Friend is pure well crafted pop, though the pandering lyric suggests the sexual tension that dominated his 50's recordings (baby lets play house, hunk of love) is now all but vanished. Dirty Dirty Feeling, a rocker finds itself swamped in mainstream gloss courtesy of Jordanaires vocals, that song hints at the dispossible soundtrack ditties Elvis would go on to make. Probably the albums greatest pop number is the gorgeously sentimental ballad Soldier Boy which is reminiscent of I Was The One musically.

Ultimately however it is 2 or 3 terrific Blues performance that hinge this album together, the best being Reconsider Baby. Elvis delivers one of his finest drawled blues performances as he sings....

''Weell So Long.....now I hate to see you go''

The song heads into a jam with Scotty Moore delivering some of his most firey guitar licks. And a brilliant wailing Sax solo. The song doesn't have a hint of brass or gloss however. Elvis delivers one final verse ending with the mumbled line..

'''Why don't you Reconsider Baby''

it's a stunning closer to this album.

Elvis arguably matches Peggy Lee for his rendition of Fever with it's sparce and dramatic arrangement. Like A Baby is also a terrific blues number.

The original album has been bumped up with bonus tracks to make it acceptable to the consumer standard of the CD Age. The quasi opera of the huge hit single It's Now Or Never showcase Elvis's full found adoption with the mainstream and his great admiration for Latin crooners like Dean Martin. It is a adaption of a old Italian tune 'O Sole O Mino'.

Are You Lonesome Tonight is one of Elvis's best loved ballads and needs few introductions.
Technically both rank as perhaps Elvis's finest ever vocal performances but the new found deepness to his voice came at the cost of the shear bloody excitement of his 50's vocalising (and the drawled Reconsider Baby still hints at). Needless to say Elvis makes up for it with yet another terrific blues performance, the B Side A Mess Of Blues.

Elvis Is Back like all the sessions were Elvis had a more hands on approach (sun for example) is incredibly varied album. Even the most die hard 50's purists will find tracks like A Mess Of Blues and Reconsider Baby to rank amongst Elvis's best. Stuck On You is also a rocker which feels more at home with his 50's recordings. His new found mainstream audience (which warmed to him on his Army service) will revel in the gloss of other tracks, only on tracks like Dirty Dirty Feeling and Such A Night does the album slightly fall short.
This alongside 1969's amazing comeback From Elvis In Memphis force's us to re-examine Elvis's 60's output. If i could have gave this album 4 1/2 i would have.