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Elvis' Golden Records | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | March 21, 1958 | |||
Recorded | January 1956 –September 1957 | |||
Genre | Rock and roll | |||
Length | 32:03 | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Producer | Steve Sholes, Elvis Presley | |||
Elvis Presley chronology | ||||
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Elvis' Golden Records is a compilation album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in March 1958. It compiled his hit singles released in 1956 and 1957, and is widely believed to be the first greatest hits album in rock and roll history. It is the first of five RCA Victor Elvis' Golden/Gold Records compilations, the first four of which were issued during Presley's lifetime. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart and was certified 6× platinum on August 17, 1999, by the Recording Industry Association of America. [1]
Elvis' Golden Records collects nine number one A-sides along with four B-sides, "Loving You", "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", "Treat Me Nice" and "Anyway You Want Me", and one album track, "Love Me", originally issued on the 1956 LP Elvis . Every flip-side also hit the chart separately from its parent hit side, with four making the Top 40; chart positions noted for those tracks individually. "Love Me" was also included on the Elvis Vol. 1 EP single which made the top ten on the singles chart.
In the 1950s, a gold record awarded for a single referred to sales of one million units, different from the definition in use by the late 1970s for albums, where a gold record came to mean album sales of 500,000 units. Exact figures from the RIAA are difficult to confirm, but in the press conference from September 22, 1958, originally released on the RCA Victor EP Elvis Sails in 1958 and included on disc four of the RCA CD boxed set The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50s Masters , the interviewer asked Presley for a tally of his gold records. Presley responded, "I have 25 million sellers, and two albums that have sold a million each." [2]
Most of the songs in the compilation were recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, with other sessions at the RCA Victor studios in New York City, at 20th Century-Fox Stage One in Hollywood, and the RCA Victor studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Although RCA Victor executive Steve Sholes was the in-house A&R man for Presley, and nominally in charge of his recording sessions at RCA Victor, accounts by Presley historian Peter Guralnick and Presley discographer Ernst Mikael Jorgensen indicate that Presley himself acted as the producer for his RCA Victor sessions in the 1950s.
The unified Billboard Hot 100 singles chart was not created until August 1958, after the release of this compilation, and of course after the release of all of these singles. Chart positions referenced were taken from the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart, although early statistics for rock and roll records also came from the "Most Played in Jukeboxes" chart.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [4] |
In a review for AllMusic, Bruce Eder commented:
This was rock & roll's first greatest-hits album, and it set the standard for all others to follow ... Each of the 14 songs had earned a Gold record award for a million sales, a record unequaled at that time by anyone else in rock & roll ... Elvis' Golden Records does give a bite-sized glimpse of where Elvis had come from and where he was going (for better or worse) musically on the eve of heading into the Army. [3]
Elvis' Golden Records is one of Presley's most popular albums and has remained continuously available since its original issue in 1958. RCA first reissued the original 14 track album on compact disc in 1984. This release, in reprocessed (simulated) stereo sound, was quickly withdrawn and the album was reissued in original monophonic. RCA reissued the album on CD again in 1997 and added six bonus tracks, with "Blue Suede Shoes" an unusual track in that it was issued simultaneously in conjunction with every track from Elvis' debut LP Elvis Presley in singles form, more than five months after the release of the album on March 23. Two more charting B-sides, "I Was the One" and "My Baby Left Me", and three Sun Records tracks rounded out the compact disc. RCA Victor had purchased the rights to reissue Sun material when buying Elvis' contract from Sam Phillips in 1955, using Sun recordings to fill out album tracks throughout the decade.
Details are taken from the 1958 and 1997 RCA Records albums liner notes and may differ from other sources. [5] See singles discography and song list for additional information.
Original LP
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Date recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hound Dog" | Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller | July 2, 1956 | 2:15 |
2. | "Loving You" | Leiber, Stoller | February 24, 1957 | 2:12 |
3. | "All Shook Up" | Otis Blackwell, Elvis Presley | January 12, 1957 | 1:57 |
4. | "Heartbreak Hotel" | Mae Axton, Tommy Durden, Presley | January 10, 1956 | 2:09 |
5. | "Jailhouse Rock" | Leiber, Stoller | April 30, 1957 | 2:27 |
6. | "Love Me" | Leiber, Stoller | September 1, 1956 | 2:43 |
7. | "Too Much" | Lee Rosenberg, Bernard Weinman | September 2, 1956 | 2:31 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Date recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Don't Be Cruel" | Blackwell, Presley | July 2, 1956 | 2:02 |
2. | "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" | William Raskin, Fred Fisher, Billy Hill | January 13, 1957 | 3:21 |
3. | "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" | Kal Mann, Bernie Lowe | January 24, 1957 | 1:45 |
4. | "Love Me Tender" | Presley, Vera Matson | August 24, 1956 | 2:41 |
5. | "Treat Me Nice" | Leiber, Stoller | September 5, 1957 | 2:10 |
6. | "Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)" | Aaron Schroeder, Cliff Owens | July 2, 1956 | 2:14 |
7. | "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" | George Mysels, Ira Kosloff | April 14, 1956 | 2:40 |
1997 CD reissue
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Date recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
15. | "My Baby Left Me" | Arthur Crudup | January 30, 1956 | 2:12 |
16. | "I Was the One" | Aaron Schroeder, Claude DeMetrius, Hal Blair, Bill Peppers | January 11, 1956 | 2:34 |
17. | "That's All Right" | Crudup | July 5, 1954 | 1:55 |
18. | "Baby, Let's Play House" | Arthur Gunter | February 5, 1955 | 2:16 |
19. | "Mystery Train" | Herman Parker Jr., Sam Phillips | July 11, 1955 | 2:24 |
20. | "Blue Suede Shoes" | Carl Perkins | January 30, 1956 | 1:59 |
Original UK LP
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Date recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hound Dog" | Leiber, Stoller | July 2, 1956 | 2:15 |
2. | "I Love You Because" | Leon Payne | July 5, 1954 | 2:42 |
3. | "All Shook Up" | Blackwell, Presley | January 12, 1957 | 1:57 |
4. | "Heartbreak Hotel" | Axton, Durden, Presley | January 10, 1956 | 2:09 |
5. | "You're a Heartbreaker" | Jack Sallee | January 2, 1954 | 2:12 |
6. | "Love Me" | Leiber, Stoller | September 1956 | 2:43 |
7. | "Too Much" | Rosenberg, Weinman | September 2, 1956 | 2:31 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Date recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Don't Be Cruel" | Blackwell, Presley | July 2, 1956 | 2:02 |
2. | "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" | Fisher, Hill, Raskin | January 13, 1957 | 3:21 |
3. | "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')" | Jimmy Wakely | September 10, 1954 | 2:24 |
4. | "Love Me Tender" | Presley, Matson | August 24, 1956 | 2:41 |
5. | "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" | Stan Kesler, Charlie Feathers | July 11, 1955 | 2:28 |
6. | "Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)" | Schroeder, Owens | July 2, 1956 | 2:14 |
7. | "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" | Mysels, Kosloff | April 14, 1956 | 2:40 |
Chart (1958-59) | Peak position |
---|---|
Italian Albums (HitParadeItalia) [6] | 1 |
US Billboard 200 | 3 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [7] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [8] | 6× Platinum | 6,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong: Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2 is the fourth compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in November 1959. It is a compilation of hit singles released in 1958 and 1959 by Presley, from recording sessions going back as far as February 1957.
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A Date with Elvis is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued on RCA Victor in July 1959. The album compiled a selection of previously released material from multiple sessions at Sun, an August 1956 recording session at 20th Century Fox Stage One and two from Radio Recorders in Hollywood. The album reached #32 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
Elvis is the second studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor on October 19, 1956 in mono. Recording sessions took place on September 1, September 2, and September 3 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, with one track left over from the sessions for Presley's debut album at the RCA Victor recording studios on January 30 in New York. It spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart that year, making Presley the first recording artist to have both albums go straight to number one in the same year. It would go on to spend 5 weeks at #1 in total. It was certified Gold on February 17, 1960, and Platinum on August 10, 2011, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
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Elvis' Christmas Album is the third studio album and first Christmas album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley on RCA Victor, LOC -1035, a deluxe limited edition, released October 15, 1957, and recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It has been reissued in numerous different formats since its first release. It spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, and was the first of two Christmas-themed albums Presley would record, the other being Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, released in 1971. The publication Music Vendor listed Elvis' Christmas Album on their singles charts for two weeks in December 1957 – January 1958, with a peak position of No. 49.
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For LP Fans Only is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on February 6, 1959 by RCA Victor. It compiled previously released material from an August 1956 recording session at 20th Century Fox Stage One, a September 1956 session at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, sessions on January 10 and 11 at the RCA Victor Studios in Nashville, two more at the RCA Victor Studios in New York, and multiple sessions at Sun Studio. The album reached number 19 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
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Elvis for Everyone! is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3450, on August 10, 1965. Recording sessions took place over a ten-year span at Sun Studio in Memphis, RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, and Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. It peaked at number 10 on the Top Pop Albums chart.
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The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters is a five-disc box set compilation of the complete known studio master recordings by American singer and musician Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1950s. Issued in 1992 by RCA Records, catalog number 66050-2, it was soon followed by similar box sets covering Presley's musical output in the 1960s and 1970s. This set's initial long-box release included a set of collectible stamps duplicating the record jackets from every Presley LP on RCA Victor, every single that had a picture sleeve, and most of his EP releases. The set includes a booklet with an extensive session list and discography, and a lengthy essay by Peter Guralnick. It peaked at #159 on the album chart and was certified a gold record on August 7, 1992, by the RIAA. Further certifications were for platinum on November 20, 1992, and for double platinum on July 30, 2002.
Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters is a five-disc box set compilation of the recorded work of Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1970s. It was released in 1995 by RCA Records, catalog number 66670-2, following similar box sets that covered his musical output in the 1950s and both his non-soundtrack and soundtrack work of the 1960s. This set's initial long-box release included a set of collectable stamps duplicating the record jackets of the LP albums on which the tracks in the box set were originally released by RCA. It also includes a booklet with an extensive session list and discography, as well as a lengthy essay by Dave Marsh, some of it excerpted from his 1982 book on Presley. The box set was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 15, 1999.
Loving You is the first soundtrack album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Victor in mono, LPM 1515, in June 1957 to accompany his film, Loving You (1957). Recording sessions took place on January 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1957, at the Paramount Pictures Scoring Stage, and on January 12, 13, 19, and February 23 and 24, 1957, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. These are the first sessions where Steve Sholes is officially listed as producer. It spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. It was certified Gold on April 9, 1968 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Elvis' Gold Records Volume 5 is the final album in the RCA Golden/Gold Records series by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, and the only volume in the series to be issued posthumously. The album was released by RCA Records in March 1984 on both LP and compact disc. The album is a compilation of hit singles released between 1968 and 1977. It is the only one of the series not to make the Billboard album chart, "bubbling under" at #207 for two weeks. It was certified Gold on 7/15/1999 by the RIAA.
King Creole is the second soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor, LPM 1884 in mono in September 1958, recorded in four days at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It contains songs written and recorded expressly for the 1958 film of the same name starring Presley, and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. The album was previously released as an EP album with two volumes, King Creole Vol 1 and King Creole Vol 2. King Creole Vol 1 peaked at #1 for 30 weeks on the EP album charts. It followed the film's release by over ten weeks. It was certified Gold on July 15, 1999, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Girl Happy is the tenth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3338, in March 1965 – the March 1 date is disputed. It is the soundtrack to the 1965 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, on June 10, 11, 12, and vocal overdubs by Presley on June 15, 1964. It peaked at number eight on the Top LP's chart. It was certified Gold on July 15, 1999 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
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