Elvis Presley Albums
Pamula Harrison
The album spent ten weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in 1956, the first rock and roll album ever to make it to the top of the charts,[10] and the first million-selling album of that genre.[11] In 2003 and 2012, it was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[12][13] and at number 332 in a 2020 revised list.[14] Elvis Presley was also one of three Presley albums to receive accolades in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[15] It was certified gold on November 1, 1966, and platinum on August 8, 2011, by the Recording Industry Association of America.[16]
Presley made appearances in four consecutive weeks on the Dorsey Brothers television program Stage Show in early 1956, on January 28, February 4, February 11, and February 18.[27] RCA wanted an album in the stores fast to capitalize both on the nationwide TV exposure and the success of his first hit single on the pop charts with "Heartbreak Hotel", swiftly climbing to the top after its release on January 27. At the same time, there had only been two series of Presley recording sessions for RCA Victor by the end of the Dorsey stint, after which Presley and his band were back on the road. Those two sessions yielded an additional eleven tracks, almost enough to fill an entire LP, although some tracks had singles potential. In the 1950s, general practice dictated tracks having greater commercial potential to be released as singles, with tracks of lesser appeal placed on albums; as such, RCA Victor neither took all eleven tracks and simply made an album, nor placed the already released and briskly-selling "Heartbreak Hotel" on it. The rights to the Sun Studio tapes had transferred to RCA Victor with the sale of his contract, so five previously unreleased Sun songs, "I Love You Because", "Just Because", "Tryin' to Get to You", "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')", and "Blue Moon" were added to seven of the RCA Victor sessions tracks to bring the running time of the album up to an acceptable length.[11] Phillips produced the sessions at Sun, and no producer was officially listed for the RCA Victor sessions, leading to the belief that Presley himself produced them.[28]
Guinness World Records recognizes him as the best-selling solo artist in the world, selling up to 500 million records globally.[1][2] Billboard ranks Presley as the 13th Greatest Artist of all Time.[3] Music historian Joel Whitburn ranked Presley as the number 1 charting album artist of all time in the US.[4] Elvis' Christmas Album remains the biggest selling holiday album of all time, selling over 20 million copies worldwide.[5] According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Presley has sold 146.5 million certified albums in the US, making him the third top-selling album artist in the country.[6]
FTD (Follow That Dream), Sony Music's Official Elvis Presley Collectors label, was established in 1999 to serve the dedicated Elvis collector and to complement the commercial and artistic level of RCA's retail release schedule by issuing repertoire that is considered of interest to serious Elvis fans and collectors, material that is generally not part of mainstream RCA label releases to the public at large.There are the original Collectors CDs with CDs ranging from soundboard-recorded concerts (recorded from the mixing desk in mono) to full RCA professionally recorded concerts in stereo and CDs consisting of unreleased material from recording sessions, such as The Jungle Room Sessions, Memphis Sessions, etc. Later FTD introduced the Elvis Classic Album Series, releases of the original albums in deluxe 7" size packaging with a booklet and usually a second CD of outtakes from the same period as the recordings on the album. There is also the Movie Soundtrack Series, usually released as a single CD but again in deluxe 7" packaging with booklet.[58][59]
In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, he relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. Presley held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. Some of his most famous films included Jailhouse Rock (1957), Blue Hawaii (1961), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. However, years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating habits severely compromised his health, and Presley died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.
Having sold roughly 500 million records worldwide, Presley is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rhythm & blues, adult contemporary, and gospel. He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. He also holds several records, including the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos".[96] Ed Sullivan, whose variety show was the nation's most popular, declared Presley "unfit for family viewing".[97] To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "childish".[98]
While in Bad Nauheim, Presley, aged 24, met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu.[155] They would marry after a seven-and-a-half-year courtship. In her autobiography, Priscilla said that Presley was concerned that his 24 months in the military would ruin his career. In Special Services, he would have been able to perform and remain in touch with the public, but Parker had convinced him that to gain popular respect, he should serve as a regular soldier.[156] Media reports echoed Presley's concerns about his career, but RCA producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range had carefully prepared: armed with a substantial amount of unreleased material, they kept up a regular stream of successful releases.[157] Between his induction and discharge, Presley had ten top-40 hits, including "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck", the bestselling "Hard Headed Woman", and "One Night" in 1958, and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" and the number-one "A Big Hunk o' Love" in 1959.[158] RCA also generated four albums compiling previously issued material during this period, most successfully Elvis' Golden Records (1958), which hit number three on the LP chart.[159]
In the first half of the decade, three of Presley's soundtrack albums were ranked number one on the pop charts, and a few of his most popular songs came from his films, such as "Can't Help Falling in Love" (1961) and "Return to Sender" (1962). However, the commercial returns steadily diminished. From 1964 through 1968, Presley had only one top-ten hit: "Crying in the Chapel" (1965), a gospel number recorded in 1960. As for non-film albums, between the June 1962 release of Pot Luck and the November 1968 release of the soundtrack to the television special that signaled his comeback, only one LP of new material by Presley was issued: the gospel album How Great Thou Art (1967). It won him his first Grammy Award, for Best Sacred Performance. As Marsh described, Presley was "arguably the greatest white gospel singer of his time [and] really the last rock & roll artist to make gospel as vital a component of his musical personality as his secular songs".[181]
The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce named Presley one of its annual Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Nation on January 16, 1971.[219] Not long after, the City of Memphis named the stretch of Highway 51 South on which Graceland is located "Elvis Presley Boulevard". The same year, Presley became the first rock and roll singer to be awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (then known as the Bing Crosby Award).[220][221] Three new, non-film Presley studio albums were released in 1971. Best received by critics was Elvis Country, a concept record that focused on genre standards.[222] The biggest seller was Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas. According to Greil Marcus,
Presley played guitar, bass, and piano; he received his first guitar when he was 11 years old. He could not read or write music and had no formal lessons, and played everything by ear.[309] Presley often played an instrument on his recordings and produced his own music. Presley played rhythm acoustic guitar on most of his Sun recordings and his 1950s RCA albums. Presley played piano on songs such as "Old Shep" and "First in Line" from his 1956 album Elvis.[310] He is credited with playing piano on later albums such as From Elvis in Memphis and "Moody Blue", and on "Unchained Melody", which was one of the last songs that he recorded.[311] Presley played lead guitar on one of his successful singles called "Are You Lonesome Tonight".[312] In the 68 Comeback Special, Elvis took over on lead electric guitar, the first time he had ever been seen with the instrument in public, playing it on songs such as "Baby What You Want Me to Do" and "One Night".[313] The album Elvis is Back! features Presley playing a lot of acoustic guitar on songs such as "I Will Be Home Again" and "Like a Baby".[314]
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