Elvis, by Elvis Presley (October, 1956)

Dad's Take:

By the time Elvis Presley released his second RCA album in October 1956, he was able to release it under his first name only. He had had the smash hit of the summer with both sides of the "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog" single. Riding on the success of that single, went back into the studio for three days in September, and the result topped the charts for four weeks, despite containing only one hit, "Love Me," which hit #2 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart (as well as #7 on the Black Singles chart and #10 on the Country Singles chart). The other two singles, "Old Shep" and "Paralyzed" failed to reach the top 40.

Elvis was now a bona fide star, and this album shows him performing with much more confidence and energy than he had on Elvis Presley earlier in the year. "Rip It Up" is an energetic opener, one of three Little Richard covers on the record. Elvis's "Ready Teddy," on the other hand, is just plain kick-but rock and roll, thanks in no small part to a killer instrumental break. Add the three Little Richard covers to the one on his first album and you add significant fuel to Little Richard's claim to be the "architect of rock and roll." "Rip It Up" falls a little short of Little Richard's maniacal energy and you can understand the words (which takes some of the fun out of it), but it's a strong opener and sets the mood that permeates this album.

I've heard a lot of Elvis over the years, but most of these songs are new to me, because they weren't hits. That they weren't is a surprise. For the first time, we get an album full of songs with the signature Elvis sound. By 1957 almost every song on this album would probably have made an assault on the top of the charts, but now they can almost be considered obscure to anybody but big Elvis Fans.

A favorite that I don't remember hearing before, but that I'll be listening to again (and again, and again) is "So Glad You're Mine." This song is as Elvisy as "Heartbreak Hotel," but not nearly as well known, with a rocking bar room beat and some heavy guitar and piano, and fun lyrics that stick in my head, like:

My baby's long and tall
Shaped like a cannon ball
Say every time she loves me
Lord you can hear me squall
She cried "ooo weee"
I believe I changed my mind
She said, "I'm so glad I'm livin'"
I cried, "I'm so glad you're mine"

I had to listen three times before I could move on, something that hasn't happened yet while listening to the records for this review. Even unadulterated cheese like "Old Shep," an old-style country weeper that won Elvis 2nd place at a fair in Tupelo when he was ten, can't spoil the fun of this record. If Elvis Presley is Elvis before he was The King, Elvis is his coronation party.

Brad's Take:


This album kicks off with quite the punch. "Rip It Up" truly rips it up right from the start. I wish the whole album was like that song. It's just a tease though because the second song is as slow as Elvis gets. I wish they had moved "Love Me" down in the tracklist, but oh well.

This album is a lot like Elvis' debut. It's a roller coaster. Fast paced classics with ballads randomly thrown in here and there. He, of course, has the voice to pull off everything he did, but I prefer fast rockin Elvis to slow-dancing Elvis. I was loving the fast paced songs and getting impatient with the slow ones, in hopes that the next song was another rockin' jam. "Rip It Up", "Long Tall Sally" were early favorites, but that guitar work in "So Glad You're Mine" is a lot of fun.

Another thing that I loved right from the moment it happened was the way that "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again" flowed into "Long Tall Sally." It's almost seamless. I love when tracks flow so smoothly with each other.

Whether it was a fast song or a slow song, The King nailed it. They got some golden takes in just the 3 days that it took to record this record. Without all the fancy technology we have these days, it's clear that Elvis, his band, and the producer had great talent.

I think it's time for me to make an Elvis mix CD with all of the up-tempo songs from his first two albums...