In remembrance of today, August 16, being the 40 year anniversary of his ascension into Rock ‘n Roll Heaven, the Vinyl of the Day is ‘50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Elvis’s Gold Records, Vol. 2)’, 1959, by Elvis Aaron Presley. It’s a compilation of hit singles released in 1958 and 1959 by Elvis, from recording sessions going back as far as February 1957.
Just how big a star was Elvis Presley in the ‘50s? Consider that RCA released its first Elvis greatest-hits album in March 1958—the 14-track Elvis’ Golden Records—and then put out this second volume in November 1959. (The a- and b-sides issued in 1958 and 1959 with “Hard Headed Woman” and “Don’t Ask Me Why” were left off due to their inclusion on the King Creole soundtrack the prior year.) In the late '50s, even Presley’s b-sides charted in the Top 40. While the albums of his Army period—For LP Fans Only, A Date with Elvis—raided the vaults for his sessions at Sun Records, the singles here were all new tracks recorded either several months before Elvis departed or during one of his rare weekends of Army leave. Contrary to some rumors, Presley wasn’t showing signs of mellowing. Songs such as “I Got Stung,” “One Night,” and “A Big Hunk O’ Love” are as ferocious in their own way as the tracks he cut at Sun Records and in his first few years at RCA.
What’s nice about this collection is that even though they’re Elvis’s ‘Gold’ records, they’re still pretty unknown today to all but his most dedicated fans, so it’s almost like hearing the King fresh, instead of his hits you’ve already heard 10,000 times over the years. And because this is from what was his hungriest and fiercest times, before his mega-fame and movie stardom, you get a real feel for what would make him such an enormous phenomenom. Long live the King, baby!
PS — that famous gold lame’ suit Elvis is wearing was made by the famous western clothing designer ‘Nudie’ of N. Hollywood. I used to shop at Nudie’s store, but never bought anything quite that colorful.
AllMusic Review by Bruce Eder
The release of this album, seen in its proper historical context, is an indicator of just how bright Elvis Presley’s star shone in the late '50s. His first hits collection was issued in March 1958, on the eve of his going into the Army; his second was the first “volume two” greatest-hits album ever issued on a rock & roll star, appearing weeks ahead of his leaving the Army in March 1960. Anyone who buys the notion that Elvis was “tamed” during his first years at RCA will find revelation in “A Big Hunk of Love,” “I Need Your Love Tonight,” and “I Got Stung,” some of the greatest pieces of hard rock & roll that the King ever cut – and all were recorded in the midst of Elvis’ stay in the Army, in a hastily arranged session in Nashville during June 1958. By this time, his voice was becoming one of the finest instruments in rock & roll, his idolization of Dean Martin and other popular singers paying off with a degree of control and articulation that his rivals could only envy, and it’s all laid out here on what are still some pretty hard-rocking sides.