Product Description
The recorded legacy of Elvis Presley continues to be discovered by new generations that never saw him or heard him perform live. It's hard to appreciate that he started so much of what we take for granted now in popular music. Until 1956, the teenagers of suburban America, and the rest of the world, had to endure ditties by Rosemary Clooney and Perry Como but everything was about to be tossed upside down. On January 28 on a cold night in New York, Elvis took America by storm as he appeared on CBS-TV's Stage Show hosted by Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. On February 4 for his second appearance he sang a song that literally changed the world of popular music "Heartbreak Hotel". Its unique sound and style literally blew everything before it away while at the same time inducing the blueprint for everything that was to come; by April, it would be #1 on Billboard. This incredible step-change in musical history resonated around the world and while liberating millions of young adolescent teenagers it also inspired many successful artists of today to pick a guitar or sing - everyone wanted to be like Elvis. The pure spontaneity of these seminal recordings shows through even today; "Heartbreak Hotel", Don't Be Cruel", "Hound Dog", "Blue Suede Shoes" and "My Baby Left Me" are some of the greatest rock 'n' roll records ever made. Elvis' unprecedented level of achievement is still the benchmark by which artistic success is measured today and YOUNG MAN WITH THE BIG BEAT is testament to the phenomenon and cultural icon that is Elvis Presley.

THIS SUPER DELUXE EDITION CELEBRATES 1956 in style with this retro 12x12 format and offers;

• 2 CD's of original digitally remastered RCA master recordings
• 1 CD of live performances including a complete UNRELEASED concert from the Municipal Auditorium, Shreveport, Louisiana;
  Little Rock, Arkansas March 18 and the New Frontier Venus Room, Las Vegas May 6
• 1 CD of insightful outtakes that offer a fly-on-the-wall experience of an Elvis recording session
• 1 CD of revealing and rare spoken word recordings including THE TRUTH ABOUT ME plus outtakes, the complete TV GUIDE PRESENTS ELVIS and Colonel Tom Parker interviews; the complete WARWICK HOTEL interview; the extremely rare Elvis RCA Victrola advertisements.

Incredible 80-Page color 12 x 12 book with 12-month day-by-day chronology, rare photos and memorabilia; including original RCA and Elvis Presley Enterprises artifacts and documents.

Also included is a unique memorabilia envelope containing original size replicas of; RCA's first ever poster for Elvis YOUNG MAN WITH THE BIG BEAT; Mosque Theater Poster, Venus Room Flyer for The New Frontier Hotel Appearance 1956; Original RCA Order Form for Heartbreak Hotel; unique Colonel Parker letter and Cotton Bowl Ticket Stub.

Plus 5 8 x10 photos suitable for framing!

CD 1: Remastered RCA Master Recordings
1. Blue Suede Shoes
2. I'm Counting On You
3. I Got A Woman
4. One-Sided Love Affair
5. I Love You Because
6. Just Because
7. Tutti Frutti
8. Trying To Get To You
9. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
10. I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')
11. Blue Moon
12. Money Honey
13. Heartbreak Hotel
14. I Was The One
15. My Baby Left Me
16. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
17. Shake, Rattle And Roll

CD 2: Remastered RCA Master Recordings
1. Rip It Up
2. Love Me
3. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
4. Long Tall Sally
5. First In Line
6. Paralyzed
7. So Glad You're Mine
8. Old Shep
9. Ready Teddy
10. Anyplace Is Paradise
11. How's The World Treating You
12. How Do You Think I Feel
13. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
14. Hound Dog
15. Don't Be Cruel
16. Any Way You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)
17. Too Much
18. Playing For Keeps
19. Love Me Tender
20. Let Me
21. Poor Boy
22. We're Gonna Move

CD 3: Live Performances
1. Heartbreak Hotel
2. Long Tall Sally
3. Blue Suede Shoes
4. Money Honey
5. Heartbreak Hotel
6. Long Tall Sally
7. I Was The One
8. Money Honey
9. I Got A Woman
10. Blue Suede Shoes
11. Hound Dog
12. Heartbreak Hotel
13. Long Tall Sally
14. I Was The One
15. Love Me Tender
16. Don't Be Cruel
17. Love Me
18. I Got A Woman
19. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
20. Paralyzed
21. Hound Dog

CD 4: Outtakes
1. I Got A Woman Take Unknown
2. Heartbreak Hotel Take 06
3. I m Counting On You Take 13
4. I Was The One Take 02
5. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Take 01
6. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Take 03
7. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Take 04
8. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Take 05
9. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Take 06
10. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Takes 07, 08, 09
11. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Take 10 (Master)
12. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy Takes 11,12
13. Shake, Rattle And Roll Takes 01, 02
14. Shake, Rattle And Roll Takes 03, 05, 06, 07
15. Shake, Rattle And Roll Take 08
16. Shake, Rattle And Roll Takes 09, 10, 11, 12, 12 (Undubbed Master)

CD 5: Spoken Word Recordings
1. The Complete Warwick Hotel Interview
2. The Complete TV Guide Presents Elvis Interview
3. Colonel Parker Interview
4. The Truth About Me
5. The Truth About Me Interview
6. Victrola Radio Ad 1
7. Victrola Radio Ad 2

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055IU3EA/?tag=imwan-20

$116.95 is very steep for a 5-CD set(only 4 of the discs having music). Hopefully, the price will drop before release.

s/b young man with a big price tag.

Was the world crying for another Elvis comp? We need some more Doors comps too, I think.

I'm having a hard time identifying a unifying theme in this set. It just kind of seems like a lot of stuff thrown together.

It's intended as an in-depth chronicle of Elvis' first year as an RCA recording artist, 1956. All the official releases freshly remastered, a disc of live performances, a disc of outtakes, plus every important spoken word recording from that era such as the TV Guide interview and the RCA Victrola ads.

This is not a comp - not even close to it. It's a chronicle of his first big year.

I wish I could understand why Elvis fans are so dead-set against releases like this. All I read are complaints about his catalog & requests for more out takes & unreleased stuff. I'm 58 years old & have never owned an Elvis Presley album that WASN'T a comp. (Not counting all the "product" that came out after he died. I have plenty of that junk.) Now I've had a chance to pick up Legacy Editions of 2 of his best albums, Elvis In Memphis & Elvis Is Back - and I'm looking forward to these.

I wouldn't say that Elvis fans are "dead-set" against releases like this. Check out the comments in this this thread on a Presley fanboard: http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/v ... n+big+beat

Presley's FTD "official bootleg" label has been releasing studio outtakes and live Presley concerts on a regular basis for over a decade. In fact, they may just be running out of out of "new" material to release. All of the outtakes released on Disc Four of this set were previously released on the FTD Edition of "Elvis Presley" that was released in 2006.

Yeah, while I don't own the FTD, I was surprised to see all those outtakes on this release. Outtakes & alternates are usually left to FTD, while Sony releases concentrate on master recordings. Plus , why those 2 songs so predominently - why not do more of a sampling of outtakes from other songs? It just seems weird to me, but I'm not an Elvis expert by any stretch. I might have just gone with a 4-disc set at a lower price & sold more. Or include some video if it exists.

I still don't understand why they moved "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" to the second disc, when the previous FTD & BNG releases had it as a bonus track to his first album. What am I missing here?

I agree that it's odd that Sony would put "new" Presley material (the December concert) on a non-FTD set, although I would venture a guess that this recording (along with the interview audio) only surfaced relatively recently, and the boxed set was structured around it to coincide with the 55th anniversary. The discovery of a “new” Presley recording has become increasingly infrequent, but Sony does tend to figure out how to get this music to the public sooner rather than later—they slapped together the “2nd To None” best-of to highlight the “I’m A Roustabout” acetate that had turned up, as the rest of the “Roustabout” session tapes have completely vanished. The same goes for the two-and-a-half newly discovered takes of “Heartbreak Hotel” and the “I’ll Never Stand In Your Way”/”It Wouldn’t Be The Same Without You” acetate that surfaced in the mid 90’s.

As for why those particular outtakes were chosen for this box…I have no idea. It would appear that every known 50’s Presley outtake has been issued on an FTD set by now, although a boxed set devoted to the Sun sessions has reportedly been in the works for years, along with rumors that it would contain “new” Sun outtakes. It is a fact that a collection including EVERY previously released Sun outtake from several decades of various Presley/Sun compilations has NEVER been officially released. It is also a fact that, as of this writing, every Presley recording released prior to July 6, 1961 has entered the public domain in the U.K., so if it appears that Sony is pulling out all the stops in an effort to maximize earnings out of material from this era, it’s because they are.

I'm pretty sure it is a comp. That doesn't mean I don't understand your point, and the appeal of this release to you, though.

I guess it comes down to one's definition of a "comp". To me, a comp is a collection of an artist's songs from their career - "compiled" from albums, singles, etc. - in essence a "Greatest Hits", "Best Of", "Anthology", "Very Best Of", "Retrospective", etc.

I don't view the packaging of 2 albums together as a comp. A "2-fer", yes. For example, I have all of the Beach Boys Capitol albums (i.e. "Surfin' Safari/Surfin' USA", et al) - as "2-fers" - I don't view them as comps.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a "super-deluxe" 2-fer of his first 2 albums - with bonus tracks & lots of extras. But I see your point, one could view it as an "Elvis '56 comp" - it all comes down to how you define & think about it I suppose.

Now as far as I'm concerned, I'd like to see them discontinue all of the Elvis hits collections /comps out there - every single one that Sony controls - let the stock dry up - and bring back the Gold Records series - as 2 fers - expanded slightly from their 1997 incarnations - Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 together - Vol. 3 & Vol. 4 together - expand Vol. 5 or introduce a "Vol. 6". Sell them as individual Legacy Editions & as a set - with the Vic Anesini mastering - and let them be the last word in Elvis's "greatest hits".

I've got a pre-release of this box from Sony/Legacy for a site that I run that does music reviews and interviews (iconfetch.com). The biggest thing is how great these masters sound. The underrated Vic Anesini mastered the set and it sounds fabulous.

A letter I wrote got printed years ago in the CD Watchdog when "30 #1 Hits" was released. I was complaining about how bad "Love Me Tender" sounded. Yes, I know it was recorded on a film soundstage, but it had drop-outs all through it. Incidentally, this new collection cleans up "Love Me Tender" and it sounds tremendous. Just one example.


Tony

Vic Anesini's work with Elvis Presley's catalog is nothing short of astounding! I did not buy any of the "Complete" box sets - but I have purchased "From Elvis In Memphis", "Elvis Is Back", Elvis At The Movies" & the Elvis 75 set. I'll most likely get "On Stage" soon. Can't wait to hear this. The only quandry I have is whether or not to spring for the full box set or just get the Legacy 2-disc version.

And The Who! Don't forget there aren't nearly enough comps by The Who.

VERY disappointed in the 2-disc Elvis Presley/Elvis Legacy Edition!!

This version does NOT contain the 3 addittional songs from the Love Me Tender movie & EP. It appears that all of the websites that showed the track listing as being identical to the first 2 discs from the box set were wrong.

In addition, this Legacy Edition was not packaged in the clear plastic sleeve that all the others came in.

Not happy about this at all!

If anybody was interested in obtaining the previously unreleased Presley concert on this boxed set--the "Louisiana Hayride" concert from 12/15/56--but didn't want to pay the $100+ prixce tag, Sony Legacy has released it on a budget comp that can be found at your local Wal-Mart for about seven bucks:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0080R7P4E/?tag=imwan-20