I already have almost all of these albums on CD already, but...

"Original album packaging has been painstakingly restored including gatefold/die cut sleeves, original RCA Victor inserts, stickers and more. CD labels replicate original side 1 labels."

That's the kind of stuff that always makes me fork out more dough. Ugh!! I would have held off on all of the Legacy Editions and 20 Album Collection box sets had I known this was going to come out. The price comes out to $6 a disc, so it's not priced as outrageously as I would have expected. Still, $350 is a big chunk of change to spend on stuff I already own. Hopefully the price will come down because it sounds like a really cool set. I can't wait to see pictures.

I love these "complete albums" box sets when they're done well (I'm currently listening to the Doobies box, in fact), so I will definitely consider opening up my wallet for this if the price comes down a bit. Would love for it to dip under $300.

It looks like a great set, and I wish such a thing had existed back when I was first looking to track down the entire core Presley catalog. Fortunately for my wallet, my completest instincts actually tend to work against the likelihood of my purchasing this set, as whenever I go on an Elvis buying jag, there is always material out there that I don't have, whether it be new FTD studio outtakes or a previously unreleased concert. For literally 20 years, I've been meaning to pick up the "Elvis In Concert" live album from the 1977 TV special; the biggest reason why I haven't is because when I look for something to buy, I almost always start with the oldest recordings I can find that I still don't have.

I'm going to try and track down what's on the three rarities discs. I'm pretty sure that there's a bunch of not-so-rare Presley singles that made their first album appearance on compilations that I don't see listed (the most obvious is "Suspicious Minds", which first showed up on a comp called "50 Worldwide Gold Award Hits" or some such equivalent.)

$350 is a pretty decent chunk of change but honestly that price looks like a bargain. 60 CDs. What promises to be at least decent quality mini-sleeves. 300 page hardcover book. I would have guessed a minimum $500 on something like this.

After FZ I have more Elvis releases than any other artist. Most of these, all the soundtracks, most of the box sets except for the last live one, many comps...nearly 100 titles...still if this goes under $300, l am in.

Bump: The full tracklist is now in the first post.

The British pre-order listing is up now, and the initial price is about $30 lower than the domestic pressing:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019YQJRKO/?tag=imwan-21

A quick look at the three rarities discs seems to indicate that these are mostly home recordings and rehearsals, with some rare singles and alternate takes. (In other words, nothing leaps out at me as being unavailable elsewhere).

About 20 years ago, there was a 50-disc boxed set released in Europe, although I believe it was really just a repackaging of the existing Presley CD titles at the time (the Double Feature soundtracks, etc..) Still, a nice repackaging job, at least.

Actually, after deducting VAT and taking into account Amazon UK's shipping & processing costs, this set would be just under $280 using today's conversion rate. I might have to preorder it & keep an eye on the US & UK prices before the release date. Don't tell my wife.

I know the point of this set is to only cover material released during his lifetime, but I was really hoping that the 1981 remixed "Guitar Man" single and 1982's "The Elvis Medley" might somehow find their way onto the rarities discs. Have either of those tracks ever been released on CD?

It looks like a few of the discs include bonus tracks. I wonder how that determination was made.

Bump again to add the full packshot to the first post. Very nice looking set!

Wow...I'd never heard of "The Elvis Medley" before looking it up just now. According to reliable Presley discographies, it has only been released on CD twice--on this 1994 Mexican reissue of the 1982 vinyl album:

http://www.elvisoncd.com/eigenecd/CD/t/ ... medley.htm

and (of course) in Japan, on a 10-disc 1999 "Complete Single Collection" (see Disc 9, "After The Day")

http://www.elvisoncd.com/eigenecd/CD/s/singlecoll.htm

The "Guitar Man" quasi-remake is also on Disc 9 of the Japanese "SIngle Collection", while "Too Much Monkey Business", one of the very first FTD titles, collected "Guitar Man" along all of the other Presley tracks (some previously unreleased) given re-recorded backing arrangements back in 1980.

http://www.elvisoncd.com/frame.htm?http ... monkey.htm

It appears to be completely arbitrary. For example: the non-album singles from the From Elvis in Memphis album sessions appear as bonus tracks with that album. But non-album singles from the Elvis is Back sessions appear on one of the rarities discs at the end of the collection.

IMO this is a "nice to have" collection - not very essential and many of the discs must run between 25 - 30 minutes long.

As I said I got lots of Elvis - at one point the movie soundtracks were on"two per" discs - with the later one covering 3 or 4 movies.

None of the add on's say from the early essential disc series - not a lot of extras - and what they have is pretty incomplete.

For a newbie Elvis collector this is a must - for those who have it pretty much covered...it's not.

I will ride this one out to see where it goes. The Cash complete (Columbia) box was different there were and still are many titles exclusive to that set.
For me there are still between 20 - 25 Bear Family Box sets on my list that are a higher priority.

If I live long enough - my collection will someday be complete - that s/b our motto here.

Unlike say Johnny Cash, I don't think there's a lot of value in listening to Elvis's work in the original album configurations. His albums were for the most part arbitrarily compiled and sequenced, and he had no role whatsoever in deciding their content. Most of his albums are just random hodge-podges, indifferently sequenced. It's far more rewarding to listen to him chronologically by session. That said, this set appears to be a really inexpensive way to get pretty much every essential recording Elvis ever did, albeit in an unwieldy package of 27 CDs' worth of material stretched out over 60 CDs. If you didn't already have most of his work you could buy this and then rip it and resequence it into chronological order as a low-cost alternative to the Complete Masters set.

I have the Complete Masters, and I'm still getting this. I like the fact that I'll have all of his albums in mini lp form.

I agree that not much thought went into many of his album configurations, but having them all in a single box is cool. I have to have it!

I keep looking at the packshot, it's so beautiful.

The spines are numbered, which is fantastic for organisation obsessives like myself. I like everything by an artist to be shelved in chronological order in my collection. With this set, if we have a few of the albums out of the box, we'll know exactly where to file them back in without having to look it up in an Elvis discography. All of the "Complete Album" collections should include this small detail for collectors.

I agree--even as old as I am, I learned this catalog through the compilations, and I don't think that I missed out on much. "Elvis Country" is probably my all-time least favorite original album configuration of otherwise good-to-great material. The only Presley albums where I took the time to track down the original album configurations are a couple of the 70's live albums--"As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" and "On Stage"--and the original 1968 "NBC TV Special" album.

The Complete Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash boxes from Columbia all have the numbers on the spine. The Miles and Bob numbers are small, the Johnny Cash is similar to the Elvis. My aging eyes appreciate the larger print!

I have the Complete Masters, various Legacy Editions and FTDs, and I will not be biting on this. If I want the albums in order, I can program them myself. These will likely be the same mastering as the Complete Masters set anyway.

The British pre-order price has dropped by a further £37, and is now £181.99:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019YQJRKO/?tag=imwan-21

Ordering high priced box sets from Amazon UK is a risky proposition at best if you want to receive the box in good condition. Last two orders I got from Amazon UK turned out to be (a) incomplete and (b) absolutely trashed. I use Amazon UK all the time for smaller priced items...when I don't mind a cracked jewel case or a dinged corner on a $10 digipak release. But ordering a high priced box set like this from Amazon UK and expect it to make it to the USA in good shape...I'll never do it.

I suppose it would be OK if the boxes were well packed by the label and shipped to Amazon UK and they just put that box in another box and then shipped it to the customer. But if Amazon unboxes these and then repackages them to ship to USA customers, that's basically a guarantee that the customer will received a trashed box set.

I would pay an extra $50 to get it from Amazon USA rather from Amazon UK for this reason. And that's a $50 no-brainer decision. Quite frankly, I think Amazon USA needs to and will lower the $350 price tag on this. Right now that price is not competitive at all (to say the least).