Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight

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Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight album cover
Album Information
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Total Tracks: 100   Total Length: 272:23

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Michelangelo Matos

eMusic Contributor

12.08.09
An ideal road map into the world of the King
2009 | Label: RCA/Legacy

This 100-song extravaganza, released a month before Presley's 75th birthday (January 8, 2010), is not all the Elvis you could possibly want: there's way too much out there for any normal person to take in completely. But anyone seeking a decent understanding of the enormity of the man's musical facets, and is confused or flustered by the enormous number of compilations, overviews, box sets and best-ofs, has found their ideal road map. There's a lifetime's worth of great music on Elvis 75— his and yours.

What's probably most impressive is that it's still possible to listen to this most overexposed of pop-culture figures and hear his artistry as plainly as ever. The early Sun Records singles are some of the most mythologized music ever recorded. But in the verve and snap of "Mystery Train," "That's All Right (Mama)," and especially "Blue Moon of Kentucky," you can still hear Elvis, guitarist Scotty Moore, and bassist Bill Black reaching for something beyond themselves. It's not even that the trio melded black and white music in ways no one else quite had — though they did; it's that they sounded weirdly ageless, and still do. Much was made during the '50s about rock and… read more »

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The King Momma Baby!!

Bobyhic53g

For Beginners! This is really a great deal for the novice. Pretty much a career retrospective and it does take 4 discs.

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Thank you

EMUSIC-0098DD6F

Thanks Emusic for the Elvis. It's a great album. And for the Buddy Holly, & Jimi etc. as well. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. It seems to really be starting to pay off.

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What he said!

mik1

If you don't already have most of these songs, then this is the collection to get.

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They Say All Music Guide

Never once has an Elvis anniversary been missed and his 75th birthday is indeed a big one, sparking a year-long series of RCA/Legacy reissues inaugurated by the four-disc box set Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight. Fittingly for a celebration, Elvis 75 doesn’t dredge up unreleased items or rarities (there can’t be too much left in the vaults anyway), it celebrates the King at his best, telling the story from beginning to end — in fact, beginning a little earlier with the pre-Sun 1953 acetate of “My Happiness” and ending a little later, with the 2002 JXL remix of “A Little Less Conversation.” These are somewhat wobbly bookends to what amounts to the best four-disc box retelling of Elvis’ familiar story, hitting so many of the blockbuster hits and great album cuts that it initially seems that these 100 songs cover everything essential. Closer inspection naturally reveals there are many masterpieces missing, whether they’re from Sun, the ’68 Comeback, or his last single “Moody Blue,” but the great thing about Elvis 75 is that as it plays, their absence isn’t apparent: it seems to serve up all of Presley’s best, and at the very least, it’s the best thorough overview of the entirety of his career yet assembled. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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