Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Heartbreak Hotel
2. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
3. Hound Dog
4. Don't Be Cruel
5. Love Me Tender
6. Love Me
7. Too Much
8. All Shook Up
9. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
10. Jailouse Rock
11. Don't
12. I Beg Of You
13. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
14. Hard Headed Woman
15. One Night
16. I Got Stung
17. (Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I
18. I Need Your Love Tonight
19. A Big Hunk O' Love

Disc 2:

1. Stuck On You
2. It's Now Or Never
3. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
4. Surrender
5. I Feel So Bad
6. Little Sister
7. (Marie's The Name Of) His Latest Flame
8. Can't Help Falling In Love With You
9. Good Luck Charm
10. She's Not You
11. Return To Sender
12. (You're The) Devil In Disguise
13. Bossa Nova Baby
14. Crying In The Chapel
15. In The Ghetto
16. Suspicious Minds
17. Don't Cry Daddy
18. Wonder Of You, The
19. Burning Love

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45359 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com
This two-disc collection delivers exactly what it promises: Every Top 10 hit achieved by Elvis Presley during his remarkable reign as the King of Rock & Roll. Beginning with his earliest singles from the mid-'50s--the bluesy "Heartbreak Hotel," the doowop-styled "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," the folkish "Love Me Tender," and the raucous "Jailhouse Rock"--right through such melodramatic early-'60s chart-toppers as "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight," and on to late country-tinged hits as "In the Ghetto," "Suspicious Minds," and his final entry, the mucho macho "Burnin' Love," there's just no getting around Pesley's imposing history and accomplishments. --Billy Altman

Customer Reviews

The Whole Story--Well, Not Quite, But Pretty Darn Close
A number of the reviews for this 2-Cd set comment on the simplicity of the packaging, the absence of any liner notes or illustrations--simply a roster of all of Elvis Presley's US Top Ten hits with their recording dates and highest chart positions. Since I bought a used copy, I was glad to know that nothing was missing. And actually, what's there really is enough. In this day and age, you can find out all you need to know about Elvis's life, music and cultural significance at the drop of a Google. There's something almost refreshing about a fairly exhaustive collection of an American icon that says, in effect, "Here's the music. Listen to it. Really LISTEN to it."

I grew up listening to Elvis, but I didn't come of age until the post-Beatle era. Elvis was one of my older sister's favorites (and even then, she preferred Ricky Nelson--as I recall). But I certainly heard the records, mostly on the radio or on TV. And I thought I knew them pretty darn well, thank you very much.

But now I find I was wrong. Not ever having a particularly good sound system in my early years, I didn't have a clue as to how well produced many of these songs were. I was vaguely aware that there were any number of true rockers among his hits, and a quite a bit of cheese in the arrangements of some of the others. But here's the thing, as downright campy as some of the more schlockier numbers might have seemed on the radio, most of them come across quite well. Even the pseudo-operatic numbers like "It's Now Or Never" (a pop re-working of "O Solo Mio") or "Surrender" are actually kind of charming when you pay close attention to the Euro-style arrangements and the overly elaborate (but endearing) background vocals. They're really kinda fun.
But yeah, I still prefer the rockier Elvis. And I'm just as glad to hear a schlock-masterpiece like "Surrender" followed by a rootsy, bluesy rocker like "Feel So Bad." Not everything the King recorded after his discharge from the Army was diluted rock. It wasn't the Sun Sessions, but most of it had a good beat and you could dance to it. And for the most part, his vocals were spot on. Listening to these tracks on a pretty good system, I find myself more impressed by his singing than ever. He didn't have Roy Orbison's range, but he could be equally expressive.

Many fans will probably tell you that the first CD in the set has the lion's share of the classics. It's not an unfair assessment, since it's hard to beat the youthful exuberance of "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," and even the slightly skewed "Heartbreak Hotel," among others. But the second disk has numerous strengths too. Like many a chronologically arranged collection, it closes out a shade weaker than it began. The schlock factor was increasing, and on rockier fare like "Burning Love," there are signs that he is huffing and puffing his way through the song. The background vocals on "Wonder of You" sound more compensatory than complementary. It's jarring.

You could almost be justified in wishing that the collection cut off just a bit earlier (and some purists would probably say, "Cut it down to ONE strong disk"). Well, there are more streamlined collections out there, of course. But there is something satisfying about the relative completeness of this set. It's the whole picture, warts, wheeze and all. There's something honest, refreshing and actually quite
majestic about the scope of the project. It's a fitting tribute to the King, after all.

buy it!
It is ridiculous that this is not in print - it is by far the best collection with almost all of the RCA songs that matter and none of the ones that don't. This, along with two other purchases, will give you all of the Elvis you need:

"Sunrise" - for obvious reasons
"Memphis 1969" - for "Kentucky Rain", "Stranger in my own Hometown" and alternates to the problematic take of "Suspicious Minds" on this set.

Holy smokes! Land sakes alive!
This two CD set is exactly what it says it is: every Top Ten hit by Elvis Presley (as charted on the Billboard magazine Hot 100). 38 of the King's most popular songs are incuded here, so what's not to like? True, there are a number of great Elvis songs that weren't Top 10 hits, like "Viva Las Vegas", "Guitar Man" and "Kentucky Rain", but nobody said you can't buy more than one Elvis collection. These are all great songs that every Elvis fan should have. One thing I should mention is that the version of "Suspicious Minds" here is an alternate mix (probably included by mistake). It doesn't feature the overdubbed horns, nor does it come back for an "encore" after it fades out at the end, like it does in the original mix of the song. Still, highly recommended.