Elvis Presley box set 'Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight' marks commemoration of star's 75th birthday

By Phyllis Pollack

To commemorate the 75th birthday of Elvis Aaron Presley on January 8, 2010, RCA/ Legacy is offering a comprehensive four-disc box set containing one hundred tracks, now available for purchase. This goldmine of Elvis’ greatest works, includes treasured album tracks, rare releases, recordings of live performances, and all thirty of Presley’s number one hits, beginning with the song that set the frenzy all off in the first place, “Heartbreak Hotel,” which reached number one on the Billboard charts on March 10, 1956, and concluding with “Burnin’ Love,” which topped the chart on September 9, 1971. While the package is titled Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight, Elvis has been rocking fans for over five decades. RCA/Legacy is a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

A 75th birthday celebration will coincide at the late rock icon’s home, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, from January 7 through January 10, 2010.

The title of the box set comes from a track performed by Elvis, and which was ultimately recorded by other artists, including Roy Brown, Wynonie Harris, the legendary James Brown, former Beatle Paul McCartney, and Gene Simmons of Kiss.

In keeping with the holiday season, the box set also contains Elvis Presley’s rendition of “Blue Christmas,” making Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight a perfect soundtrack for any rockin’ Christmas get together or party.

The commemorative Elvis Presley package was compiled for release both digitally and physically. However, the physical box set offers a five and a half by nine and three-fourth inch, eighty-page liner notes book, text heavy and stacked with color photos of Elvis. The booklet also offers extremely detailed production notes on each song in the box set, which includes the writers of each track, the recording date, the studio at which each song was recorded, the session musicians that are heard on each song, the debut chart date, which album each song originally appeared on, and more in-depth information. Readers can test their knowledge about the King’s recordings, and they can find out more of his history. The liner notes book does not solely contain photos of Presley, but it also gives detailed explanations of when and where they were shot. Similarly, the inserted book does not just offer information about the music that is included in the box set, but it also offers insight into Presley’s life, his upbringing, his career, the times that surrounded him, and his descent into drug addiction, isolation that preceded his untimely death at age forty-two.

Grammy-nominated Billy Altman, a rock critic, music historian, freelance writer, and former editor of the legendary Creem Magazine, wrote the liner notes booklet. Altman also served as a former assistant curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Altman, who has also written for Rolling Stone, has had work published in The New York Times and numerous other publications. The liner notes’ preface was penned by Elvis Presley biographer and compilation producer Ernst Mikael Jorgensen, and Sony/BMG producer and Elvis catalogue historian Roger Semon. The duo, which has produced previous Elvis compilations, also produced this box set.

The four discs in the box set are separated into time periods of Presley’s career, beginning with the thirty-one track Disc 1, which starts with 1953’s “My Happiness,” recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, and ends with the track “Don’t,” recorded in 1957. The early years were certainly not lean for Presley, as can be evidenced by listening to this disc, with hits including “Mystery Train,” the ever cool “Heartbreak Hotel,” the Carl Perkins creation “Blue Suede Shoes,” mega-sellers “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” the boppin’ “All Shook Up,” and the ballad “Love Me Tender. Also found on the first disc is the box set's title track, which was famously covered as a duet by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead and the late Johnny Ramone of the seminal NY punk band, The Ramones.

The second disc in the set captures twenty-eight important Presley works recorded from 1958 through 1962. With timeless golden oldies like “Crying In The Chapel,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight” and “Suspicion,” Disc 2 also features Doc Pomus’ and Mort Shuman’s creation of one of the ultimate songs about being on the rebound, “Little Sister,” a number that was later recorded by artists including Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Ry Cooder and Dwight Yoakam.

The third disc in the set marks Presley’s twenty-two most notable recorded works from 1963 through 1969. It features one of Presley’s most recognizable signature songs, “Viva Las Vegas.” A Chuck Berry song makes it into the set with Presley’s rendition of “Too Much Monkey Business,” a song that was later featured as recorded live by Chuck Berry and Keith Richards, in the 1987 Taylor Hackford film, Hail, Hail, Rock ‘N’ Roll: A Tribute To Chuck Berry. The poignant “Don’t Cry Daddy,” written by Mac Davis, “Suspicious Minds,” “In The Ghetto” and “Stranger In My Hometown” are among the many noteworthy Presley recordings found on Disc 3 in package. It also features Elvis Presley's version of "Tomorrow Is A Long Time," written by Bob Dylan.

The fourth disc in the box set is comprised of nineteen essential tracks, recorded from 1970 through the year of his death in 1977. Presley was found dead in his home at Graceland on August 16 of that year. The final disc begins with a live version of “Polk Salad Annie,” which Presley would often perform on tour dates during the last decade of his life. On the live version heard on the box set, from James Burton’s rhythm guitar vamps to the funky backup vocals behind Presley, it is a song that listeners will play over and over.

The final disc also features the Willie Nelson song “Funny How Time Slips Away,” a number Nelson still performs on tour. Also on the box set is Presley’s studio version of “Always On My Mind,” a song that provided a smash hit for Willie Nelson in 1982, ten years after Presley had recorded it on his Separate Ways album.

Elvis’ final number one hit, 1972’s “Burning Love” is just one of the classic hits on Disc 4. Among other charting hits on the set’s last disc are the Chuck Berry penned “Promised Land,” the James Taylor composition “Steam Roller,” and “I Just Can’t Help Believin,” which was recorded in Los Vegas at the Elvis Summer Festival at the International Hotel in August 1970. Filmed by MGM for the documentary That’s The Way It Is, the film has clips of luminaries including live version of the song originally appeared on the album bearing the same name as the documentary film.

The final disc in the set also contains “Unchained Melody,” a song that was also recorded by the Righteous Brothers, the late Ricky Nelson, Barry Manilow and the Smashing Pumpkins. The version recorded by Cyndi Lauper was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for the category of Best Instrumental Composition Accompanying a Vocal. Although many of the songs on Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight were recorded by other artists, Presley had his own inimitable stamp that he seemed to effortlessly weave into his own unique interpretations that were indelibly melded into songs, inspiring countless other artists.

The box set begins a yearlong span of the singer’s catalog releases. Following the release of the box set, RCA/Legacy will release a 26 track CD, Elvis 75, on January 5, 2010, offering some of the songs found on the Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight box set.

Presley’s work is comprised of a mix of several styles of music, country and western, rhythm and blues, resulting in an untouchable legacy and fan base. The box set will satisfy both those who are already familiar with Presley’s work, as well as newer fans that want to find more out about the King Of Rock And Roll’s music. For anyone looking for a definitive Presley compilation, the box set offers a well-chosen selection of Presley’s best-loved recordings.

Despite its title, this box set is not solely about Good Rockin’ Tonight, but rather, it encompasses the story of over fifty years of rockin,’ as well as many more years of it to come.

Watch a video of an NBC News affiliate announcing the death of Elvis Presley: