Album Reviews

Elvis’s first post-Army album created a sensation when it was released just one month after he entered Nashville Studio B on March 20th, 1960, two week after his release from the Army. Unfortunately, for Presley and RCA Elvis Is Back! wasn’t a big seller because it didn’t contain any hits. Presley had been away for two years.

Yet the album, recorded over the course of two nights (along with six more omitted tracks including big hits like “Stuck On You,””Fame and Fortune,” and “It’s Now or Never”), has stood up remarkably well, in part because of the hurried “live take” excitement and of course, the caviar of Nashville studio musicians working under pressure and delivering. You’ve got Hank Garland and Scotty Moore, Floyd Cramer, Bob Moore, “Boots” Randolph and The Jordanaires!

While the opener, “Make Me Know It,” may have you thinking you’ve bought a teen album, Presley’s steamy take on “Fever” will change your mind. This track alone makes the album worth having, and of course Bill Porter’s recording is as good as anything you’ll ever hear on your system. You can hear Elvis’s jewelry rattle!

As for the rest, the musicianship is superb, Elvis is in great form, and the music will sound as dated as a 1958 Chevy Impala looks and handles, but you can’t beat those lines!

Elvis and the producer save the best for last. Elvis’s swaggering, gin-soaked take on Lowell Fulsom’s “Reconsider Baby,” with both Buddy Harman and D.J. Fontana drumming, and I think his acoustic guitar, propel Elvis from teen idol to adult icon.

Sonically, this is a Bill Porter wide screen beauty laid out cleanly in three dimensions. For those who missed the Kevin Gray/Steve Hoffman DCC Compact Classic 180g edition from 1997 (LPZ-2037), here’s your chance to get it. When I took a good look at the “dead wax,” along with the familiar Gray/Hoffman mastering scribe, I found “LPZ-2037” crossed out, meaning either the original metal parts were used to generate stampers, or they decided to play a little joke.

Of course I compared the DCC Compact Classic and this issue, and not surprisingly they don’t sound identical since, I assume, Pallas probably pressed this issue in Germany. However, the two LPs sound so close they might as well have been pressed in the same plant.

I’m glad Elvis is Back! is back. Don’t miss it this time around.