It’s fair to say that over the last ten years or so us Elvis fans have never had it so good. In addition the numerous bootleg CD’s of outtakes and live performances, RCA/BMG have given us numerous collectors box sets, commercial releases concentrating on specific sessions, and the fantastic “Follow That Dream” collectors label that continues to issue new material on a regular basis. Long standing collectors will recall that things haven’t always been this way, and in this article we take a look back at Elvis’ record releases during the eighties. Budget priced, and non-RCA releases have not been included.
During the late ‘70’s many fans were less than satisfied with RCA’s release policy. Out takes were in short supply, and collectors would often be forced to buy a new album for one previously unreleased take. A ploy that had effectively started during Elvis’ lifetime when an alternate live version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You” from the then unreleased 1972 Madison Square Garden afternoon show was added to the stop gap release “Welcome To My World” in 1977.
Many fans wrote articles in the UK’s “Elvis Monthly” magazine pointing out where they thought RCA was going wrong, and whilst some accepted that unissued material may have been in short supply, there was a general lack of imagination in the way the previously released masters were being re-packaged and sold. Whether RCA took any notice of these articles is anybody’s guess, but releases did seem to improve as the decade progressed.
The
first album release of 1980 was “Elvis Presley Sings Leiber & Stoller”
and as the title suggested it collected together Elvis’ recordings of their
classic songs. As many of these were hit records the collection wasn’t much
different from the numerous collections of Presley hits that were already
available, but lesser known tracks such as “Fools Fall In Love” and
“Saved” also made the cut to vary the track listing a little. The album was
issued on RCA’s International label, which meant that it sold for mid price
(around £3.00 back then), so it was good value for both new fans, and the
collectors who had to have everything RCA released. It was also a worthy and
deserved tribute to two of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest songwriters.
The next release was a collectors dream. 1980 marked the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ signing for RCA records and to mark the occasion they issued a box set of (mostly) previously unreleased material. The eight discs explored different themes of Elvis’ career, and the box, titled “Elvis Aron Presley”, was attractively packaged in a silver box bearing Elvis’ signature in gold, and a colour booklet with information on the tracks included. Each album also had it’s own individual sleeve featuring full colour photographs of Elvis from the period of the individual recordings.
Amongst
the previously unreleased material on offer was a 1956 Las Vegas performance,
the 1961 Hawaii concert, out takes from the movie years, rehearsal and live
performances from Las Vegas, and a 1975 concert. The album also included a
monologue featuring Elvis talking about his career on a movie set, some
previously released singles which were not included on any album releases, a
number of performances from Elvis’ three TV specials, and three tracks that
showcased Elvis playing the piano from a 1971 Nashville session. It also
included an unreleased song, “Beyond The Reef”. In the UK RCA coupled
“It’s Only Love” with “”Beyond The Reef” for a single release to
promote the album and the record made the top ten. The track was originally
issued as a 1971 US single coupled with “The Sound Of Your Cry”, but RCA UK
didn’t issued the single at the time. Both tracks remained unissued in the UK
until they were finally included on the “Elvis In Demand” album in 1977. A
twelve-inch version of “It’s Only Love” featuring an extended mix of the
track was also issued.
