60`s

In the '60s Elvis made 27 movies, many interchangeable, but each had a built-in excuse for him to release a soundtrack. Individually they fail to advance the legend, but when the best of each is collected in one place, as here, the results are very rewarding. This two-CD set has 62 tracks, which makes it, for lack of a better word, essential. Much of it sounds fairly na(ve now, but that's only part of the inherent charm. The personality that Presley infuses into each track is incredible, and gives the listener an idea of why he earned the nickname "The King."

Since The King of Rock 'n' Roll was the complete '50s masters, it was easy to assume that its five-disc '60s sequel, From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60's Masters, rounded up all the masters from that decade, which is simply not the case. The producers deliberately avoided the soundtracks to Elvis' movies, which perhaps makes sense, given that they are roundly and rightly disparaged as Presley's low point, which then opened the doors to presenting just what they judged as the best non-soundtrack recordings he made during the '60s. They also disregarded the gospel recordings, saving them for the double-disc 1994 collection Amazing Grace: His Greatest Gospel Songs, leaving this as an overview of the best of his pop and rock material of the '60s, all recorded after he got back from the army…