Elvis Greatest

Elvis Presley's movie soundtracks have long been notorious for being among his worst material – who can forget the legendary vinyl bootleg of '60s movie soundtrack highlights called Elvis' Greatest Shit? – but among the dreck, there were some wonderful songs, ideal for a single-disc compilation along the lines of Movies, which is one of six thematic Elvis compilations released in 2006. Unfortunately, Movies falls short of being a perfect comp of these highlights, since it misses such big songs as "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Return to Sender," and "A Little Less Conversation" (plus such enjoyable throwaways as "Bossa Nova Baby") are missing.

Without a doubt, Elvis Presley is the King of Rock' n 'Roll ! Presley is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and still an icon for millions of fans worldwide. With estimated record sales of around 600 million units worldwide he is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music. In The Many Faces Of Elvis we present amazing recordings of some of his early friends and companions like Scotty Moore, The Million Dollar Quartet or James Burton, including features by the King himself. As well we present the originals of some of Elvis' greatest hits from great artist like Carl Perkins, Ray Charles or Little Richard. With remastered sound, liner notes and a wonderful artwork, The Many Faces Of Elvis is an essential album for your collection and for every fan of this great icon of the 20th century! Incl. tracks from Elvis, Scotty & Bill, The Million Dollar Quartet (feat Elvis, Perkins, Jerry Lee & Johnny Cash), Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Lisa Marie Presley, Chuck Berry…

Rolling Stone Magazine released a list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in November 2004. It represents an eclectic mix of music spanning the past 50 years, and contains a wide variety of artists sharing the spotlight. The Rolling Stone 500 was compiled by 172 voters comprised of rock artists and well-known rock music experts, who submitted ranked lists of their favorite 50 Rock & Roll/Pop music songs. The songs were then tallied to create the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The Magazine is included.

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…

Following his second covers album, Kojak Variety, Elvis Costello set out to assemble a collection of songs he had written for other artists but never recorded himself – sort of a reverse covers album. As it turned out, that idea was only used as a launching pad – the resulting album, All This Useless Beauty, is a mixture of nine old and three new songs. Given its origins, it's surprising that the record holds together as well as it does. The main strength of All This Useless Beauty is the quality of the individual songs – each song can stand on its own as an individual entity, as the music is as sharp as the lyrics. Although the music is certainly eclectic, it's accessible, which wasn't the case with Mighty Like a Rose. Furthermore, the production is more textured and punchier than Mitchell Froom's botched job on Brutal Youth. All This Useless Beauty doesn't quite add up to a major statement, but the simple pleasures it offers makes it one of the more rewarding records of the latter part of Costello's career.