Elvis 30 #1 Hits
- Elvis hits album set to top charts round the world
By Sue Zeidler
(Miami Herald / Reuters, October 2, 2002)
Twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley, ... [as below].
- Elvis Hits Album Set to Top Charts Round the World
By Sue Zeidler
(Yahoo! News / Reuters, October 1, 2002)
Twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n Roll, is about to do something he never managed in life -- debut an album at No. 1 on record charts around the world. According to industry watchers, Presley's "Elvis 30 Number One Hits" compilation, which was released by Bertelsmann AG's RCA Records on Sept. 24, is poised to top the charts in at least 12 countries around the world. Sales in the United States alone are expected to hit almost 500,000 units in the last week, said a spokesman for RCA, noting it would be the first time an Elvis album ever debuted at No. 1. There already are more than a dozen Presley greatest hits compilations, but music fans have been anticipating this CD, a broad collection of tunes, thanks largely to a $10 million publicity push aimed at showcasing the King to a new generation. The collection features songs from each part of Presley's career and includes early hits such as "Don't Be Cruel" and "Jailhouse Rock," as well as later songs like "Return to Sender" and "Burning Love." This past summer, thousands of fans paid homage to the King on the 25th anniversary of his death as "Elvis-mania" took the world by storm, fueled in part by the success of a new remix of the song, "A Little Less Conversation," which is also on the new CD. "This has been the biggest marketing push I can think of that has ever been put together for an Elvis compilation," said Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard, a music trade magazine. "I suspect this will be a big seller into the holiday season." Mayfield said RCA's marketing blitz was, in part, inspired by the record label's success a few years ago with its CD featuring No. 1 hits by the Beatles. Presley, the world's top-selling pop star, with more than 1 billion records sold, died of a drug-induced heart attack at the age of 42 on Aug. 16, 1977. According to music experts, 68 of Presley's singles reached the American Top 20 in his career.
- Dead Celebrities: Elvis Reigns, Again
By Davide Dukcevich
(Forbes.com, October 1, 2002)
Even though he's been dead for 25 years, Elvis Presley can still shake up the music world. This spring, a remix of the Elvis tune "A Little Less Conversation" topped the singles charts after appearing on a Nike commercial. This summer, The King reclaimed his throne as the top-earning dead celebrity, as his estate raked in $37 million during the previous 12 months. And this week, a compilation of Elvis songs -- appropriately titled Elvis: 30 No. 1 Hits -- dominated the U.S. album charts after its Sept. 24 release. Elvis: 30 No. 1 Hits has sold about half a million copies domestically and has climbed to No. 1 in 11 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil and Spain. It has reached second place in Japan and Mexico. Though a total of foreign sales hasn't yet been tallied, the albumsold in the neighborhood of 135,000 copies in Britain, and total international sales are so far outstripping American sales. ... Although it's still early in the game, it looks as though it will be impossible to dethrone The King from the top of the Forbes.com dead celebrities list for 2003.
- ELVIS LIVES! HE'S KING OF THE CHARTS AGAIN
By BILL HOFFMANN
(New York Post, October 1, 2002)
And the hits just keep on comin' for Elvis Presley ... [as below]
- ELVIS LIVES! HE'S KING OF THE CHARTS AGAIN
By BILL HOFFMANN
(PageSix.com, October 1, 2002)
And the hits just keep on comin' for Elvis Presley, whose new record debuts tomorrow at No. 1 on the charts - even though he's been dead for 25 years. "Elvis: 30 No. 1 Hits," released one week ago, has sold nearly 500,000 copies in the United States alone, making it the hottest CD in the nation, according to SoundScan, which tracks sales in record stores. The disc also has the European market all shook up - it's No. 1 in England and Ireland, and is on top of the Canadian charts as well.
- Elvis Presley Elvis: 30 #1 Hits
By PARKE PUTERBAUGH
(Rolling Stone, September 28, 2002)
Like the Beatles' 1, Elvis Presley's Elvis 30 #1 Hits aims to be the proverbial offer no one can refuse. For neophytes catching up with rock history, 30 # 1 Hits will serve as textbook and gold mine. For longtime fans, the upgrades in sound quality are at least noticeable and at times revelatory. Elvis 30 #1 Hits is the flagship release from RCA to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Presley's death. (It comes on the heels of Elvis: Today, Tomorrow and Forever, the excellent four-CD set of rarities released in June.) 30 #1 Hits actually numbers thirty-one songs, from 1956's "Heartbreak Hotel" to 1977's "Way Down," plus the bonus thirty-first track, "A Little Less Conversation," the surprisingly successful recent remix of an Elvis movie-era obscurity by a Dutch DJ. The team responsible for remastering and, in many cases, remixing the tracks claims to have been the first to lay hands on the master tapes since they were put in storage. The improvements are significant: Take "Suspicious Minds," for instance. Comparing the version on 30 #1 Hits against that on RCA's 1993 Essential 60's Masters box set is no contest. The sonic enhancements -- a fuller, punchier sound, including tighter bass and more detail on the guitars -- allow the song to leap from a brittle two dimensions to a brilliant three. Even "A Fool Such as I," a tune from 1959 -- and limited by that decade's technology -- gains in presence and stature, as the Jordanaires' vocal backups and Hank Garland's stinging, jazzy guitar licks hold their own against Presley's airy, nuanced vocals. In his lifetime, Presley scored eighteen Number One hits on Billboard's singles charts. This collection has been extended to thirty-one by including songs that topped the country, R&B and the U.K. pop charts. Not that anyone will complain about having thirty-one songs of this caliber on a single CD. Even Elvis might want to re-enter the building for a bargain like that.
- Elvis's Hit Parade Long Overdue
By RON ROLLINS
(Entertainment News Daily, September 28, 2002)
Presuming you already have a lot of these songs in your CD (or, heavens, LP!) collection, the initial temptation to pick up "ELV1S: 30 1 Hits'' could be the super-snazzy remix of "A Little Less Conversation", in which whiz-bang DJ JXL soups up a lesser-known song and gives just a hint of how the King might've sounded today, without the cheesy studio arrangements he was forced to endure in his lifetime. But wait. That's not why we're buying this. It's not why we've all been waiting for this stunning package ever since the Beatles' estates did the same thing with its No. 1 hits a few years ago. We love this one for the vocal warble that floats on the word "die.'' We love it for the switchblade flip on the word "cruel.'' We love the sneering whipcrack that makes "high class'' such an insult. We love the way "Love Me Tender'' set the standard for every ballad since. We love the straight-legged strut on "Too Much... .'' You get the idea. You've had it all along. Now you can be reminded, thank goodness, in one handy (and long overdue) package.
- Chicks Disturbed from Roost on Album Charts
By Justin Oppelaar
(Yahoo! News, September 26, 2002)
There were some major disturbances in the upper echelons of the album charts this week, as three-time champs the Dixie Chicks were unseated from the No. 1 position, and an eclectic group of debuts elbowed their way into the top 20. ... Disturbed isn't likely to last long on the No. 1 throne, as the King is getting ready to reclaim it. BMG's much-touted Elvis Presley retrospective "Elv1s: 30 #1 Hits" is a lock on the top spot in next week's charts, with sales expected to top the half-million mark. Label insiders will be watching closely to see if the album can maintain that sales level over the longer term -- BMG has earmarked a reported $8 million-$10 million to market the release from now through the Christmas season, in hopes of creating a blockbuster on par with EMI's Beatles "1" opus.
- Sound Bites: Audio Reviews : "Elvis 30 1 Hits" (RCA, dlrs 19.98) - Elvis Presley [Fifth item]
By Jim Patterson
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, September 26, 2002)
The record industry has marked the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death by releasing a plethora of new Elvis CDs - boxed-sets, archive material and just about anything else that can be marketed. The latest is "Elvis 30 1 Hits," which contains the same well of hits that made Presley's reputation as the king of rock 'n' roll. Sure, we've heard them all before, but they sound great - many of them still startlingly so. On "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Jailhouse Rock," Presley set the standard for every blues-based rock singer who followed. He managed in his 20s to both immerse himself in pop material such as "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up" while subtly parodying his own vocal mannerisms. The No. 1 concept seems to have been borrowed from the Beatles' "1" two years ago, which went multiplatinum and was one of the year's biggest sellers. (Note: Not all the songs on the Elvis CD topped the chart in the United States; some were No. 1 in Britain.) The concept, however, weakens the Presley CD. There's nothing from Presley's essential records for Sun Records, and we get the underwhelming "Wooden Heart," "She's Not You" and a modern remix of "A Little Less Conversation" instead of a dozen better records.
- ELVIS PRESLEY: "ELV1S 30 #1 HITS"
By DAN AQUILANTE
(New York Post, September 24, 2002)
Black leather jacket, Brill Cream pompadour, pouty lips that could turn from sensual to sneer and 30 No. 1 hits - as John Lennon said, "Before Elvis, there was nothing." Twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley remains one of the most influential artists in music. This album's 30 original songs (plus a bonus track of this summer's remix hit, "A Little Less Conversation") are clear reminders just how influential. But there's too much filler on this album. Sure, all the songs here snagged the top spot on the pop charts, but the mix eliminates some of the King's best work, like "Viva Las Vegas," "Little Sister" and "Mystery Train." Fans have to settle for inferior but better-charting songs, such as "(Marie's the name) His Latest Flame," "She's Not You" and "Way Down." ... Still, there is plenty of great music - the best being from 1956 ("Heartbreak Hotel") to 1959 ("A Big Hunk o' Love").
- New CD will make Elvis King again
By Hugh Dougherty
(News & City / Evening Standard, September 24, 2002)
Twenty five years after his death, Elvis Presley is about to rule once more as the King of Rock'n'Roll. His widow Priscilla Presley is launching a compilation of all 30 of his No 1 hits in an album predicted to be the year's top-seller. From Heartbreak Hotel to A Little Less Conversation - the surprise hit of last summer - the 80 minutes of Elvis music is the first new album featuring the star since his death. Priscilla launched the album at the Hard Rock CafÈ in New York, flanked by two of his guitars, in a room dominated by a picture taken in the Fifties of the young man who had just become the world's biggest star. For Priscilla, who has watched her late husband's legacy grow over the years, it was a rare public appearance, but once the album hits the shops, it will be Elvis who will do all the talking - or singing.
- Elvis bids for top spot
(itv.com, September 23, 2002)
Elvis Presley is expected to top the album charts for the first time in 25 years with the release of the first complete collection of his chart-toppers. Earlier this year the rock'n'roll pioneer notched up his 18th number one single, A Little Less Conversation, a quarter of a century after his death. The new compilation, Elvis: 30 Number 1 Hits, brings together his top-placed singles from both the UK and US, in the same way as The Beatles' 1 album. It should oust Paul Weller's new album, 'Illumination', this week's number one. It gives a chronological list of his career highs starting at Heartbreak Hotel and ending with Conversation, which was used for a Nike sportswear advert in the summer. The King notched up six number one albums during his lifetime, the last being a greatest hits compilation in 1977.
- Record producer remixes Elvis tunes
(New Haven Register / Associated Press, September 23, 2002)
RCA vice president David Bendeth spent a year uncovering hidden tones in original Elvis recordings to produce a richer "less distant" sound. ... [as below]
- RCA Vice President Remixes the King
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, September 22, 2002)
RCA vice president David Bendeth spent a year uncovering hidden tones in original Elvis recordings to produce a richer "less distant" sound. He was awe-struck. "Imagine mixing the King!" said Bendeth, whose work, "Elvis 30 1 Hits," will be released Tuesday. "Everyone said, 'Can you make this better?'" Bendeth recalled. "People were hesitant to touch them." The tapes, some recorded over 45 years ago, included "Heartbreak Hotel," "Jailhouse Rock," "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "Can't Help Falling in Love." He and partner, Ray Bardoni, heard each song over 1,000 times as they worked to enhance them. "I tried to think what Elvis wanted. I had to imagine he was in the room with me," said Bendeth. Then some weird things happened. The horns disappeared from "Suspicious Minds." The original piano music vanished from "It's Now or Never." In each case, Bendeth found the music and was able to integrate it back in. "It was," he said, "like someone was leading me."
- Elvis hits come with clinkers, too
By Patrick MacDonald
(Seattle Time, September 22, 2002)
Elvis: 30 #1 Hits," Elvis Presley (RCA): Can Elvis beat the Beatles? Their album of 27 No. 1 hits, "1," has sold 8 million copies in America alone, and has been on the Billboard 200 album chart for a remarkable 96 weeks. Come Tuesday, RCA releases this 31-cut collection (30 of the King's No. 1s, plus his kicky current hit, "A Little Less Conversation") and, like the Beatles, it will probably debut at No. 1. Elvis is hotter than ever, so he may match the Beatles' success. However, they didn't have clinkers in their collection, while in Elvis' there are slight embarrassments like "Wooden Heart," "Surrender" and "Way Down." Overall, however, it's a stunning set of great performances, showing the range and depth of Elvis' emotions. The hits you expect are here - "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up," "Teddy Bear," "Jailhouse Rock," etc. - and some you may not remember as No. 1 hits, like "In the Ghetto," "Hard Headed Woman," "Good Luck Charm" and "Crying in the Chapel." The digitally-remastered recordings are excellent, and the package has commentary by Elvis' best biographer, Peter Guralnick, and details on all the cuts.
- Elvis: 30 #1 Hits
By Jim Regan
(Christian Science Monitor, July 12, 2002)
A little over a year ago, "1," a collection of the Beatles greatest hits, was released, and gave the band another bestseller 30 years after their breakup. Now, in a case of promotional deja vu, BMG and RCA are about to release a collection of Elvis Presley's bestsellers, some 25 years after his death. Like "1", the Presley release is being promoted via a matching website, and while the site primarily exists as an online enticement to buy the album, "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits" has material of interest even for the non-consuming Elvis fan.
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