Elvis Presley - Elvis Is Back

The King's first album of all-new material following his release from the Army, Elvis Is Back! is arguably the most fully realized album of his career. It's a slightly different Elvis here than the one who was drafted, slightly tamer (though he looks like a Martian on the cover), and jumping from style to style--from R&B (a definitive cover of Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters' "Such a Night") to pure pop (a cover of Ral Donner's "The Girl of My Best Friend" with a Hank Garland guitar sound that presaged Merseybeat) to doo-wop (the gorgeous "Soldier Boy") to some of the hardest blues of his career (several cuts here, including an incredible version of Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby"). He even makes Peggy Lee's "Fever" his own here. No hit singles, just a great LP--and no indication of the "movie years" dreck soon to follow. --Bill Holdship