To celebrate Elvis’ 70th birthday The Official Elvis Presley Fan Club and Sony BMG came up with the idea to release all of his 18 UK #1 hits over 17 consecutive weeks from January 3 to April 25, starting with “All Shook Up” and ending with “A Little Less Conversation”.
Sony BMG hopes that by releasing all of Elvis’s previous chart-toppers he will be able to claim the coveted 1,000th number-one slot early in the new year. Besides that “milestone” Elvis can also gain several other records as most #1’s, most Top 10 singles and most singles listed at once in the chart.
Design
The collector’s box of these old singles has a very modern design. The theme of this series, “1” is presented in song titles. When you lift the top, it shows all the original release dates. The lucky Dutch fans also get a special collector’s pin with the same “1”.
The hits are released on vinyl and CD-single. The last one actually has a vinyl look and feel. For the cover the original US covers are used because the original UK singles all had standard covers. These standard covers are used as inner sleeves. The vinyl version doesn't have the US cover, just the UK cover.
We must compliment the designers for the attention they paid to the details; the CD-single is completely black, both the front and back and has vinyl grooves and the original label (disregarding a few changes due to legal reasons) on the top side. All the stickers to promote the series and barcode can be removed to display the original cover art.
Content
The CD-single contains three songs; the original A and B side and a bonus track. The “All Shook Up” single has “Heartbreak Hotel” as the bonus track. This looks kind of strangle, the first Elvis hit never made it to #1 in the United Kingdom.
Due to strict chart rules “All Shook Up” is ineligible to chart because it will come in a collectors’ box, so “Jailhouse Rock” will be released on the same day. The “Jailhouse Rock” single contains “Treat Me Nice” as flip side and the movie version of that song as bonus track.
Conclusion
This idea is a great way to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Elvis Presley. Just like last year, when the single "That’s All Right” reached #3, our man can make chart history again.
For those who don’t care too much about the charts, these detailed reproductions are real gems to collect on either CD-single, vinyl ... or both :-).
All Shook Up / Jailhouse Rock (2005 Single)
January 02, 2005 | Music
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Ally wrote on
January 03, 2005
Can someone please tell me if the vinyl of All Shook Up has a picture sleeve,as i have just got mine &there is no picture sleeve.
Bill Bruce wrote on
January 03, 2005
Happy new year to you Ally. The Vinyl singles don't come with a picture cover, only the CD's have them. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive. How do they look ?
Ally wrote on
January 03, 2005
A Happy New Year Bill. I was looking at the picture at the top of the page and that looks like the vinyl. The quality of both CD and Vinyl are brilliant, thanks for putting my mind at rest.
patrikw wrote on
January 03, 2005
The 18 no.1's box set is an inspired idea - they look and sound great! One fault though and this sounds picky but I think its important that Elvis' musicans get full credit for their part in the Elvis legacy - on the "all shook up" single cover the Jordanaires name is spelt - "Jordinaires" - did this happen on the original vinyl release?
Rusty wrote on
January 04, 2005
I was very dissapointed that the 10 inch vinyl's did not come with a picture sleeve I think this is a major oversight by Sony/BMG, can you just imagine seventeen 10 inch picture sleeves amazing and we have all been let down, the RCA bag is nice and retro but we don't need them on every issue, also a word of warning the removeable stickers on the CD versions pull off some of the gloss covering on the sleeve when removed leaving a dull mark where the sticker used to be, I am afraid we will all have to leave the stickers on the sleeve, yet another goof from Sony/BMG.
louise wrote on
January 04, 2005
i have just been to hmv to collect my box set of cds and they are fantastic i cannot wait until the next release one night and the rest of them this is going to be a great year for elvis fans with the concert coming up on may it is like way back to when elvis was just starting out and i still get excited after 27 years of his passing i would like to wish all elvis fans a happy new year and also all those at elvis news
circleG wrote on
January 07, 2005
Just got my 'ASU' cd and box along with 'JR' and wow is all i can say. the whole packaging is superb BUT the HMV website has already run out of the other cd's even though they are not released yet. what gives ? will my box only have two cd's in it ? can anybody shed some light on this?
pacer1965 wrote on
January 07, 2005
Tell you the truth i was not going to bother getting these singles. But thanks to my son who got me the Jailhouse rock cd single today. I am now going to try and get them all. The picture sleeve is great and i also love how they have put the vinyl grooves on the cd. Whoever designed the cd you have done a great job
shakyelvis wrote on
January 07, 2005
circleG, the singles have been available for pre-order since mid-november. They are limited to only 7500 10" vinyls and 15000 CDs, and are pressed for ONE week only. More stores by Monday afternoon had only a few copies left on the shelves. They have become more popular than was expected and yesterday morning were all available (apart from ASU and JHR) for pre-order but by the end of yesterday were all sold out.
Woolworths, Amazon and I believe Virgin are all selling the singles, so my best advice to you is to try these stores. As regards Amazon, I am not sure whether or not their sales count to the UK Chart. However, if they are the only store with copies left BUY it! Hope this helps. (Alternatively you could check out ebay every week)
derekd wrote on
January 08, 2005
got my jhr at hmv [the last copy] in belfast. also, asu. i note that when i play asu on my pc the track listings are; don't be cruel / hound dog / heartbreak hotel. plays the correct tunes okay. anyone notice this? another question, if jhr enters the uk singles chart at #1, will it become the first record / song [same versons] to do so twice.?
Monster wrote on
January 11, 2005
Derekd, Unfortunately it won't be the first record to get to number one with the same version twice. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody has already achieved this. In fact it's been number 1 in four seperate years 1975, 1976, 1991 and 1992 - the only song ever to do so. That's because it was released in November 1975 and December 1991 and stayed at the top spot for several weeks at a time. Raucous Monster, Belfast.
job wrote on
January 18, 2005
can i get my money back i got a box and 2 cds cant get one night and fool what a rip off wont buy anthing like this again