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Best Of British - The RCA Years 1957-1959

July 30, 2014 | Book

This is Elvis, with the continuation of the British story now detailing his RCA releases from 1957 - 1958.

As a companion to the critically acclaimed and highly successful ‘Elvis: The Best Of British - The HMV Years’, this book contains the full history of over FIFTY iconic Elvis songs initially released by RCA in Great Britain. Again, each song has been thoroughly researched to the same high standards and is graphically catalogued.

Containing over 1000 illustrations, unpublished photographs and charts, together with rare items of memorabilia, this volume of ‘The RCA Years’ moves the story forward to explicitly reveal previously unknown facts and additional British connections to the songs.

Within these 500 pages and amongst many formerly unknown fascinating facts, you will discover:
The English pub that inspired an Elvis song!  Exactly where and when Elvis learned to play piano!  The real life characters contained within the lyrics of Jailhouse Rock!

The CD included with this book features many first-time officially released Elvis tracks. Here, amongst his classic songs, are the songwriters’ demo recordings as Elvis first heard them, plus the message he recorded on his home answer machine!

 ‘The RCA Years (1957 - 1958)’ chronicles the meteoric rise in Great Britain of the ‘Sun King’ to the man who would ultimately be crowned  ‘Artist Of The 20th Century’. 

Elvis innovated, others imitated! 

“BEST OF BRITISH – THE RCA YEARS 1957-1959

The CD

FIRST RCA SINGLE (RCA-1013): JULY 1957

1. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - 1:51 
2. Loving You - 2:16

SOUNDTRACK SELECTION OF MAGICAL MOVIE MOMENTS

3.   LOVING YOU - Movie Trailer - 1:12 
4.   Road Medley (Party / Teddy Bear / Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do / Hot Dog) - 2:04
5.   Mean Woman Blues (Unedited stereo master) - 2:22
6.   Party (Alternate movie lyrics) - 1:16
7.   Lonesome Cowboy (Composite) - 3:06
8.   JAILHOUSE ROCK -  Movie Trailer - 2:05
9.   Jailhouse Rock (Movie production version) - 2:59
10. Treat Me Nice (Laurel 101 - Take One) - 2:07
11. Don't Leave Me Now - (Everett demo #2 - Take One) - 1:29
12. Young And Beautiful - (Movie end version) - 2:21
13. KING CREOLE - Movie Trailer - 2:34
14. Turtles, Berries And Gumbo / Crawfish (Unedited movie opening medley) - 4:11
15. Steadfast Loyal And True - (Movie dialogue version) - 0:46
16.  Lover Doll (EP version) - 2:15
17.  New Orleans (Live nightclub version) - 2:01

THE RCA SINGLES *

18.  Doncha' Think It's Time - 2:00
19.  Don't - 2:51
20.  I Beg Of You - 1:54
21.  Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - 2:16

SUN RECORDINGS: FIRST ISSUED ON RCA IN 1958

22. I Love You Because (RCA LP version) - 2:45
23. You're A Heartbreaker - 2:12
24. I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') - 2:26

BONUS TRACKS: SONGWRITER DEMO RECORDINGS

25. Teddy Bear (Vocal: Otis Blackwell**) - 2:01
26. Don't Ask Me Why (Vocal: Jimmy Breedlove***) 2:08
27. Trouble (Singer unknown****) - 2:08
28. Hard Headed Woman (Vocal: Jimmy Breedlove**) - 2:06
29. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck (Vocal: Gus Coletti*****) - 2:12

CHRISTMAS SONGS: ISSUED ON ALL THREE FORMATS (45rpm, EP & LP)

30. Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) - 1:54
31. Santa Claus Is Back In Town - 2:25

32. Elvis in Germany (October 1st 1958) and Interview edit - 1:32
33. Elvis' Answer Machine - :16

Source:The OEPFC of Great Britain

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Troubleman wrote on July 30, 2014
The CD sounds interesting, but I will check the price for the book first. TCB
marty wrote on July 30, 2014
The previous 'best of British' release was excellent. A much have for those interested in the background of songs and recording sessions. I'll be getting this one for sure...
japio wrote on July 30, 2014
the cd. Soundtracks ripped from the dvd's. The complete stereo version of mean woman blues is ripped from the cd Elvis lost stereo tapes ??. Why did they used this not on the soundtrack ftd's ???
Lou A wrote on July 30, 2014
I didn't get the first book on HMV. Is that still available? These releases seem to follow in the path of Bruce Spitzer's Beatles books . Having just sprung for Lorentzen's 3 volume session book and the other FTD book, I m not sure if I'll get this - maybe if I can still get the earlier volume I'll get both. Looks well done though.
Jamie wrote on July 31, 2014
Hello, this is a contrivance. A book about Elvis's UK releases would be just fine. There's no need to include a CD comprised of DVD snippets and material the book's target audience will already have many times over. The inclusion of songwriters' demos as bonus tracks is even more desperate than the movie trailers.
emjel wrote on July 31, 2014
I think it's a pretty good idea to include the demos, but not interested in the stuff lifted directly from the film / DVD soundtrack. I believe that the scale of costs to include the CD would be somewhat minimal compared to the printing costs, so there are historical things to consider with its inclusion. Part of the Elvis story I guess.
marty wrote on August 01, 2014
For me the demos are always interesting to hear. I wish there were more of them released, including some of the songs Elvis declined!
Troubleman wrote on August 05, 2014
Marty – That’s why I like ‘Writing for the king’ which features demos of many songs Elvis recorded. I particularly like the alternate version of ‘Clambake’ sung by Winfield Scott. I like it better than the version used. I wonder why it wasn’t’ used since it’s got a great beat (although it is short in length). TCB
marty wrote on August 06, 2014
Troubleman - I agree that the alternate Clambake sounds more interesting than the one Elvis chose. We know that for the soundtracks the songwriters were given specific tasks (e.g. to write the title song) and there were usually more than one song written with the same title or the same theme. Elvis's judgement when choosing songs was usually spot on, but having the opportunity to listen to the options he had would be fascinating...