ELV1S Hit Songs

Released in Asia is (another) compilation, this one comes in HDCD format, is it worth getting one of these?

Design

As most releases from Asia, the packages looks good. This compilation comes in a black slipcase, but the illustrations are clearly taken from the “ELV1S 30 #1 Hits” compilation from last year. Inside the lyrics of the songs on this compilation.

The CD s inside have the same print as the cover, but are gold in stead of the standard silver color.

Content

The artwork is taken from the “ELV1S 30 #1 Hits” release, so is the content of the first disc. Perhaps some “old timers” who didn’t like the “A little Less Conversation” on the CD will appreciate this version since the remix is the only track from “ELV1S 30 #1 Hits” which was left off. The second CD is a compilation of many good Elvis songs, a good selection, but presented very randomly, all kinds of music from all era's of Elvis career. Not chronologically as disc 1.

This CD is a HDCD which means it is encoded 20bit is stead of the standard 16 bit encoding of a normal CD. This format is very popular in Asia, since most HDCDs we see originate from the far east. In Europe, the U.S. and other parts of the world this format isn’t available in many shops.

So does it sound better? Well to be honest we can’t tell, playing a HDCD requires a HDCD player which has an extra chip to decode the additional information (4 bit) on the disc. The technology makes the sound slightly superior (with the adequate hardware) to regular CDs, but it never really caught on and probably never will never will now that there is DVD Audio or Super Audio CDs.

Conclusion

So what is interesting about these CDs? For one they look different, so fun for the collector, and even more fun if you have a look around on eBay where you can find these discs for under $10 and a few additional bucks to have them shipped to you, so even cheaper than the regular releases and almost always with a second disc. For the better quality you need a special (HD)CD player, so without one of those buying these for better sound is useless.

Track listing:

CD 1:
Heartbreak Hotel - Don´t Be Cruel - Hound Dog - Love Me Tender - To Much - All Shook Up - Teddy Bear - Jailhouse Rock - Don´t - Heard Haeded Woman - One Night - A Fool Such As I - A Big Hunk O`Love - Stuck On You - It´s Now Or Never - Are You Lonesome Tonight? - Wooden Heart - Surrender - His Latest Flame - Can´t Help Falling In Love - Good Luck Charme - She´s Not You - Return To Sender - Devil In Disguise - Crying In Teh Chapel - In The Ghetto - Suspicious Minds - The Wonder Of You - Burning Love - Way Down

CD 2:
Always On My Mind - Unchained Melody - Love Letters - Loving You - I Want You, I Need You, I Love You - That´s When Your Heartache Begin - True Love - Young And Beautiful - Do The Best I Can - Something Blue - Angel - That´s Someone You Never Forget - Just Pretend - For The Good Times - Woman Without Love - He´ll Have To Go - It´s Impossible - Such A Night - Kentucky Rain - I´m Levin´ - Puppet On A String - Spanish Eyes - You Gave Me A Moutain - Separate Ways - And I Love You So