We though to be smart buying a “silver” edition of the “Elvis 2nd To None” CD from eBay. We got a few surprises.
Design
This version contains no booklet, only a folded insert with some artwork from the predecessor “Elvis 30 #1 Hits”. The print quality is bad, there is no silver in this “silver edition” and the back looks like a bad quality bitmap, which is quite an achievement in dark colors. The printing on the CD is based on the E1 album too, they replaced the “I” with an “II”.
The content of this CD contains a few surprises, and this time we’re not referring to the quality of the songs as we got these on the regular edition.
The first surprise is the opening track, we don’t get Elvis first hit in the SUN recording but a seventies live version. The next surprise is “King Creole”. Where is that classic bass intro? We got an alternate take, #18 to be precise from the extended soundtrack album released in 1997.
“Promised Land” starts with some studio chatter we heard before, and after some browsing we found it on “Rhythm And Country” as an alternate take 4. "Trouble" is not the 1958 song, but the 1970's "T.R.O.U.B.L.E.", another "mistake".
But fortunately we have the bonus tracks to look forward to! Or do we … It must be hell for bootleggers to have two songs titled “Roustabout” so indeed; we get the version we have known for nearly thirty years. Listening to the last bonus song, the “Rubberneckin’” remix we got the last surprise of this CD, in stead of Paul Oakenfolds remix we got the “final groove” version which was made by a fan. Although good to have it on a CD this version contains two real bad errors, a screeching sound which last for several seconds making this track impossible to listen to.
There is some variation in the volume, probably caused by the various sources (including MP3’s from internet, the only source for the “groove mix”).
Conclusion
Probably a nice one for the collectors but a real “stay-away” for the general fan. You're better off buying a good copy with the shoplink below.
Tracklisting