The Nations Favourite Elvis Songs

I had this cd in my hand yesterday. Conclusion ..... just another compilation of very well known songs ... including " Love Me Tender"... again .... Find it very difficult to get excited about this i'm sorry to say !

My karaoke cd almost has the same cover... Actually it is even better...

The album is now No.35 in the charts.

As a long time dyed in the wool Elvis fan it is difficult to be truly objective about the show and so forth. I, like many on this forum, will be saying, why this song again, and not that rarely heard gem, but I will have to tell myself that at least there is a good,( I hope), publicity angle that might create new enthusiatic fans who will delve further into his treasure trove of marvellous songs.

I am surprised it is doing so well so early. Looking forward to seeing how it does next week. Should do well for Xmas.

I saw the show on UK TV last night, never perfect for an Elvis fan, but this one did our boy no harm at all and left one feeling real good. Always On My Mind was top song with Suspicious Minds second, with some great film all the way through, especially of Suspicious Minds, and American Trilogy that we all know, but should impress young newbies. So many songs obviously not in top 20 including my all time favourite Surrender and the wonderful film of Teddy Bear in Loving You - but all in all a real good show with many 'old friends' contributing their tributes.

Please everyone, go buy one or two of these (single and Deluxe versions) so Sony will see that it is worth doing some publicity for Elvis albums, something most fans have been shouting for for many years ! The more this sell, the more focus there will be on Elvis, and the more great products will be released in the future, like Prince and Stax, especially if this makes new fans. I know that all of us have these songs in many forms, but buy it anyway and give it to someone as a (christmas)present. This is a great way of keeping Elvis in the limelight, and making it profitable for Sony to release other quality products. So please go to your local store or to amazon.uk and buy a few, and help keep his leagacy growing :) TCB freinds.

Remember to buy it on the UK amazon if you want it to count on the English hit list, and dont buy any other artists albums that Are competing with him for a couple of weeks ! The adresse for the English amazon is amazon.co.uk .

As an Elvis fan I thought the Programme was excellent and better than expected. It seemed to fly by especially with the invasive interruption of advertisements. The sound was excellent and most important there were no impersonators involved. It was rapid moving and to the point. Put over in a documentary style it featured all the main points one would want featuring including his UK record of No.1 Hits and his one billion worldwide record sales making him the best-selling solo artist of all-time. Of course one can always argue about the one billion figure as they could about the figure of 20 million given for the worldwide sales of ‘Its Now Or Never’. The countdown went from 20 to 1 with the ultimate winner being ‘Always On My Mind’ just narrowly beating out ‘Suspicious Minds’. I do feel that Priscilla may have had the final casting vote for this track, however. The twenty tracks featured in countdown order were: 20 King Creole 19 If I Can Dream 18 Don’t Be Cruel 17 Viva Las Vegas 16 Heartbreak Hotel 15 American Trilogy 14 It’s Now Or Never 13 All Shook Up 12 Blue Suede Shoes 11 The Wonder Of You 10 Are You Lonesome Tonight? (including laughing version) 9 Return To Sender 8 Love Me tender 7 Hound Dog 6 Jailhouse Rock 5 A Little Less Conversation (film and remix versions) 4 In The Ghetto 3 Can’t Help Falling In Love (film and ‘live’ versions) 2 Suspicious Minds (Live Version featured) 1 Always On My Mind. There were clips and comments from, among others, Engelbert Humperdinck, Michael Buble, Cliff Richard, Ronnie Tutt, Glen Hardin, DJ Fontana, Estelle Brown, Bill Baize, Joe Moscheo, George Kline, Sharlene Spiteri, JXL, Gareth Gates, UB 40, Mac Davis, Celeste Yarnall, Suzi Quattro, Fine Young Cannibals, Michael Ball, Kevin Kearn, Jerry Schillling, Darlene Love, Cerys Matthews (Welsh singer) highly rated by Tom Jones (who surprisingly was not featured in this programme). The Sony advert for the album was featured during the programme (which is normally not allowed) and at the end an announcement was made that the album was on sale at all good record outlets. ‘A Little Less Conversation’, and the video of same, was featured which would no doubt have appealed to the younger generation, although now far removed from material featured by such artists as Rihanna and Eminem. Also Celeste Yarnall, one of Elvis’ co-stars from ‘Live A Little, Love A Little’ apparently loved ALLC and told Elvis that it was going to be one of his biggest No.1 hits ever. It wasn’t at the time but she laughs explaining that if she could talk to him now she would remind him she was right all along. There were few negative aspects but I could have done without the comments of Mike Stoller, who preferred the original version of ‘Hound Dog’ by Big Mama Thornton and thought Elvis’ version silly. He also stated that he did not think ‘King Creole’ was one of their better efforts. They also featured a couple of minutes footage on the sinking of the liner ‘Andrea Doria’ from which Stoller was saved – time wasted in my opinion. Further, I noticed that ‘Jailhouse Rock’ was shown as being made in 1958!! Priscilla commented throughout the programme supported by the usual private film footage including that from Hawaiian vacations and the wedding etc. I did not notice any new film footage. She came across well in my opinion and stated that she felt shy about revealing some of her private moments with Elvis. However, during the playing of ‘Always On My Mind’ she stated that Elvis gave her a copy of the song after he recorded it. Apparently she had never revealed this before. Further, during the playing of ‘The Wonder Of You’ she stated that Elvis was referring to God when singing it and not any person. Apparently he believed that God gave him his voice. There was no mention made of prescription drug abuse and the footage of Elvis used was mainly from the 1968 Special; TTWII, ‘Aloha’ and early TV appearances. Needless to say and true to form, Lisa Marie never appeared in the documentary to talk about Elvis but there was a plug for her two top ten albums with video footage. The ending was rather strange I thought with Priscilla reflecting about the difficulties surrounding their break-up commenting “I would have done anything for that man”. In conclusion an excellent programme on UK prime-time television giving Elvis much needed, and long overdue, national exposure. I feel it will help improve his image with the general public and hopefully lead to the current album achieving a Top 10 position. Of course, demographics, death and musical styles now detract from immediate Top 10 Hits but I can think of no other artist who is so revered so long after their death.

It's just another hits album. I think I'll go out and buy a few though just to give Elvis a much needed leg up!!

Brian, quite a wonderful essay you wrote here. Unfortunately I'm not living in the UK, so I could not watch the show. It shows style not to indulge again in the tragic end of his life. Let's not forget that that happened to so many other stars and they just got sort of away with it, while in Elvis' case people always go on and on about it, fsiling to see the true point: his musical legacy. Vast and (in your correct words) revered even decades after his unfortunate untimely demise. I sincerely hope people get a better and truer image of the greatest singer ever lived on this earth.

ITV's highest-rated show outside of soaps was The Nation's Favourite Elvis Song at 9pm (4.39m, 20.7%). A further 217k (1.29%) watched the show on +1.

''The Nations Favourite Elvis Songs' Album got to No.7 on the UK Charts in its first week giving The King his 50th UK Top 10 album - a feat no other artist or group has achieved.

Brian, thanks again for updating this news item with such a great achievement for Elvis. The King Rules!

Sales figures for the last week's UK Top 20 Albums: 1 Eminem 143,034 2 James Arthur 63,995 3 Tinie Tempah 29,980 4 Andre Rieu 29,261 5 The Overtones 19,198 6 Shane Filan 18,451 7 Elvis Presley 16,923 8 James Blunt 14,718 9 The Wanted 14,700 10 Katy Perry 14,171 11 Arctic Monkeys 12,154 12 Arcade Fire 11,848 13 Lorde 9,209 14 Avril Lavigne 9,137 15 Nickelback 8,415 16 Bob Dylan 8,245 17 London Grammar 7,969 18 Jessie J 6,813 19 Jonathan & Charlotte 6,779 20 John Newman 6,572. I guess RAP rules with teenagers. Andre Rieu is selling well because his concerts are screened back to back throughout the day on the Sky Arts Channel. Now if only Elvis could have that. If the public see and hear him he will sell.

Tracey Jayne, Album content is prepared months in advance and I can only surmise that when the tracks were chosen the actual result of the Top 20 was not known. It would have been nice though. Several fans have commented on the cover but the main thing is that the public are buying it. Let's hope it goes up in the chart this week.

This week's midweek UK album chart is as follows: 7 new albums in the top 10. Highest new entry at #1 for Lady Gaga on 38k, Celine Dion at #2 is 16k behind, making up the top 5 are Eminem, Little Mix, and the Killers. Beatles, Alfie Boe and Keane top 10, other new entries inside the top 20 from Cliff Richard, Daniel O'Donnell, Russell Watson and Erasure. Elvis drops one place to 8 so far.

The UK Midweek Album Chart (Wednesday) shows: Elvis 6; Beatles 8; Cliff Richard 11. Just like going back to the 50's and early 60's.

On Today's Midweek Chart (Friday): Elvis 5 Cliff Richard 8 Beatles 10