CoronaVinyl Day 70 (Oldies): Elvis' Gold Records Vol. 2 by Elvis Presley

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "oldies," and I consider that to generally mean rock and roll from the mid '50s to the mid '60s -- before shit got heavy (both from a musical and lyrical standpoint).  And if we're going with oldies, we might as well go with The King.

This is the only full Elvis album I own.  Technically, it's his Gold Records Volume 2 compilation, but it's more commonly known as 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.  It was released in 1959, and it was his fourth compilation album, despite the fact that he had only been recording music for about five years at that point.  This one features ten hit singles released in 1958 and 1959.  Of the ten songs on the album, only one didn't crack the Top 20 ("Doncha' Think It's Time," which peaked at #21), and only one other didn't crack the Top 10 ("My Wish Came True," which reached #12).

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Don't"
The 11th of his 18 #1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, "Don't" was written by the legendary songwriting duo Leiber & Stoller, who wrote many of Elvis's other huge hits.  It's a nice, catchy ballad, where Elvis is backed by his usual band of Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and DJ Fontana, but also by The Jordanaires, who often accompanied Elvis.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "One Night"
"One Night" is the song on the album that reminds me most of Elvis's "early" period, when his vocals would often trend more towards the throaty and scratchy than crooning -- more bluesy and soulful.