ELVIS: £10 BOX
ELVIS: THE OTHER SIDES (RCA LP, 6402, £9.99)
PACKAGED in New York in a black box are four rather thin and pliable records (a bit thinner than British records), plus an envelope with a piece of yellow shirt (something from Elvis’ wardrobe to you, says the wording) and a painting of Elvis, with his autograph, about 36 inches long by 12 inches wide.
On the four records are 50 tracks, sub-titled World-wide Gold Award Hits Volume 2 and A Touch of Gold Vol.2. Strangely enough, a lot of the titles don’t ring any memory bells, but some do, like King Creole, I Need Your Love Tonight, Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello, Baby I Don’t Care, His Latest Flame and Crawfish.
Actually, there are 31 songs featured as B-sides on million-sellers, and 19 songs from million-selling EPs, so this explains why some titles seem unfamiliar.
As for the sample of cloth, which looks just like out of a pattern book, I smelt it carefully but could detect no sign of bodily odour or deodorant, just the rather antiseptic smell you get from a new shirt when you buy it. But the pattern on the pale yellow cloth was nice and if the maker had put his name in I might have ordered some shirts in the material (Colonel Parker slipped up there).
Is the package worth nearly a tenner? Personally I don’t think so. But it will soon sort out the men from the boys among the Elvis Presley fans. Only 15,000 available, so hurry, hurry!
New Musical Express, 1971