what were your first Elvis LPs?

[LesterB]

Elvis 40 Greatest on the Arcade label - parents bought it for me. I later bought Promised Land when it first came out. When did that come out in the UK? Then got a load of 99p Pickwicks and Camdens many of which sound excellent as we all know

[BlackpoolEPfan]

Elvis 40 Greatest on the Arcade label - parents bought it for me. I later bought Promised Land when it first came out. When did that come out in the UK? Then got a load of 99p Pickwicks and Camdens many of which sound excellent as we all know

I believe that first issue of "Elvis 40 Greatest" came out in 1974. The "Promised Land" album was released in January 1975 - the month of Elvis' 40 Birthday.

[LesterB]

Elvis 40 Greatest on the Arcade label - parents bought it for me. I later bought Promised Land when it first came out. When did that come out in the UK? Then got a load of 99p Pickwicks and Camdens many of which sound excellent as we all know

I believe that first issue of "Elvis 40 Greatest" came out in 1974. The "Promised Land" album was released in January 1975 - the month of Elvis' 40 Birthday.

that sounds about right - thankyou.

So I was 9 when i bought Promised land. I remember it being in the shop window and thinking Elvis looked different to the photos that I had up until then seen of him but decided to buy it anyway. I really like Promised Land but wasnt ready for the rest of the tracks back then.

[BlackpoolEPfan]

Incidentally, my first bootleg LP was "From the Beach to the Bayou" which I purchased from the late Rex Martin when he had the "Elvis Memories" shop here in Blackpool in the early 80's. He let me have it for a fiver because it didn't have a cover, just inner sleeve. Nice memories indeed...

[KingElvis]

I`m almost certain this was my first bootleg.

[rockinrebel]

I took an early interest in music. By the time I was about 4 or 5 my dad, who was into Sinatra and big bands, was buying me the current glam rock hits I'd heard on Top of the Pops by bands such as Slade and The Sweet.

Of course these were the days of physical product, and growing up there was music everywhere. My grandma gave me a box of singles which had been bought back in the 50's, which included the likes of Elvis, Buddy and Jerry Lee, and whilst they seemed like relics from the distant past in many ways, (some were '78's) they sounded just as fresh and exciting to me as the new music I was hearing at the time.

Going to friend's houses you would often see the same albums in their parents record collections: Elvis' 40 Greatest and the 1970 reissue of Elvis' Christmas Album were ever presents, as was Sergeant Pepper or The Beatles red and blue albums.

At that time, the father of one of my friends was into Johnny Cash, but he also had well worn copies of G.I. Blues and the NBC TV Special album. Assured that he wouldn't miss these as he only played the Cash albums (someone must have given them some serious rotation in the past, though!), I borrowed these and played them to death.

G.I. Blues had recently been on television, and I remember thinking how cool Elvis was. It was great to be able to revisit the soundtrack and relive the film in my head, and whilst I hadnt seen the NBC TV Special back then, the excitement on that album literally jumped out of the grooves.

Being that young, I never really followed up on this, though. I still listened to the records, but there was always something else going on: another new band, the football, or TV series such as a Planet of the Apes or Starsky and Hutch. Things moved pretty fast back then.

The impact of Elvis' death was like nothing I'd seen before. I was still only 10 years old at the time, but I was captivated by the clips I was seeing during the news coverage, and the films and shows that started to be repeated in tribute.

I can remember getting the Separate Ways album shortly afterwards. At that time I had no idea that this was a collection of songs spanning the years 1956 - 72, but the difference in the musical styles on offer, and the sheer versatility of the man really got me hooked.

From that point onwards Elvis' music was at the top of my wish lists for Christmas and birthday presents, and my first full priced albums were Loving You and Aloha. In many respects this was like listening to two completely different artists, but to me that was very much part of the appeal. There really was an Elvis for everyone: a song or an album to suit every mood.

For a few years afterwards I rarely listened to anyone else. I could pick up affordable second hand titles at the record exchange, whilst a local market trader, and lifelong fan, used to stock all the titles which were deleted in the UK on US imports. Each new purchase being another piece of the jigsaw, which I would rush home with, excited to hear.

This soon led me to collecting overseas RCA releases, bootleg albums, and even audience recorded cassettes. And the rest, as they say, is history...

[The Warder]

My first boogleg LP's were Superstar outakes vol. 1 & 2 from around 1977.


colonel snow

I still have these two bootleg LP’s in my collection, note the misspelling ’Outakes’ on both album covers.