Elvis Presley Connection Vols 1 to 4 – Various Artists

Elvis Presley Connection Vols 1 to 4 – Various Artists 

Bear Family Records - https://www.bear-family.com/ 

These four CDs from Bear Family contain alternative versions of songs recorded by Elvis. There are 129 tracks, but a fewer number of songs as some titles appear more than once, but by different artists. Also, these are not necessarily the original versions, they are simply other versions of songs recorded by the King. 

Reviewed February 2025 

With so many tracks to listen to I have just picked out, what I consider to be some of the more notable inclusions. 

The first CD rightly focuses on the early recordings from Elvis with a demo of “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Clyde Stacey which really sets the scene for these 4 CDs in that it is a good rocker and by far from an obvious choice. Most people know “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins as it is not only the original version but it was a hot for Carl before Elvis had recorded it. To have a version from Carl that was made for a TV broadcast is another nice surprise. There are a couple of tracks from British artists, Mickey Most does a fair version of “Paralyzed” and Vince Taylor does his moody best with “Trouble”. Thursday’s Children, a garage rock group from Texas active in the mid 1960s do a more than passable version of “Crawfish” as first sung by the King in the film “King Creole”. The final track come from “down under” with a good version of “I Need Your Love Tonight”, by the Australian singer Col Joye & The Joy Boys. 

The second CD, which focuses on recordings from Elvis between 1958 and 1962 kicks off with another antipodean artist, Johnny Devlin doing “A Big Hunk O’ Love” that really rocks. The best known track on this CD has to be Peggy Lee’s classic, “Fever” For me the stand out rocker on this CD is LaVern Baker with answer to “Little Sister”, “Hey Memphis. Other rock ‘n’ roll artists on this CD include Carl Mann and Bobby Vee. King of the Crooners stamps his own special style to a version of “Blue Hawaii”. There’s a soulful version of “Good Luck Charm” by the all-girl group from the Motown label, The Marvelettes.  

CD Three moves on to the years 1962 to ’66 and kicks off with Elvis soundalike Rikki Henderson doing a version of “Kiss Me Quick”. Skip Arne who sings the second track “Angel” sounds a but like Roy Orbison. Les Carle, and English singer who recorded cover versions of hits for the English Embassy label and went on to find fame as the voice of Postman Pat in the children’s TV show has three tracks on this CD. Terry Stafford’s

1964 hit version of “Suspicion” is rightly included in this set. “Witchcraft” by the Spiders is a classic piece of doo wop and they are joined with other top notch vocal groups, the Coasters (Girls! Girls! Girls! - part II and Little Egypt), the Clovers (Down In The Alley), and the Drifters (Fools Fall In Love). When you add in Jerry Lee Lewis with his version of “What I’d Say” and there should be enough here to rock ‘n’ roll fans. 

On the fourth CD, issued mark Elvis' 90th birthday, there are original recordings and cover versions of well-known songs recorded by Elvis between 1967 and 1969, including some demos, a number of them on CD for the first time, there are four songs each done by two different artists. “Guitar Man” by Jerry Reed and Bob Luman; “Big Boss Man” by Jerry Reed and Charlie Rich; “Long Black Limousine” by Vern Stovall and Bobby Bare and “You'll Never Walk Alone” by Andy Williams and Conway Twitty. LaVern Baker does a sassy, gospel inspired version of “Saved”. I think the biggest hit and best-known track on this CD is Ned Miller’s “From A Jack To A King”. 

Summary 

I think Bear Family deserve a lot of praise for the hard work that has clearly gone in to this project. There are some obvious inclusions but there are many tracks that will be new to most people, even the most ardent of Elvis fans. 

Recommendation 

This is a fantastic collection of music backed up with great sleeve notes that gives an insight into the history of popular music as a whole, not just Elvis Presley. Even if you are not a fan of the man you should check these CDs out. 

Track Listings 

Volume 1 

1, Good Rockin' Tonight (Demo), Clyde Stacey, 2, Just Because, Shelton Brothers, 3, Baby Let's Play House, Vince Everett, 4, Mystery Train, Vernon Taylor, 5, Tryin' To Get To You, The Eagles, 6, Heartbreak Hotel, Hank Smith & Nashville Playboys, 7, Money Honey, Gary Engel & Tophatters, 8, Blue Suede Shoes (Live TV Broadcast), Carl Perkins, 9, My Baby Left Me, Loren Becker , 10, So Glad You're Mine, Sonny Burgess & Pacers, 11, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You, Roy Hamilton, 12, Hound Dog, Freddie Bell & Bellboys, 13, Don't Be Cruel, Jerry Lee Lewis, 14, Love Me, Billy Williams Quartet , 15, Paralyzed, Mickie Most & His Playboys, 16, Too Much (Live TV Broadcast), Dorothy Collins, 17, Ready Teddy, Tony Sheridan & Beat Brothers, 18, Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do (Live Radio Broadcast), Lucy Lynn, 19, All Shook Up, David Hill, 20, Mean Woman Blues, Colin Hicks & His Cabin Boys, 21, (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear, Shorty Mitchell, 22, Hot Dog, Young Jessie, 23, I Beg Of You, Jimmy Lane, 24, Jailhouse Rock, Earl Robbins With Dave Remington & His Orchestra, 25, (You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care, Rodney Scott, 26, Hard Headed Woman, Paul Rich, 27, Trouble, Vince Taylor & Playboys, 28, King Creole, Dick Penrose, 29, Crawfish, Thursday's Children, 30, Lover Doll, Lonnie Lee, 31, Young Dreams, Mack Allen Smith, 32, Wear My Ring Around Your Neck, Jimmy Lane, 33, I Need Your Love Tonight, Col Joye & The Joy Boys. 

Volume 2 

1, A Big Hunk O' Love, Johnny Devlin & Devils, 2, Ain't That Loving You, Baby, Rikki Henderson & Beatmen, 3, (Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I, Johnny Worth, 4, I Got Stung, Eli Whitney, 5, Stuck On You, Bobby Stevens, 6, A Mess Of Blues, Bobby Stevens, 7, Fever, Peggy Lee, 8, Like A Baby, Priscilla Bowman, 9, Dirty, Dirty Feeling, Danny Ezba, 10, I Gotta Know, Bobby Vee With Crickets, 11, Are You Lonesome Tonight, Jaye P Morgan, 12, The Girl Next Door Went A-Walkin', Thomas Wayne, 13, Shoppin' Around, Joel Grey, 14, G.I. Blues, Ronnie Knull & His Rock-A-Kings, 15, Pocketful Of Rainbows, Johnny Gatewood, 16, Surrender, Rikki Henderson, 17, Working On The Building, Blackwood Brothers, 18, Wild In The Country, Rikki Henderson, 19, I'm Comin' Home, Carl Mann, 20, I Want You With Me, Bobby Darin, 21, There's Always Me (Demo), Don Robertson, 22, Slicin' Sand Twist, Bryan Davies, 23, Blue Hawaii (1956 Version), Bing Crosby With Lani McIntire & His Hawaiians, 24, Moonlight Swim, Anthony 'Tony' Perkins, 25, Can't Help Falling In Love, Bobby Stevens, 26, Rock-A-Hula Baby, Paul Rich, 27, (Marie's The Name Of) His Latest Flame, Bobby Stevens, 28, Hey, Memphis (Answer To Little Sister), LaVern Baker, 29, Good Luck Charm, The Marvelettes, 30, She's Not You, Les Carle, 31, Just Tell Him Jane Said Hello (Answer To Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello), Gerri Granger, 32, Return To Sender, Ray Pilgrim, 33, They Remind Me Too Much Of You (Demo), Don Robertson.

Volume 3 

1, Kiss Me Quick, Rikki Henderson, 2, Angel, Skip Arne & The Dukes, 3, Follow That Dream, Johnny Holiday, 4, I Met Her Today (Demo), Don Robertson, 5, King Of The Whole Wide World, Les Carle, 6, Home Is Where The Heart Is, Les Carle, 7, Riding The Rainbow, Les Carle, 8, Suspicion, Terry Stafford, 9, Girls! Girls! Girls! - part II, The Coasters, 10, One Broken Heart For Sale, Otis Blackwell, 11, Bossa Nova Baby, Tippie & Clovers, 12, Fun In Acapulco (Demo), P.J. Proby, 13, Guadalajara, Irma Vila Y Su Mariachi, 14, (You're The) Devil In Disguise, Wayne Harris, 15, Never Ending, Roger Douglass, 16, What Now, What Next, Where To (Demo), Don Robertson, 17, Witchcraft, The Spiders, 18, Love Me Tonight (Demo), Don Robertson, 19, Memphis, Tennessee, The Chavis Brothers, 20, Viva Las Vegas (Demo), Mort Shuman, 21, What'd I Say, Jerry Lee Lewis, 22, You're The Boss, LaVern Baker & Jimmy Ricks, 23, Kissin' Cousins, Ray Pilgrim & Beatmen, 24, Little Egypt (Ying-Yang), The Coasters, 25, Posion Ivy League, Ral Donner, 26, My Desert Serenade (Demo), Kenny Karen, 27, How Great Thou Art, The Browns, 28, Down In The Alley, The Clovers, 29, Love Letters, Ketty Lester, 30, Where Could I Go But To The Lord, Marty Robbins, 31, Come What May, Clyde McPhatter, 32, Fools Fall In Love, The Drifters, 33, I'll Remember You, Kui Lee, 34, The Love Machine (Demo), Gerald Nelson, 35, You Don't Know Me, Patti Page. 

Volume 4 

1, Guitar Man, Jerry Reed, 2, Big Boss Man, Jerry Reed, 3, Big Boss Man, Charlie Rich, 4, Just Call Me Lonesome, Don Gibson, 5, Hi-Heel Sneakers, Tommy Tucker, 6, You Don't Know Me, Ray Charles, 7, You'll Never Walk Alone, Andy Williams, 8, You'll Never Walk Alone, Conway Twiity, 9, US Male, Jerry Reed, 10, A Little Less Conversation, Mac Davis, 11, Guitar Man, Bob Luman, 12, Saved, LaVern Baker, 13, Baby What You Want Me To Do, Fred Mick And Kingsmen, 14, Tiger Man, Rufus Thomas Jnr, 15, Blue Suede Shoes, Vince Chu And Jungle Lynxs, 16, Long Black Limousine, Vern Stovall, 17, Long Black Limousine, Bobby Bare, 18, Wearing That Loved On Look (Demo), Dallas Frazier, 19, From A Jack To A King, Ned Miller, 20, In The Ghetto, Mac Davis, 21, I'll Be There, Bobby Darin, 22, Suspicious Minds, Mark James, 23, Stranger In My Own Home Town, Percy Mayfield, 24, And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind, Neil Diamond, 25, Kentucky Rain, Jimmy Ellis, 26, Keep Right On Hurtin', Johnny Tillotson, 27, Only The Strong Survive, Jerry Butler, 28, Any Day Now, Chuck Jackson. 

Reviewed by Jailhouse John Alexander 

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