Elvis Presley (album)
| Elvis Presley | ||||
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| Studio album by Elvis Presley | ||||
| Released | March 23, 1956 | |||
| Recorded | July 1954 to January 1956 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 28:03 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer |
Sam Phillips (Sun recordings) Steve Sholes (RCA recordings) |
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| Elvis Presley chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Elvis Presley | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| MusicHound |  |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Rough Guides | |
| Sputnikmusic | 5.0/5 |
Elvis Presley (released in the UK as Elvis Presley Rock n' Roll) is the debut studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley. It was released on RCA Victor, in mono, catalogue number LPM 1254, in March 1956. The recording sessions took place on January 10 and January 11 at the RCA Victor recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and on January 30 and January 31 at the RCA Victor studios in New York. Additional material originated from sessions at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 5, August 19 and September 10 of 1954, and on July 11, 1955.
The album spent ten weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in 1956, the first rock and roll album ever to make it to the top of the charts, and the first million-selling album of that genre. In 2003, it was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.Elvis Presley was also one of three Presley albums to receive accolades in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, the others being Elvis Is Back! and From Elvis in Memphis. It was certified Gold on November 1, 1966 and Platinum on August 8, 2011 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The original 1956 UK release called Rock n' Roll on HMV Catalogue Number: CLP 1093 has some different tracks.
By the second half of 1955, singles on Sun Records by Presley began making the national country and western singles chart, "Baby Let's Play House" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" going to number 5 and number 1 respectively.Colonel Tom Parker, the new manager of Presley, had extensive dealings with RCA through his previous client, singer Eddy Arnold, especially with the head of the Country and Western and Rhythm and blues division, Steve Sholes. At the urging of Parker, on November 21, 1955, Sholes bought Presley's contract from Sam Phillips, the head of Sun Records and Studio, for the unprecedented sum of $35,000. Presley and rock and roll were still untested properties for the major labels in the music business, but this album, along with the number 1 single "Heartbreak Hotel", proved the selling power of both: it was RCA's first pop album to earn more than $1,000,000, and in 1966 it had sold over one million units.
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Wikipedia