Ace Records could have taken the obvious route with this project and stuck to Elvis’ revivals of R&B, blues and hillbilly material, but they’ve elected to compile “Elvis Heard Them Here First” from songs he cut after his military service put his career on hold for a while.
The selection here has been tailored to embrace the originals of some of his
biggest hits – ‘Always On My Mind’, ‘Girl Of My Best Friend’,
‘Guitar Man’ – and some of his most obscure B-sides and albums cuts.
Believe us, they don’t come much more obscure than Duane Dee’s ‘True Love
Travels
On A Gravel Road’, the Bards’ ‘Goodtime Charlie’s Got The Blues’ or
Roger Douglass’ ‘Never Ending’. In doing so, we hope more than a few of
even the most hardcore Elvis collectors will discover some original versions of
songs they may not have even suspected were ever recorded by anyone other
than Elvis.
Throughout his life, Elvis grabbed music from everywhere. A voracious collector and listener, he loved nothing more than to put his own stamp on a song that he loved.