Label
	BMG
	Release
	2001
	Artist
	Elvis Presley
	Rating

Elvis Presley is certainly more recognised for his contributions to rock n’ roll rather than country music, but this album shows that at his roots he is capable of being an excellent country music musician in his own right. This album is massive and I mean it. With an amazing 51 songs, the fact that I downloaded it from iTunes for only £7.99 makes this an absolute bargain.

The album is made up of covers as you’d expect, but Elvis brings his own style to each of the records giving some of them old classics new leases of life despite the fact that they were recorded over 40 years ago. As much as I loved Bob Wills’ ‘Faded Love’, Elvis’ version is so much better as the arrangement combines orchestral instruments to a rock theme making it one of my favourite songs. There are some classic Hank Williams songs in there too such as ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ and Bill Monroe’s ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ which was also recorded by Elvis makes a welcome appearance. There’s also a beautiful version of Willie Nelson’s ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’, which I again prefer to Willie’s original. Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night’ and ‘For the Good Times’ are also covered with a bit more of a pop sound which doesn’t detract from the quality of the originals at all.

There are quite a few songs which I don’t like too much on this album meaning if it had been halved to improve the overall standard I would have been more inclined to award this album 5 stars. I don’t think I’ll ever like ‘Make the World Go Away’…

As I’ve already hinted, there’s a good variety of songs on offer here so I’d recommend it to Elvis Presley fans and country music fans equally. If you like both then you probably already have it.