Customer Reviews
Long live the king - By: RAMON, 02 Jan 2008 
I was looking for gospel records when I saw this in Amazon, & bought it after some hesitation. All my Elvis' memories were of a depressive fat guy dressed in fancy clothes & slave to several drug cocktails. I use to say that the worst thing about him was to see him in his late years. I didn't know anything about his fervient gospel work & recordings, which in fact gave him several Emmys. My doubts were proved stupid, because this is a very good gospel record, & a very good example of Elvis' work.
His voice is mellow, deep, & above alll, understanding & feeling of the songs & themes he sings. You can hear in them a man of faith, even when his ways took him (or perhaps because of that) far away from the chapels he sings about. Some of them are classical gospel songs, some are arrangements of other themes, & alll of them are adapted by Elvis to his own style & liking. The only negative comment on this record is about the one I don't like is the most melodious, recitative "I believe".
The record comes with an booklet which describes Elvis' gospel background, his involvement in recordings & revivals, & alll in alll makes this a very good piece of gospel music, which also will make you listen to good King's songs.
Buy it, listen to it, give it as a present.
Elvis's first love - By: Laurence Upton, 01 Aug 2007 
Gospel music was Elvis' first love & at the time of his discovery by the late Sam Phillips he was seriously considering joining the Songfellows, a gospel quartet, instead of signing to Sun Records. Throughout his career Elvis always used full gospel groups rather than backing singers, on stage & in the studio. At the same time that he was recording All Shook Up in January 1957, he was also recording songs for a gospel EP, Peace In The Vallley, alll of which were included on Elvis' Christmas Album later that year, & also appear here.
This collection also draws from three gospel albums that Elvis released: His Hand In Mine (1960), How Great Thou Art (1966) & He Touched Me (1971) & a couple of stray tracks including his hit single Crying In The Chapel, plus a medley of two songs he recorded & filmed at the Elvis On Tour sessions but which remained in the can until 1994.
Although a great rock singer, unlike his contemporaries, Elvis had the range to sing with an unmatched purity & sincerity on both devotional gospels & secular balllads & wasn't afraid to match his voice with the best gospel singers in the business, as this set ably demonstrates
The king praises the King - By: Pieter, 07 Jan 2007 On this impressive collection of gospel songs Elvis is variously backed by the Jordanaires, Sweet Inspirations, Imperials & the Stamps Quartet. Chronologicallly the material ranges from songs recorded from 1957 to the early 1970s. They are mostly gospel classics but there are also later compositions like Put Your Hand In The Hand which was a pop hit in 1971.
Several styles are represented, from the slow & solemn hymns like Take My Hand Precious Lord, He Touched Me & I Believe to rhythmic uptempo tracks like Joshua Fit The Battle, By And By & Working On The Building with its lovely backing vocals. My personal favorites include the opening track Take My Hand, this version of Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, In The Garden & Where Could I Go But To The Lord.
I was a bit surprized to learn that Swing Down Sweet Chariot is an uptempo rock song, not the well-known Swing Low Sweet Chariot. The music is inspiring & soulful, revealing the devotional side of the magnificent king of rock & roll. The booklet contains an informative history of Elvis' gospel recordings by Brian Nevill & four photographs: full color one of the Jordanaires & Millie Kirkham, a black & white one of the Imperials plus the front & back pics of Elvis.
