Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3 (RCA 67464)

The Army may have shaved off all of Elvis's edge, but it didn't stop him from making good records. In fact, most of the songs on this disc are preferable to his early classics, in only because the arrangements are a bit less dorky, although there is still a preponderance of ridiculous background singers.

Elvis in the early 60s was in pure pop-star mode, the movie career not yet having become totally stupid, and the songs still at this point pretty much top-notch pap.

Volume 3 of the 5-disc series devoted to Elvis's top-selling singles is a step up from Volume 2, despite some serious filler ("Wooden Heart?" "King of the Whole Wide World?").

The biggest singles here are great ones – "His Latest Flame," "It's Now or Never," "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," "Can't Help Falling in Love" – some of his best singles ever. Lots of the secondary singles are good, too: "Little Sister," "Wild in the Country," "I Feel so Bad."

There are a couple clunkers – I've never cared for "She's Not You," mainly because of the opening, when Elvis sings "Her hair is soft…" because if you isolate his voice on "Her hair" and keep repeating it, it seems kind of like a ghost.

Of course most people would simply let the song just play regularly, but even the very first time I heard that song, I was so struck by how poorly he sings the first two notes ("Her hair …") that I kept repeating those two seconds over and over. Now I can't listen to the song the same way.

Um, was that weird? Was that even worth mentioning? Ah, I'll forge ahead.

A couple lesser-regarded gems here: "The Girl of My Best Friend," "Surrender." A couple understandably neglected misfires: "Fame and Fortune," "Follow That Dream." You definitely get a sense that Elvis was starting to coast, but the voice is still great, ad most of the stuff here is very, very good.

As with most Elvis CD's, if you like Elvis, you'll enjoy this anyway, and if you don't, there's no point in trying to convince you. If you truly don't like Elvis but want to change your mind, I'd direct you toward the reissues RCA has been doing since the late 90s: Suspicious Minds – the Memphis 1969 Anthology is probably the best, or Memories – the '68 Comeback Special, or if you must follow the conventional path, Sunrise (the Sun Records anthology of Elvis's first recordings –"the birth of rock'n'roll!" and all that baloney).

For an appreciation of Elvis as he was understood at the time, the Golden Records series is great, but with the proviso that there is a lot of crap to be expected in between the great moments. In any case, it's great Saturday morning music.

Review by Ian Pampon