Excellent late-period EC

Review Score: (8/10)
When I first heard that Rhino was reissuing EC's catalog, I was enraged. This is a criminal case of double-dipping. Didn't Rykodisc already do this? Well yes, they did, but they stopped after they exhausted the Columbia releases. Rhino is planning on reissuing Elvis' complete catalog, which is a godsend for me since all my EC discs were recently stolen. Nice!

Rhino is also reissuing everything in two-disc sets, the second disc being all bonus tracks. "All This Useless Beauty" received little fanfare when it was released in 1996, so hopefully the disc will find a new audience with the reissue. It's a shame that nobody noticed it upon initial release -- it's probably the best album of his Warner Brothers era. It provides a nice relief between all the hit-or-miss experimental Bacharach/classical stuff.

Elvis reformed the Attractions (who never should have left his side in the first place) for this stellar release. EC's Stax/Volt influences shine through on the beautiful "Why Can't a Man Stand Alone?" "Starting to Come to Me" sounds an awful lot like Dylan's "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts." "It's Time" is one of the greatest things he's done in years. And so on. There's great stuff to chew on here, and that's without even touching the bonus disc. That disc contains a lot of great demo versions of the original songs, in addition to a nice remix of "Distorted Angel," a song from the X-Files album, "My Dark World," and an indescribably gorgeous version of "That Day Is Done" (a song he cowrote with Paul McCartney) featuring the gospel combo Fairfield Four.

A vital addition to your EC collection. Bravo to Rhino!

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