Gregg Geller 1985 compilations

[DobroMojo]

In 1985 i was 14 and still getting familiar with the vastness of Elvis' catalogue. There were two great Gregg Geller produced compilations released that year that i still love to this day.

Not only were the track selections and sequencing impeccable, but the artwork was cool as hell.

"Rocker" = pure dynamite
"Reconsider Baby" was a revelation. Still digging the the alternate/composite edit of "Ain't That Loving You Baby" and the alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Hometown".

Anyone remember them / still have them?

rocker 1985.jpg

reconsider baby 1985.jpg

[sweetangeline]

have them both...great releases always been fond of them.

[ForeverElvis]

have them both...great releases always been fond of them.

Me too.

[drjohncarpenter]

In 1985 i was 14 and still getting familiar with the vastness of Elvis' catalogue. There were two great Gregg Geller produced compilations released that year that i still love to this day.

Not only were the track selections and sequencing impeccable, but the artwork was cool as hell.

"Rocker" = pure dynamite
"Reconsider Baby" was a revelation. Still digging the the alternate/composite edit of "Ain't That Loving You Baby" and the alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Hometown".

Anyone remember them / still have them?

Gregg Geller was working hard in that period to re-center Elvis as a serious, groundbreaking artist, with a sharp focus on his early glory, something his predecessor apparently did not consider a priority. It was a "50th birthday" celebratory year.

Rocker was great fun, but I had all the tracks. Reconsider Baby was also familiar territory, but meant to really impress fans.

Every song was superb. It included a previously-unheard, 1954 Sun tape of an undubbed "Tomorrow Night," and Elvis singing Smiley Lewis's original lyrics in an alternate recording of "One Night." And don't forget the canny notes on the back cover by Peter Guralnick, in which he writes perceptively about nearly every track, and remembers how Howlin' Wolf told him that Presley "made his pull from the blues."

"You feel on each of these songs Elvis has been set free," Peter notes, and that just about sums it up.

I would be remiss to fail to mention the cover art. The photo, taken at the back entrance of CBS-TV in New York on February 18, 1956 (Sat), is perfection. And not a single "ELVIS" to be seen anywhere in the design! Classy, classy stuff.









Elvis Presley Reconsider Baby (RCA AFL1 5418, March 1985)



The LP credits it to "Lloyd Russell Sherman," but that's wrong. It was made by his mother, celebrity photographer Editta Sherman.







Editta Sherman - Celebrity Photographer
http://www.edittasherman.com/portfolio.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editta_Sherman



I have a mounted print of her original b&w image on my wall, a gift from a dear friend.

Here's a larger version of it, a signed print by Sherman:





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elvis-by-Editta-Sherman-Vintage-Poster-Rock-Blues-Legend-The-King-/111333405373



Yes, I still have my LP copies of Rocker and Reconsider Baby.

[DobroMojo]

In 1985 i was 14 and still getting familiar with the vastness of Elvis' catalogue. There were two great Gregg Geller produced compilations released that year that i still love to this day.

Not only were the track selections and sequencing impeccable, but the artwork was cool as hell.

"Rocker" = pure dynamite
"Reconsider Baby" was a revelation. Still digging the the alternate/composite edit of "Ain't That Loving You Baby" and the alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Hometown".

Anyone remember them / still have them?

Gregg Geller was working hard in that period to re-center Elvis as a serious, groundbreaking artist, with a sharp focus on his early glory, something his predecessor apparently did not consider a priority. It was a "50th birthday" celebratory year.

Rocker was great fun, but I had all the tracks. Reconsider Baby was also familiar territory, but meant to really impress fans.

Every song was superb. It included a previously-unheard, 1954 Sun tape of an undubbed "Tomorrow Night," and Elvis singing Smiley Lewis's original lyrics in an alternate recording of "One Night." And don't forget the canny notes on the back cover by Peter Guralnick, in which he writes perceptively about nearly every track, and remembers how Howlin' Wolf told him that Presley "made his pull from the blues."

"You feel on each of these songs Elvis has been set free," Peter notes, and that just about sums it up.

I would be remiss to fail to mention the cover art. The photo, taken at the back entrance of CBS-TV in New York on February 18, 1956 (Sat), is perfection. And not a single "ELVIS" to be seen anywhere in the design! Classy, classy stuff.









Elvis Presley Reconsider Baby (RCA AFL1 5418, March 1985)



The LP credits it to "Lloyd Russell Sherman," but that's wrong. It was made by his mother, celebrity photographer Editta Sherman.







Editta Sherman - Celebrity Photographer
http://www.edittasherman.com/portfolio.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editta_Sherman



I have a mounted print of her original b&w image on my wall, a gift from a dear friend.

Here's a larger version of it, a signed print by Sherman:





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elvis-by-Editta-Sherman-Vintage-Poster-Rock-Blues-Legend-The-King-/111333405373



Yes, I still have my LP copies of Rocker and Reconsider Baby.

Thanks for the extra information and context John.

For myself as a teenager at the time, the music and Guralnick's liner notes were certainly an education. Such a superb package. I still have the blue vinyl European release.

It's very cool that you have a print of the Editta Sherman photograph.

I can't access that ebay link for some reason, but the signed print is also available here:
https://www.barewalls.com/art-print-poster/elvis_bw1205608.html

[ForeverElvis]

In 1985 i was 14 and still getting familiar with the vastness of Elvis' catalogue. There were two great Gregg Geller produced compilations released that year that i still love to this day.

Not only were the track selections and sequencing impeccable, but the artwork was cool as hell.

"Rocker" = pure dynamite
"Reconsider Baby" was a revelation. Still digging the the alternate/composite edit of "Ain't That Loving You Baby" and the alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Hometown".

Anyone remember them / still have them?

Gregg Geller was working hard in that period to re-center Elvis as a serious, groundbreaking artist, with a sharp focus on his early glory, something his predecessor apparently did not consider a priority. It was a "50th birthday" celebratory year.

Rocker was great fun, but I had all the tracks. Reconsider Baby was also familiar territory, but meant to really impress fans.

Every song was superb. It included a previously-unheard, 1954 Sun tape of an undubbed "Tomorrow Night," and Elvis singing Smiley Lewis's original lyrics in an alternate recording of "One Night." And don't forget the canny notes on the back cover by Peter Guralnick, in which he writes perceptively about nearly every track, and remembers how Howlin' Wolf told him that Presley "made his pull from the blues."

"You feel on each of these songs Elvis has been set free," Peter notes, and that just about sums it up.

I would be remiss to fail to mention the cover art. The photo, taken at the back entrance of CBS-TV in New York on February 18, 1956 (Sat), is perfection. And not a single "ELVIS" to be seen anywhere in the design! Classy, classy stuff.









Elvis Presley Reconsider Baby (RCA AFL1 5418, March 1985)



The LP credits it to "Lloyd Russell Sherman," but that's wrong. It was made by his mother, celebrity photographer Editta Sherman.







Editta Sherman - Celebrity Photographer
http://www.edittasherman.com/portfolio.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editta_Sherman



I have a mounted print of her original b&w image on my wall, a gift from a dear friend.

Here's a larger version of it, a signed print by Sherman:





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elvis-by-Editta-Sherman-Vintage-Poster-Rock-Blues-Legend-The-King-/111333405373



Yes, I still have my LP copies of Rocker and Reconsider Baby.

Along with the Golden Celebration this box and these two LPs were the best of the period. Going to go give a listen right now.

Reconsider Baby deserves a CD release with carefully curated additional tracks.

“The Rocker” had a strong marketing campaign that included airplay of an associated 45RPM single of “Blue Suede Shoes/Promised Land” as well as a video for MTV of BSS.

[DobroMojo]

In 1985 i was 14 and still getting familiar with the vastness of Elvis' catalogue. There were two great Gregg Geller produced compilations released that year that i still love to this day.

Not only were the track selections and sequencing impeccable, but the artwork was cool as hell.

"Rocker" = pure dynamite
"Reconsider Baby" was a revelation. Still digging the the alternate/composite edit of "Ain't That Loving You Baby" and the alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Hometown".

Anyone remember them / still have them?

Gregg Geller was working hard in that period to re-center Elvis as a serious, groundbreaking artist, with a sharp focus on his early glory, something his predecessor apparently did not consider a priority. It was a "50th birthday" celebratory year.

Rocker was great fun, but I had all the tracks. Reconsider Baby was also familiar territory, but meant to really impress fans.

Every song was superb. It included a previously-unheard, 1954 Sun tape of an undubbed "Tomorrow Night," and Elvis singing Smiley Lewis's original lyrics in an alternate recording of "One Night." And don't forget the canny notes on the back cover by Peter Guralnick, in which he writes perceptively about nearly every track, and remembers how Howlin' Wolf told him that Presley "made his pull from the blues."

"You feel on each of these songs Elvis has been set free," Peter notes, and that just about sums it up.

I would be remiss to fail to mention the cover art. The photo, taken at the back entrance of CBS-TV in New York on February 18, 1956 (Sat), is perfection. And not a single "ELVIS" to be seen anywhere in the design! Classy, classy stuff.









Elvis Presley Reconsider Baby (RCA AFL1 5418, March 1985)



The LP credits it to "Lloyd Russell Sherman," but that's wrong. It was made by his mother, celebrity photographer Editta Sherman.







Editta Sherman - Celebrity Photographer
http://www.edittasherman.com/portfolio.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editta_Sherman



I have a mounted print of her original b&w image on my wall, a gift from a dear friend.

Here's a larger version of it, a signed print by Sherman:





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elvis-by-Editta-Sherman-Vintage-Poster-Rock-Blues-Legend-The-King-/111333405373



Yes, I still have my LP copies of Rocker and Reconsider Baby.

Along with the Golden Celebration this box and these two LPs were the best of the period. Going to go give a listen right now.

Reconsider Baby deserves a CD release with carefully curated additional tracks.

“The Rocker” had a strong marketing campaign that included airplay of an associated 45RPM single of “Blue Suede Shoes/Promised Land” as well as a video for MTV of BSS.

I also really liked "The Memphis Record" compilation in 1987, another release Gregg Geller curated. It was my introduction to the American Sound Sessions and boy was that an eye opener at that time.

It's cool that RCA actually put up a budget for the "Blue Suede Shoes" music video in '85. Not sure it's aged that well though

[Swedish]

DSC_0041-1500x1500.jpg

DSC_0042-1500x1500.jpg

[DobroMojo]

As they say "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

[If_I_Can_Dream]

What many people don't know is that Geller's "The Complete Sun Sessions" set was to be originally released in June 1985 as part of the 50th birthday festivities. It came out two years later as part of the 10th anniversary of Elvis' death.

[TheKingOfMusicEP]

In 1985 i was 14 and still getting familiar with the vastness of Elvis' catalogue. There were two great Gregg Geller produced compilations released that year that i still love to this day.

Not only were the track selections and sequencing impeccable, but the artwork was cool as hell.

"Rocker" = pure dynamite
"Reconsider Baby" was a revelation. Still digging the the alternate/composite edit of "Ain't That Loving You Baby" and the alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Hometown".

Anyone remember them / still have them?

Gregg Geller was working hard in that period to re-center Elvis as a serious, groundbreaking artist, with a sharp focus on his early glory, something his predecessor apparently did not consider a priority. It was a "50th birthday" celebratory year.

Rocker was great fun, but I had all the tracks. Reconsider Baby was also familiar territory, but meant to really impress fans.

Every song was superb. It included a previously-unheard, 1954 Sun tape of an undubbed "Tomorrow Night," and Elvis singing Smiley Lewis's original lyrics in an alternate recording of "One Night." And don't forget the canny notes on the back cover by Peter Guralnick, in which he writes perceptively about nearly every track, and remembers how Howlin' Wolf told him that Presley "made his pull from the blues."

"You feel on each of these songs Elvis has been set free," Peter notes, and that just about sums it up.

I would be remiss to fail to mention the cover art. The photo, taken at the back entrance of CBS-TV in New York on February 18, 1956 (Sat), is perfection. And not a single "ELVIS" to be seen anywhere in the design! Classy, classy stuff.









Elvis Presley Reconsider Baby (RCA AFL1 5418, March 1985)



The LP credits it to "Lloyd Russell Sherman," but that's wrong. It was made by his mother, celebrity photographer Editta Sherman.







Editta Sherman - Celebrity Photographer
http://www.edittasherman.com/portfolio.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editta_Sherman



I have a mounted print of her original b&w image on my wall, a gift from a dear friend.

Here's a larger version of it, a signed print by Sherman:





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elvis-by-Editta-Sherman-Vintage-Poster-Rock-Blues-Legend-The-King-/111333405373



Yes, I still have my LP copies of Rocker and Reconsider Baby.

Along with the Golden Celebration this box and these two LPs were the best of the period. Going to go give a listen right now.

Reconsider Baby deserves a CD release with carefully curated additional tracks.

“The Rocker” had a strong marketing campaign that included airplay of an associated 45RPM single of “Blue Suede Shoes/Promised Land” as well as a video for MTV of BSS.

The video has Carl Perkins the great songwriter of Blue Suede Shoes in it

[TheKingOfMusicEP]

The Rocker was followed in 1986 by the album Return Of The Rocker, which I found a great album too.

[ForeverElvis]

The Rocker was followed in 1986 by the album Return Of The Rocker, which I found a great album too.

If memory serves this was the first release of the complete unedited master of “King of the Whole Wide World”

[martin018]

Always enjoyed Reconsider Baby LP on blue vinyl, still have it.
If I remember in the USA Merry Christmas Baby was issued on a green vinyl singles which I bought as an import single and still have

[martin018]

I also have Blue Suede Shoes on a blue vinyl US single from the Rocker album.
There was also the album A Valentines Gift For You from that year.

[sweetangeline]

What many people don't know is that Geller's "The Complete Sun Sessions" set was to be originally released in June 1985 as part of the 50th birthday festivities. It came out two years later as part of the 10th anniversary of Elvis' death.

I never knew that...thanks

[JosephC]

Great LPs all of them. I am embarrassed to admit that also loved "I Was The One" LP which I think was out about a year before "Rocker" as I recall. Still have all of them. Is it me or is that image of Kennedy on Return of the Rocker look more like Bobby than JFK?

JosephC

[Marko]

Yes indeed. Reconsider Baby was and is one of my favorite compilation albums. Stunning artwork, cool blue vinyl and a great song selection. I still played every now and then.

[Marko]

Hah... Good ol Sleepy Sleepers. A Finnish rock group. The album should be categorised into comedy section. Some of the dialogue (in Finnish) on the album is X-rated. Leader Mato Valtonen on the cover. He found international success with his other band Leningrad Cowboys.

[drjohncarpenter]

What many people don't know is that Geller's "The Complete Sun Sessions" set was to be originally released in June 1985 as part of the 50th birthday festivities. It came out two years later as part of the 10th anniversary of Elvis' death.

I never knew that...thanks

It's news to me, and I was wired into all of Gregg Geller's work at the time.

Where may this information be found?

[sweetangeline]

...apparently...If_I_Can_Dream

[drjohncarpenter]

A 1984 news article on Gregg Geller as he began his role full-time on the Presley oeuvre, makes no mention of The Complete Sun Sessions or any Sun project.

He 'II see that Elvis gets due

© New York Daily News

Say it's 1995 and some kid wants to know who Elvis Presley was. Gregg Geller figures that kid should be able to buy a set of records that would provide a full picture. "The point," he says, "is that record companies have a responsibility to keep certain records available."

Geller is vice president of Artists & Repertoire at RCA, and since moving over from CBS last year he has taken charge of RCA's Elvis catalog. The elements seem right: RCA owns the rights to virtually all of Elvis' recordings and Geller has been an Elvis fan "since the beginning."

Furthermore, since Geller's CBS projects included the superb two-record Jackie Wilson set, fans might dare to hope he can put some order into the Presley catalog, which he tactfully describes as "put together in a remarkable manner . . . haphazard, really."

Few would disagree with that term. To wit:

* Many of the early Elvis albums, including the No. 1 seller, "Elvis' Golden Records," have only been pressed for years in annoying reprocessed stereo.

* Albums come and go overnight. "The Sun Sessions," possibly the best Elvis album ever, was issued in March 1976 (in mono) and deleted within a year. After his 1977 death, it was rushed out again -- in reprocessed stereo.

* Programs have been launched, then left to wither. The "Legendary Performer" series, begun in January 1974, ended up with too many duplications and minor curiosities. Of the four volumes, three are available.

One reason for this is that to make a profit RCA must sell more records than, say, a small collectors' label. A reissue, with duplications, may sell better than an original package.

Likewise, organizing a catalog such as Elvis' is not a science. Do you go chronologically? By type of music? Do you include B-sides? That's the problem that Geller is grappling with, and his plan, he says, mixes several approaches, all reflected in RCA's flurry of issues for the 50th anniversary of Elvis' birth this Jan. 8.

Those include a six-record set of mostly early, live, unissued material, called "A Golden Treasury"; four early albums in their original mono ("Elvis' Golden Records," "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong," "Elvis," and "Elvis Presley"); and a package called "Rocker," with cover versions of early rock 'n' roll hits like "Tutti Fruitti."

Geller says he's following two principles. First, all LPs should be available in their original form, stereo or mono. Second, the catalog should be partially repackaged along thematic lines.

Other potential packages include country, blues and love songs as well as a possible album of '70s songs about the breakup of his marriage.

Wisconsin State Journal - Sunday, November 11, 1984
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/402294490/

[drjohncarpenter]

In an August 1987 interview, RCA's Gregg Geller spoke about The Complete Sun Sessions, and made no mention of it having been ready for release since June 1985.

10 years after Elvis' death new albums being released

By MATTHEW KARAS
Press Staff Writer

[snip]

The most difficult of the new records to put together, Geller said, was "The Complete Sun Sessions," which also is drawing the most acclaim from critics.

The singles Presley made for Sun records in Memphis in the mid 1950s are his most legendary.

"This music foreshadows, and contains, the entire aesthetic Elvis has worked out over the 20 years of his career," Greil Marcus wrote in 1975 in his book "Mystery Train." "What I hear ... is the affection and respect Elvis felt for the limits and conventions of his family life, of his community, and ultimately the American life, captured in his country sides; and his refusal of those limits, of any limits, played out in his blues."

"The Complete Sun Sessions" includes digitally remastered versions of everything known to exist from the Sun years, including the 16 songs released in 1976 as "The Sun Sessions," alternate takes and previously unreleased songs. Geller said he worked mostly from the primitive, original tapes Sun producer Sam Phillips delivered to RCA in 1956. After 30 years in RCA's vaults, some had sections of music missing and others were "totally gummy and gooey and stuck together," he said.

RCA has newer tapes but they were even worse. They had been altered through such "ungodly processes" as the adding of echo and the conversion from mono to stereo, he said.

For at least one song, Presley's version of Bill Monroe s Blue Moon of Kentucky," Geller had to rely on a doctored tape because the original couldn't be found. And he couldn't find "Satisfied," a gospel song that, according to an RCA logbook, was delivered to the label in 1956 with the other Sun tapes and hasn't been seen since.

"If it's misfiled in the RCA vaults, it's misfiled amidst millions of recordings," Geller said.

Asbury Park Press - Sunday, August 2, 1987
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/144161260/

From the same article it seems that after Rocker (1950s) and Return of the Rocker (1960s), Geller tells of a third collection he assembled, to complete a trilogy of Presley uptempo glory. But it was left on the shelf.

Like the "Golden Celebration" series released in 1985, when Elvis would have turned 50, the new records were put together by Gregg Geller, who devoted his years at RCA to rescuing the best of Presley from the worst.

"It always bothered me to have to have the 'Spinout' album because I wanted to own 'Tomorrow is a Long Time,' " Geller said. "Love Letters from Elvis," he said, "had a lot of awful stuff, a couple of average things and then it has 'Got My Mojo Working' tacked on there. It makes no sense in the context of the album . . . It's nice to rescue that."

"Got My Mojo Working" remains buried today, though, this time on an unreleased album called "Rockers 3."

Geller, who had collected Presley's most rocking songs from earlier years on two previous collections, culled the "Rockers 3" material ("Guitar Man," "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago," "Promised Land") from the late '60s and early 70s.

"It's one of my favorite (albums) of all the things I did," he said. "I think it really presents that period of his life, which most people seem to think of as the decline and fall, in a new light."

But RCA chose not to release it with the current commemorative series . . .

[Eggrert]

I'd love to see a tracklisting for Rockers 3, if one exists. The first two volumes make for fantastic listening.

[drjohncarpenter]

I'd love to see a tracklisting for Rockers 3, if one exists. The first two volumes make for fantastic listening.

Gregg Geller is about 74 now, and may be retired from the industry. But you might be able to contact him and get the track listing via the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.

https://memphismusichalloffame.com/story_author/gregg-geller/