Elvis had great cover art early in his career. The art for 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Go Wrong (aka. Elvis’ Gold Records, Vol. 2), featuring Elvis in an amazing gold lamé suit, pushed the boundaries for how extravagant one could allow oneself to be. Although, for Elvis this was probably just par for the course.
The cover may just be Elvis’ most classic, rivalling the iconic image of a guitar-wielding Elvis wailing away amid green-and-pink logos on his debut album (later copied by The Clash) for influence and instant recognisability. It also illustrates his journey from rough rockabilly singer to king of rock’n’roll nicely.
When Elvis was inducted into the American army in March 1958, plans had been made to keep his name busy. Sessions were booked and completed before he left. They would also be booked during small periods of time off over the next two years. Records would keep coming out, and stories from his time in the army fuelled a strong, patriotic image.
Photo sessions were also booked, and the gold lamé suit was just one of many outfits he breezed through on a busy day. They likely had no idea how the picture of him in that golden suit would end up being used when it was shot, but it was a great photo and put aside as a definite candidate for later use. It did not matter that Elvis intensely hated that suit.
The album was released in November 1959, with as much thought going into the design of the sleeve as the contents. It instantly made its mark and became a million seller. That’s exactly what they needed. Elvis had been serving in Germany for a while at that point and there was a fear that someone else would swoop in and claim his “King Of Rock’n’Roll” throne for themselves. They needn’t have worried. When Elvis was discharged in March 1960, it was exactly the same media hoopla as his enlisting had been, and any other public event in the interim. He was able to continue exactly where he had left off.
The cover (and corresponding 50,000,000 Elvis Fans-title) is so iconic that not everybody remembers that this isn’t a standalone studio album, but a collection. This was quite a sensation at the time, as it was the first time a second ‘greatest hits’ album has been released by a rock’n’roll singer.
His first hits collection was issued in March 1958, on the eve of his going into the Army. his second appearing months ahead of his leaving the Army.
Ideally such compilations are made up of hits (single A-sides), but there wasn’t enough new material and several B-sides were also used. New songs had also been recorded in a rushed late-1958 session in Nashville, arranged when Elvis had a few days off from the army. This just makes the power of the likes of A Big Hunk O’ Love, I Need Your Love Tonight, and I Got Stung even more remarkable.
These are some of the greatest pieces of hard rock & roll that the King ever cut — and all were recorded in a hastily arranged session in Nashville during June 1958. By this time, his voice was becoming one of the finest instruments in rock & roll.
It should be said that the actual title of this album has been the source of some confusion. The title is shown on the original record’s labels as Elvis’ Gold Records, Vol. 2 (with a comma and an abbreviation of “Volume”), but on the jacket, it appears as Elvis’ Gold Records – Volume 2. The phrase 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong does not appear on the labels on any of the original records. It is the title of the records on the labels – not the jacket – that is usually given preference when conflicting titles appear on albums. Therefore, the phrase was likely considered to be a slogan – not as part of the original title of the album.
Over the years, RCA Victor would keep adding and removing the title 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong to the labels of the records, but after the arrival of CDs it was added again and has remained there since.
This on-and-off part of the album’s title was really an answer to a one-page article titled Can Fifty Million Americans Be Wrong by Les Brown that appeared in the 19 September 1956 issue of Down Beat magazine. The article was an unfavourable look at Elvis and his fans, concluding with “The educational responsibility seems to fall mainly on the disc jockey, who still has the greatest proximity to, and the greatest influence over, the record-buying public. Fifty million Americans can easily be misled.”
The release of this album, seen in its proper historical context, is an indicator of just how bright Elvis Presley’s star shone in the late 1950s.
In 1959, the image of Elvis in a gold lamé suit epitomised success and reminded everyone that he was still the biggest-selling rock and pop performer of the times.
As a piece of PR, this was an inspired release.
Facebook Comments