The Other Sides: Worldwide Gold Award Hits, Vol. 2

AMG Review of The Other Sides: Worldwide Gold Award Hits, Vol. 2

Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

The Other Sides: Worldwide Gold Award Hits, Vol. 2 started life at the outset of the 1970s as a four-LP set, and the companion to Vol. 1, the latter containing the single A-sides while this was devoted primarily to the B-sides (some of which charted in their own right). At the time, both boxes -- and they were, indeed, classical-style box sets, and mastered in authentic mono (as opposed to the rechanneled stereo of most of Presley's reissue catalog) -- were revelations of different sorts. The first set, of course, delineated the hits from across the first 14 years of his career, while this volume filled out the account of Presley's range as a singer, and the richness that his voice brought to rock & roll, even in the years when he moved toward a more pop-oriented sound. Though there are big hits like "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame," "Love Me," "One Night," and "Mean Woman Blues," much of the set is devoted to lesser-known songs like "Wild in the Country" and "My Baby Left Me." In the decades since the original LP release, Elvis' output has been heavily anthologized, but RCA still had reason to reissue this and its companion volume -- the CD edition has all 50 songs and boasts an elaborate 12-page booklet, an Elvis stamp, and is individually numbered. There is a wealth of great music here, though it isn't presented as logically as any of the three box sets representing Elvis across each of the three decades of his career, thus making it worthwhile mainly as a way to supplement the double-disc Top Ten Hits.