The Critically-Acclaimed Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters Garners First Grammy Nomination (Best Historical Album) for the Revolutionary Recordings That Launched Rock & Roll

5-CD Super-Deluxe Box Set Features Studio & Live Recordings, An Unreleased Live Concert, Interviews and a Lavishly-Illustrated Day-By-Day Timeline of Elvis in 1956

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Legacy Recordings

Dec 20, 2011, 11:30 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters, a 5-CD super-deluxe box set from RCA Records/Legacy Recordings celebrating the 55th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's RCA debut, has been nominated for this year's Best Historical Album Grammy Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). These atomic-powered culturally transformative tracks pre-dated Grammy eligibility by two years--NARAS and the Grammys weren't created until 1958--and are now being nominated for the first as a coherent set of recordings.

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Ernst Mikael Jorgensen served as compilation producer, and Vic Anesini, mastering engineer, for Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters.

Elvis himself, the truck-driving country-blues singer who became Rock 'n' Roll's undisputed King in 1956, never took home a pop or rock or country music Grammy, his 14 career nominations in various categories producing three Gospel Grammy wins: Best Sacred Performance (How Great Thou Art, 1967), Best Inspirational Performance (He Touched Me, 1972) and Best Inspirational Performance (Non-Classical) for his live Memphis concert recording of "How Great Thou Art" (1974).

In 1971, NARAS recognized Elvis with their Lifetime Achievement Award (known then as the Bing Crosby Award).

Six of Elvis' recordings, all of them his original studio masters, have been inducted into the NARAS Hall of Fame: "Hound Dog" (1956 recording, inducted 1988); "Heartbreak Hotel" (1956 recording, inducted 1995); "That's All Right" (1954 recording, inducted 1998); "Suspicious Minds" (1969 recording, inducted 1999); "Don't Be Cruel" (1956 recording, inducted 2002); and "Are You Lonesome Tonight" (1960 recording, inducted 2007). The Recording Academy's national trustees established the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1973 to honor recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old. Many inductees are recordings that were created and released before the 1958 inception of NARAS and the Grammy Awards.

Released this fall, Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters provides an essential listening experience and an indispensible key to the Elvis mystique.

"You can hear the electricity in Presley's performance, and the oceanic roar of his screamin fans," raved The New York Times while USA Today loved the way the collection captured the explosive interval in time when "In the span of one pivotal year, a southern rockabilly singer became the biggest star on the planet."

Time Out New York predicted that "You'll find much to love in this deluxe box set, which chronicles Presley's breakthrough year," while the New York Daily New noted the '56 omnibus "Includes all the King's RCA recordings of the day, plus outtakes of music that inspired the sale of 10 million singles, three EPs and 800,000 slabs of vinyl in one year alone."

Rolling Stone marveled at the package's construction and "80-page timeline that chronicles Presley's year of dominance -- how he went from being and up-and-coming country artist to the biggest pop music star ever" and Newsday proclaiming that "The 55th anniversary of Presley's incredible arrival deserves the massive tribute."

The enduring and timeless appeal of Elvis continues this holiday season. Alongside the arrival of Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters, the King's first holiday album, Elvis' Christmas Album, recently became the first Elvis album to achieve RIAA Diamond (or 10x Platinum) in recognition of sales of more than 10 million pieces, and is the US's top-selling Christmas/seasonal album.

Elvis fans can now get into the holiday spirit with many of their favorite Elvis Christmas songs. Now available on Spotify, listeners can now access an Elvis Holiday Playlist featuring tracks like "Silent Night," "Blue Christmas," "Silver Bells" and more. Through Spotify it is now easier than ever to spread joy by sharing these songs with friends and family.

Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. has unveiled plans for a year-long celebration of the life and legacy of the Rock 'n Roll icon during 35th anniversary of the late singer's passing.

This 35th Anniversary Year of Elvis will kick off in Memphis during the King of Rock 'n' Roll's annual birthday celebration held Thursday, January 5 - Sunday, January 8, 2012, followed by The Elvis Cruise from Jacksonville, Fla., to Nassau on January 6 – 12, 2012. The celebration will continue through Elvis Week 2012 which is expected 75,000 fans from around the world who will make the pilgrimage to Memphis to visit Graceland and take part in a week-long event that celebrates the life and legacy of Elvis Presley.

Legacy Recordings is welcoming in the new year with the January release of Elvis Country, a two-disc compendium of the King's most moving country performances.

YOUNG MAN WITH THE BIG BEAT by ELVIS PRESLEY
(RCA/Legacy 88697 93534 2)

CD One (1956 Studio Recordings, Part 1) – Selections: 1. Blue Suede Shoes • 2. I'm Counting On You • 3. I Got A Woman • 4. One-Sided Love Affair • 5. I Love You Because • 6. Just Because • 7. Tutti Frutti • 8. Trying To Get To You • 9. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You) • 10. I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') • 11. Blue Moon • 12. Money Honey • 13. Heartbreak Hotel • 14. I Was The One • 15. My Baby Left Me • 16. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy • 17. Shake, Rattle And Roll.

CD Two (1956 Studio Recordings, Part 2) – Selections: 1. Rip It Up • 2. Love Me • 3. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again • 4. Long Tall Sally • 5. First In Line • 6. Paralyzed • 7. So Glad You're Mine • 8. Old Shep • 9. Ready Teddy • 10. Anyplace Is Paradise • 11. How's The World Treating You • 12. How Do You Think I Feel • 13. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You • 14. Hound Dog • 15. Don't Be Cruel • 16. Any Way You Want Me (That's How I Will Be) • 17. Too Much • 18. Playing For Keeps • 19. Love Me Tender • 20. Let Me • 21. Poor Boy • 22. We're Gonna Move.

CD Three (Live, 1956) – Selections: 1. Heartbreak Hotel (A) • 2. Long Tall Sally (A) • 3. Blue Suede Shoes (A) • 4. Money Honey (A) • 5. Heartbreak Hotel (B) • 6. Long Tall Sally (B) • 7. I Was The One (B) • 8. Money Honey (B) • 9. I Got A Woman (B) • 10. Blue Suede Shoes (B) • 11. Hound Dog (B) • 12. Heartbreak Hotel (C) • 13. Long Tall Sally (C) • 14. I Was The One (C) • 15. Love Me Tender (C) • 16. Don't Be Cruel (C) • 17. Love Me (C) • 18. I Got A Woman (C) • 19. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again (C) • 20. Paralyzed (C) • 21. Hound Dog (C).

Key:
A – Tracks 1-4 live at the Venus Room, Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas, May 6, 1956.
B – Tracks 5-11 live at the Robinson Memorial Auditorium, Little Rock, Arkansas, May 16, 1956.
C – Tracks 12-21 live at the Hirsch Youth Center, Louisiana Fairgrounds, Shreveport, Louisiana, December 15, 1956, previously unreleased.

CD Four (The Outtakes) – Selections: 1. I Got A Woman - take unknown • 2. Heartbreak Hotel - take 6 • 3. I'm Counting On You - take 13 • 4. I Was The One - take 2 • 5. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - take 1 • 6. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - take 3 • 7. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - take 4 • 8. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - take 5 • 9. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - take 6 • 10. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - takes 7, 8, 9 • 11. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - takes 10 (Master) • 12. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy - takes 11, 12 • 13. Shake, Rattle And Roll - takes 1, 2 • 14. Shake, Rattle And Roll - takes 3, 4, 5, 6 • 15. Shake, Rattle And Roll - take 8 • 16. Shake, Rattle And Roll - takes 9, 10, 11, 12, 12 (Undubbed Master) • 17. The Complete Warwick Hotel Interview by Robert Brown, New York, N.Y., March 24^th.

Tracks 1-4: First RCA Session Outtakes, January 10-11, 1956.
Tracks 5-16: The Complete February 3, 1956 Sessions.
Track 17: Extended and rare interview previously unreleased by RCA Records.

CD Five (The Interviews) – Selections: 1. The Complete TV Guide Presents Elvis interview (Elvis interviewed by Paul Wilder backstage at the Polk Theater, Lakeland, Florida, on August 10^th) • 2. Colonel Parker and Oscar Davis (interviewed by Paul Wilder backstage at the Polk Theater, Lakeland, Florida, on August 10^th) • 3. The Truth About Me (Original spoken word 45 rpm disc included in Teen Parade magazine. Recorded on the set of Love Me Tender, August 22^nd) • 4. The Truth About Me Interview (Recorded on the set of Love Me Tender, August 22^nd) • 5. Victrola Radio ad 1 • 6. Victrola Radio ad 2.