Der Bingle's Essentials: Elvis

I mentioned Elvis (we don't need to say "Presley" in the Bingle household) before in the Essentials series post about the classics that should be in every collection, but The King deserves a post of his own.  Why?  Well, my Christmas music room, where I create this blog, is also now and was first "The Elvis Room".  Hanging on the walls are three framed sets of album cover stamps from the 50's. 60's, and 70's CD box sets, two framed sets of Elvis postage stamps, two framed albums ("Moody Blue" and "The Sun Years", a framed collectible gold record of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", two cheesy rhinestoned collector plates, a set of Elvis baseball-style cards, three Elvis action figures, and an unopened Elvis decanter of McCormick whiskey.  Oh, then there are the CDs, records, movies, and books.  And a collectible Pepsi can and a Graceland water bottle.  Ah, and the Elvis wall clock with swingin' hips.  You get the picture...

Back in the late '80s when my Christmas music collecting was in its infancy, "Elvis' Christmas Album" was one of the first additions as a CD.  I've always thought that his "Blue Christmas" was a cornerstone of Christmas recordings, and it leads off my very first Christmas comp.  Not many years later I bought the re-packaged collection "If Every Day Was Like Christmas", containing a single CD with all the Christmas songs from his two albums, and packaged in a decorative sleeve featuring a fold-out model of Graceland at Christmas.

Since then I've added vinyl albums to the collection, and also a special release of "The Wonderful World of Christmas", bought during a visit to Graceland, that features all of the originally released songs from the album and also a second disc of alternate takes.  Great little historical package for Elvis fans like me.  (There is an extended re-release of the first album too, but it's contents are far less appealing - nothing really special).

There are multitudes of options for you to add Elvis to your Christmas collection.  Pick one, some, or many.  To pick "all" would be quite a collectors challenge.  I prefer his original recordings, and personally have no interest in the "Duets" album.  Although, I have to say, the release from last year featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was actually pretty enjoyable - well done folks!

So, go getcha some Elvis Christmas :-)