ruled the genre and followed a decade of nothing but mostly lousy Elvis movies. On December 3, 1968, the camera panned in on the King's incredibly handsome face: "If you're lookin' for trouble, you came to the right place," he snarled before bursting into a terrific "Guitar Man." From that moment through the special's goose-bump-inducing finale, "If I Can Dream" (after which, legend has it, Presley collapsed from exhaustion backstage), this stands as one of rock music's great moments. Alas, it was recorded for television, so the audio quality on both vinyl and CD has never been of the highest quality. Memories , a two-disc compilation with cleaned-up sound, includes all the outtakes from the "unplugged" segment, but the stuff remains best viewed on video via either the s...  (less)

as the Comeback Special) was shown in 1968 and features Elvis at his best, vocally. The performances remain stunning four decades after the were recorded.. Aloha From Hawaii was broadcast worldwide live via satellite in January 1973 at the height of his 'jumpsuit' era and contains yet another solid set of performances. Both soundtracks have been the most consistent sellers in his enormous back catalog. RCA.  (less)

scans. "Draft Morning" by the Byrds gives this collection a political edginess, and James Brown's "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud (Part 1)" is a welcome, funky addition. Bob Dylan's collaboration with Joan Osborne on his classic "Chimes of Freedom" is this disc's real gem, a must-have for Dylan connoisseurs. Sure, there are more critically acclaimed collections of '60s music out there--the Nuggets box set and The Big Chill soundtrack are two oft-praised classics--but this disc, if nothing else, contains the best of the bunch. --Jason Verlinde  (less)

Spears B-sides. This collection of memories from that maligned decade sounds pretty good, even if a bit obvious. "Superstition," "What's Going On," "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," and "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Baby" form a solid core of early '70s soul, while Three Dog Night and Free represent white boys attempting to find the groove. There's no such pretense from Cat Stevens, whose "Peace Train" is a sensitive folk number. The only real surprises are Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" and Billy Preston's "Nothin' from Nothin'," as neither is a classic-rock staple. The addition of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" in the definitive disco version is a nice touch. But really, you need an entire multi-CD collection (like those wonders from Time-Life) to do the d...  (less)