Have You Heard the News?

RCA’s ambitious new Elvis Presley box set, due in stores Tuesday, is titled “Platinum: A Life in Music,” but just think of it as Elvis’ “Anthology”--as in the recent Beatles releases.

Where the Beatles collection was a series of six discs sold in three separate volumes, “Platinum” is a single, four-disc set. Yet most of the 100 selections are the same kind of rarities or previously unreleased material that made the Beatles’ packages so celebrated.

Among the highlights: the demo of a song Presley sang in 1954 when he was trying to get a record contract; an alternative version of “That’s All Right,” his first commercial single; home recordings from his Army days in Germany; and a slow, experimental version of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

But don’t expect anywhere near the same kind of sales explosion next week that greeted the first of the Beatles anthologies--a whopping 850,000 copies sold during its initial week in stores in the fall of 1995.

First, there’s the matter of cost. Because it contains four discs, “Platinum” will probably retail for double the $25 or so that discount chains initially charged for each of the “Anthology” volumes.

Secondly, it won’t arrive in stores with the massive, multimedia marketing campaign--including a three-night ABC-TV documentary series--that pushed the Beatles’ album to No. 1 on the charts.

But there’s also the issue of buyer caution.

RCA has glutted the market with so much Elvis product in the 20 years since the idol’s death that even his most devoted fans have become wary. At last count, 97 Presley albums have charted on the Billboard Top 200--22 since his death.

They include such strained concepts as “Elvis Sings for Children and Grownups Too!” (recordings from seven of his movies) and “Elvis--A Canadian Tribute” (songs by Canadian composers).

RCA has tempted us with a box set devoted to all of Presley’s ‘50s recordings, another with his ‘60s recordings, a third with his ‘70s recordings and one with his gospel recordings.

What could possibly be left?

How about 77 recordings that have never been released--the same kind of lure that sold all those Beatles anthologies?

But will Presley fans bite?

The obvious question: If this stuff was so good, why wasn’t it included in one of those endless repackages? RCA tries to sidestep the issue in its promotional material for “Platinum,” noting in a press release that the album contains material from 40 tapes discovered last fall in a locked file cabinet in the Memphis offices of Presley’s late father, Vernon.

Now, that sounds intriguing.

But it’s also misleading.

It turns out that only five of the 77 unreleased recordings are from those tapes. Almost everything else on the album has been in the RCA vaults for years, according to Presley researcher Ernst Jorgensen.

Despite that promotional sleight of hand and a disc or more of what could have been left in the vaults, the highlights of “Platinum” are surprisingly fun and revealing.

As with the “Anthology” series, it’s important to realize that this isn’t the kind of album you’re going to want to listen to over and over the way you would a favorite Beatles or Presley disc.

The goal was to chronicle the rocker’s career through the previously unreleased material where possible and use some of the old hit recordings to fill in gaps. As with the Beatles collections, the early, primitive recordings are the most interesting because you hear an artistic vision being shaped.

Things start off with the tentative, teenage Presley singing the country-flavored “I Never Stand in Your Way.” It was made in January 1954, a few months after Presley had gone into the same Sun Records studio in Memphis to record another song, the previously released “My Happiness.”

While the story for years has been that Elvis went to Sun to record “My Happiness” as a birthday present for his mother, the thinking now is that he really was hoping to get a record contract by impressing Sun owner Sam Phillips, who had worked with such blues figures as Howlin’ Wolf.

“This recording shows he clearly was going down to Sun hoping to be discovered,” says Jorgensen. “If you are just making a present for your mother, why would you twice make a record in a professional studio for $3.98 when you could do it elsewhere in Memphis for 50 cents?”

The first disc also includes two alternate versions of songs Presley recorded in his historic 1954-55 Sun sessions. The version of “That’s All Right” sounds like a warmup to what would prove one of rock’s seminal recordings, while the mournful reworking of Rodgers & Hart’s “Blue Moon” underscores the freewheeling spirit of those early Sun sessions.

As “Platinum” unfolds with studio and concert vocals, you are struck by Presley’s focus. On some alternate tracks, the band still seems to be finding its way into the song, but Presley’s already got his vocal direction down. He is, in fact, pulling the other musicians along, underscoring the point that he was his own producer.

For all his fame and acclaim, Presley continues to be underrated by those who think he was simply a lucky singer in the right place at the right time. He was most certainly that: lucky and in the right place.

Yet he was also immensely gifted, someone who wove his gospel, country and blues influences into a style that served as a foundation for all of rock ‘n’ roll. In the best of “Platinum,” there is the sense of a man’s life in music.

Robert Hilburn can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com