VARIOUS ARTISTS THE ELVIS PRESLEY CONNECTION VOL 1 (Bear Family) 33 of the king's roots and covers. 'O 43 years after Elvis' death and his legacy lives on in many guises. This is a compila-tion that casts the net wide, the 'roots' as-pect goes deep including a 1935 recording of 'Just Because' by The Shelton Brothers, one of the first titles Elvis recorded at Sun. The influence of the king is a far broader canopy, though often ambiguous as Elvis wasn't a songwriter. There are the more obvious tracks emanating from the heart of Memphis, rare demos by the obscure and Elvis-a-likes lifted from budget labels. There are some very tracks from UK artists including `Crawfish' from Thursday's Children who broke up after a brace of releases on the Piccadilly label and a South African recording by Micky Most who went on to produce hits for the likes of Mud, Suzi Quatro, Racey and Sweet As always with Bear Family releases packaging and sleeve notes are quality further enhan-cing a fascinating release. Simon Nott
