The fifth volume in the "Golden Records" series does a very good job of compiling the best material from his later years, where he was able to rack up an impressive 20 top 40 singles, as well as some earlier work. Songs like "Suspicious Minds", "Burning Love", "Kentucky Rain", "Guitar Man" and "For The Heart" are some of the best singles Elvis ever released. Still, if you're a hardcore Elvis fan, you will realize that the following top 40 hits from this period are missing:

"The Wonder Of You" (# 9 in 1970)

Still, this is an excellent cd of Elvis' later years and is good for all fans.

In late 1997, RCA re-released all of Elvis' Gold Record albums, digitally remastered and, best of all, contained hard-to-find bonus tracks. ELVIS' GOLD RECORDS, VOL. 5 annotates the home stretch of Elvis' career, containing the essential hits from 1967-77. 3 of the bonus tracks, "Big Boss Man", "Guitar Man", and "U.S. Male" show a picture of a man wanting to break free from the monotony of the lightweight movie soundtrack fluff that had so dominated him for the majority of the decade. Even though the songs were not big hits, they seemed to indicate a change was in the air, and months after the release of "U.S. Male", his comeback special aired to critical raves. 2 songs from that special are spotlighted in this collection, the achingly beautiful "Memories" and the powerful ballad "If I Can Dream".

Having been rekindled, the spirit carried over into his first Memphis recording sessions in 14 years, which yielded the hits "Kentucky Rain" and "Suspicious Minds", the latter becoming Elvis' first #1 hit in 7 years, and the last #1 he would have in his lifetime. (Inexplicably, "Don't Cry Daddy" was not included in this set). The rest of the tracks are the essential 70's hits, the biggest (and best) one being "Burning Love" (although if I had my way, I would have included "Promised Land" in with the bunch). The other hits made bigger impacts on the country charts (even though Elvis' hits had always been big country hits).

This CD is only a piece of the Elvis puzzle. It represents the best work he put out during the last years of his life. It spotlights his struggle to regain his rock and roll crown, and succeeding, only to settle down to the ballads that all too often reflected his diminishing zest for life ("Way Down", however, is an exception. It was a good note to finish on, as it become the last top 40 hit he saw in his lifetime.) All in all, the compilation is good (I still would have like to have seen the songs I mentioned), and it is essential. A must for those who don't already have it (and the same goes for the first 4 gold record CDs.)

I have to agree with David Kenner of Fort Worth when he argues that the sound on this cd is not what it should be. When my wife bought this cd for me, I was initially excited only to be brokenhearted when I listened to "Kentucky Rain." The vinyl version of this song is superior. How often do you hear that vinyl sound is better than cd? On the cd version, background voices and instruments, especially the excellent horns, are almost nonexistent. The scariest thing about this is that it will make me hesitant to buy remastered Elvis cds in the future. My vinyl is in too good of a shape to be throwing good money away on bad remastering.

It took them waaay to long to come out with a Gold Records Vol. 5 ! This is an excellent overview of the last decade of Elvis career. It includes most of his big hits from the period (Suspicious Minds, Kentucky Rain, In The Ghetto, Burning Love, and Way Down) and some not so big hits that may jog your memory (Clean Up Your Own Back Yard, For The Heart, Guitar Man, and U.S. Male). I especially like If I Can Dream, which I think is one of the most inspirational and underappreciated songs that Elvis ever recorded! Sure I wish they had included a few more songs, but still this is an excellent collection!

Now if they would only come out with a Vol. 6 to catch some of the songs they missed!

I'm not much of a Elvis' fan but I love this CD. It has all my favourite songs. Even my son sing along in the car and he's autistic... well done, Elvis!!!