Nobody sings gospel like the King! This is a great-sounding collection of Elvis' best gospel recordings. How does it compare, you might ask, to the two previous Elvis gospel retrospectives - AMAZING GRACE: HIS GREATEST SACRED PERFORMANCES (1994) and PEACE IN THE VALLEY: THE COMPLETE GOSPEL RECORDINGS (2000)? Quite well, actually. I BELIEVE: THE GOSPEL MASTERS contains 54 of the 55 tracks from AMAZING GRACE. The only missing track is "Miracle of the Rosary"; why that was left off, I have no idea. As for the PEACE IN THE VALLEY collection, there are 21 tracks (22 if you count "Rosary") not found on I BELIEVE. But unless you're a hard-core Elvis completist who has to have everything, there's a lot less missing than meets the eye; 12 of the missing 21 tracks are from the Million Dollar Quartet sessions, which can easily be found on THE COMPLETE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (2006); if you want the MDQ, why not buy the whole thing? Of the remaining nine, seven are home or informal recordings ("When the Saints Go Marching In" from December 1956; "I Asked the Lord" and "He" from 1959-60; a 1:20 version of "Hide Thou Me" from 1966 (replaced on I BELIEVE by the longer 5:01 version from the TODAY, TOMORROW AND FOREVER box set (2002)); "Farther Along" and "Oh Happy Day" from 1970; and a giggle-filled version of "The Lord's Prayer" from 1971. The other two missing tracks are the Ed Sullivan Show version of "Peace in the Valley." which can be found on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOWS DVD set; and the 1977 live version of "How Great Thou Art" from ELVIS IN CONCERT, which was the King's last gospel recording before his death, but is not as good as the 1974 live recording.

I BELIEVE also contains two tracks not found on the earlier compilations: "I Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago," from ELVIS NOW (1972) and the megahit single "If I Can Dream" from the '68 Comeback Special.

The only changes that I would have made to this set (which is why it gets only 4 stars, not 5) would be to add "Miracle of the Rosary," the single "Where Did They Go, Lord" (from WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES - THE ESSENTIAL '70S MASTERS (1995)), and the full unedited Gospel Medley (including "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" with Darlene Love) that was issued on PEACE IN THE VALLEY and the compilation MEMORIES: THE '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL (1998). I BELIEVE uses the edited version from the original ELVIS - NBC-TV SPECIAL album (reissued last year as part of THE COMPLETE '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL CD box set).

Other than that, the set is perfect.

For anybody who's on the fence about this new Elvis gospel box set I'd just like to point out that in comparison to the previous offerings "Amazing Grace" (1992) and "Peace in the valley" (1999) this new box set features dramatically improved sound quality and is a must-have if you didn't get last year's individually reissued gospel albums. It doesn't get any better than this!

First of all it's all masters. The second thing is, especially the fourth cd takes to an informal session with an inspired Elvis. The sound is AMAZING! Strongly adviced... TCB

I prefer posting long in-depth reviews as seen on the Elvis Information Network. But here is a short review.

Discs 1 to 3 on "I Believe - The Gospel Masters" feature Elvis' non-secular studio Master recordings in chronological order from his four key religious releases, the `Peace In The Valley' EP plus the albums `His Hand In Mine,' `How Great Thou Art,' and `He Touched Me.' Elvis' three main Gospel recording sessions used very different arrangements and had a very different feel, so collating each era onto individual CDs works very well.

Surprise inclusions on Disc 3 might be the first two tracks 'I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago' and 'Life' - and the real surprise omission is `Miracle Of The Rosary' from 1971. (Certainly a mistake- or was it? See EIN full review)

Disc 4 gathers up Elvis' other Gospel and Inspirational recordings from his movies, the 68' Comeback TV special, other live performances and home recordings. It is an interesting selection and it flows very nicely compared to the similar concept of the final CD of the `Peace In The Valley' compilation. It includes `Down By The Riverside/When The Saints Go Marchin' In' (from Frankie And Johnny), `Sing You Children' (from Easy Come, Easy Go), a fabulous new mix of the `Swing Down, Sweet Chariot' (from The Trouble With Girls) and `Let Us Pray' (from Change of Habit).

The audio remastering by Vic Anesini (`Viva Las Vegas', `Elvis Live') is top-notch with the opportunity now to appreciate every nuance of these all-important sessions. The sound quality is similar to the great work on the `Close Up' box-set with a real richness and full bass sound. Vic Anesini did similar impressive audio work on the earlier `Ultimate Gospel' so fans who already purchased that will no doubt be enthusiastic to get all these Gospel songs in such magnificent sound.

Of real interest to collectors will be the fact that `Swing Down, Sweet Chariot' here is a very different mix. From the very start it is The Blossoms female vocal group that take the lead and follow Elvis' vocal throughout. On the previous version - which is the same Elvis vocal track - it has always been The Mello Men doing these gospel backing-vocals.

In Jorgensen's book `A Life In Music' it states that The Blossoms were only there for a vocal overdub on `Clean Up Your Own Backyard' but maybe they also overdubbed this number too. Whatever the reason this track is a real highlight.

Finally as stated in the sleeve notes

"Despite all the millions of sales and the three Grammy Awards, what towers in importance is the timeless music Elvis left behind. Church music, inspirational, hymns or gospel - the labels meant nothing to him. As with everything he ever sang, Elvis merged all the elements into his own belief of what music should be, free of any constraints of genre. Elvis' religious music afforded him more creative freedom than any other music he made, as no one had the knowledge to challenge him, and no one dared. "

Overall Verdict: This is a quality BMG release with a nice booklet and four well-selected CDs of the best of Elvis' Gospel sessions and at a very reasonable price. The 8-page essay looking at Elvis' early musical influences and his Gospel sessions is of interest and splitting Elvis' sessions into these 4 individual eras works very well. The improvement in sound gives the songs a rich and warm feel, which suits the delicious gospel harmonies. Disovering a different version of the 1968 'Swing Down, Sweet Chariot' will be of real interest to hard-core collectors.

Of course if you did purchase the individual BMG Gospel album re-releases of last year then it is only the upgraded forth CD that you need here. However if your Elvis budget is limited and like me you couldn't afford those at the time then this is the perfect package.

(For the full review please go to the Elvis Information Network www.ElvisInfoNet.com)

This IS Elvis . . . what can you say? A wonderful collection that gives you both Elvis as well as Peace in the Valley . . . and in your heart. Upon receipt I discovered it is all that I wanted it to be when I placed my order. If there could possibly be a downside, it would be after listening to all four discs, you're still hungry for more. Thanks Amazon for a great bargain!