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Conventional wisdom has it that the years Elvis Presley spent making movies rather than playing live or making many stand-alone records were the nadir of his career, and it's certainly true that the cookie-cutter tunes that were churned out for his Hollywood projects (such as "No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car" or "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad") didn't give him much room to show off his estimable talents. But Elvis was simply too great a talent to not shine sometime during his days as a film star, and Playlist: The Very Best Elvis Presley Movie Songs brings together 14 fine tunes from Presley's various film soundtracks. It's significant that many of the best tunes are from Elvis' pre-Army pictures, particularly "Loving You," "Jailhouse Rock," and "Trouble," but if there's a lot more polish on tunes like "Follow That Dream," "Viva Las Vegas," and "Clean Up Your Backyard," the results show that when Elvis found something that he could latch onto, he could still sound exciting and fully engaged. There are a couple of surprises here -- "Frankfort Special" isn't much of a song, but Presley sounds like he's having a ball with it, and "I Need Somebody to Lean On" is a great bit of supper-club blues that would have done Charles Brown proud. And it's pretty hard not to enjoy an Elvis album that includes "You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care)," "Can't Help Falling in Love," and "Love Me Tender," all of which make the cut. Gleaning through Presley's dozens of film soundtracks to find the gems among the dross is a major project most don't have the courage to undertake, but next time someone says Elvis' movie music was all bad, Playlist: The Very Best Elvis Presley Movie Songs is a short but sweet collection that proves that's just not true (even if "Bossa Nova Baby" works more as kitsch than as rock & roll). ~ Mark Deming
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