When is it time to say no more, enough's enough? When does the careful reordering, repackaging and re-releasing of an icon's back catalogue become merciless flogging of a dead legend?
With Elvis, that point was surely reached long ago. Of the 200 plus Elvis records currently available, half are Best Ofs. There's 'The Fifty Greatest Hits', 'The All Time Greatest Hits', 'The Number One Hits', 'Top Ten Hits', 'The Essential Collection', 'Essential Elvis' [volumes 1-5], 'Elvis' Golden Records' [volumes 1-5], 'The 50 Greatest Love Songs', 'That's The Way It Is', 'That's The Way It Was'...The list, as they say, is a long one.
For all its lip curling, knee trembling, gospel magic, '2ND To None' isn't the album to draw a line under the regurgitating madness.
Given that last year's '30 #1 Hits' sold nine million copies, a follow-up was inevitable. And, despite having few No.1s left to choose from, this second instalment has plenty going for it. From the raw hillbilly rock'n'roll of 'That's All right' and 'Blue Suede Shoes', through the locomotive chug of 'King Creole', to 'Trouble''s rasping Dixieland blues and powerful Vegas tales of heartbreak including 'An American Trilogy', 'Always On My Mind', 'Don't Cry Daddy', 'Kentucky Rain' and 'Memories', it's not short on essentials.
But finding great Elvis songs has never been the compiler's nightmare. It's how to order, arrange and make sense of his 24-year career that's the problem.
Even as a companion to '30 #1 Hits', '2ND To None' is a strangely random attempt. From first single to last via the multitude of styles in-between, it wilfully ignores the fact that rinky-dink country, hip shaking rock'n'roll and epic lounge showstoppers, all in one place, make for disjointed listening.
Meanwhile, by including "overlooked" songs - an admirable effort to keep things interesting - the issue of who this collection is actually for is equally confusing. With Paul Oakenfold giving 'Rubberneckin'' a DJ makeover - good, but no 'A Little Less Conversation' - it's chasing a whole new generation of fans. Yet, with the best will in the world, the earlier 'overlooked' songs would only set the most faithful of fans aquiver.
Apparently RCA have 1000 Elvis tracks in their vault. Maybe they should just put them all on the internet and let everyone download their own definitive version of Elvis. Until then, '2ND To None' is another album of phenomenal music that doesn't really do the job. And with a collection of The King's Christmas favourites ready to go, it certainly won't be the last.
