Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread *

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Aug 15, 2018.

  1. kingofthejungle

    kingofthejungle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jonesboro,AR USA
    I think Goldman never really understood what it was that Elvis did, and he found that very frustrating. He's not alone in that. Many literal minded people are blind to style, and feel that if you aren't scribbling down chords and lyrics that you aren't really creating - perhaps because they can't see or touch style - it remains the most ephemeral and the most essential element in great art, but because it's so ephemeral it is often overlooked or skipped over. Rock criticism compounds this issue because it is easier to write about lyrics or album concepts than it is capture something about the depth of meaning in a particular vocal inflection (as RSteven did very capably earlier) or how a type of echo can extend (and make real) a textual metaphor.

    Goldman allowed his frustration to turn into a venom, and he took it out on Elvis for not being a creator in terms he understood. It's similar to what Pauline Kael did to Orson Welles in her Citizen Kane book - she portrays him as a thief and a hack who gets credit for Herman Mankiewitz' great screenplay -- when the screenplay is exactly what Citizen Kane had to overcome in order to be a great film. Some people just never think about the meaning loaded into a cut or a camera movement, or a finesse of the vocal chords.

    The Sun stuff is easy to grasp because of it's social significance -- and it is brilliant work, too, but I would hardly characterize it as Elvis's best or most interesting stuff. He has too much interesting stuff to pick from - the 1960 Elvis Is Back sessions are among the finest work he ever did, as are the 66 gospel sessions, the 68 Comeback stuff, the 69-70 studio sessions. In fact, there's great work from every era - there's just more of it in some eras than others. It's popular to treat the Hollywood era like a scourge, but there's some great stuff there, too. If you listen carefully to the movie master of 'Can't Help Falling In Love', you will find an artist that is as committed to that song as he ever was in any studio at any era in his career. It's a brilliant cut. Much more so than the more famous single version. The same could be said of 'Clean Up Your Own Back Yard' from the The Trouble With Girls. Now obviously, that wasn't always the case and there's a reason the Hollywood stuff had the reputation that it does. But I think painting it with a broad brush dismisses some really great work.
     
  2. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    he certainly invented what other artists would within just a couple of years extrapolate to create the first "punk" genre ~ rockabilly !
     
  3. kingofthejungle

    kingofthejungle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jonesboro,AR USA
    There's a thread around here somewhere about Hound Dog where I argued that Elvis's recording of that and The Trashmen's 'Surfin Bird' are among the clearest antecedents to punk that existed before the later 60's.
     
  4. genesim

    genesim Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Louis
    I think I need to print this post out and put it on my wall. When I get people that question Elvis artistic achievements I compare it to Walt Disney not being an artist because Snow White was a book first?

    Dude you said it way better than I ever could. I think paragraph one should be for the Smithsonian. :righton:
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I am enjoying this discussion, but perhaps in the context of the thread it may work better if praisers and detractors use examples of their feelings as we get to songs that display their particular feelings on the changes :)
     
    artfromtex and Crimson Witch like this.
  6. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Never an easy thing to keep a thread on task so to speak, especially with an artist like Elvis with so many historical contexts and opinions, but I will do my best to stay on topic.
     
  7. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Elvis fans always talk about "That's Alright Mama" as being the "Rock n Roll Explosion" as far as Elvis and his influence. But imo, "Good Rockin' Tonight" is the one that perked my ears up "Were gonna rock rock rock..Come on and rock rock rock..!" in that rough raw Presley voice. Thats the moment for me.
     
  8. GillyT

    GillyT Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wellies, N.Z
    That's like saying Al Pacino is "merely an interpreter" because he didn't write the script.
     
  9. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Well, he was just a kid. That tenor voice was in its more baby stage, but just as powerful as his early 60s voice. Just different.
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    i wasn't trying to sound like a school teacher lol
    I just figure that .... for example, someone says "I think Elvis lost his rockin' roots" or something along those lines ... it has something to stand up against if, again for example we are on the Elvis for everyone album and they say "This is the album where i think Elvis lost his rockin roots, because ...." ya know.
    Any of us can say anything and it be some floating idea floating in the ether, but if we can attach it to something, it has an evidence, or at least an example of why someone feels like that ... I'm not going to get messed up if folks argue all the way through, i'm just gonna keep doing what I do :)

    Also guys, we are allowed to have different opinions, and we are also allowed to disagree. It's not life and death, music is the perfect side salad to life's meat and potatoes for me :)
     
  11. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    That collection plus 4 or 5 EP's from his early RCA years were my music bible when I was a kid. I played them countless times. They were my mom's and I still have them.

    Three things stood out. Scotty Moores riffs, the thump of the upright bass of Bill Black and the many many facets of Elvis' voice.

    He had so many different colors and emotions in that beautiful voice. His vibratto was perfect. "Blue Moon" was from another world. Then he would sing "Reddy Teddy" and sound like he had just busted the saloon bardoor down. Then go into "Just Because" and sound like the most country jump hillbilly talkin to his girl about how she is with his vocal epitomizing what singing a perfectly sexy scolding would sound like.

    There isnt a singer I can think of that comes close to the range of Elvis. "Range" meaning he could stylistically sing just about any type music and sing it in a way that transported you to pure ecstacy.

    Of course he also had a fantastic range vocally as far its ability.
     
  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    i love all that stuff. i guess when i was a wee pup it was "Hound dog" and "Heartbreak hotel" that got my attention and i loved all that rock stuff, but the thing that sold me on him were things like "Love Me", "I want you I need You I love you"and "Any way you want me". For perspective in 1980 I turned twelve .... I was a rock kid, gimme guitars and yelling and i'm happy. Those songs I mentioned were the first love songs that I actually enjoyed. I couldn't tell you exactly why, passion perhaps, not sure, but they had something I liked.
    I was listening to, and singing Elvis from at least five, because mum has a reel to reel of it, but i certainly wasn't of a generation whereby he was particularly relevant in a day to day way on any form of media that spoke of music.
     
    RSteven and Crimson Witch like this.
  13. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    I am probably three years older than you. I am adopted and my parents were older when they got me. So my mothers collection included the earlier stuff. I was first drawn to the EP's because i thought it was really cool that you could have four songs on that little disc.
     
  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    all i had was my parents Uk elvis golden records until i bought the fifties masters in '93? ... then the sixties shortly afterward
     
    Crimson Witch likes this.
  15. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    A-fu**ing-men!

    Great post @kingofthejungle .
    :righton:
     
  16. guppy270

    guppy270 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown, NY
    My late mom was born in 1942. She must've been the perfect age to become a fan because she had Elvis' Sun singles and his first bunch of RCA singles. I grew up in the Seventies listening to them, and I really enjoyed them. They capture what I love best about Elvis, along with his late sixties work. They didn't make me a lifelong fanatic (I liked my moms Little Richard 45s and 78s a little bit better), and I grew up during the "Vegas Elvis" years, but thanks to these singles, I also grew up appreciating that at one point he really, really rocked. And the pure SOUND of the Sun singles knocked me out, even on a cheap Bugs Bunny record player.
     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Little Richard and Jerry Lee were awesome also
     
  18. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    You are on the money with those two quotes. I think his range and vocal dexterity, for lack of a better term, is what truly sets him apart from every other great singer in the field of popular music.
     
  19. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Well in comparison to what The Beatles, Stones, Dylan and Hendrix were doing in the 60s, writing and playing their own music, breaking down barriers, advancing the art form in leaps and bounds, then yes, into the glitzy Hollywood years, Elvis was merely going through the motions, vocalising what was served up for him. That is why he couldn't possibly have had any credibility in relation to what was happening in the counter culture environment of the 60s.
    Also, what he was doing was in no way comparable to the electrifying acting of Al Pacino, who was anything but bland. There is interpretation and interpretation.
    Again though, this wasn't all Elvis's fault. His dream in the 50s was to become a film star like Brando, Dean or Curtis, so he went into the film industry as happy as hell. Unfortunatley it all turned sour and he got trapped in that succession of bubble gum, beach party movies with dire, variety soundtracks all scored up waiting for him to sing along to (a situation that he found intolerable apparently).
     
  20. blutiga

    blutiga Forum Resident

    It's a privilege to read this post. Magnificent post.
     
  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Well it has seemed through the years that most singers want to be movie stars, and most movie stars want to be singers. So his hopes are understandable.
    Nobody that really wants to be an actor, really wants to make the same movie over and over. So his disappointments are understandable.
    When Elvis dropped acid with his hair dresser in 66/67 and decided it was time he really made music again, if he had kicked that miserable carny shyster to the curb and got a manager who understood music and the industry we would be having a different type of discussion about who this man is today. The TV special wouldn't be much different because they managed to keep the Colonel out of it (he just wanted Elvis to do some Christmas songs) The Memphis sessions would not probably be any different, because Chips Moman didn't care what the Colonel wanted, which is why he never got to work with Elvis again.
    Fact of the matter is, if the Colonel had been bumped in 67, Elvis' career from that point would look quite different and Vegas may never have happened and Elvis wouldn't have died from pill abuse because he wouldn't be trying to keep up some moronic schedule for a gambling addict who was pi$$ing all the money away.
     
  22. spherical

    spherical Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    the thread was the albums....so far...not......maybe change the thread title?...cuz the albums would have been a nice topic......gonna take my leave here...
     
    alexpop likes this.
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    i am going through the albums when I have been through the sun singles. I am posting two songs per day. If I post more than that folks will complain that I am moving too fast.
    I can't stop people addressing issues that aren't relevant to the current songs, and if topics are breached they will be talked about.
     
    Crimson Witch likes this.
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Mystery Train
    "Mystery Train"
    [​IMG]

    Single by Elvis Presley
    A-side "I Forgot to Remember to Forget"
    Released August 1955
    Format

    Recorded July 11, 1955
    Studio Memphis Recording Service, Memphis, Tennessee
    Genre Rockabilly[5]
    Length 2:24
    Label Sun
    Songwriter(s)

    Producer(s) Sam Phillips
    Elvis Presley's version of "Mystery Train"[5] was first released on August 20, 1955, as the B-side of "I Forgot to Remember to Forget".[9] In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 77 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[10]Sam Phillips at Sun Studios again produced the recoridng, and featured Presley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Scotty Moore on lead guitar, and Bill Black on bass. Moore used a country lead break,[11] and toward the end of the record is an echo of the 1946 "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis.[12] For Presley's version of "Mystery Train", Scotty Moore also borrowed the guitar riff from Junior Parker's "Love My Baby" (1953),[13] played by Pat Hare.[14]

    Paired with "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", the single reached the Top 10 in Billboard's C&W listings.[15]

    RCA Victor rereleased this recording in November 1955 (#47-6357) after acquiring it as part of a contract with Presley.[16]This issue of the song peaked at number 11 on the national Billboard Country Chart.[17] That same month, RCA Victor also released a pop version of the song by the Turtles (not to be confused with the 1960s pop group, the Turtles) with backing by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra (47-6356).

    "Mystery Train" is now considered to be an "enduring classic".[18] It was the first recording to make Elvis Presley a nationally known country music star.[17][19] Black, who had success with the Bill Black Combo, once said to a visitor to his house in Memphis, as he pointed to a framed 78rpm Sun Record of "Mystery Train" on the wall, "Now there was a record."[20] Presley's version was ranked the third most acclaimed song of 1955, by Acclaimed Music.[21] It also appeared in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 independent film Mystery Train.

    In 1973, with the approval of Sam Phillips, Robbie Robertson of the Band wrote additional lyrics for "Mystery Train", and the group recorded this version of the song for their Moondog Matinee album. They later performed the song with Paul Butterfield for their 1976 "farewell" concert The Last Waltz.[22]

    In 1975, rock author Greil Marcus published his widely lauded [23][24][25] book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music,[26] inspired by the Elvis Presley recording of the Junior Parker song.[24]
    ---------------------------------------------
    A great piece of work from the boys that has stood the test of time very well.
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I Forgot To Remember To Forget
    "I Forgot to Remember to Forget"
    [​IMG]

    Single by Elvis Presley
    B-side "Mystery Train"
    Released August 20, 1955
    Format 7" vinyl 45
    Recorded Sun Studios 1955
    Genre Rockabilly
    Length 2:28
    Label Sun 223
    Songwriter(s) Charlie Feathers and Stan Kesler
    Producer(s) Sam Phillips
    "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" is a country song written by Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers. It was recorded at Sun Studio on July 11, 1955, by Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and Johnny Bernero[1] on drums, and released on August 20, 1955, along with "Mystery Train" (Sun 223).[2][3] It was rereleased by RCA Victor (#47-6357) in December 1955.

    Moore's guitar had a Nashville steel guitar sound, and Black played a clip-clop rhythm. Elvis sang a brooding vocal. This is the closest the trio came to a traditional country song while at Sun.[4]

    The song reached the Billboard national country music chart #1 position on February 25, 1956 on the Billboard C&W Best Sellers in Stores chart, and remained there at #1 for 2 weeks, and spent 5 weeks at #1 on the Billboard C&W Most Played in Juke Boxes chart. The record reached #4 on the Billboard Most Played by Jockeys chart.[5][6][7][8] It was the first recording to make Elvis Presley a national known country music star.[9][10] The song remained on the country charts for 39 weeks.[11]

    The flip side of this release, "Mystery Train", peaked at the #11 position on the national Billboard Country Chart.[12]

    ------------------------------------
    Another one of my favourites from the early material. Elvis sings this in a very convincing way, and it is hard for me to believe that it was a b-side. As I have never been a singles buyer, I generally have no idea what artists singles were. Great guitar lead break by Scotty and another great song committed to tape by the band.
     
    Crimson Witch and alexpop like this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine