Yes but despite the re-positioning of his music from 68 onwards, Elvis still remained far removed from "counter culture", from "the new thing". His inspiration for this change had been Tom Jones late 60s act (Tom had of course been inspired by Elvis in the first place!). It's not as if Elvis became "hip" or anything in the late 60s and into the 70s. He remained a middle of the road variety nostalgia act.
Horses for courses. At the moment it is 1954 and 1968 is months away, so how about we try and keep it where it is.
Agreed but I was only replying to your initial comment that you didn't see any reason why Elvis couldn't have competed with The Beatles and Stones. I think it's clear that he couldn't possibly have.
No derailing at all. We are just discussing and I don't agree that Elvis could have established himself on the same level as The Beatles and Stones in the 60s. Anyway, more of that later I suppose when this thread hits that period.
Easy song and album guide The roots, for those unaware - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread The Crudup Connection - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Elvis and Sun Studios - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread The Sun Recordings (some, not all) - My Happiness Elvis Presley - The Album Thread The My happiness transfer to digital - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread That's All Right Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Good Rockin' Tonight Elvis Presley - The Album Thread I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine Elvis Presley - The Album Thread You're A Heartbreaker Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Milk Cow Blues Boogie Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Baby Let's Play House Elvis Presley - The Album Thread I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Mystery Train Elvis Presley - The Album Thread I Forgot To Remember To Forget Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Newspaper Articles Clean it up - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread That's All Right and the Hayride - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Concert Review 1957? - Elvis Presley - The Album Thread
Folk moan ( moan myself ) one of the reasons I don't do threads myself now. Perseverance is a great virtue. Good job!!
These songs would cover the initial Presley releases on Sun. Many more of the recordings will appear on the albums coming up. Elvis signs his first contract with RCA Records. Colonel Parker negotiates the sale of Elvis' Sun contract to RCA, which includes his five Sun singles and his unreleased Sun material. The price is an unprecedented $40,000, with a $5,000 bonus for Elvis. Obviously the first big single on RCA was Heartbreak Hotel, a classic rock song in anyone's language, but in the context of the thread we will discover that on Elvis Golden Records. So without further Ado Elvis Presley .................................
Heartbreak Hotel HMV 78rpm ebay prices around 30.00/40.00. Always rated this as one of the defining rock n roll songs of the 1950s along with Rave On, Great Balls of Fire, Tutti Fruiti, Be -Bop -a -lu-la..
Elvis Presley Studio album by Elvis Presley Released March 23, 1956 Recorded July 1954 to January 1956 Genre Rock and roll rockabilly rhythm and blues country[1] Length 28:03 Label RCA Victor Producer Sam Phillips (Sun recordings) Steve Sholes (RCA recordings) Elvis Presley chronology Elvis Presley (1956) Elvis (1956) Singles from Elvis Presley "Blue Suede Shoes" Released: August 31, 1956[2] "I Got a Woman" Released: August 31, 1956[3] "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')" Released: August 31, 1956[4] "I Love You Because" Released: August 31, 1956[5] "Just Because" Released: August 31, 1956[6] "Money Honey" Released: August 31, 1956[7] Elvis Presley (released in the UK as Elvis Presley Rock n' Roll[12]) is the debut studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley. It was released on RCA Victor, catalogue number LPM-1254, in March 1956. The recording sessions took place on January 10 and January 11 at the RCA Victor recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and on January 30 and January 31 at the RCA Victor studios in New York. Additional material originated from sessions at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 5, August 19 and September 10 of 1954, and on July 11, 1955.[13] The album spent ten weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in 1956, the first rock and roll album ever to make it to the top of the charts,[14] and the first million-selling album of that genre.[15] In 2003, it was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[16] Elvis Presley was also one of three Presley albums to receive accolades in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, the others being Elvis Is Back! and From Elvis in Memphis.[17] It was certified Gold on November 1, 1966 and Platinum on August 8, 2011 by the Recording Industry Association of America.[18] The original 1956 UK release called Rock n' Roll on HMV Catalogue Number: CLP 1093 has some different tracks. By the second half of 1955, singles on Sun Records by Presley began making the national country and western singleschart, "Baby Let's Play House" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" going to number 5 and number 1 respectively.[19]Colonel Tom Parker, the new manager of Presley, had extensive dealings with RCA through his previous client, singer Eddy Arnold, especially with the head of the Country and Western and Rhythm and blues division, Steve Sholes.[20] At the urging of Parker, on November 21, 1955, Sholes bought Presley's contract from Sam Phillips, the head of Sun Records and Studio, for the unprecedented sum of $35,000 (approximately $318,500 in 2017 dollars).[21] Presley and rock and roll were still untested properties for the major labels in the music business, but this album, along with the number 1 single "Heartbreak Hotel", proved the selling power of both: it was the first RCA Victor pop album to earn more than $1,000,000,[15] and in 1966 it had sold over one million units.[15][22] Presley made appearances in four consecutive weeks on the Dorsey Brothers television program Stage Show in early 1956, on January 28, February 4, February 11, and February 18.[23] RCA wanted an album in the stores fast to capitalize both on the nationwide TV exposure and the success of his first hit single on the pop charts with "Heartbreak Hotel", swiftly climbing to the top after its release on January 27. At the same time, there had only been two series of Presley recording sessions for RCA Victor by the end of the Dorsey stint, after which Presley and his band were back on the road. Those two sessions yielded an additional eleven tracks, almost enough to fill an entire LP, although some tracks had singles potential. In the 1950s, general practice dictated tracks having greater commercial potential to be released as singles, with tracks of lesser appeal placed on albums; as such, RCA Victor neither took all eleven tracks and simply made an album, nor placed the already released and briskly-selling "Heartbreak Hotel" on it. The rights to the Sun Studio tapes had transferred to RCA Victor with the sale of his contract, so five previously unreleased Sun songs, "I Love You Because", "Just Because", "Tryin' to Get to You", "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')", and "Blue Moon" were added to seven of the RCA Victor sessions tracks to bring the running time of the album up to an acceptable length.[15] Phillips produced the sessions at Sun, and no producer was officially listed for the RCA Victor sessions, leading to the belief that Presley himself produced them.[24] As the Sun tracks were mostly country-styled, Elvis and RCA Victor leavened the selections with covers of recent rhythm and blues songs. Two of these, "Money Honey" by Jesse Stone, known to Elvis from a version by Clyde McPhatter, and Ray Charles' 1955 hit "I Got a Woman", had been in Presley's live act for a year.[25] A third was the frenetic announcement to the world of the existence of Little Richard in 1955, "Tutti Frutti". A rockabilly number that was believed to be a potential hit and could hold its own with the R&B material, "Blue Suede Shoes", was not initially released as a single from a promise by Sholes to Sam Phillips to protect the career of another Sun artist, Carl Perkins, the author of the song.[26] Instead, it was diverted into being the opening track on the album. On August 31, 1956, RCA Victor took the unusual step of releasing the entire album as singles, which undoubtedly kept the new single released simultaneously, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" backed with "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," from reaching the charts. However, "Blue Suede Shoes", released in single form as a part of this experiment by RCA Victor, kept the promise to Phillips and Perkins by waiting over eight months since the song's release on Sun, and made it to number 20 on the singles chart. The cover is ranked number 40 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest album covers, published in 1991.[27] The photograph was taken at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 1955.[28] Initially it was thought that Popsie Randolph took the image featured on the front cover, due to the fact that the album only credited one photographer. However, in August, 2002, Joseph A. Tunzi documented that the actual photographer was William V. "Red" Robertson of Robertson & Fresch. The Popsie credit attributed to the album only applied to a series of photos featured on the back cover, taken in New York City in early December, 1955, shortly after Presley had signed with RCA Victor. Tunzi was quoted in the Tampa Tribune as saying, "Forget about Popsie. Popsie did not take that photo." [29] The graphic and photo were also used on an EP and a double-EP comprising songs from this album, also released in March 1956.[30] The design was echoed by The Clash for the front of their 1979 album London Calling; that cover is number 39 on the Rolling Stone list of 100 greatest album covers noted previously. Other acts of cover homage include F-Punk by Big Audio Dynamite in 1995, and Reintarnation in 2006 by k.d. lang and Chumbawamba's controversial single "Tony Blair". RCA first issued the original 12 track album in reprocessed (fake) stereo on compact disc in 1984. This issue was quickly withdrawn and the album was reissued in original monophonic sound. In 1999, RCA reissued the album with an altered running order, adding on six bonus tracks from three non-album singles, including the chart-toppers "Heartbreak Hotel" and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." In 2005, the album was reissued again, remastered using DSD technology with the six bonus tracks appended in standard fashion. A two-disc set was released on the Follow That Dream collectors label on August 15, 2006, with bonus tracks and numerous alternate takes. Side one 1. "Blue Suede Shoes" - Carl Perkins January 30, 1956 2:00 2. "I'm Counting on You" - Don Robertson January 11, 1956 2:25 3. "I Got a Woman" - Ray CharlesRenald Richard January 10, 1956 2:25 4. "One Sided Love Affair" - Bill Campbell January 30, 1956 2:11 5. "I Love You Because" - Leon Payne July 5, 1954 2:43 6. "Just Because" - Bob Shelton Joe Shelton Sydney Robin September 10, 1954 2:34 Side two 1. "Tutti Frutti" - Dorothy LaBostrieRichard Wayne Penniman January 31, 1956 1:59 2. "Tryin' to Get to You" - Rose Marie McCoy Charles Singleton July 11, 1955 2:31 3. "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)"- Howard Biggs Joe Thomas January 31, 1956 2:01 4. "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')" - Jimmy Wakely September 10, 1954 2:24 5. "Blue Moon"- Richard RodgersLorenz Hart August 19, 1954 2:40 6. "Money Honey" - Jesse Stone January 10, 1956 2:36 UK release Side One 1. "Blue Suede Shoes" 2. "I Got a Woman" 3. "I'm Counting on You" 4. "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" 5. "That's All Right" 6. "Money Honey" Side 2 1. "Mystery Train" 2. "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)" 3. "Trying to Get to You" 4. "One Sided Love Affair" 5. "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy" 6. "Shake, Rattle and Roll" Elvis Presley – vocals, acoustic guitar, piano (on "Tryin' To Get to You") Scotty Moore – electric guitar Chet Atkins – acoustic guitar on "I'm Counting on You" and "Money Honey" Floyd Cramer – piano on January 10–11 Shorty Long – piano on January 30–31 Bill Black – bass D. J. Fontana – drums except "I Love You Because," "Just Because," "Tryin' to Get to You," "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')," and "Blue Moon" Johnny Bernero – drums (on "Tryin' to Get to You") Gordon Stoker – backing vocals Ben Speer – backing vocals Brock Speer – backing vocals Doug Poindexter - percussion/guitar on "Just Because" -------------------------------------- So the first Elvis album hit the stores not long after Heartbreak Hotel had topped the charts and there was obviously a lot of interest. Sure some of the older folks, and "serious musicians" were talking smack about it, in a lot of instances, but it would be hard to deny that this was one of the most anticipated albums of its time. The album has been fleshed out somewhat from the Sun sides and backing singers and some additional instruments added, but it didn't change the raw sound of the singer or the songs. The quality of this is very high and when people talk about best debut albums, most influential debut albums, this one really should be in the conversation. Stylistically we have the new "Rock and Roll" songs, some balladry and lines that cross country, blues and r&b. It is quite a diverse set of songs and I think anyone that likes rock and roll should really appreciate this album. What are your thoughts and feelings on the album? Were you around when it came out and if so, would you care to share your perspective for those of us who only know what has happened since? Let us know where you stand with Elvis' debut album and we'll hit the first couple of songs tomorrow. Cheers
Wow, I never knew that the UK release had a different track listing! It's a stronger rock 'n' roll album overall. I was never keen on the fact that the dreary "I'm Counting On You" came in as track two on the original album. The one-two punch of the UK edition is much better.
If we were to use your criteria for judging the worth or importance of a recording artist, we would have to dismiss Frank Sinatra's entire contribution to the great American Songbook as he was "merely going through the emotions, vocalizing what was served up for him." Your view of the inherent worth of a vocalist or musician is very limited in my opinion and I think that is kind of sad, really. There are so many varying ways that an artist can express himself and show his genius. Is the great songwriter, Kris Kristofferson, less of an important figure in the country outlaw movement because of his very limited singing range and vocal abilities? I think not, because his great songwriting changed the entire country music industry, just to kind of turn your argument upside down on its head.
It was the first time i had seen that too. I also thought it was a little more rock oriented ... then i was trying to figure out why? Anyone have any ideas?
