Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread *

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

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Elvis Presley was a phenomenon that turned the music world upside down. Much has been said about his life, his loves, his death and everything else, but at the end of the day it was his music and style that made all of the superfluous stuff news.
    When a truck drivin' kid went to Sun Studios to cut a couple of tracks in 1953 the music world changed forever and the legacy is a long hard road full of highs and lows.
    @Musicman1998 is going to be doing a thread on one of my music heroes from my twenties, Frank Zappa, so with a burst of enthusiasm hoping I can go the distance, I am going to run through one of my music heroes since I was five years old singing his songs around the house, Mr Elvis Aaron Presley.
     
  2. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    I’m only a causal Elvis fan, but I respect him and his talents and contributions to music, and I wish you well.
     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cheers mate, It is as daunting as the Zappa thread will be, I have no doubt. Looking forward to both :)
     
  4. thxphotog

    thxphotog Camera Nerd Cycling Nerd Guitar Nerd Dietary Nerd

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Here with popcorn in hand. This could be a long ride.
     
  5. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    Great thread expecting to learn as well as get schooled by all the Elvisologist on Hoffman.

    :edthumbs:
     
  6. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The roots, for those unaware -

    Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love Presley (née Smith) in the two-room shotgun house built by his father, Vernon Elvis Presley, in preparation for the birth.[5] Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration.[6]

    Presley's ancestry was primarily a Western European mix: On his mother's side he was Scots-Irish, with some French Norman.[7] Gladys and the rest of the family apparently believed that her great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee;[8][9] the biography by Elaine Dundy supports the idea,[10] but at least one genealogy researcher has contested it on multiple grounds.[11] Vernon's forebears were of German[14] or Scottish origin.[15] Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family. Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evincing little ambition.[16][17]The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by his landowner and sometime employer. He was jailed for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.[6]

    In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers regarded him as "average".[18] He was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers. The contest, held at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, was his first public performance. The ten-year-old Presley was dressed as a cowboy; he stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth.[19] A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he had hoped for something else—by different accounts, either a bicycle or a rifle.[20][21] Over the following year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."[22]

    In September 1946, Presley entered a new school, Milam, for sixth grade; he was regarded as a loner. The following year, he began bringing his guitar to school on a daily basis. He played and sang during lunchtime, and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music. By then, the family was living in a largely African-American neighborhood.[23] Presley was a devotee of Mississippi Slim's show on the Tupelo radio station WELO. He was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, who was one of Presley's classmates and often took him into the station. Slim supplemented Presley's guitar tuition by demonstrating chord techniques.[24] When his protégé was twelve years old, Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances. Presley was overcome by stage fright the first time, but succeeded in performing the following week.[25]

    In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After residing for nearly a year in rooming houses, they were granted a two-bedroom apartment in the public housing complex known as the Lauderdale Courts.[26] Enrolled at L. C. Humes High School, Presley received only a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher told him that he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar the next day and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me", in an effort to prove otherwise. A classmate later recalled that the teacher "agreed that Elvis was right when he said that she didn't appreciate his kind of singing".[27] He was usually too shy to perform openly, and was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy".[28] In 1950, he began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of Lee Denson, a neighbor two-and-a-half years his senior. They and three other boys—including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the Courts.[29] That September, he began working as an usher at Loew's State Theater.[30]Other jobs followed: Precision Tool, Loew's again, and MARL Metal Products.[31]

    During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew out his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. In his free time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes.[32] Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Lauderdale Courts, he competed in Humes's Annual "Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation: "I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became after that."[33]

    Presley, who received no formal music training and could not read music, studied and played by ear. He also frequented record stores that provided jukeboxes and listening booths to customers. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs,[34] and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills.[35] The Southern gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad-singing style.[36][37] He was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African-American spiritual music.[38] He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.[35] Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues—of necessity, in the segregated South, only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences.[39] He certainly listened to the regional radio stations, such as WDIA-AM, that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues.[40] Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African-American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas.[41][42] B.B. King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular, when they both used to frequent Beale Street.[43] By the time he graduated from high school in June 1953, Presley had already singled out music as his future.[44][45]
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2018
  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    me too mate
     
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  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    This will be a different kind of thread for me as I am not fully conversant in Elvis. My limited credentials, aside from singing Elvis songs since I was knee high to a grasshopper, are growing up with the Elvis golden records vol. 1 UK vinyl and loving the 50's and 60's remaster boxes.
    I have never actually heard all his albums, but just purchased the RCA collection and upon its arrival today I figured it would be cool to go through them as a thread and hopefully share them with anyone who has any interest in discovering Elvis, or digging deeper into the collection, or just putting their two cents in.

    I will go along at two songs per day, except for sept 16-23 as I will be away on vacation, and look forward to comments and opinions on the songs and albums as they are presented. I don't get militant about staying right where we are on the thread, as sometimes referencing something else can be useful, but if we can stay on the album and songs we are at, it would be cool.
    If someone comes late to the thread please feel free to give opinions on anything we have done :)

    We'll kick off tomorrow.
    Cheers
     
  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Of course Elvis' first recording was My Happiness. Even as a first recording you can hear a passion and style that was somewhat different to what was generally out at the time.
    So just for something to be on here that is music enjoy Elvis' first recording.
     
  10. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    First we need to get into the legendary sun singles. They are what started this ball rolling and lead up to the albums that we will cover ...

    That's All right
    "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup. It is best known as the debut single recorded and released by Elvis Presley. Presley's version was recorded on July 5, 1954,[1] and released on July 19, 1954 with "Blue Moon of Kentucky" as the B-side. It is #113 on the 2010 Rolling Stone magazine list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[2]
    In July 2004, exactly 50 years after its first issuing, the song was released as a CD single in the United Kingdom, where it debuted and peaked at Number 3.

    The song was written by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, and originally recorded by him in Chicago on September 6, 1946, as "That's All Right". Some of the lyrics are traditional blues verses first recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1926.[3][4] Crudup's recording was released as a single on RCA Victor 20-2205, but was less successful than some of his previous recordings. At the same session, he recorded a virtually identical tune with different lyrics, "I Don't Know It", which was also released as a single (RCA Victor 20-2307). In early March 1949, the song was rereleased under the title "That's All Right, Mama" (RCA Victor 50-0000), which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and blues record on their new 45 rpm single format,[5][6] on bright orange vinyl.[7]

    Elvis Presley's version was recorded in July 1954.[8] Its catalogue number was Sun 209.[9] The label reads "That's All Right" (omitting "Mama" from the original title), and names the performers as Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill.[10] Arthur Crudup was credited as the composer on the label of Presley's single, but even after legal battles into the 1970s, was reportedly never paid royalties. An out-of-court settlement was supposed to pay Crudup an estimated $60,000 in back royalties, but never materialized.[11][12] Crudup had used lines in his song that had been present in earlier blues recordings, including Blind Lemon Jefferson's 1926 song "That Black Snake Moan".[12]

    A country music version by Marty Robbins peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1955.[13]

    During an uneventful recording session at Sun Studios on the evening of July 5, 1954, Presley, Scotty Moore (guitar) and Bill Black (string bass) were taking a break between recordings when Presley started fooling around with an up-tempo version of Arthur Crudup's song "That's All Right, Mama".[6] Black began joining in on his upright bass, and soon they were joined by Moore on guitar.[6] Producer Sam Phillips, taken aback by this sudden upbeat atmosphere, asked the three of them to start again so he could record it.[6]

    Black's bass and guitars from Presley and Moore provided the instrumentation. The recording contains no drums or additional instruments. The song was produced in the style of a "live" recording (all parts performed at once and recorded on a single track).[14] The following evening the trio recorded "Blue Moon of Kentucky" in a similar style, and it was selected as the B-side to "That's All Right".[6]

    Presley's version has different lyrics compared to the Arthur Crudup version. According to a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, Sam Phillips said that Elvis changed some of the lyrics of the songs that he recorded.[15]

    The recording session was Presley's fifth visit to the Sun Studio.[16] His first two visits, the summer of 1953 and January 1954, had been private recordings, followed by two more visits in the summer of 1954.[16]

    Upon finishing the recording session, according to Scotty Moore, Bill Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town."

    Sam Phillips gave copies of the acetate to local disc jockeys Dewey Phillips[17] (no relation) of WHBQ, Uncle Richard of WMPS, and Sleepy Eyed John Lepley of WHHM.[6] On July 7, 1954, Dewey Phillips played "That's All Right" on his popular radio show "Red, Hot & Blue".[6] On hearing the news that Dewey was going to play his song, Presley went to the local movie theater to calm his nerves.[6]

    Interest in the song was so intense that Dewey reportedly played the acetate 14 times and received over 40 telephone calls.[6] Presley was persuaded to go to the station for an on-air interview that night.[6] Unaware that the microphone was live at the time, Presley answered Dewey's questions, including one about which high school he attended: a roundabout way of informing the audience of Presley's race without actually asking the question.[6]

    "That's All Right" was officially released on July 19, 1954,[6] and sold around 20,000 copies.[6] This number was not enough to chart nationally, but the single reached number four on the local Memphis charts.[6]

    In July 2004, exactly 50 years after its first release, the song was released as a CD single in the United Kingdom, and entered the UK Singles Chart at Number 3. It also became a minor hit outside the UK, debuting and peaking at Number 31 in Australia and Number 33 in Ireland.

    -----------------------------------
    I always loved this song. I honestly don't know that I have ever heard another version. It my early days as an aspiring singer and guitarist I used to belt this song out with glee. To me it is just such a great and fun song to sing.

     
  12. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    The original, so you can hear how different it is to Elvis'...
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Good Rockin' Tonight
    "Good Rocking Tonight" was originally a jump blues song released in 1947 by its writer, Roy Brown[1] and was covered by many recording artists. The song includes the memorable refrain, "Well I heard the news, there's good rocking tonight!" The song anticipated elements of rock and roll music.[2]

    In 1954, "Good Rockin' Tonight" was the second Sun Records release by Elvis Presley, along with "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine" on the flip side.[7][8]Presley and his bandmates hewed closer to the original Roy Brown version, but omitted the lyrics' by-then-dated roster of names in favor of a simpler, more energetic "We're gonna rock, rock, rock!" Described as "a flat-out rocker" country radio programmers blanched, and older audiences were somewhat mystified. A live show broadcast from Houston DJ Bill Collie's club documented that the crowd "barely responded" to the song. "Blue Moon of Kentucky", the uptempo version of the Bill Monroe classic, has "the fans go stark raving nuts with joy". Both sides of this second record featuring "Elvis Presley, Scottyand Bill" "stiffed".."[9]

    The song was used for the biopic Elvis, which starred Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Presley; it was used for a montage sequence where he is performing at the Louisiana Hayride in 1954.
    ------------------
    A nice little rock and roll song with Scotty Moore starting to feel his was in this new thing the guys were doing. A bouncy clucking strutter of a number with Elvis belting it out with the passion of a young guy wanting people to listen.

     
  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The bones are the same, pretty much. Elvis' vocals stay fairly true to the original, Scotty is really the difference here, to my ears anyhow.
     
  15. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Wynonie Harris had a big hit with Good Rockin' just after Roy Brown's original version... I think Elvis heard this one myself... it still has the slower pace of Brown's though.
     
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  16. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Roy Brown...
     
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  17. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Definitely Scotty brings a lot to this!
     
  18. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    You brought the popcorn, I'll bring the beer.
    :cheers:
     
  19. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Is it just me or does Good Rockin' Tonight owe When The Saints Go Marching In just a little bit?
     
  20. kreen

    kreen Forum Resident

    While Elvis always believed his brother was his identical twin, there is no evidence he was.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2018
  21. kreen

    kreen Forum Resident

    There already was an Elvis album by album thread on this forum though: are you sure, OP, that you want to do this? More power to you if you do, but I'm not sure the same fans will want to restate what they've already said.
     
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  22. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
  23. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Well, That's All Right was really the beginning of the Big Bang of Rock 'n' Roll. Okay, there were other singers such as Bill Haley and Chuck Berry that helped to create and brand the new sound as well, but Elvis was one of the early architects of rockabilly that would eventually merge country and blues as well as bluegrass to form a new hybrid of popular music. That's All Right was powered by Elvis's great rhythm guitar and Scotty Moore's fantastic lead electric guitar. It would also become one of his classic and most enduring opening set songs in Elvis's live concerts in the seventies and always taken at breakneck speed in most of those live concert versions. I think singer Bono encapsulates the heart of what was going on with those early sides at Sun Records in Elvis's spirited take of Mystery Train and the rest of those gems he cut in that tiny studio in Memphis:

    "You can hear it in those Sun records, and they are the ones for me -- leanness but not meanness. The King didn't know he was the King yet. It's haunted, hunted, spooky music. Elvis doesn't know where the train will take him, and that's why we want to be passengers."
     
  24. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Elvis gave props to Bill Haley a lot when he was starting out, and generally was pretty positive toward other and earlier artists.

    That's All Right was recorded at Sun on July 5, 1954, before May 21, 1955, when Berry recorded an adaptation of the song "Ida Red", under the title "Maybellene", at Chess with Johnnie Johnson on the piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass.

    Carl Perkins began recording at Sun as early as October, 1954. First release was March 1955.
     
  25. Crimson Witch

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

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    One of the things that I find striking about those very first Memphis Recording Service acetates is that voice ! A bit higher in register, but the pitch and resonance are there in full. Such a gifted man. Hearing "My Happiness" again brought a tear to my eye !
     

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