I agree with your points about how some artists pursue a more romantic style and some pursue a more classical style with the exception of overlooking The Beach Boys' and earlier artists' roles in bringing a classical style to the forefront of American pop music and rock 'n roll prior to The Beatles. The Beach Boys, with their early singles and album tracks (e.g. "Surfin' Safari", 1962 album tracks) brought a structured jazz barbershop style with multiple vocal parts to rock 'n roll that preceded The Beatles. The Beatles generally became more prominent artists han any other act beginning in 1964, but did so with the help of The Beach Boys and earlier artists paving the way with a structured approach to vocal harmonies and composition in rock 'n roll and pop music.
...I rather recall Pickwick Records (USA)stopping putting out vinyl LPs after 1980 or so. I'll check, mebbe you're a Brit... "Purple Jim, post: 19551767, member: 21612"]When I worked for Pickwick Records (in the art dept.) in the late 70s/early 80s, I grabbed a Camden Xmas album (the reissue with the white cover) and every year since, it's been the first Christmas record to be spinned. It begins with "Blue Christmas". So when I hear "A'll a have a blue Christmas without you..." - that's it. It's Christmas![/QUOTE]
...My father remembered that after he and my mother married in December 1955, he got his first (I presume hers too) LP player, and the first album he bought was a Fred Waring Christmas LP. ' Joy To The World ". We had it in our collection but I didn't listen to it. Was that a big seller? Obviously. my folks were people Of Another Time not ours. So, I imagine, were yours!
...I see your point, it's a good post...but. frankly. I don't greatly care - give a rat's ass (he said, with bravado) for the late-60s-thru-mid-70s " Oh wow, that's heavy, man, albums " definition of " cool " - I was a touch younger than that, and I grew up, pop-culture wise, too late for that and rather rebelled againt it as s young 'un. I tend to see the general mindset at this board as rather tending toward being greatly into that era and seeing it as The Greatest Era Of All (more so, possibly, than is really the case) and see the general age here (again, maybe not so) as tending toward people 17-24 then - my " older cousins ". "Purple Jim, post: 19549823, member: 21612"]The thing is, Elvis was anesthetized and numb, after basking in all that wealth and luxury that he lost his way as an artist. he became a sort of new Bing Crosby. The Parker piloted machine that he was caught up in, stifled him. However, the seeds of this were already there in a lot of the pre-Army period and also in the immediate after-Army material. Too many soft ballads and dooh-wap songs with tacky arrangements and cosy backing vocals. He wasn't more proactive as you say because he didn't have the force of character to get control back - although he did to some degree with Elvis In Memphis and the following recordings but he was still in Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Glen Campbell territory and on the other side of the fence in relation to what was really happening in youth culture and in a broader social context. Oh I'm sure they took their music seriously but what they were doing was fun nostalgia and doing it very well (like Shawaddywaddy did in the UK a few years later). It wasn't as if they were making music that contended with the music of the Beatles/Stones/Woodstock era. Yes but I'll say it again, his early repertoire was cover-heavy because he hadn't got into top gear writing songs. However, right from the fall of 1966, the songs just poured out: all of the first album (UK), all the second album (except one by Noel Redding), all of Electric Ladyland (except the two covers I mentioned and another by Noel). Meanwhile, the singles with Stone Free, Purple Haze, 51st Anniversary, The Wind Cries Mary, Highway Chile, STP LSD. After Ladyland, he wrote all the songs that were featured on the posthumous double album First Rays Of The Rising Sun and he also had time to put in Machine Gun, Message To Love, Power Of Soul, Midnight,… a stack of jams… After his death his songs were covered by a multitude of artists whom he had inspired. So it's ridiculous to try and pass him off as an artist that did mostly covers. I don't think so. Look at Tom Jones on TV grooving with Janis and CSN&Y… it's an uncomfortable fit. Tom was old school, Vegas, middle-of-the-road,… nothing to do with the new thing. It's almost comical. Elvis was the same. He was left behind and he knew it. To come back, he in fact followed Tom's lead in heading for Vegas to be greeted by an audience that was right for him (those who had loved him in their youth and those who weren't into the modern youth culture scene). Not a hope in hell of being a contender on the other side.[/QUOTE]
...!!!!!!!!!!! e112, post: 19549480, member: 61340"]I have wished that RCA or Sony or FTD (whichever one that could make these decisions) would offer Elvis' 50s albums in Electronically Reprocessed Stereo that was an option in the 1960's. The Christmas album sounds very good to me in ERS, especially side two. The gospel tracks on side two really benefit from the ERS treatment.[/QUOTE]
I agree if you're talking about the Greenwich Village folk scene, but there was a rediscovery of folk amongst artists that were at least somewhat in the rock scene that predates this a bit - from the very late 50's to the early 60's, guys like Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, and Jimmie Rogers were dabbling in folk (it predates the Beatles, too - I should have been clearer in pointing out that the rock audience was bifurcating before the Beatles came along, but the British revival failed to bring the original working class audience back to the table). The people listening to Dylan, the Kingston Trio and Joan Baez were definitely upper middle class college kids.
Elvis' Golden Records Greatest hits album by Elvis Presley Released March 21, 1958 Recorded July 1954-September 1957 Genre Rock and roll Length 32:03 Label RCA Victor Producer Steve Sholes Elvis' Golden Records comprises eight number one A-sides along with five B-sides, "Hound Dog", "Loving You", "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", "Treat Me Nice", "Anyway You Want Me", and one album track, "Love Me", originally issued on the 1956 LP Elvis. Every flip-side also hit the chart separately from its parent hit side, with four making the Top 40, and "Hound Dog" also topping the chart; chart positions noted for those tracks individually. "Love Me" was also included on the Elvis Vol. 1 EP single which made the top ten on the singles chart. In the 1950s, a gold record awarded for a single referred to sales of one million units, different from the definition in use by the late 1970s for albums, where a gold record came to mean album sales of 500,000 units. Exact figures from the RIAAare difficult to confirm, but in the press conference from September 22, 1958, originally released on the RCA EP Elvis Sails in 1958 and included on disc four of the RCA CD boxed set The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50s Masters, the interviewer asks Presley for a tally of his gold records. Presley responds, saying "I have 25 million sellers, and two albums that have sold a million each."[2] Most of the songs in the compilation were recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, with other sessions at the RCA Victor studios in New York, at 20th Century-Fox's Stage One in Hollywood, and the RCA Victor studios in Nashville.[3]Although RCA executive Steve Sholes was the in-house A&R man for Presley, and nominally in charge of his recording sessions at RCA Victor, accounts by Presley historian Peter Guralnick and Presley discographer Ernst Mikael Jorgensen indicate that Presley himself acted as the producer for his RCA Victor sessions in the 1950s. The unified Billboard Hot 100 singles chart was not created until August, 1958, after the release of this compilation, and of course after the release of all of these singles. Chart positions referenced would be taken from the Best Sellers In Storeschart, although early measurement of rock and roll records also came from the Most Played In Jukeboxes chart. The original 14 track album was first reissued on CD by RCA in 1984. This issue, in reprocessed (fake) stereo sound, was quickly withdrawn and was reissued in original monophonic. The 1997 RCA reissue added six tracks, with "Blue Suede Shoes" an unusual release in that it was issued simultaneously in conjunction with every track from Elvis' debut LP Elvis Presley in singles form, more than five months after the release of the album on March 23. Two more charting B-sides, "I Was the One" and "My Baby Left Me", and three Sun Records tracks rounded out the compact disc. RCA Victor had purchased the rights to reissue Sun material when buying Elvis' contract from Sam Phillips in 1955, using Sun recordings to fill out album tracks throughout the decade. Song--------------Writers------------------------Rec.date--------Cat. No.------Rel.date--Peak Chart Pos.--Length Side 1 1. "Hound Dog" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - July 2, 1956 - 47-6604b - July 13, 1956 - 1 - 2:15 2. "Loving You" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - February 24, 1957 - 47-7000b - June 11, 1957 - 20 - 2:12 3. "All Shook Up" - Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley - January 12, 1957 - 47-6870 - March 22, 1957 - 1 - 1:57 4. "Heartbreak Hotel" - Mae Axton, Tommy Durden, Elvis Presley - January 10, 1956 - 47-6357 - January 27, 1956 - 1 - 2:09 5. "Jailhouse Rock" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - April 30, 1957 - 47-7035 - September 24, 1957 - 1 - 2:27 6. "Love Me" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - September 1, 1956 - LPM 1382 - October 19, 1956 - 2 - 2:43 7. "Too Much" - Lee Rosenberg and Bernard Weinman - September 2, 1956 - 47-6800 - January 4, 1957 - 1 - 2:31 Side 2 1. "Don't Be Cruel" - Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley - July 2, 1956 - 47-6604 - July 13, 1956 - 1 - 2:02 2. "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" - Fred Fisher, Billy Hill, William Raskin - January 13, 1957 - 47-6870b - March 22, 1957 - 58 - 3:21 3. "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" - Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe - January 24, 1957 - 47-7000 - June 11, 1957 - 1 - 1:45 4. "Love Me Tender" - Vera Matson and Elvis Presley - August 24, 1956 - 47-6643 - September 28, 1956 - 1 - 2:41 5. "Treat Me Nice" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - September 5, 1957 - 47-7035b - September 24, 1957 - 18 - 2:10 6. "Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)" - Cliff Owens and Aaron Schroeder - July 2, 1956 - 47-6643b - September 28, 1956 - 20 - 2:14 7. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" - Lou Kosloff and George Mysels - April 14, 1956 - 47-6540 - May 12, 1956 - 1 - 2:40 UK version Side 1 1. "Hound Dog" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - July 2, 1956 - HMV POP 249 - September 1956 - 2 - 2:15 2. "I Love You Because" - Leon Payne - July 5, 1954 — — — 2:42 3. "All Shook Up" - Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley - January 12, 1957 - HMV POP 359 - June 1957 - 1 - 1:57 4. "Heartbreak Hotel" - Mae Axton, Tommy Durden, Elvis Presley - January 10, 1956 - HMV 7M 385 - March 1956 - 2 - 2:09 5. "You're a Heartbreaker" - Jack Sallee - January 2, 1954 — — — 2:12 6. "Love Me" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller - September 1956 - HMV POP 295b - February 1, 1957 - 25 - 2:43 7. "Too Much" - Lee Rosenberg and Bernard Weinman - September 2, 1956 - HMV POP 330 - April 1957 - 6 - 2:31 Side 2 1. "Don't Be Cruel" - Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley - July 2, 1956 - HMV POP 249b - September 1956 - 1 - 2:02 2. "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" - Fred Fisher, Billy Hill, William Raskin - January 13, 1957 - HMV POP 359b - June 1957 - 1 - 3:21 3. "I'll Never Let You Go" - Jimmy Wakely - September 10, 1954 — — — 2:24 4. "Love Me Tender" - Vera Matson and Elvis Presley - August 24, 1956 - HMV POP 253 - December 1956 - 11 - 2:41 5. "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" - Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers - July 11, 1955 — — — 2:28 6. "Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)" - Cliff Owens and Aaron Schroeder - July 2, 1956 - HMV POP 253b - December 1956 - 11 - 2:14 7. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" - Lou Kosloff and George Mysels - April 14, 1956 - HMV 7M 424 - July 1956 - 14 - 2:40 ------------------------------------------------- So that second (UK) album is where as a very young fellow, my Elvis journey began. I don't know how early exactly, but Mum has a reel to reel of me singing Heatbreak Hotel when I was five, so I'm figuring pretty early. To this day my Dad is pretty much only interested in this early fifties Elvis stuff, but I personally take it all the way to '77. When you look at the songs on this album, it's easy to see what a fantastic bunch of songs we have here, and also from a modern album buyer, what an amazing amount of great songs never made it on to an album. We see that Elvis loved doing ballads from very early on, and shouldn't really be surprised that as he got older (and I got more mellow, so I don't see why he wouldn't have) they started to take the main stage over the rockier songs. Not that Elvis ever stopped rocking. As we have covered all these songs, I will put the links for anyone that would like a recap. But give us your thoughts on this, essentially, collection of singles. Hound Dog Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Loving You Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * All Shook up Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Heartbreak Hotel Elvis Presley - The Album Thread Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Love me Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Too Much Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Don't Be Cruel Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * That's When Your Heartaches Begin Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Teddy Bear Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Love Me Tender Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Treat Me Nice Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * Anyway You Want Me Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread * I Want You I Need You I Love You Elvis Presley - The Album Thread I Love You Because Elvis Presley - The Album Thread You're A heartbreaker Elvis Presley - The Album Thread I'll Never Let You Go Elvis Presley - The Album Thread I Forgot To Remember To Forget Elvis Presley - The Album Thread
Guys I've got a seemingly simple question that hasn't yet been answered to my satisfaction: Why did Elvis get drafted? For years I thought the US had compulsory national service for all men of a certain age, like in my country and many others in the aftermath of WW2. I was shocked to discover relatively recently that in the US it was compulsory to register for the draft, but not everyone was called up to actually serve. Which seems to indicate that Elvis was deliberately singled out by his local draft board?? I'm curious to know more about this if anyone can shed light on it. Cheers.
I have an Elvis question and I might as well ask it here. On what album is the 1961 Hawaii concert available? I know there's a CD titled Such A Night, but that seems out of print and expensive. Is there another option?
Me too. I've done a wee bit of research and it seems there was no draft lottery held between 1942 and 1969, but the practice was to draft the "oldest first". At 23 Elvis was reaching the top end of the 18-26 year old age range. So nothing conclusive, but I found this article to be very interesting and informative: Elvis Presley … America’s Most Famous Draftee
Such A Night in Pearl Harbor is a gray-area release (public domain in Europe) not an official release. As far as official releases, the show was originally released on the Elvis Aron Presley box set in 1980. There's an out of print CD version of that. More recently, there was an FTD book and record release called Rock Around the Bloch. Since it was an FTD release and included a lavish book, it was not cheap, and I'm pretty sure it's OOP now. Short answer, there is no inexpensive way to purchase this show.
"Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" Written By : Bert Carroll & Russell Moody Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 1, 1958: February 1, 1958. Take 22 Single by Elvis Presley B-side "Don'cha Think It's Time" Released April 7, 1958 Format 45 RPM Single, Recorded February 1, 1958 Genre Rock and roll Length 2:15 Label RCA Victor Songwriter(s) Bert Carroll, Russell Moody Producer(s) Steve Sholes "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" is a song written by Bert Carroll and Russell Moody, performed by Elvis Presley, which was released in 1958. It was particularly notable for breaking a string of ten consecutive number 1 hits for Presley achieved in just two years. It was Presley's 6th number-one hit in the American R&B Charts, and peaked at number 2 on the American Pop Charts. ------------------------ This is a good song, but when I was young I didn't understand it. The whole class ring and a girl wearing it on a chain around her neck wasn't a very Australian concept. A few movies and such filled in the blanks and I realised it wasn't some sado-masochistic kink. Anyway this has a good rock and roll structure, with a nice staccato guitar pattern. The backing vocals are understated and suit the styling of the song well.
Donch Think It's Time Written By : Clyde Otis & Willie Dixon Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 1, 1958: February 1, 1958. (US) RCA 47-7240 (Single) - Single Version Spliced from Takes 47, 40 & 48 Elvis Golden Records Volume 2 - Album Version Spliced from Takes 40 & 39 This was the b-side and the opening guitar riff sounds like it may have inspired my girl, to a degree. This is a nice easy paced track. I love the vocal delivery on this, it, to my ears, has something a bit special about it.
"Wear My Ring Around Your Neck": this is a real earworm for me sometimes. I like the rhyming of neck and heck.
Not much to add, other than in my book this is the 'best' greatest hits album, by anyone. Just an absolutely stunning collection of material recorded in under two years (!) that helped redefine popular music. This might very well be my single Desert Island disc.
