Elvis Presley: Classic Or Dud?

We have David Lightbourne's account of seeing Elvis's first concert in Chicago (1957) in the <a href="http://newvulgate.blogspot.com/2009/09/issue-10-september-9-2009.html";target="_blank">New Vulgate</a>.

Let's try it again: the New Vulgate.

But often, when I actually go and play the stuff rather than just think about it abstractly, it surprises me. It turns out to be more exciting than I imagined, or there are great songs I'd forgotten about; etc. I mean: the reality of Elvis might, possibly, be more (rather than less) interesting than the idea.

most definitely. i have to admit i barely get the 'king' stuff, my frames of reference and i daresay those of any random person of my generation is too scrambled for his specific 'star' to come through very coherently other than as a collection of milestones (and i wouldnt say that about many artists, even earlier ones); anyone with appreciation for great songstylism (?) can't help but be smacked in the face with the material however. and most interestingly it comes through more with the balladry, for me at least

The actual 68 comeback special comes across as Elvis hosting Laugh In. The acoustic sit down sessions are fab, though.

As the year ends I'm on another big Elvis kick. It looks like Follow That Dream, the deluxe reissue label, is putting out two-CD remastered versions of his '70s albums...Raised On Rock is already out, Good Times was supposed to come out in November but isn't listed on the ShopElvis website (the only place these discs are available AFAIK) and there's no word on a deluxe Promised Land. But as soon as they're all available I'm grabbing all three for sure.

Any idea how long FTD cds stay available at ShopElvis.com? I can't buy these at present but the Raised on Rock they're selling looks absolutely fantastic.

oh, my grandma says she remembers being blown away by an elvis cover of ave maria, anyone know where i can find it?

Would get Having Fun With Elvis On Stage deluxe box

Interesting bit of info about how a famous photo of Elvis was taken: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-elvis-photos8-2010jan08,0,5003931.story

Watching Elvis: That's The Way It Is on TCM. The version of "Suspicious Minds" in this movie is just crushing, plus the rehearsal footage of Elvis whipping the band into shape is killer.

the "suspicious minds" studio recording is a lesson in the art of ear candy, the way the strings, horns, and backup vocals trade off

There is a great story about how when the American Studio musicians first heard the playback of "Suspicious Minds" they got "that slimy feeling" because they knew it was something special and it was going to be a big hit.

No, I am mistaken. That was "In The Ghetto." When I heard the tune I really just felt slimy all over.

Yeah, god, Suspicious Minds, what a song.

I'm shamefully unaware of most of Elvis' stuff. I mean, I have the Sun recordings and they're Great but I think I like a lot of his later...what was it after Sun, RCA?...I like the real big sounding stuff he did later on. I have the same problem with him as I do with, say, George Jones, or Bob Wills, where there is just so goddamn much and it all looks so potentially sketchy and unessential and I always walk away from the used record bins empty handed.

Went ahead and bought the deluxe 2CD editions of Raised On Rock and Good Times that I mentioned upthread. Remastering, bonus tracks, outtakes from the early '70s Stax sessions...oh yeah.

good grief does he sing well with Charlie Hodge...seek: "I Will Be Home Again" and especially "Beyond the Reef". It's music for a desperate, stoned luau, music of gorgeous emotional impotence.

OK I really tried, but can someone direct me to the best career spanning anthology if there is possibly one? I guess Sun Sessions must be unimpeachable, but what about everything else? Thanks if someone can suggest one or two that cover the best of the best

Got the 70s box recently, and it's great. But I wouldn't mix post 68 Comeback with pre-Army Elvis, they're just totally different things. Rockabilly sparseness vs Soul Review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qak7y262SRc

This 4CD box is quite good and reasonably priced. This 2CD set is pretty good, too, but I'd advise you to go for the 4CD one.

that four-CDer looks like it's got adequate deck space betwixt the bow and stern.

thanks for the tips folks, i am gonna get the Elvis75 Box

RCA has just reissued From Elvis In Memphis. It now includes a second disc that contains just about all the tracks recorded at Moman's studio in 68/69. So awesome. This stuff rocks hard.

picked up this 2cd set yesterday : wow.

subsequently, i got the 2 cd set of his live albums on stage/in person today.

cant get enough of the big band + backing singers ..

The deluxe 2CD reissue of Promised Land (the third album from Elvis's Stax Studios sessions of July and December 1973) finally came out; I got my copy in today's mail. Gonna write a lengthy article about these sessions. Overlooked even at the time (the albums all placed way higher on the Country charts than on the regular top 200).

Thought this revive would have something to do with Dolores Hart movie.

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I need to hear that. I've been spinning Elvis Country a lot. What a great album.

His band in those days was always on fire, and the 70s box is absolutely flawless -- one of the most consistently thrilling boxes I've ever heard. Definitely gonna look into the Promised Land reissue.

Me on the TV-advertised double album that topped the charts after he died: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/elvis-presley-elvis-40-greatest.html

Great piece Marcello.

indeed.

really enjoyed reading that mc.

That's really good, both as a survey of his career and as a memory of August 1977. Thanks!

I guess you didn't get to see Geraldo Rivera in a white TCB In A Flash jumpsuit on that side of the pond during that fateful August way back when.

typically excellent piece from marcello -- espec. nice to see someone taking elvis's 'lost' early '60s years (after the army but before the comeback) seriously.

Agreed. Although I think "Stuck on You" is a little better than he credits.

Yeah, that was nice. Never really noticed all the stalkerish/rapey lyrics in his tunes but y'know, he was the King

In 1977 there were 170 Elvis impersonators. By 2002 there were 85,000. At that rate of growth, by 2019 a third of the world's population will be Elvis impersonators

http://www.moma.org/collection_images/resized/162/w500h420/CRI_151162.jpg

when i visited Tupelo, loved the sign on the church opposite the birthplace: "COME INSIDE AND MEET THE REAL KING!"

ha.

during a drunken session last week i ordered the legacy editions of the kings debut, and 'elvis is back' each of which is backed with another album, plus a lot of extra tracks.

Buying this tomorrow.

bought Elvis in Memphis recently, partly because of this or another ILM thread and ugh really not feelin it. Should've gone w/Sun Sessions.

That live set looks amazing. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

i love 'from elvis in memphis' -- it's prob the one i'd take to a desert island -- but yeah 'elvis at sun' is the one even elvis-haters ought to love.

i have the 'elvis stage' 2 cd legacy edition, so thinking i dont need the new live set ..

or do i ?

I believe it is a different band, different setting, different year. So yes? I think?

The On Stage set (which I might pick up this week) is Las Vegas 1970, this one is NYC 1972. Basically the same band (James Burton, John Wilkinson Jerry Scheff and most importantly Ronnie Tutt on drums—on the MSG set the dude is practically playing blast beats on some of the rockabilly numbers) but a lot of different material. I think you need both.

ok.
i'm convinced.
on stage is totally brilliant ..
the band are beyond good ...
i've played this and the legacy editions all weekend and loved every minute.
guess this new set has to be added to the archive.

I threw on 30 #1's for the hell of it last night driving home. I've listened to Elvis, especially hits, for most of my life, and in my head there was always the memory of this big sound that went with 'All Shook Up'...but I realized it's all Elvis! I mean that song is just handclaps and a faint piano! (or that's what it sounds like). The way he performs it, it's almost acappella. I dunno why but that blew me away.

Watched this Roy Orbison and His Friends tv concert video a week or two ago and was happy to realize that the house band was basically Elvis's TCB band from the Vegas period.

Cool interview with Steve Binder about the 68 Comeback special

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_steve_binder.shtml#sthash.ZZ30qGFA.dpbs

Q : Was there a mix-up of tickets where no one showed up and you had to get people from Bob's Big Boy?

A : The incident with the tickets was --- I went to Colonel Parker and when I was told it was okay to do this and I decided we'd have two audiences and we were inviting 250, 300 people to come to each one of these sessions. And so I had NBC guest relations print up the Elvis Presley tickets. And believe me, we could've sold those tickets for $1000 apiece or something, even in those days. I mean, to see Elvis Presley for an hour or two, you know, improvisationally singing and talking and everything was just unheard of. And so I went to the Colonel and I said 'How many tickets do you want for your friends or your family or RCA or whatever?' And he said, 'Bindel, said you don't understand how the Colonel works'. He said, 'I don't want any tickets. But, if you want all of Elvis fans with the bouffant hairdos and all the screaming and yelling and everything from Memphis,' he said, 'I want all the tickets. And if you give me all the tickets, that means all of 'em. You can't have any, NBC can't have any, Singer can't have 'em, nobody gets 'em'.

So I went to NBC and I went to Bob Finkel, and I went to the sponsors and I said 'This is the deal. And for me there's no contest, let's give 'em to the Colonel and let's get this, cull this audience'. Not taking into consideration that my real feelings were, in all honesty, is I didn't trust what the Colonel said. I mean, I just didn't feel 100 percent confident when he said he was gonna do something it was really gonna happen. And I usually try and protect my backside all the time by anticipating whether things are gonna happen. In this case I didn't. I convinced everybody to give the Colonel all of the tickets for both shows, which I did. He got out his briefcase and all the tickets went into the briefcase. And I'm expecting these airplanes to fly in from Memphis, and all these screaming women coming out and all the Elvis hard core fans and so forth.

And about two days after the tickets were given to the Colonel, the guard at NBC while I was driving out one evening, said 'Hey Steve, do you need any tickets for Elvis?' And I said 'What are you talking about?' And there on his desk in the guard booth was a stack of Elvis Presley tickets. That was my first indication we're in trouble in River City, you know, we're in deep trouble if this doesn't come off. So the next morning I got there extra specially early, expecting to see the Johnny Carson, Jay Leno fans lined up outside of NBC but, you know, tenfold. I just expected there'd be fans taking over all of Burbank wanting to see Elvis Presley. There was nobody and I drove into the gate and we're gettin ready to organize the staff and the stage to shoot this sequence and all of a sudden the head of the guest relations comes to me and said 'Steve we're in big trouble'. There's just a few people standing outside. Those tickets weren't distributed. They didn't go to anybody. So we panicked. I mean, we called some friends of ours at some local radio stations and asked them to promote it on the air. We sent somebody over to Bob's Big Boy to ask customers eating hamburgers and malts to come over to see Elvis Presley and we somehow pulled together with enough people at NBC who were there, calling their friends and families and what have you to get these audiences in there.

Wow