Elvis

[simonkeeping]

Okay, Ive not been around these parts much recently as Ive been wrapped up a music book project Im working on.
Was chatting to Mr Modlab last night (hope you got home okay mate) and I came up with this idea. I don't think we've ever done an Elvis thread have we? So favorite albums, thoughts, stories, favorite tracks etc etc.

I mentioned this in the what are you listening to thread. I picked up Elvis the Memphis Record today. Its fantastic! Dan Penn's on there so it should come as no surprise really? It's the album with Suspicious Mind's, in the Ghetto, Long Black Limousine and Wearin' That loved on look. I feel embarrassed it took me so long to buy it if Im honest.

Other tracks/albums I love (it's Elvis so Im going to have to keep this list short or I'll be here all night).

Reconsider Baby - Loose, filthy Rock and Roll. The sax solo is off the scale...
I sued to adore A little less conversation (this was way before JLX murdered it) but the constant radio play has killed it which is really sad.
Elvis at the Movies is great
The comeback special is fantastic. 'If I can dream' is a belter of a song, sung with real soul. Check it out, its a great summer album.
Thats the way it is sounds fantastic and its great in the film to see him just sitting in the studio playing and arranging stuff.

I don't what it is but his voice was/is just breath taking sometimes. Its like he could sing a shopping list and it would move you.


Over to you.

[bunnyben]

when elvis heard 'how great thou art' his manager called the song writer and said 'elvis wishes to record this but he wants to change 'works' to 'worlds' (the works thy hands hath made) and the guy who made it into a song (from the sweedish poem) went 'hell yuh, anything for the king'


have you seen the film 'when elvis met nixon' based on the true account?

[jadams501]

Huge Elvis fan, from the early days right through the end of his career.

Highlights include Sun Sessions. Gospel Years, Acoustic set from the '68 Comeback Special, Memphis Record, and I think a lot of his live stuff from the 70s.

Another really good one is "I'm 10,000 Years Old," his country rock album from the early 70s. Absolutely blinding rendition of Tomorrow Never Comes and a bunch of other things. J actually mentioned one of my favorites from this album, Snowbird, in an interview back in the 90s.

[solarflarez]

At the risk of peeing a lot of people off on here........ i just dont get Elvis, IMHO overated, big style

[BzaInSpace]

Alright Simon!

I love Elvis - no home can be complete without even a basic best-of...

That voice! As the years go by it becomes more apparent he had one of the GREAT voices. The guy is like a monolith of where all the great 20th Century musics met and blended together. Somebody said...

Elvis in Memphis? Phenomenal record. 'Wearin' That Loved On Look'... wow! If you like that then get Back In Memphis as well. As far as I'm aware that album is basically just outtakes from Elvis In Memphis, but these are pure gold as well.

Elvis Country/I'm 10,000 Years Old is stunning, big R&B band takes in a soulful country style. Awesome album (despite a terrible sleeve!). I also like Elvis Now from 1972 - a great take on 'Hey Jude' and the amazing 'Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear To Tread)' is on there, as well as the full recording of 'I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago'. The latter tune is used to segue each track on Elvis Country... at least on the vinyl edition I have.

In the last year I found in a second hand shop what is the Elvis motherlode for me: Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters. Huge compilation, some amazing OTT stuff on there, singles, outtakes, tracks dissolving into laughter, 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and a couple of Dylan covers as well. Beautiful set.

For parties the more recent Hitstory 3 CD set is where to go - fantastic sound quality and a good selection of well known and more obscure stuff. Fuck the Oakenfold remix 'bonus' track though.

If I had to chose one Elvis song to take with me, the answer has to be 'Marie's The Name (His Latest Flame)'. What a song. It is for me completely perfect in every way and guarantees a full-on shiver every time I hear it. Fucking amazing song.

[bunnyben]

At the risk of peeing a lot of people off on here........ i just dont get Elvis, IMHO overated, big style

i didn't really get him until i started listening to the original versions of songs that he did and went in that way. not a big fan but i adore songs like love me tender, love me, can't help falling and his gospel songs but by and large i prefer the originals- crudup, perkins, mamma thornton etc.

i got this cd imported, is pretty good

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raw-Elvis-Us-P ... 649&sr=8-1

[angelsighs]

At the risk of peeing a lot of people off on here........ i just dont get Elvis, IMHO overated, big style

you're not alone mate, I just don't get all the fuss either. horses for courses I guess.

[jadams501]

At the risk of peeing a lot of people off on here........ i just dont get Elvis, IMHO overated, big style

you're not alone mate, I just don't get all the fuss either. horses for courses I guess.

I think a big issue with Elvis is that, while his cult is so enormous that it raises expectations beyond what anyone could possibly fulfill, a lot of his best stuff is primitively recorded enough that it can sound very alien to modern ears. At the same time, his influence is so enormous that it can be difficult to fully appreciate, like we are fish swimming through water.

Clive James has written about what it was like to see/hear Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time -- he said it was like being a leaf blown around the room. I didn't really understand his visceral power until I watched some of the archival footage in the film "This Is Elvis" -- the man was shocking and dangerous. I had this reaction of simultaneously wanting to hide all of my female friends and family in some bunker somewhere, and also wanting to steal just a fraction of his charisma and magnetism.

His voice and stage presence were just out of this world, and he's definitely in the top three greatest rock 'n' roll acts, probably still the number one. He's the King!

If either of you are willing to give him another shot, I'd start with a CD called "Tiger Man" or the recent 4-CD comp "Elv75"

[jesus son]

The best ever male vocalist, performer and interpreter of a song.

My dad is an Elvis fan so his music has been there all my life. For his birthday a few years back I took him to see one of the Elvis concerts at the NEC. Where they have the original band, well what's left of them, playing live and they use Elvis' vocal track stripped out from live video recordings. I was incredibly sceptical and thought it was going to be awful, and I guess on some levels it was, but musically it was incredible. What I couldn't get over was the sheer charisma that came through even from a video screen. I then understood why some people have likened seeing him perform in person to an almost religious experience. They did a gospel section that was mind blowing and had grown men in floods of tears.

My personal favourites are Mess o' Blues or his interpretation of Ray's classic You Don't Know Me.

You can only dream what his musical career might have been if the Colonel hadn't been such a tosser/greedy bastard.

[Holden]

Check out A Hundred Years From Now- Essential Elvis 4. Get past the unpromising cover and you'll find some of the best, rawest, most surprising Elvis music you'll hear.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hundred-Years-N ... 249&sr=8-2

[simonkeeping]

My dad is an Elvis fan so his music has been there all my life. For his birthday a few years back I took him to see one of the Elvis concerts at the NEC. Where they have the original band, well what's left of them, playing live and they use Elvis' vocal track stripped out from live video recordings. I was incredibly sceptical and thought it was going to be awful, and I guess on some levels it was, but musically it was incredible. What I couldn't get over was the sheer charisma that came through even from a video screen. I then understood why some people have likened seeing him perform in person to an almost religious experience. They did a gospel section that was mind blowing and had grown men in floods of tears.

Wow! That sounds incredible!