How The Web Was Woven: The Art Of Elvis Presley

Rare King Creole Billboard Cica 1959

2009-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

From Frankfort, Kentucky 1959...photographer unknown

Elvis Week 2009: Slideshow

2009-08-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a slideshow of around 300 pictures we took during the great 2009 Elvis Week.

Elvis That's The Way It Is Wallpapers

2009-08-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

A Look at Eddie Rabbitt's "Kentucky Rain"

2009-05-18T07:46:00.001-07:00

Elvis Presley must have been elated on the evening February 19th, 1969. After all, a marathon all night session just two nights earlier had proven that his initial run at Memphis' American Sound Studios the month before hadn’t been a fluke. He would have had no way of knowing that he was in the midst of a period that would one day be considered one of the most important in rock history, now would he have realized how many artists would build an entire career off the resurgent energy those sessions produced. He wouldn’t have been thinking along those lines. Instead it is easy to imagine that Elvis Presley probably felt more grateful than anything else, as he had to know that he hadn’t delivered music this raw and powerful for vinyl since that session in 67 that produced his take on Jerry Reed’s "Guitar Man".
That February evening would turn out to be one of the less productive song wise of Elvis’ entire run with producer Chips Moman at American Sound. While most of the sessions produced at least three master’s per evening, this one only managed two, but they were both stunners. In the late part of the evening into the early morning hours, Presley would deliver a devastating version of Jerry Butler’s “Only the Strong Survive”, a song that seemed to sum up his entire heroic stand at American Sound in 69. Elvis seemed even more passionate though about the song he spent hours on in the earlier part of the evening, a haunting and eerie tale about a wanderer looking for a long lost love on a rainy Kentucky day.
Eddie Rabbitt was nearing thirty years old in 1969 and he must have been wondering when his big break was coming. The Brooklyn born artist had been building a solid reputation as one of Nashville’s top songwriters throughout the mid to late sixties, but he had yet to deliver a song that he could really build a career on.
Northern Irish boy Rabbitt might have seemed an odd candidate for the Tennessee music scene, but since he was a young man he had seen a connection between America’s country music and the Irish music his father had played him as a youth. Rabbitt recalled in an interview that music and writing had always been a passion of his and that he “was 12 years old” when he penned his first song, a ballad entitled “Susie”.
Rabbitt must have felt a long way from home in the mid-sixties as he struggled to get his words and music to quality artists. There was something special about the young and exceptionally good looking young writer though, and Chips Moman realized it and continually asked Rabbitt for material.
Rabbitt’s big break came courtesy of controversial Presley co-conspirator Lamar Fike who heard a demo of Rabbit’s “Kentucky Rain” in the late part of 68. Rabbitt recalled after months of waiting the day that Fike called him up with the news that not only did Elvis want to record the track but that he wanted to, “put it out as his next A-Side single.” Rabbitt was stunned and said that it felt like, “even more than a dream” and that it made him finally feel like he, “was a songwriter after all.”
In hindsight, had Eddie Rabbitt recorded “Kentucky Rain” himself it could have easily broken him as a solo recording star, but that was to come later and even Rabbitt knew that nothing he could have done could have matched the majesty of Presley’s impassioned take.
Elvis, Chips and the legendary American Sound band began working on "Kentucky Rain" diligently just past 7:30 on that fateful February evening. Presley historian Ernst Jorgensen wrote in the book on Elvis’ sessions that "Kentucky Rain", “wasn’t an easy song for the musicians to grasp” and the recording ended up taking hours, “to arrive at a truly accomplished rendition-but that it was worth it.”

While the American Sound band and Moman might have found Rabbitt’s song tricky, Elvis fell right into its groove and all of his vocal takes that night were mesmerizing. Moman reportedly got so excited listening to Elvis’ vocals during each take that he got co-producer Felton Jarvis to act, “as a cheerleader” in efforts to, “spur (Presley) onward” throughout the night. Just over a year before, Presley had been stuck in Hollywood recording a song about a bull, so standing in American Studios that night singing such an adult and complex song as “Kentucky Rain” must have been a truly emotional experience for him.
Of course, the story of “Kentucky Rain” doesn’t begin and end with Elvis Presley’s magical vocal take. The American Studio band was arguably the best in the world in 1969, and everything from Bobbie Wood’s piano work to the incomparable guitar playing of Reggie Young clicks dramatically in “Kentucky Rain”. It is one of the great American Studio recordings…a bruised, powerhouse and incredibly cinematic work that has lost none of its edge in the forty years since its release.
The song was held back for single release and was not included on either of the masterful American Sound Studio albums. It would hit stores in January, 1970 with the infectious “My Little Friend” as it B-Side. Like the greatest of Elvis Presley’s recordings, “Kentucky Rain” blurred the lines between rock, pop and country and it made a significant dent on each chart. It landed squarely in Billboard’s top twenty soon after its release and it became one of the most played songs of the year, although in hindsight it should have placed higher.
Elvis Presley loved “Kentucky Rain” and in 1970 he brought it to Vegas for some of his legendary stands at The International and The Hilton. Live recordings of the song show what it would have sounded like had Elvis produced the cut instead of Moman. The tempo is a bit faster and more space is left for Elvis’ unmatched TCB band to play with. The live versions of "Kentucky Rain" are perhaps even more powerful than the studio take, although they lose some of the ethereal quality of the original.

Elvis liked Eddie Rabbitt a lot and he recorded two more of the songwriter’s passionate and expert songs, the epic sounding "Inherit the Wind" and the rocking "Patch it Up". Both songs are masterworks in their own right, but neither matches the splendor of "Kentucky Rain".
The song not only sealed Eddie Rabbitt’s name as a top songwriter, but it also helped springboard his own solo career. Throughout the seventies and eighties, Rabbitt proved to be one of the great cross-over artists and the albums he recorded in the period were remarkably well-crafted and well-performed works. Eddie would hit pay-dirt ten years after Elvis first recorded one of his songs with another tune about the rain, and the chart-topping “I Love a Rainy Night” remains one of the coolest sounding and most resonate cross-over country songs ever recorded.

“Kentucky Rain” has been covered numerous times since Elvis’ version. Eddie Rabbitt himself would tackle the song a year after Elvis passed away on his terrific 1978 album Variations. His version is heartfelt, gripping and compelling. It is a splendid tribute to both Rabbitt’s ability as a singer in his own right, and Presley himself.
In the years since Elvis’ death, “Kentucky Rain” has appeared on dozen’s of best-of collections and box-sets. It became one of the most thrilling cuts on the near chart topping 2nd to None in the early part of the decade, and remains a favorite to many fans all over the world.
One of those fans is peerless Paul Westerberg, who began performing “Kentucky Rain” live around the time of 2nd to None’s release. Westerberg’s love for Elvis has been apparent since The Replacements paid tribute to the cover of G.I. Blues with their legendary Pleased to Meet Me LP twenty years ago, and his version of “Kentucky Rain” is a ragged triumph…sloppy, genuine, and fitting as Paul Westerberg stands along with Elvis as one of Rock’s great individuals.
Eddie Rabbitt and Elvis Presley would meet just once; backstage after a particularly frenzied Vegas stand in the early seventies. Rabbitt recalled that meeting an exhausted Elvis Presley was, “short and sweet but a pleasure nonetheless.” Eddie Rabbitt sadly followed Elvis Presley into the great unknown in the early summer of 1998. His legacy of great songwriting lives on though, with “Kentucky Rain” remaining one of his most devastating and powerful tunes…

***Quotes come from Writing for the King and A Life in Music.***

On Hiatus

2008-10-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Due to time restraints, I will no longer be updating How The Web Was Woven regularly. I will still be using it each January and August to post pictures from Memphis though. To view the archives, please click the 'older posts' button below and for my future Elvis articles (many more to come) please visit my main site, Moon in the Gutter. Thanks to those who visited here.

Elvis Week 08: Images of Granceland

2008-08-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Elvis Week 08: Insider's Conference

2008-08-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

The two day Insider's Conference was terrific this year. Guests included Dixie Locke, The Imperials, Jerry Schilling, Joe Guercio, Celeste Yarnall, Francine York, Sammy Shore, DJ Fontana and Susan Henning among others. Here are some photos from the festivities.

Elvis Week 08: Concerts on Graceland's Lawn

2008-08-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

Both of this year's concerts on the lawn were terrific. Night one consisted of Andy Childs and a showing of Jailhouse Rock while Night two featured a great performance by Terry Mike Jeffrey with three members from the TCB Band (James Burton, Glenn Hardin and Jerry Scheff) and The Imperials plus a showing of That's The Way It Is. Unfortunately most of our pics didn't come out so I am just presenting these two to give an idea of how it looked.

Elvis Week 08: Behind Vernon's House

2008-08-18T07:06:00.001-07:00

We were excited to get these shots from Behind Graceland taken from Vernon's Dover house.

Elvis Week 08: Outside Vernon's House

2008-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

My mom, girlfriend and I were able to go inside Vernon's house on Dover but we were asked to not post any indoor shots, so here are a few outside the house.

Elvis Week 08: Floral Arrangements

2008-08-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

Even though this was one of the least crowded Elvis Weeks I have ever attended, there were still some very nice floral arrangements on display around Meditation Garden.

Elvis Week 08: Lauderdale Courts

2008-08-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from last weeks visit to Lauderdale Courts. This was our third time going through and I believe the first time it was totally private.

Elvis Week 08: Sun and Stax

2008-08-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Our tour of Sun this year was particularly great due to the enthusiasm of our tour guide. I always look forward to hearing who the most recent celebrity visitor was and this time it turned out to be none other than Robert Plant, who apparently had stopped by in the past week or so.

Visiting Stax Studios last week was particularly poignant due to the death of Isaac Hayes. I will be posting a full tribute to the great Hayes later this week at Moon in the Gutter. I was disappointed to see that Stax has still not put their Elvis tribute back on display, but otherwise the tour was as wonderful as always.

Elvis Week 08 Day One

2008-08-09T20:21:00.001-07:00

Here are a few images from our first day in Memphis for Elvis Week 08. Many more to come but the connection in the room is extremely slow so the majority will probably go online next week when I get home.

Coming to you next week from Memphis

2008-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the lack of updates recently. I have been extremely busy with work and writing at Moon in the Gutter and Nostalgia Kinky. However I will be reporting here all next week from Memphis where I will be attending Elvis Week 2008. Be on the lookout for photos and reports from the various events starting this weekend.

G.I. Blues Screenshots

2008-07-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

My full look at G.I. Blues will be posted in the next day or so. In the meantime here are some exclusive screenshots from the film featuring Elvis and two of his co-stars Juliet Prowse and Leticia Roman. Enjoy.

G.I. Blues Wallpapers

2008-07-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Elvis On Vinyl: The 1959 LPs

2008-07-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

Typically ignored in serious discussion of Elvis Presley’s albums, the compilation LPs from 1959 For Lp Fans Only and A Date With Elvis are of importance due to the idea that they were designed to help keep Elvis’ music in the public eye during his stint in the Army, and for the fact that they are both solid if rather haphazard collections featuring an intriguing mixture of Sun and RCA recordings.
For LP Fans Only, the bigger hit of the two, hit stores in February of 59 and soon became a top twenty LP, a not at all a bad feat for a non best-of compilation LP. Made up of four Sun Tracks, a smattering of b-sides and oddly some tracks from his first LP, For LP Fans Only is a solid if inconsistent collection perhaps most noteworthy for giving the legendary “That’s All Right” its debut on an album.
The album does indeed kick start with the electrifying “That’s All Right” which is followed by the extraordinary early RCA cut “Lawdy Miss Claudy”. Another Sun track, the thrilling and haunting “Mystery Train” leads into the gorgeous “Playing For Keeps”, which had just missed the top twenty a few years before. Side one closes with a slight anomaly, Love Me Tender’s “Poor Boy”, a fun song but frankly out its league alongside the above giants.
Side Two is not as consistent but it does least open with the incredible “My Baby Left Me”. “I Was The One”, another solid hit from 56 follows before the side gives way to the frenetic “Shake Rattle and Roll”. The album closes with two more countrified Sun tracks, “I’m Left Your Right She’s Gone” and “You’re a Heartbreaker”, bringing the album to a bit of an anti-climatic end.
For LP Fans Only doesn’t have a bad moment on it but it isn’t very cohesive and finally feels more than a little undercooked. It would mark the beginning of a career that would see hundreds upon hundreds of similar collections released by RCA that continue to this day.
A Date With Elvis premiered in late July of 59 and it didn’t sell as well, even though at least visually it was a much more pleasing product. Featuring an iconic photo of Elvis in Uniform on the front cover, A Date With Elvis is a glorious looking album but is unfortunately a bit more hit and miss than For LP Fans Only.
Both Side A is made up of two Sun Tracks and three RCA tracks and it features two hit tracks from the still fairly fresh Jailhouse Rock EP, “Young and Beautiful” and “You’re So Square”. The remaining Sun sides are an odd grab bag of undeniable goodies, including the opener “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” and the closing tracks “Milkcow Blues Boogie” and “Baby Let’s Play House”. The smooth Jailhouse Rock cuts sound like they are from a different planet to the raw Sun cuts, which gives the side a disjointed feel at best.
Side B is equally strangely chosen with two Sun tracks this time, “Good Rockin Tonight” and “I Forgot To Remember To Forget”, opening and closing while another Jailhouse Rock tune (“I Want To Be Free”) and a Love Me Tender track (“We’re Gonna Move”) sit in the middle. Also included for good measure is the astounding “Is It So Strange”, a brilliant song that didn’t get enough credit then or now.
The odd thing about A Date With Elvis is that a slight mixing up of the track listing with the same songs could have been a much more rewarding listening experience. As it is though, it remains a disorganized but pleasing collection made up of some dynamic songs that don’t necessarily sit well together.
The two albums remain fascinating as portraits of how Elvis’ career was being handled and where it would lead to as far as compilations go and the idea of flooding the market often at the expense of the music.
Elvis next proper LP, marking his return from the Army, would be among the most masterful and smashing in his whole catalogue…a well thought out reaction to the fact that it would be the album and not the single that would come to dominate the sixties and beyond.

G.I. Blues: Two Poster Designs

2008-07-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

I quite like both these extremely different poster designs, one a Thai design and the other being an English language version.

A Remarkable Book

2008-07-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

I will soon be beginning my look at G.I. Blues, one of the most important if not greatest movies in Elvis' filmography. In the meantime I wanted to recommend the remarkable Inside G.I. Blues from Elvis Unlimited, a beautiful book from the always reliable team of Rijff, Knudsen and Gjeding that looks at every possible aspect of the production and includes dozens upon dozens of rare photos and other memorabilia. For information on this wonderful book, click the link above.

Screenshot of the Day: Speedway

2008-07-02T05:17:00.001-07:00

A new series here at How The Web Was Woven designed to fill the time between regular posts and introduce some exclusive images as well.

Elvis' Co-Stars: Dolores Hart

2008-06-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

Originally appeared at my Moon In The Gutter.

Even though it has been over forty years since Dolores Hart walked away from Hollywood, she has proven not easily shaken to fans who fell under her spell in films like LOVING YOU, KING CREOLE, LONELYHEARTS, COME FLY WITH ME and perhaps especially WHERE THE BOYS ARE.

I first became aware of her before the age of ten during my first viewing of KING CREOLE on late night tv. Her role in the film still remains my favorite of her career, and it is hard for me to imagine anyone not falling for her during the final moments of the film when Elvis sings AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU to her. She was also great in LOVING YOU with him, and can be seen in a haunting home movie with him in THIS IS ELVIS.

Of the dozen or so films she made in her career before she became a nun, I have only seen a handful, but she still remains one of my favorite actors of the fifties and early sixties. She always managed to bring something special to each project, and it is hard to imagine the period without her.

A few years ago I was privileged to be at an event where she sent a video sharing memories of working with Elvis from the nunnery where she lives. It was a really extraordinary thing to see.
Unfortunately only a few of her films are available (the two Elvis pictures and WHERE THE BOYS ARE) but the charming COME FLY WITH ME often pops up on TCM and LONELYHEARTS can occasionally be found as well. Dolores Hart remains a bit of a secret to many film fans, but she contributed something very special and real to cinema in the short, but sweet, time she gave to it.

Elvis On Screen: King Creole (1958)

2008-06-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

This originally appeared at my Moon In the Gutter Blog.

For the definitive word on this film, please check out Ger Rijff's beautiful book INSIDE KING CREOLE, which features the script, deleted scenes, a making of and many unpublished photographs.

Hungarian born director Michael Curtiz shot KING CREOLE (1958) just five years before his death at the age of 74. The film is a remarkably fresh and alive work though, one that seems to have been made by a very talented young man rather than someone nearing seventy.
Curtiz had an astounding directorial career, helming well over 150 productions. His most well known film is of course CASABLANCA (1942) but he worked exceedingly well in many genres including comedy (WE'RE NO ANGELS 1955), heavy drama (MILDRED PIERCE 1945) and musicals (YANKEE DOODLE DANDY 1942). Curtiz, in fact, worked in nearly every conceivable genre throughout his long career, and he did well in all of them.
KING CREOLE got its start as a heavy handed novel by CARPETBAGGERS mastermind Harold Robbins entitled A STONE FOR DANNY FISHER. The book sold fairly well on its release and was quickly optioned for a film version. The character in the book was originally a boxer, and the producers had it in mind to make it a vehicle for a young actor named James Dean. After Dean's tragic death, the name Marlon Brando was thrown around but the choice was finally made to turn the film into a musical and cast the young revolutionary star who had turned the entertainment field completely on its head, Elvis Presley.
Presley had only made three films when he stepped in front of Curtiz's camera, and they had all been critical duds but popular smashes. He had began to show a lot of flare though in LOVING YOU and JAILHOUSE ROCK (both 1957) and Curtiz immediately saw that there was something strong he could work with.
Joining Presley was an incredible supporting cast which included Dolores Hart, Carolyn Jones, Dean Jagger, Vic Morrow and a young actor named Walter Matthau as the New Orleans crime boss Maxie Fields. They would all be working from a script credited to THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT scribe Herbert Baker and A HATFUL OF RAIN playwright Michael Gazzo.

Shot on location in New Orleans with style to spare by Curtiz with talented black and white Oscar nominated cinematographer Russell Harlan by his side, KING CREOLE is a stunningly beautiful movie to watch. Its rich black and white tones are a tribute to a very particular style of film making that is rarely seen anymore.
Everything about the film is first rate. The script is melodramatic but not overly so and the performances are all strong. The set design by Sam Comer and Frank McKelvy is superb and has a stylish realism to it that is particularly noteworthy. Special mention has to go to the sad little interior of Fisher's families apartment, and the spacious decadence of Maxie's spread. The costumes by Edith Head are refreshibgly controlled through much of the film, but are strikingly provocative on Carolyn Jones and the strippers in the New Orleans nightclub that Danny sings in.

The film opens with one of the most memorable shots in fifties American cinema. Curtiz's camera pans down a virtually deserted French Quarter path filming various singing street vendors, before we see Elvis (looking so incredibly beautiful here) walking out on his balcony singing CRAWFISH with one of them (the talented Kitty White). It is an amazing sequence that doesn't feel like anything else before or since.

The film is filled with those kind of special moments...from Fisher's first memorable meeting with Maxie to a touching scene where he takes Nellie (Hart) out on a river boat to show her where he was from. It is an intensely personal little film that just so happens to be a musical as well.
And what a musical...the songs are all top notch and Curtiz wisely elects to have the songs played on stage for the most part. The couple of sequences where he breaks this rule are well done, organic and believable. There isn't anything fantastical about the musical parts of KING CREOLE, except in how fine they are.
Curtiz's direction is quite splendid. He allows the scenes to play out and breathe, and his shooting style is commanding. Watch the way he expertly handles the mugging sequence of Danny's father, or the perfect way Elvis is framed from a slight distance when he breaks the bottle to protect Carolyn Jones from Maxie's thugs. KING CREOLE is a really expertly directed film by a very old pro.

As I mentioned the cast is especially good and it is to their credit that KING CREOLE doesn't feel nearly as dated as many 'youth' pictures from this period. Walter Mattheau is particularly good as a gangster not big enough to be untouchable but just big enough to be really dangerous. Carolyn Jones and Dolores Hart are both heartbreakingly sublime in their roles (has a girl ever been as pretty as Dolores Hart in this film?) and Liliane Montevecchi is very memorable in a smaller role as one of the dancers.
It all falls back onto Elvis though...and in the most demanding role of his career he is really very good. He delivers a performance with a lot of depth and soul that is made all the more impressive when one considers how young and inexperienced he was. Curtiz liked him a lot, as did the cast. Mattheau was especially impressed and would later say, "He [Elvis Presley] was an instinctive actor...He was quite bright...he was very intelligent...He was not a punk. He was very elegant, sedate, and refined, and sophisticated." The critics were even impressed and Elvis garnered similar reviews to that of the twentieth centuries other great icon, Marilyn Monroe in BUS STOP (1956). Watching how good Elvis is in this makes his later film career (despite its pleasures and value) all the more disappointing.
KING CREOLE opened up in the summer of 1958 to strong business and mostly good reviews. Curtiz was proud of the film and predicted Elvis Presley would become a great actor. The iconic director would go onto finish an impressive six films before passing away in 1961. Hart, Jones, and especially Mattheau would all go onto to be stars in their own right.
Had Elvis not gone in the army right after finishing KING CREOLE there is no telling what might have happened with his film career. He did though, and then momentum from the film was lost. When he returned he made two dramatic films that would nearly equal his work for Curtiz, FLAMING STAR and WILD IN THE COUNTRY, but those films would be relative failures. Despite making several fine films in the sixties, Elvis Presley never again had the chance to work with a director as great as Curtiz or shine as an actor like he had in KING CREOLE. It really is one of the great losses in Hollywood history.

KING CREOLE is available on a bare bones DVD with a nice widescreen transfer but little else. Film fans who look upon it as just another 'Elvis film' are really missing out. It is a really finely directed and performed work from a period in Hollywood history often overlooked. On the eve of its fiftieth anniversary it deserves some serious reappraisal.

Elvis On Vinyl: King Creole (1958)

2008-06-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

This originally appeared at my Moon In the Gutter Blog.

Recorded during a three-day session in the mid part of January 1958, with some additional work done in a day in mid February, Elvis Presley’s KING CREOLE album is one of his greatest and most diverse works. The album stands as a testament to the astonishing range Elvis had, as a vocalist and producer, and it is among the most consistently great of all of his LPs.
The album was recorded at Paramount’s Soundstage Studios with a Thorne Nogar operating as engineer. The producers listed are Paramount’s Walter Scharf and Phil Khagan although it is fairly well documented that Elvis himself was the one really responsible for the sound of his recordings up to 1968. Ernst Jorgensen notes in his book A LIFE IN MUSIC that songwriters Lieber and Stoller were also on hand to help with production duties for this difficult record.
Joining Elvis in the studio were his legendary sidemen Scotty Moore on lead electric guitar, Bill Black on stand up bass, and D.J. Fontanta on drums. Elvis himself is credited with much of the rhythm guitar playing on the album. Paramount and RCA enlisted the help of many top session musicians for the diverse selections including Neal Matthews on guitar, and a top Jazz combo. The ever-reliable Jordanaires appear on background vocals and vocalist Kitty White pops up on the legendary CRAWFISH track.
This was a volatile and rushed moment in the life of Elvis Presley. His draft notice had already come through, but he had successfully got the okay to complete work on the KING CREOLE album and film. This huge upcoming change had to be weighing heavy on Elvis’ mind and his vocals on the KING CREOLE sessions, featuring some of his most passionate and at times frantic, surely reflect this.
Elvis was commercially at the peak of his powers here, and it seemed that everything he touched in this period was a sure fire smash. With this in mind the KING CREOLE album can be viewed as somewhat of a risk, as stylistically it would mark a departure from much of his previous work. The album, the jazziest that Elvis ever produced, stands though as a tribute to the vision and talent of Presley, and a punch in the face to critics who claim all of his soundtrack work was garbage.

The album opens up with the startling Leiber and Stoller track KING CREOLE, one of the swampiest and most evocative tracks Elvis ever recorded. With his menacing vocals promising a “guitar held like a tommy gun” the iconic background work of the Jordanaires and a blistering Scotty Moore guitar solo, KING CREOLE is masterful introduction to the album and it holds up as well as any of his more popular work from the period.

The lovely Wise and Weisman composition AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU follows, and its sweet lilting melody and charming vocal as a perfect counterpoint to the intense opener. AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU is one of the great ballads Elvis ever sang. It is a shame he didn’t revisit it later in his career. It is harder to imagine a more perfect and simple love song, and the fact that it is delivered in less than two minutes makes it all the more haunting.

HARD HEADED WOMAN follows and I will let what I wrote recently on it stand. I will say here that I love the way this long player (it should be noted that KING CREOLE was originally released as two extended players) keeps switching things up. It’s a schizophrenic record whose sharp stylistic swings mirror perfectly the volatile part of Danny Fisher that Elvis played so well in the film.
The legendary TROUBLE follows, surely one of the dirtiest and most savage songs in Presley’s entire catalogue. His deadpan vocals on this original take make it all the more fascinating. This astonishing Leiber and Stoller composition would of course later open Elvis’ 68 comeback special in a roaring rock and roll take that tops this very jazzy and cool original.
The Claude DeMetrius/Fred Wise track DIXIELAND ROCK is sparked by a great lyric and a scorching Sax solo by Justin Gordon, and it is followed by the sweet HARD HEADED WOMAN b-side DON’T ASK ME WHY.
LOVER DOLL, a Wayne and Silver track, is one of the slightest tracks on the album. It sounds like an attempt to recreate the magic of the previous years TEDDY BEAR but it doesn’t have any of that songs power. It does have a nice smooth vocal by Elvis, and a cool time change at the end, but it is finally among the weaker moments on the album.

The Wise and Weisman track, CRAWFISH, on the other hand, is one of the best. Later covered by Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin, CRAWFISH is one of the most underrated of all Elvis’ work. Totally authentic sounding with the great Kitty White providing a great female counterpart to Elvis, CRAWFISH is really remarkable…it is no wonder the legendary New York Dolls axe-man chose to release it as one of his final singles nearly thirty years after this original.

YOUNG DREAMS is a contribution from Martin Kalmanoff and Aaron Schroeder and it is a passable song made great by Elvis’ passionate vocal take. The interplay with The Jordanaires is particularly good here also.
The short Lieber and Stoller track STEADFAST, LOYAL AND TRUE follows and while it works in a key sequence in the film, it is a minute that could have been left off the final album.

The slip up of STEADFAST, LOYAL AND TRUE gives way to one of the album’s greatest moment, the down and dirty Jazz romp NEW ORLEANS. Featuring a sizzling call and response between Elvis and The Jordanaries, and a scintillating lyric by Sid Tepper and Roy Bennett, NEW ORLEANS is a stunning closer to the album. It is just a shame that it is over in just a couple of minutes, as the band and Elvis sound like they want to play on and on.

KING CREOLE, the album, would street in August of 58 and it would climb to #2 on the album charts. It most surely would have gone to number one had it not been proceeded by the two Extended play releases the month before (which by the way did top the charts). It would be the last album of all new material before Elvis would enter the army (1959’s FOR LP FANS ONLY was a grab bag of Sun and RCA tracks) and it remains one of the great albums of his career. Short, to the point and incredibly diverse, KING CREOLE can stand proudly next to the likes of ELVIS PRESLEY, ELVIS IS BACK, FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS, THAT’S THE WAY IT IS and I’M ABOUT TEN THOUSAND YEARS OLD as one of the great recorded tributes to the genius of Elvis Presley. It should be in every rock lover’s possession.
The album can be heard in its entirety on the massive box set THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL or even better in a 1997 re-release that features a bonus of the entire album in outtakes.

Elvis On Screen: Jailhouse Rock (Additional Screenshots)

2008-05-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Elvis On Screen: Jailhouse Rock (1957)

2008-05-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

You can take all of the great scenes and moments from the American films of the fifties and few would measure up to the thrill of seeing Elvis Presley burn up the screen in Jailhouse Rock. Playing the most badass character of his life, Elvis is simply stunning in Richard Thorpe’s expertly rendered 1957 film and even after fifty years the picture and performance still seem as fresh, potent and alive as ever. Jailhouse Rock is not only one of the best musicals of the fifties, but one of the best films of that undervalued decade in general.

The incredibly prolific Thorpe made nearly 200 films in his four decade career. Starting out with some silent film work in the early twenties, the Kansas born Thorpe became known for his sure handed and economical filming techniques and was well liked and admired by his peers and the many actors he directed.

The tireless Thorpe had just worked with another one of the great icons of the fifties, Dean Martin in Ten Thousand Bedrooms, when he came on board to direct MGM’S Jailhouse Rock. Working from a script by Oscar nominated Guy Trosper (from a story by Nedrick Young), Thorpe’s fine and well thought out direction gives Jailhouse Rock a real solid and distinguished feel. Jailhouse Rock might not be the best Elvis Presley film but it is one of the best directed and the performance Thorpe helped bring out of Elvis is startling.

The film, concerning a young punk named Vince Everett who hits the big time as a singer after being released from prison, is one of the ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll films…bristling with energy and intensity with an absolutely killer soundtrack (including the title track which would have an overwhelming impact later on both heavy metal and punk), Jailhouse Rock is timeless and will stay so as long as the sound of a buzz saw guitar remains dangerous.

Elvis is surrounded by one of the best casts he ever worked with, including the tragic Judy Tyler (who was killed in a car accident right after the filming wrapped up), the great character actor Mickey Shaughnessy, future Disney favorite Dean Jones and pretty starlet Jennifer Holden. All give very solid performances and they are captured well here under the lense of Robert Bronner, whose black and white cinematography is one of the films biggest assets.

Adding to the film’s quick pace and ferocious energy is Oscar winning editor Ralph E. Winters, one of the unsung heroes of the film. Winters had just wrapped a couple of great Bing Crosby features, including High Society (1956), when he lent his talented editing skills to Jailhouse Rock and his cutting methods serve the film incredibly well, especially in the smashing title number sequence.

Shot beautifully in the 2.35 ratio and later hailed by Martin Scorsese as one of the key films to ever use the format, Jailhouse Rock caused a huge stir when it was released just before Halloween in 1957. One of the year’s biggest money makers, Jailhouse Rock would have been notable without Elvis but it wouldn’t have become an instant legend like it did.

Elvis is quite astonishing in the film. Building on the momentum of his performance in Loving You, Elvis is clearly relishing playing a flawed character like Everett. Taking a cue from his acting idols Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean, Elvis plays Everett with a snarling intensity but gives the role an added dimension of humanity due to his overwhelming warm screen presence. Even when Everett is being the biggest jerk in the world, you want him to be okay simply because of the goodness nestled in the heart of Elvis himself. It’s a remarkable performance on many levels, especially in the musical sequences (where Elvis shows his incredible natural grace and skill as a performer) and in the smoldering love scenes with Tyler and Holden, which have a real erotic intensity to them that hold up to this day.

The film would prove to be a major hit throughout Europe as well, especially in France where the French New Wave was emerging as the most important cinematic movement of the decade. Known as Le Rock du bagne in France, Jailhouse Rock (despite being a major studio production) would fit in surprisingly well with the youthful and chaotic energy of the New Wave and would be embraced by many young teenage filmgoers and young future filmmakers in that country as well as in Italy, Sweden, Germany and the rest of Europe. It would have a big impact in Asia as well where it would prove equally succesful.

Jailhouse Rock, one of the triumphs from Elvis in the fifties, would be soured for the young singer after Judy Tyler’s death and he was said to have never watched it again. Pity, as it contains some of the best and most bruising work he ever gave in front of a camera.

The film has never been out of circulation since it came out in 1957 and it can currently be seen on a nice special edition DVD which features a crisp widescreen presentation, a critical commentary and a documentary. A bastardized colorized atrocity pops up occasionally and should be avoided at all cost.

How The Web Was Woven at MySpace

2008-05-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's still a work in progress but I have set up a MySpace page for How The Web Was Woven to increase activity here and connect with other Elvis Fans. If you have a profile page, please feel free to send me a friend request.

Elvis on Vinyl: Loving You (1957)

2008-05-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

Next time someone tells you that none of Elvis’ soundtrack albums are among his best releases, pull out a copy of Loving You and turn that sucker up to eleven to shut them up. Recorded at a January and February session at Paramount’s Scoring Stages and Hollywood’s Radio Recorders, with Elvis’ Key band filled out with rhythm guitar player Tiny Timbrell and pianist Dudley Brooks added in for even more fire power, the powerful Loving You LP is an adventurous run through heavy rock to western twang to affecting ballads…song for song it stands as one of Elvis’ key and most influential works from the fifties.
The LP begins with a real powerhouse; in the shape of the classic Claude DeMetrius tune “Mean Woman Blues”. One of the great rock and roll songs of all time, Elvis’ ferociously smooth vocal take along with the band in full swinging mode (not to mention some really great background work by The Jordanaires) makes for a real thrilling lesson and an ideal opening to the LP.
An even more commercial, if not artistic, triumph follows “Mean Woman Blues” with the massive hit “Teddy Bear”. This undeniably infectious, if lightweight, Karl Mann and Bernie Lowe song was reportedly a favorite of producer Hal Wallis and the song is still one of the ones Elvis is most identified with and would, of course, go onto to be one of the biggest hits from Elvis’ early career.
One of the three, extremely varied versions, of “Loving You” follows. This gorgeous Lieber and Stoller song is among my favorite Elvis ballads and the take used for the LP is among the most delicate and genuine from the session. With The Jordanaires lilting vocals behind him and some wonderfully communicative piano playing by Hawkins guiding the song, “Loving You” is an understated masterpiece…just simply gorgeous.
The album starts rocking seriously again with Barry Gibb favorite “Got A Lot O’ Livin’ To Do”. Featuring some thunderous drumming by D.J. Fontana as well as some of the most delightfully trippy lyrics of Elvis’s early career (courtesy of Schroeder and Weisman), “Got A Lot O’ Livin’ To Do” is, from beginning to end, an absolute adrenaline rush.
The song originally designed as the title track, “Lonesome Cowboy”, follows and it is among the most haunting tracks from Elvis in the fifties. With a clomping percussive pattern that recalls Elvis’ legendary Sun Sessions take of “Blue Moon” from a few years before, this Tepper and Bennett creation is a dramatic and incredibly lonely chiller guaranteed to give even the most jaded fan goosebumps.
With its great train like vocal opening from The Jordanaires, Lieber and Stoller’s “Hot Dog” is another party classic. Incredibly short at just past a minute, this would have made an ideal choice for mega-Elvis fans The Ramones later on. It’s a shame they never gave it a crack…
Even better than “Hot Dog” is the wild Jess Mae Robinson track, “(Let’s Have a) Party”, a crazed down-home classic that would be a real favorite to two young boys from Liverpool named Paul and John. The future Beatles spent hours close to their record player trying to decipher the lyrics Elvis was singing like they held some sort of secret key that needed to be deciphered…thankfully they discovered it and “Party” stands as one of the great least mentioned and most influential songs from Elvis in the fifties.
Fat’s Domino’s famous “Blueberry Hill” follows and, in all honesty, Elvis’ version just doesn’t measure up to the shattering original. Still, it’s not a bad take even if it is among the weaker moments on the record.
Another cover, this time Cole Porter’s “True Love”, is up next and it’s a real beauty. Popularized in a gorgeous version by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly the year before in the film High Society, Elvis’ version just melts and its still a real pleasure to revisit.
A song more associated with Elvis’ next movie, Jailhouse Rock, follows but the Schroder and Weisman track “Don’t Leave Me Now” is welcome on any album you can get it on. Featuring another great match between the vocals of Elvis and The Jordanaires, the Loving You LP version of “Don’t Leave Me Now” is a real success.
The underrated Scott Wiseman song “Have I Told You Lately I Love You” follows and the admittedly slight song is transformed into a yearning classic by Elvis’ smooth croon. Listening to it, you can almost picture the lost love he is trying to convince of his passion sitting right in the studio with him.
Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Need You So” is given a slow burlesque grind feel by the band and it’s a nice if slightly under whelming ending to the album. While not as powerful as the rest of the record, it at least allowed RCA (along with a few other tracks) to expand the album to a full length LP since the original film of Loving You only contained half a dozen or so songs in its running time.
The LP of Loving You soared to number one in mid 1957 and it remains one of the great Rock and Roll soundtracks of all time. While perhaps not scaling the heights of the King Creole album on the horizon, it is one of the most unjustly neglected of all of Elvis’ long players and deserves wider recognition.

Elvis World News: Bill Burk Has Passed Away

2008-04-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Noted Elvis historian and author Bill Burk has passed away. Please click here to read the full report. My best to his friends and family.

Elvis On Vinyl: Elvis (1956)

2008-04-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

I’ve always found it ironic that Elvis, the second Long player from Elvis Presley, has never achieved the fame and respect granted to his first platter because, to my ears at least, it is a more consistently brilliant, thrilling and powerful listening experience.
Featuring tracks from a storming September 1956 session, with mostly the same players who made up the first L.P. aboard, Elvis has a much more consistent feel than Elvis Presley as it doesn’t rely on older Sun material to fill out its running time.
Elvis gets off to a roaring start with "Rip It Up", surely one of the definitive rock numbers of the fifties. Elvis sings with a relaxed power through this iconic Robert Blackwell/John Marascalco track that has been covered hundreds of times from everyone to Iggy Pop to The Stray Cats, but the version heard here has never been equaled. From the electrified guitar runs of Scotty Moore to Elvis opening it with “It’s Saturday night and I just got paid” like he means all the business in the world, "Rip It Up" is one of the great opening tracks in rock history.
The classic Lieber and Stoller track, "Love Me", is up next and it has lost none of its gorgeous power in the fifty years plus since he recorded it. A huge hit upon its release, and a track he would revisit throughout his career, "Love Me" is punctuated by some incredibly smooth background vocals by The Jordanaires and a dripping honey like vocal by Elvis that must have melted more teenage hearts back in the fall of 56 than almost any other track from the period.
I’ve always loved "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again", although I guess it can be argued that the track was among the ones that clearly shows RCA still trying to match the always just out of reach ‘Sun sound’. Still, the countrified Wiley Walker/Gene Sullivan track is a wonder and is again helped along by some great background work from The Jordanaires.
The bittersweet twang of "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold" again is ripped apart by the album’s next track; the ferocious Enotris Johnson penned "Long Tall Sally". Often compared unfavorably to the Little Richard original, I find Elvis’ version to be electrifying and the equal of the more celebrated Richard track. Elvis would continue to revisit the song throughout his career, where it would become one of the most consistently exhilarating moments from his seventies live shows.
The Schroeder/Weisman track "First In Line" is probably the most dated sounding track on the album but it is still quite devastating in its own quaint and quiet way. Featuring a pleading echo drenched vocal by Elvis, First in Line took a mammoth 27 takes to get right, which marks it as a song Elvis was obviously committed to although it wasn’t a number he would revisit.

The album rocks out again hard with "Paralyzed", a fantastic Otis Blackwell number driven by some impressive skin work by D.J. Fontana and a terrific vocal by Elvis. Delirious and swinging, Blackwell’s number in Presley’s hand captures the excitement and nervousness of young love like no other.
Even better is Arthur Crudup’s "So Glad Your Mine", a left over track from that first January 56 session. One of the most underrated tracks from Elvis in the fifties, "So Glad Your Mine" has a real sweaty burlesque feel to it heightened by some great Shorty Long piano work…"So Glad Your Mine" sounds like the soundtrack to a lost Bettie Page reel and is a real highlight to the second LP.
The soaked in sin delights of "So Glad Your Mine" collapse into the one ill advised moment on Elvis, namely the sugary and nostalgic "Old Shep"…a favorite of Elvis’ and some fans but a song that has always felt totally out of place on this album to me. That said, the song is of course important as it was the one he sang at the Mississippi-Alabama fair as a ten year old and the performance here is fine if just a little too weepy for my taste.
Thankfully, the Blackwell/Marascalco number "Ready Teddy" saves the album from total sentimentality and everything about the track absolutely smokes. From D.J. Fontana’s explosive drummer to a mid song guitar solo by Moore that must have sent many parents running up the stairs to their teenagers rooms to see what all the racket was about in late 1956. "Ready Teddy" has lost none of its ferocious power in the five decades since it was released and it remains one of the most brutal and audacious moments from Elvis in the fifties.
Another gorgeous echo drenched ballad follows with Joe Thomas’ "Anyplace is Paradise", a track featuring some very nice rhythm guitar work by Elvis and a delightfully off kilter solo by Moore. The stuttering piano work by Gordon Stoker in the last part of the song is a real favorite moment a well in this little rarely talked about gem of a song.
The Atkins and Bryant track "How’s The World Been Treating You" follows and it’s not one of the strongest moments on the record. Originally recorded by Eddy Arnold, the track is just a little too dragged out here although the way Elvis lead works with The Jordanaire’s backing vocal is interesting.
The album closes with the odd Wayne Walker/Webb Pierce track "How Do You Think I Feel", a strange sounding country track featuring some of the weirdest Scotty Moore tracks on record. It’s an odd coda for such a powerful record that Elvis wouldn’t revisit, although at just over two minutes it hardly outstays its welcome.
Elvis is one of the first truly great L.P.’s of the rock era. Despite a couple of off numbers, the album is much more consistent and inventive than the more talked about Elvis Presley. It can currently be heard in its entirety on the essential The Complete Fifties Masters box set or on the remastered stand-alone disc which features the singles from the period not included on the original LP. The best way to hear the album is on the rather pricy 24 bit Japanese import which features simply smashing sound quality.

The Complete Madison Square Garden Press Conference: Rough Footage

2008-04-10T08:29:00.003-07:00

PART ONE

PART TWO

New Madison Square Gardens Photos Appear

2008-04-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Quick Note: School has been incredibly hectic lately which is why I am a bit behind in my posts. Things should be calming down in a week or so so I will be able to post more regularly. Thanks to those who have been visiting.

Some gigs are almost as legendary as the artists that performed at them. Think of The Beatles at Shea, The Who at Leeds, Hendrix at Monterey, The Pistols at Winterland, The Clash at Bonds or The Stone Roses at Spike Island. Only Elvis Presley though could make headlines all over the world just because of the discovery of some unreleased photos from one of his most powerful stands, the towering Madison Square Garden concerts from 72.

The 40 plus photos, a handful have already leaked for the press, by George Kalinsky are reportedly heading down to Memphis to be put on display at a special exhibit at Graceland. The one at the top of this post is currently on display as a huge poster overlooking Times Square. I can't wait to see the rest of them.
I wish Kalinsky would have gotten some shots of the audience as well since it included everyone from David Bowie to members of Led Zeppelin and some of the original New York punk scene among many other rock luminaries.
For more on Elvis at The Garden, please visit this exhaustive site dedicated to the series of shows he did there.

Overlooked Gems: Lonesome Cowboy

2008-04-02T04:26:00.001-07:00

This powerful and strange Tepper and Bennett track from Loving You has always been a favorite. It was in fact once going to be the title of the film and was surprisingly enough mixed together seamlessly from two separate takes.

Elvis On Screen: Loving You (1957)

2008-03-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Directed with real panache by the very able Hal Kanter and featuring one of the best soundtracks of the fifties, the first proper Elvis Presley Vehicle Loving You would set the stage for not only the rest of his cinematic career but also the rock n’ roll film genre itself.
Kanter got his start in the late forties as a writer for a number of television variety shows and series including Ed Wynn’s show as well as Amos n’ Andy. Loving You marked the first time Kanter had stepped up to the plate as director though and he redeems himself quite nicely, delivering a colorful and exciting film that knew exactly what it was and it played up to it brilliantly.

The writer turned director had initially been a little hesitant to work with the controversial rocker but early on in their collaboration he felt himself won over by Presley’s charm, wit and most importantly seriousness. Hal Kanter saw what few others saw early on in Elvis’ career, namely that he had the talent to become a serious actor.

Loving You wouldn’t be the film to take Elvis to the places he needed to go as a top of the line actor and Kanter knew it, but it was a major step towards placing Elvis among the top and most charismatic screen stars of his or any other time.
Loving You centers on a very Presley like character named Deke Rivers who quickly finds fame as a traveling rock and roller after being discovered by a shrewd promoter and manager (played intriguingly by Lizabeth Scott). If the plot seems contrived and predictable today, that is just because it has been copied so many times. Loving You practically invents a genre in its 100 minute running time and if the imitators have taken some of its boldness away that is perhaps the inevitable drawback to being so influential.

Surrounding Elvis in this eye popping color production, shot by legendary Oscar winner Charles Lang, is a really special cast filled out by a number of veteran actors and a couple of really fresh faces who would soon become stars in their own right.
Lizabeth Scott is best remembered today for her appearances in a number of top film noir productions of the forties, including the great 1947 Humphrey Bogart vehicle Dead Reckoning. Not a traditional beauty, Scott managed to carve quite a place for herself for a while in film with her rather hypnotic intensity and mystery. She is really splendid in Loving You in a part that would have typically been played by a man and her scenes with Elvis are very nicely done.

Other well known cast members include prolific character actor Wendell Corey, talented James Gleason (who tragically passed away just a couple of years after production on Loving You wrapped) and scene stealer Jana Lund who claims her place in history here as one of the first rock and roll groupies ever presented on film.

Lots of other familiar faces pop up as well including future television actress Yvonne Lime and many folks Elvis fans will recognize including his parents in a crowd scene. The real story of the film though is young Dolores Hart, who makes her feature debut as Elvis’ sweet love interest, Susan Jessup.

Chicago born Hart was nearing her twentieth birthday when she shot Loving You for Kanter and it would marked one of two very memorable roles opposite Elvis (the other being 1958’s King Creole) and she is simply smashing in the both parts, projecting the kind of warmth and goodness most actors wouldn’t even be able to come close to. Hart would become quite close to Elvis during the production and some endearing home movies exist of the two of them palling together after it wrapped. She would shock everyone less than ten years after Loving You when she abandoned an incredibly promising screen career to be a nun. Her role as Susan here is one of her finest and her scenes with Elvis mark some of the best in his entire canon.
Loving You is at its best during the many song sequences and the legendary soundtrack is astonishing. Songs like the title track, "Mean Woman Blues" and "Teddy Bear" seem a part of our national collective conscience but even better are the lesser-known tracks like the exciting "Got A Lot Of Livin To Do", "Party" (a favorite of the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney) and the eerie "Lonesome Cowboy"(one of the film’s original titles) mark some of the finest studio work Elvis did in the fifties. Anyone who has ever stated that all of Elvis soundtracks songs are bad have either never heard the Loving You soundtrack or are completely deaf when it comes to great music as every cut on here is a killer.

Kanter directs the film and its musical sequences with a lot of style and inventive drive and it’s a shame his directorial career wasn’t more prolific. Loving You is almost a complete success for the first time director and with perhaps a little tightening (especially in the latter half) it could have been one of the truly great musicals of the fifties.
The future great actor in Elvis that Kanter predicted doesn’t appear here but what is in its place is no less incredible. Gone are the jitters of Love Me Tender as Elvis appears totally at ease and he has already nearly mastered the relaxed on screen charm and charisma that has gone on to influence everyone from Kurt Russell to Vince Vaughn. Loving You is one of the great early chapters in Elvis’ career and one that has never fully gotten its due.
The film is available on a decent widescreen DVD with virtually no extras, although thankfully a wonderful book called Inside Loving You is out that details the film's production.. Adding insult to injury, it is surprisingly one of the hardest to find with online vendors being the only real prerogative as very few stores seem to stock it. Pity, as Loving You is one of the best films in Elvis ‘ catalogue and one of the most delightful and underrated Rock films of the fifties.

Overlooked Gems: "So Glad Your Mine"

2008-03-27T04:11:00.001-07:00

Our man recorded this gloriously down and dirty Arthur Crudup track in the late January session of 1956. Bristling with a delightfully decadent burlesque feel, this ode to a girl shaped like a ‘cannonball’ is one of the best Elvis tracks of the fifties, and is highlighted by a menacingly smooth vocal by EP as well as some unforgettable piano work by Shorty Long. A real masterpiece and one of the best tracks off the fabulous second LP.

Elvis Week Memories: Celeste Yarnall Talks about Elvis and Martin Luther King

2008-03-24T14:43:00.001-07:00

One of my great memories of Elvis week is seeing Celeste tell this moving and important story. I am grateful to the person who recorded and posted this...

Elvis On Vinyl: Elvis Presley (1956)

2008-03-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley’s self-titled first LP is unarguably one of the most important albums in rock history. Not only is it the first album by the genre’s most successful and influential figure but it is also the first genuine smash LP of the rock era. Its success in the spring and summer of 1956 would signal that it would be the long player and not the single that would come to dominate the sixties and onwards.
The album itself, featuring one of the most famous photos in Rock history on its cover, is actually a grab-bag affair consisting of a handful of left over Sun sides and a half dozen or so newly recorded RCA tracks. The famed singles from those initial sessions in the early part of 1956 ("Heartbreak Hotel" and the B-Sides "I Was The One" and the stunning "My Baby Left Me" among them) would not be included on the original album although they are included on the regular CD releases and the deluxe Double FTD set.
The album, featuring Elvis’ regular sidemen Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D.J Fontana joined by ace session men Chet Atkins, Shorty Long and Floyd Cramer, would be recorded in two marathon sessions that lasted over several days in January and February of 56. While not his most consistently great album, the tracks Elvis recorded in these sessions have gone on to influence everyone from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones, to The Clash to The White Stripes.

The album gets off to a roaring start with Carl Perkin’s vicious ode to non-conformity, "Blue Suede Shoes" (a song that helped define Rock and Roll as much as any other). Featuring a go for the throat vocal take by Elvis and the band in absolutely pulverizing form, "Blue Suede Shoes" is a searing classic with Scotty Moore’s charging and inventive guitar licks leading the way.

That stomping opening is followed by one of the most underrated ballads of Elvis’ early career, Don Robertson’s "I’m Counting On You". Elvis delivers such a subtle and genuine vocal here that it is near impossible to imagine anyone else singing it. Featuring some wonderfully expressive Cramer piano fills and the backing vocals of Gordon Stoker, "I’m Counting On You" is a devastating reminder to how many hidden gems are in Presley’s huge catalogue.

The disarming "I’m Counting On You" is followed by a cover of Ray Charles’ "I Got A Woman", one of Elvis’ favorite songs and another one of the great rock records of the fifties. I have always imagined this song as less a confession of adultery and more a last minute attempt at keeping a lost love with the fabrication of another. While perhaps lacking the passion of Charles’ original, Elvis vocal is still fiery and totally believable and is highlighted by some speaker destroying drumming by Fontana. The burlesque ending is also absolutely inspired.

"One Sided Love Affair" follows and it is admittedly one of the album’s slighter moments, but in its own way it is one of the most charming. Featuring Elvis’ trademark (and underrated) propulsive rhythm guitar playing and some more stunning Cramer chords, Bill Campbell’s song becomes a tongue in cheek church like revival affair that is incredibly fun to listen to.

"I Love You Because", a Sun Side written by Leon Payne, shows Elvis at the very dawn of his career. His vocal is all heart here and he hasn’t yet perfected his unmatchable style. Still, the song is a beauty and hearing Elvis this raw with Moore’s subtle and sweet guitar playing right next to his vocal is chilling stuff.
Another Sun track follows and it is one of the great ones. Cow-Punk twenty-five years before anyone called it that, Bob and Joe Shelton’s "Just Because" is a sneering and angry barrel of venom and Elvis delivers it perfectly. Moore’s playing is inspired again and the trio of Presley, Black and Moore (no drums on this one folks) sounds like the opening chapter to X’s Wild Gift almost thirty years before they recorded it. It’s a masterpiece of fire, spit and simplicity.

Little Richard’s "Tutti-Frutti" is up next and to my ears it is one of the weakest moments on the record. Featuring none of the erotic feverish drive of the original nor none of the crazed power, Elvis’ version just isn’t all that inspired although it does contain a sweet guitar break just past the minute mark.

Yet another Sun track is up next, but who’s complaining as "Trying To Get To You" is one of the great Fifties track from Elvis or anyone else you care to name. Heartfelt, aching and soaring, Charles Singelton's and Rose McCoy’s driving ballad is one of the most moving and masterful in all of Elvis’ catalogue. He knew it too and he would return to it time and time again, most notably in the fateful years of 1968 and 1977.

Joe Thomas’ "I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You" had originally been recorded by Elvis at the Louisiana Hayride in 1955 and this two minute studio cut is solid if not up to par with the best tracks on the album. Atkins and Cramer really take over here and it is pleasant enough listen although it lacks the fire of the rest of the album.

Jim Wakely’s "I’ll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin)" is another echo drenched Sun track and it's spine tingling in its execution and meaning. Elvis sounds near possessed in how lost he gets in the track in the first half which makes the surprising tone shift near the end sound almost shocking.

One of the great moments in recorded sound follows with the Sun side "Blue Moon". This Rogers and Hart standard that has been recorded by everyone from Bing Crosby to Jack White is, to quote Elvis Costello, “Positively supernatural” in Presley’s hands. It’s hard to imagine anyone doubting the genius of Elvis Presley after hearing this numbing and sublime track. Director Jim Jarmusch would use it to devastating effect three decades later in his Mystery Train, one of the best films of the eighties.

The album closes with Jesse Stone’s "Money Honey" and the journey from Sun’s Hillbilly Cat to RCA’s fiery Rock and Roller is complete. Elvis is at is hiccupping and snarling best here, with the song sounding like a sizzling hot house of sin, sweat and salvation all neatly wrapped up in a two minute plus grinding burlesque classic. Moore’s guitar is particularly menacing and Elvis’ confidence explodes from the speakers…a stunner.

The album would have a massive impact and it would only be improved upon with Elvis, the more cohesive and powerhouse follow-up. The Clash would famously lift the cover photo for their mammoth London Calling double platter in 1979 and Joe Strummer would speak of his love for Elvis Presley up to his untimely and tragic passing several years ago.
Elvis Presley is best heard on the Double set FTD release that includes great re-mastering, a terrific booklet, all the singles and a ton of outtakes. The stand alone CD is solid as well and more reasonably priced for the casual or new fan.

Elvis Still Watches Over Graceland

2008-03-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

A haunting image taken by the Graceland cam late last year...

Elvis Week Memories: 2007 Elvis Week Reaction

2008-03-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

***Here are some of my memories that I posted just after I returned from Elvis Week 07, one of the biggest and best ever. Excuse any typos...this proved to be one of the hottest Elvis Weeks in history and I was exhausted when I wrote it. I am also including a few rather blurry shots from the fabulous Insider's 07 Conference as well****

I have been attending Elvis Week now for more than five years and I must say that this one was among the very best so far. Although the temperature in Memphis was unbearably hot and kept me feeling exhausted, the events the EPE staff came up with were extremely exciting. Here is a rundown of some of the events I attended, a few honest criticisms and a few random thoughts.

One of the first things my Mom and I always do upon arriving is to peruse all of the shops around Graceland to see the new merchandise, and to just begin to soak up the atmosphere in general. The newer products this year were for the most part well done. The T-Shirt designs are typically pretty superb and I try to overlook certain things that have been licensed that I don’t find all that appealing. There wasn’t anything overtly offensive that I saw this year, such as the dreaded Elvis Duck heads that have popped up in the past few trips.

I am continually disappointed by what is happening to Elvis’ music selection in the shops. The "Good Rockin Tonight" music shop should be just that, and there is no excuse for it to not be fully stocked with all of the FTDs as well as all of the currently available BMG products. T-Shirts and souvenirs are fine but in the end it should be about the music and a new fan walking into this store would have trouble knowing what to get. I think a total overhaul of the store is in order, with not only getting all the music in stock but also some sort of interactive guide (and a knowledgeable staff) that could help newcomers with their collection. Each year Elvis’ cds seem to be pushed further and further back which is a real disservice to the man and his legacy.

Our first big event this year was the annual A CELEBRATION OF FANS and that was a very well organized and fun time. It is always a pleasure to see and hear Jerry Schilling and his presence along with the wonderful display of charity made by the fan club presidents was inspiring.

The ELVIS EXPO that ran for three days was also fairly well organized. Most of the booths set up were very respectful and the people for the most part were extremely friendly. It was difficult to get the Insider’s guests autographs during the conference due to time and the crowds but I think EPE handled this as well as they possibly could.

August 12th brought the beginning of THE ELVIS TRIBUTE ARTIST CONTEST. We did not attend this and I find EPE’s embrace of this to be the most disappointing decision they have ever made. While some of these ‘artists’ are talented and love the man, overall they have done more to hurt the legacy of Elvis Presley more than anyone else. I refuse to have anything to do with this and I am really saddened by EPEs sanctioning of such an event. That said, outside of the usual jump suited idiots walking around Graceland, we were free of having to see any of this.

The Sunday night scavenger hunt was a serious blast as always and this is a great event that the staff of EPE obviously work extremely hard on. It is a great way to see the mansion, have fun, learn about Elvis and maybe even win some prizes.

Monday was Day One of The Insider’s Conference and it was pretty solid although it wasn’t as memorable as some past Insider’s Conferences. The highlight of the day was the spirited Mary Ann Mobely who seemed very friendly and obviously happy to be there. The Maxine Brown-Joanne Cash segment would have been in serious trouble had the always reliable and personable Host Tom Brown not have been there to come between the two of them. The co-stars talk between Darlene Tompkins, Chris Noel and Cynthia Pepper was okay but they had such limited time with him that I kind of wished for something a little more substantial for the thirtieth anniversary. I won’t say much on the Colonel Parker segment. I appreciate that Loanna Parker is looking out for her late husband’s best interests but no amount of revisionism will make me forget many of the things Elvis sacrificed artistically because of his very greedy manager.

The first ever concert on Graceland’s lawn was held that night and while I had mixed feelings about it, it turned out okay. It started late and not being a Nascar Fan I was a bit baffled by the whole Dale vibe, but a lot of people really got into it. The Dempsey’s performed a fairly spirited set and Andy Childs group did a solid, if not totally memorable, job. The restored print of "Viva Las Vegas" was then shown and it looked fantastic.

Day Two of The Insider’s Conference was a real triumpth and was easily one of the highlights of the whole week. We were treated to fascinating conversations by the TCB Band, The Sweet Inspirations and The famed American Studio Memphis Boys Band. All of these segments were fascinating and everyone was obviously very excited to be there and their passion for Elvis was infectious. The real highlight was Jerry Schilling’s talk with Priscilla. She is so much more personable, friendly and open in person. At one point Jerry tried to stop and she asked to continue. She was obviously enjoying being there and her talk was a really special thing to see.

Night Two on the lawn was also much better than night one. We were treated to a very fitting gospel show featuring The Stamps, The Imperials and The Sweets and then were shown "That’s The Way It Is." Hearing this wonderful music in front of Graceland as the sun went down was really special and it seemed like everyone there felt it. I still have mixed feelings about so many people about being on the lawn, drinking, eating and most likely littering but it was still a nice event.

Wednesday the 15th was of course The Vigil. There isn’t too much I can say about that. It was moving, it was hot, it was packed. The floral displays this year were really incredible. We attended three film showings at the Malco Theatre earlier that day and that was loads of fun. Seeing "Girl Happy", "Charro" and "Live A Little, Love A Little" on the big screen was amazing. "Charro" especially was spellbinding and the staff of the Malco is always great. It is a fine event and I can’t understand why more fans don’t go. There has been a misprint two years running in the Elvis Week newspaper guide regarding the directions to the Theater and I wonder if that has caused some to miss the event.

We slept in on Thursday after the Vigil, missing both the Jerry Osbourne talk and George Klein memorial, in preparation for the two concerts. The Fed-Ex concerts were incredible, mind-blowing events and were both unforgettable. The TCB band as well as the backing groups were all smoking (particularly in the much looser second show) and the filmed opening was chillingly great. I can’t imagine how emotional it must have been for Jerry, Joe and George to film that. Lisa-Marie’s duet on "In The Ghetto" and seeing her get down with Myrna Smith on stage was worth the ticket price. I have a few reservations about the video but I realized that it was done in a rush, and the song was so great that I can forgive any shortcomings. Highlights of the first concert, outside of the opening and the duet, was the second half where the band really locked into gear and by the time "An American Trilogy" started everyone was on their feet. The second show was perhaps even better. Starting out with a killer orchestrated version of Bill Conti’s "Gonna Fly Now" from "Rocky" and then brief opening sets from The Sweets and Imperials; the TCB band hit the stage roaring. "Pola Sald Annie" was especially jaw dropping with Jerry Scheff doing some of the most intense and dirty bass work I have heard in a long time. Both shows were stunning.

We spent our last day touring the mansion and I must say the heat and the crowds finally got to us and I think we were both suitably exhausted by the time we got ready to go.
Despite the heat, this was one of the best Elvis Weeks ever. Thanks to all the EPE staff, especially Scott and Angie who are always so incredibly friendly, for putting so much work into making the week special. It was an amazing trip I will never forget.

Elvis Week Memories: August 2007 Elvis Expo

2008-03-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from the great August 2007 Elvis Expo where I got to see and meet the Sweet Inspirations, James Burton and Jerry Schilling among others again. Enjoy.

Overlooked Gems: "I'm Counting On You"

2008-03-19T14:59:00.001-07:00

Recorded at Elvis’ first RCA session just before he cut I Was The One, this lovely Don Robertson ballad is a little overlooked classic that was included on album number one. Even though you can still hear Sholes and Ferris attempting to ape the Sun sound, Elvis delivers a sweet and subtle vocal punctuated by Floyd Cramer’s beautifully simple piano playing and some lovely guitar fills from Chet Atkins. A real winner.

Elvis On Screen: Love Me Tender (1956)

2008-03-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Kentucky born Robert D. Webb got his start in Hollywood in his mid thirties as an Assistant Director on Henry King’s Lloyd’s of London, an acclaimed Historical drama from 1936 starring Freddie Bartholomew. While perhaps better known as a director, it would indeed be as an Assistant Director that Webb would garner his first and only Oscar, for 1938’s In Old Chicago. Webb finally graduated to the director’s chair less than a decade later with the mostly forgotten thriller The Caribbean Mystery (1945) and continued to work steadily until the late part of the sixties.
Love Me Tender (1956) would mark Webb’s ninth film in the director’s chair and it is probably his most famous one even though, truth be told, it isn’t among his finest works.
20th Century Fox’s Love Me Tender started out life as The Reno Brothers, a short treatment from prolific Western writer Maurice Geraghty. Originally thought of as a vehicle for up and coming star Robert Wagner, the direction of the film changed course when 20 year old singing sensation Elvis Presley was cast in the supporting but pivotal role of Clint opposite popular Fox contract players Richard Egan and lovely Debra Paget.

Golden Globe winner Egan was born in San Francisco in 1921 and had begun acting for the camera in his late twenties in such productions as The Damned Don’t Cry (1950). Ruggedly handsome and talented, Egan quickly became a reliable force in many Fox films throughout the fifties and would eventually make quite a splash in television in the sixties and seventies.
Paget was almost a decade younger than Egan but she had been no less prolific and had actually made her film debut a full year before her co-star with 1948’s Cry Of The City. Easily one of the prettiest and most charismatic Fox players of the fifties, the fresh faced Paget offered a nice counter to Fox’s biggest star of the day, Marilyn Monroe. Paget could also act and viewing her work today it is surprising that she didn’t become a bigger star than she did.
Love Me Tender is a fairly simple Civil War based western that would probably have been forgotten by now if it wasn’t for the debut of Elvis, who holds his own fairly well with his much more seasoned co–stars even though he is obviously inexperienced and is a bit awkward at points.

In a very profound way Love Me Tender serves as an interesting foreshadowing to some of the major film work Elvis would do throughout the next decade. The film, much like King Creole (1958), Flaming Star (1960), Wild In The Country (1961), and Change Of Habit (1969), was clearly meant to be a straight drama before Colonel Tom Parker got his hands into it and forced songs into the mix. Sometimes, as in King Creole, this worked incredibly well but more often than not, it hurt and cheapened what were otherwise very serious minded films. While Love Me Tender is not at the level of say a Wild In The Country or Flaming Star the forced songs do hurt it as bad, which isn’t to say the songs are not good (they are actually quite smashing), but they don’t have any place in the film. They have obviously just been added to appeal to Elvis’ music fans and the film suffers for it, with the title track excepted as it only plays during the opening and closing credits.

The film itself is a decent production that is mostly let down by the pedestrian screenplay that feels more wooden than anything else. It is a lovely looking film though, itself an accomplishment as this was a modestly budgeted production, and it benefits greatly from the photography of legendary cinematographer Leo Tover. Prolific Oscar nominee Tovar always did splendid work and his black and white photography here is very striking and Love Me Tender is never less than gorgeous to look at. Famed composer Lionel Newman’s score is also worth noting and he particularly does a great job weaving the haunting main theme throughout the film.

The cast does the best it can with the script, especially Paget who is really believable in the film as a woman torn between two brothers. Keep an eye out for future Bewitched star Dick Sargent in a bit part as a soldier and legendary future Sam Peckinpah actor L.Q. Jones makes an early appearance in a very small but noticeable un-credited role.
It is finally all about Elvis though and like I said he really is quite good here for the most part. He hasn’t fine-tuned his underrated acting style yet but the camera, which is in love with him from the first scene on, already captures his natural charisma completely here. He grew incredibly quickly as an actor, which is not noted often enough, as his first starring role a year later in Loving You shows him giving a much more accomplished and energetic performance. It all begins here though and despite the fact that Love Me Tender is not a great film, it is an important one.
The film would have a huge opening and would become one of Fox’s biggest moneymakers of 1956. It is currently available on a sharp widescreen special edition DVD that features a short documentary and an engaging commentary by Jerry Schilling.

Elvis Week Memories: Various Autographs

2008-03-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorite autographs that I have collected during past Elvis weeks. Please click on each for a larger view if you would like.

Elvis Week Memories: Images From Graceland, August 07

2008-03-17T05:53:00.001-07:00

Click on each for larger and better quality images.

Elvis Week Memories: The 30th Anniversary Concert

2008-03-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

Here are various shots we took at the amazing sold out 30th Anniversary Concert at the Fed Ex Forum in August of 07. Please click on each for a larger view.

An Important Article

2008-03-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a wonderful article written by LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS and CARELESS LOVE author Peter Guralnick from the New York Times. This is exactly the kind of well thought out and insightful work we need to see more of in the media concerning Elvis. This is a must read….great job Peter!

Elvis Week Memories: Tupelo August 2007

2008-03-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

David Hess Wrote For The King

2008-03-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

This Article Originally Appeared at my Moon In The Gutter on 05/05/2007

The music of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was one of the first things that struck me about Wes Craven’s brutal shocker when I first saw it in my teens. The film for all of its darkness and intensity featured a score that at times matched its nihilism and other times played against it. The most memorable piece of music was the haunting THE ROAD LEADS TO NOWHERE, a song which played a big part of Eli Roth’s CABIN FEVER decades later.
The music to LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was composed by none other than David Hess, the intense and imposing psychopath Krug in the film. Pretty early on I noticed in certain articles about David Hess often mentioned that he had been David Hill in the early sixties and had written a number of famous songs including the great DADDY ROLLING STONE and most intriguingly I GOT STUNG recorded by none other than Elvis Presley.
It was hard to me for a long time to picture the star of Craven’s film as well as similar roles in HITCH-HIKE and THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK as the writer of such sublimely well crafted songs. It seemed like two totally different worlds and David Hess was so good in these films that it was hard for me to come to terms with seeing him in another light.
Released last year was the mammoth book WRITING FOR THE KING. The book is an important one in that it is entirely centered on the amazing songwriters who contributed songs not just for Elvis but a number of popular music’s greatest song stylists of the twentieth century. The format of the book is simple. Each chapter is dedicated to a songwriter, or songwriting team. Many are interviewed and for those that have passed. solid biographies are given. They all talk specifically and honestly about the songs that Elvis recorded and also about their lives, careers, disappointments and highpoints. It is a really unique book that gives voice to many who haven’t been heard from before. The book also includes an entire cd of original demos by the songwriters that Elvis would have heard, as well as an unreleased live recording collection by Elvis himself. The demos cd is great because we can clearly hear these songs in their early stages, some fully formed and others almost just sketches. Also interesting to hear is how much Elvis would change and mutate them to his own voice and style. It is especially fascinating to listen to some of the demos attempting to sound like Elvis, it’s a window into a fascinating world that most of us as music listeners aren’t usually able to hear.
David Hess is one of the songwriters featured and his chapter is one of the best. He recalls his time as a singer in New York’s Greenwich Village folk scene in the late fifties and getting hired early on by Shalimar music where he met the great Otis Blackwell. He talks of recording Blackwell’s ALL SHOOK UP as David Hill before Elvis and finally landing a job at the influential Hill and Range company.
It was with fellow songwriter Aaron Schroeder that Hess wrote his most famous song, the delightfully catchy I GOT STUNG. Hess admits that for a long time he thought his demo was superior to Elvis’ version but admits that, “Elvis’ version has really stood up, I love it.”

Hess goes on to talk honestly about Colonel Parker’s business dealings and other trappings of the songwriting world. He mentions how much he admired Elvis’ ability to phrase his singing, “from internal strife” and talks about the excitement of Paul McCartney’s ‘back to his roots’ recording of I GOT STUNG.
Hess concludes with talking about some later movie songs he wrote for Elvis as well as some other non-Elvis tracks. He says, “I just love Elvis. I love what he did…we stopped at Graceland and I cried seeing what had happened to this incredibly talented genius. What makes Elvis great is his honesty. The only way he could sing was honestly.”
Included in the Hess chapter is a great photo of Hess performing in New York in the fifties and a studio shot from the sixties. No mention is made of his later career as this book is just about their lives as songwriters and it is great to see attention given to this side of the talented Hess.
WRITING FOR THE KING is huge 400 page coffee table book that is essential reading for Elvis fans as well as people interested in the craft of songwriting. It contains interviews with many people you might not have heard of as well as many you have but guaranteed you will recognize most of these songs.
Below are two links. One is information on ordering this book and cd collection. The price might seem steep but it is more than worth it. The other link is David Hess’ fine official site. Here you can read up on the man, his films and music. Several cds are available including THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT soundtrack as well as a demos and live collection. Hess continues to be a major force in front of the camera and is rumored to have recently been cast in Deodato’s long awaited CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST sequel.
Hess’ most memorable films including LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, HITCH-HIKE, HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK and SWAMP THING are all currently on dvd from various companies. The special editions of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and HITCH-HIKE are highly recommended.

Remember Boots Randolph

2008-03-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

This Article originally appeared at my Moon In The Gutter on 07/04/07 to mark Boot's passing.

Legendary saxophonist Boots Randolph passed away yesterday at the age of 80. Boots was born just down the road a bit from me in Paducah, Kentucky and is probably best known for his monster hit, YAKETY SAX. I was supposed to see Boots live again in just a month or so at the big 30th Anniversary Elvis In Concert in Memphis. The couple of times I did get to see him live were always very exciting as he remained an incredible player even well into his seventies.
My favorite Boots Randolph moment comes on RECONSIDER BABY, the final track on the stunning ELVIS IS BACK album. Driven by Elvis’ own rhythm guitar playing and ferocious vocal, Boots delivered one of the great X-Rated sounding Sax solos in rock history. 46 years after it was recorded, RECONSIDER BABY still sounds as fresh and amazing as the day that it was first hit the streets. Elvis and Boots would continue recording throughout the sixties and Randolph featured on several of Elvis’ most underrated recordings from the period, including fantastic cuts like KING OF THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD and IT’S A LONG LONELY HIGHWAY.
Boots also played with many of the most legendary music figures of the sixties and seventies and recorded many fine solo albums. He was a musical force and a true original…my best to his family and friends.

Until We Meet Again

2008-03-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

This article originally appeared at Moon In The Gutter to mark the thirtieth anniversary of his final performance.

Thirty years ago tonight at Indianapolis’s Market Square Arena an exhausted, disillusioned and sick Elvis Presley stepped onto a stage for the final time. He would be backed by his James Burton led TCB band, a band often described as one of the greatest live bands ever assembled, and he would perform 21 songs from all parts of his remarkable 23 year career. The reviews of the Indianapolis show were among the best of that emotionally and physically devastating 1977 Summer tour but the reality is that it is like many of the shows from that year, a combination of a tired artist walking through some songs while investing others with explosively spiritual readings that would show the last things to leave Elvis Presley were his voice and heart.
Much has been written about Elvis in that final fateful year of his life. It has always baffled me how people can take such glee in cruelly making fun of someone who was in such an obvious state of emotional and physical turmoil, but that is exactly what the last thirty years have brought. Whether it be the ill conceived CBS television special that was aired to pay off Colonel Parker’s gambling debts, or the factually and spiritually corrupt Albert Goldman assignation job of a book in 1981, to people who have no conception of how important culturally and devastatingly talented this man was, 1977 and the years since have taken much away from the legacy of Elvis Presley.
The thing that strikes me most about that fateful final year is just how great, even at his most vulnerable and damaged, Elvis Presley remained. For all of the rushed through and lifeless performances that he gave that year, each show would also feature some of the most powerhouse vocals of his career. I’m not an apologist for Elvis in 1977. The man was sick and needed to be in a hospital and not on the stage but there are moments, like when he is singing HURT, HOW GREAT THOU ART, BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER and especially a exorcising UNCHAINED MELODY, that the most powerful aspects of Elvis come out. Also noteworthy is that this was clearly a man who was remembering something special from his past and the spirited performances of TRYING TO GET TO YOU, LITTLE SISTER and an acoustic driven THAT’S ALL RIGHT all point to the fact that Elvis seemed to be finding solace in much of the rock music of his youth. A planned rock and roll studio album was being discussed for late 1977 and with people like John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and David Bowie clamoring to write and produce for him, the late seventies could have been a most glorious time of renewal for Presley.
But it wasn’t meant to be and as tragic as the final year of Elvis Presely’s life was, it is hard to imagine things any other way now. The site of Elvis Presley’s final show was a sports arena built for the Indiana Pacers in 1974. Elvis had played there before but in that final show it has been reported that the 18,000 people that saw him thirty years ago tonight was the most the arena could hold.
The show was pretty typical for 1977 with the aforementioned THAT’S ALL RIGHT being the opening song after the 2001 theme played. The beguiling and always powerful CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE closed the set which included readings of songs ranging from YOU GAVE ME A MOUNTAIN to LITTLE SISTER to a surprising, for 77, I CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU. The final words Elvis Presley spoke on stage were, "Until we meet again, may God bless you…adios."
The Elvis Presley of 1977 was the same Elvis Presley who had stunned people in his legendary 1968 comeback special, just like he was the same man who had made millions of people happy in his 31 feature films, and the same person who had inspired every major rock artist of the sixties and seventies with his work in the fifties…and finally the Elvis Presley of 1977 was the same little boy who grew up in poverty stricken Mississippi dreaming he could reach something else. The career of Elvis Presley can be split up into parts but it should never be forgotten that this was the same man all the way through and there was still a lot of that young dreamer left in him even at the end. Elvis in 1977 is often described as ‘old Elvis’ which is a mistake because Elvis Presley never had the chance to grow old, he was just 42 when he died.

Like many landmarks Americans take a weird satisfaction in destroying, Market Square Arena was imploded a few years ago to a crowd of hundreds; a crowd that erupted in a mixture of boos and cheers when the destruction happened. It has always reminded me of a line Lou Reed wrote in 1989, "Americans don’t care too much for beauty, they’ll shit in a river and dump battery acid in a stream..then complain that they can’t swim." There is a strong element in our country that takes a certain sick satisfaction in tearing down our landmarks and idols. Certainly for the last thirty years they have tried to do it to Elvis Presley and yet somehow he remains; like some sort of indestructible reminder that you can’t kill a dream that millions of people have ended up sharing.

Elvis Presley was often described, throughout his life, as someone who wanted nothing more than to make the people around him happy, and up to those last moments when he walked off that Indianapolis stage he was still doing just that. His ultimate sacrifice for making people happy was finally his own life, which perhaps says as much about the world we live in as anything else ever could. Ironically, even thirty years after he sang those final notes, Elvis Presley continues to make millions upon millions of people happy…whether you are a fan or not, that is a fact that should be celebrated.

Welcome To How The Web Was Woven

2008-03-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hello,

My name is Jeremy Richey and I am a student, writer and a major Elvis Presley fan. I have set up this blog to post my thoughts on the career of Elvis Presley. I will be posting my own memories of my times in Memphis and will be posting my reviews of Elvis’ music and films. I have a main film and music blog called Moon In The Gutter that I update daily which I invite everyone to check out as well.

I hope everyone enjoys my reports on upcoming Elvis Weeks, my memories of past weeks and my reviews of Elvis related films and music.

Thank you.