Elvis Presley Complete Singles UK and USA:16 Just Because

Elvis Presley Complete Singles UK and USA 16: Just Because

Listeners avidly listening to the Elvis Presley EP when it was issued, must have felt like they had visited Mars because this was a throwback to the earlier Sun era. Which musicians played on this track, recorded all the way back in June 1954 has been hotly disputed, with some Elvis experts saying that Buddy Cunningham played percussion and Doug Poindexter played guitar along with Elvis, Scotty and Bill.

The track itself is a right rollicking, rock and roll stunner with Elvis in fantastic form delivering payback to a girlfriend who has been mistreating him. What this track has, that the early RCA records don’t have, is the correct use of the echo slapback technique because RCA engineers could never get it right. What I also enjoyed is the way Scotty’s guitar licks help keep the momentum of the song going, so you can keep dancing. I am very surprised that it wasn’t released as a Sun Records Single, with its up-tempo beat

I am very pleased that RCA included this track and other Sun Tracks on the Elvis Presley EP and LP because it meant that people in those early years could hear a lot more of these pioneering Sun Sessions.

Next up we head to another US Elvis EP and the next song waiting to be explored is the beautiful ballad I’m Counting on You.

Thanks Elvis Records.us

 

Elvis Presley Complete Singles UK and USA:16 Just Because

Elvis Presley Complete Singles UK and USA 16: Just Because

Listeners avidly listening to the Elvis Presley EP when it was issued, must have felt like they had visited Mars because this was a throwback to the earlier Sun era. Which musicians played on this track, recorded all the way back in June 1954 has been hotly disputed, with some Elvis experts saying that Buddy Cunningham played percussion and Doug Poindexter played guitar along with Elvis, Scotty and Bill.

 

The track itself is a right rollicking, rock and roll stunner with Elvis in fantastic form delivering payback to a girlfriend who has been mistreating him. What this track has, that the early RCA records don’t have, is the correct use of the echo slapback technique because RCA engineers could never get it right. What I also enjoyed is the way Scotty’s guitar licks help keep the momentum of the song going, so you can keep dancing. I am very surprised that it wasn’t released as a Sun Records Single, with its up-tempo beat.

I am very pleased that RCA included this track and other Sun Tracks on the Elvis Presley EP and LP because it meant that people in those early years could hear a lot more of these pioneering Sun Sessions.

Next up we head to another US Elvis EP and the next song waiting to be explored is the beautiful ballad I’m Counting on You.

Thanks Elvis Records.us

 

Elvis Presley UK and USA Complete Singles 15: I Got A Woman

Elvis Complete Singles 15 I Got a Woman

This classic song always bursts into life on my headphones; it was originally recorded by the great African American singer Ray Charles. The song was a very recent song when Elvis first attempted at Sun Records which has since been lost, that version wouldn’t have been.  The version that I am covering today is from his first life changing RCA Session. Unlike Tutti Frutti, the previous song I covered, this version benefits from rocking piano provided by Floyd Cramer.

Elvis regular band on this track are very confident on this track because a lot of the energy on the track is provided by DJ Fontana’s drumbeats. Elvis also sounds very assured; this combination is what gets me up and dancing with this song every time.

Elvis producer Steve Sholes was, like the previous track, unhappy at Elvis recording these covers due to their lack of commercial viability as singles.

What I think that these rock and roll covers, that Elvis recorded at RCA is that Elvis wasn’t losing the rocking edge that he displayed at Sun, even if there were more ballads recorded at RCA. Next up on the U.S E.P release I take you back in time to the Sun era  for a really cool and rocking song so don’t miss it.

Thanks:45 Cat.com

That’s All Folks.

Elvis Complete Singles 14: Tutti Frutti

Elvis Complete Singles 14: Tutti Frutti

I left the blog with the promise to review the B Side of the British record and the second track on the U.S. Elvis Presley E.P. The track is a cover of the classic track by African-American early rock and roll pioneer Little Richard. What’s interesting about the song is it continues the story of Elvis doing his own unique version of African American music.

The version is recorded with the usual team of Elvis, Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana. I like this version however I prefer the original version by Little Richard because of the fact it is faster and also features a sax solo. I don’t think this isn’t an exciting track though but the original is a classic.

What I do find interesting is how Elvis’s nominal producer at the time didn’t want him to be recording these covers because they were recent chart hits and so therefore weren’t commercial enough during this rocket ship year of 1956 for Elvis.

-Overall I really enjoy the song but I can see why it was on the B Side in Britain. Next up is another cover of a classic track by an African American artist, so remember to read that one, that’s all folks.

Review: Elvis Presley, “That’s The Way It Is: Deluxe Editions”

Fantastic review as I was thinking of buying the set and I am now convinced it is worth the money

The Second Disc

In 1992, American voters were asked to vote on not one, but two, matters of national importance: who should be the next President of the United States – and which image of Elvis Presley should grace a postage stamp. Bill Clinton won the former with roughly 43% of the popular vote, and as for the latter decision? It was “young Elvis” by a reported 75% landslide. The lithe, “Heartbreak Hotel”-era image of the pelvis-swiveling icon had triumphed over the jumpsuit-clad “old Elvis” – who, in fact, wasn’t that old. In 1969, when Elvis first set foot onstage at the International Hotel’s showroom, the biggest in Las Vegas, he was just 34 years old. He was dead a little over eight years later, at 42. But for those early days when Elvis ruled as the reigning King not just of Rock and Roll but of Sin City, too, there was likely…

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Elvis Complete Singles UK and USA 13: Blue Suede Shoes

Elvis Presley Complete Singles UK and USA 13: Blue Suede Shoes

The next single was released in a variety of formats but I will be covering the US Elvis Presley EP release first. The EP format was a format used at the time for teenagers because they could get more songs for the price of a regular two-sided single. This top side was the classic Blue Suede Shoes, the song was also out in 1956 by its writer Carl Perkins. Elvis didn’t record it for a while because he didn’t want to take sales off his good friend whom he had befriended at Sun Records. Elvis’s version is my favourite version of the song because of the way it bursts out of the speakers into your ears. Also I really love Scotty’s solo which is just bursting with energy. The song was recorded in late January of 56 with the usual band with the addition of the fantastic boogie woogie pianist Shorty Long.

One of the most interesting points about this song is that is even though it is a classic with Elvis and the band cutting loose and providing lots of energy ,the song when released as part of an EP in the USA only made 24 in the charts,  is small change compared to other hits that year. Thankfully in Britain released under licence from RCA on the HMV Label as a regular single it reached number 9 on the British Charts.

The next entry is a song that was on both releases in the USA the classic rock and roller Tutti Frutti.

Image Copyright and Thanks: Sergeant.com.au

Elvis Complete SIngles UK and USA 12 I Was the One

Elvis Complete Singles 12: I Was the One

What was interesting about this song, the B-side of Heartbreak Hotel, is that it’s a ballad because it shows that even rockers such as Elvis needed to slow things down sometimes, this record also appealed to Elvis’s teenage girl fans. The same band that made the A Side were present and correct for this one with the addition of Gordon Stocker from the Jordanaires with Ben and Brock Speer from the newly signed RCA group the Speer Quartet. Elvis was unhappy at this because he wanted the full Jordanaires. The song is an interesting one for me because it works so well with the spartan quartet.

 

This is one of my favourite records because when I started listening to Elvis this taught me how he could cover so many different styles. I think another reason why I loved it so much at that young age is that it was so different to the pop sounds of the early 2000s with the echo and the sound with Elvis showing off his vocal range. The general public agreed with me, on the song, taking it to Number 19 on Billboard pop charts.

Thanks:45 Cat.com

Elvis Presley Complete Singles UK And USA 11: Heartbreak Hotel

Even with the fact I am an Elvis mega fan and blogger I can’t sum up the cultural impact of this song. This song was one of the first songs that got me into Elvis after I heard on a Daily Mail free CD around the time of Elvis 30 Number 1 Hits. The song featured an augmented band of Elvis, Scotty, Bill, and DJ Fontana on the drums with legendary pianist Floyd Cramer  and Chet Atkins on additional guitar. It was written by Mae Boren Axton, a schoolteacher and Tommy Durden a steel guitar player and was inspired by a suicide note in a newspaper

The song itself is actually a dark one about a Heartbreak Hotel where the narrator goes after his baby leaves him and he “prays to die.”

 What the band did is they created a fantastic eerie mood from Elvis’s vocal opening with his trademark mannerisms to when Scotty enters on the guitar with Floyd Cramer tinkling the ivories to that guitar solo that sums up the mournful nature of the song so well.

The song would take a while on Billboard to reach Number I after its release on January 1956 but did so in May 1956. In Britain Heartbreak Hotel in my opinion very disappointingly reached number two on the HMV Label and was held off the top spot by crooner Ronnie Hilton’s No Other Love.

This was the single that was to launch Elvis’s career into the stratosphere and was an influence on many future rock and roll legends including Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, more importantly for me though this was the start of my Elvis journey.

Thanks:45 Cat.com

Elvis Complete Singles UK and USA 10 Mystery Train

Elvis Complete Singles UK and USA 10: Mystery Train.

This was the B Side of SUN 215 and was the last song to be released on the Sun label and I must say that he went out with a bang because it’s a fantastic song. The song had been out on the Sun label in a bluesy version by its co-writer Little Junior Parker.

 Little Junior Parker’s version is a bit slower and you really hear the blues of the lyrics, Elvis’s version really has that driving rhythm that imitates the sound of a train howling off into the distance.. As a massive Elvis fan I also love the part at the end where Elvis lets out a whoop because you can really tell how much he enjoys the song and so I really enjoy it as well.

Also another reason why I love the song is the echo in the room because this is really the last time that you hear that because RCA attempted it didn’t sound as good as the Sun tunes. Another big difference in the song because it is from the SUN sound is the fact that is just the small band of Elvis Scotty, Bill and drummer Johnny Bernero whereas the RCA singles used more complicated arrangements.

PS: RCA having brought Elvis’s contract in November 1955 for the unheard of price of £35000 then proceeded to reissue Elvis’s sun records these had subtly different versions, often with more echo. What I find interesting about the Sun records is they weren’t reissued for a long time in the UK because the H.M.V discography begins with Heartbreak Hotel.

Thanks 45 Cat.com

Elvis Complete Singles 09: I Forgot to Remember to Forget.

Elvis Complete Singles UK and USA 09: I Forgot to Remember to Forget

This Sun 223,  recorded July 11 1955 and released on August 1 1955, was Elvis’s last single on the Sun label because of pressure from Elvis’s new manager at the time Colonel Tom Parker to sell his contract to a larger label. This is a very catchy song because thanks to the drumming of Johnny Bernero the song bounces along and doesn’t lose momentum. It was only due to Bernero’s drumming that Elvis recorded the song because he considered it to be a corny country song however, on the finished recording Elvis’s voice is allowed to roam free.

This is also an interesting number for me as the massive Elvis fan that I am because this was a landmark single for Elvis on the national Billboard charts because even though Baby Let’s Play House charted at number 5, on the country charts, this went to number 1. I think that this is partly because of the quality of the song and partly because of the momentum built by Elvis’s personal appearances across the country particularly in the South.

What surprised me when I first heard the song is it is actually a good quality song from an in house Sun writing team of Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers. What’s interesting about this single is the B Side has come to overshadow this song so remember to read it to find out.

  Thanks: 45 Worlds