Tag Archives: Elvis Presley

Elvis songs before Elvis – the origins of six iconic Presley classics

Music culture & history, Rock music, , ,

From Hound Dog to Always On My Mind the original versions of six classic Elvis songs

1. Hound Dog

Written by songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller when they were both still in their teens, ‘Hound Dog’ was created specifically for blues singer Big Mama Thornton. It was recorded in 1952 and released in 1953. Rather than being seen as just a rough early prototype of a tune Elvis would later make famous, Thornton’s version of Hound Dog is rightly regarded as iconic in its own right, helping lay the foundations of black R&B in rock music. The song has cemented Thornton’s place in rock ‘n’ roll history, even if she never made more than a few hundred dollars from it. Presley’s version was released three years later in 1956.

2. Are You Lonesome Tonight?

We go right back with this one. ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ was written by Vaudeville songwriters Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926. Numerous versions were recorded in the late 1920s but the first was by Charles Hart, in 1927. In 1950, the Blue Barron Orchestra recorded a version and the song became a staple of crooners of the era. In his final months of national service with the US Army, Elvis began considering new material for his return to a recording career. Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, suggested ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ – the song being a favourite of Parker’s wife. Presley’s version was released in November 1960.

3. Suspicious Minds

‘Suspicious Minds’ was first written and recorded in 1968 by Mark James. Here we hear it taking shape as a soulful pop ballad. While the arrangements on the James version are virtually identical to those on the Elvis version recorded a year later. the magic is somewhat lacking. After spending much of the 60s churning out B movies, ‘Suspicious Minds’ was one of the songs recorded by Elvis in the Memphis recording sessions following the success of his televised 68 Comeback Special. Recorded in January 1969 it was released in August 1969 and became Elvis’s first number one in several years.

4. The Wonder of You

Written by Thomas Baker Knight Jr. ‘The Wonder of You’ was first recorded by film actor/singer Vince Edwards in 1958 but never released. A year later a version was released by Ray Peterson who had a Top 30 hit with it in both the US and the UK. It would be 1970, however, before Presley took Peterson’s sugary, sentimental teen ballad and transformed it into the bold, dramatic and unforgettable version that we know today. Presley recorded a live version of the song in Las Vegas in February 1970 and it is this  live version of the song that was released as a single in April 1970.

5. An American Trilogy

‘An American Trilogy’ is actually three songs. The “Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton” bit is from ‘Dixie’ which became an anthem of the confederacy in the Civil War. The “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” bit is from a song called ‘Battle Hymn for the Republic’ which was the marching anthem of the opposing federal anti-slavery Union Army. And the “Oh, hush little baby don’t you cry” bit is from ‘All My Trials’ said to have emerged out of African American spirituals. Country musician and composer Mickey Newbury had the idea of bringing the three together, representing three strands in America’s troubled history, for his 1971 album and a subsequent single. Presley introduced ‘An American Trilogy’ to his concert set-list in January 1972. A live recording was made the following month which was released as a single but although it became a staple of Presley’s live shows, paradoxically, the single didn’t do as well in the US charts as Newbury’s original.

6. Always On My Mind

A love song expressing deep regret to a departing lover ‘Always On My Mind’ was written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher and Mark James. Mark James, of course, we already know as the writer and original singer of ‘Suspicious Minds’. ‘Always On My Mind’ was first recorded by BJ Thomas in 1970 but the first version to be released was by Gwen McCrae in 1972. Presley recorded his version shortly after separating from his wife, Priscilla, and it was released in November 1972. Here we can hear both the BJ Thomas and the Gwen McCrae versions.

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Sun studio visit

Five classic albums whose musical legacy outlived all the people playing on them

The death of Elvis is relayed to a caravan in Morecambe. August 1977

Five classic albums whose musical legacy outlived all the people playing on them

Album reviews, Music culture & history, Rock music, , , ,

With so many rock n roll icons leaving us in recent years I find myself playing a hell of a lot of albums that feature musicians who are no longer with us these days. Many historic albums from the 60s and 70s  now only have one or two of the personnel who played on them still alive. On Small Faces albums like Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake only drummer Kenney Jones remains with us, of the classic Electric Warrior-era T. Rex line-up we have only drummer Bill Legend still around and the same can be said for Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – with only drummer Woody Woodmansey still around to celebrate the band’s legacy.

But here are five classic albums where none of the musicians playing on them are still with us.

1. Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley

Elvis’s 1956 debut album featured his regular backing band of Scotty Moore, DJ Fontana and Bill Black. Bassist, Black, died in 1965, the king himself passed away in 1977, of course, and Moore died in 2016. The final member of Presley’s original backing trio, DJ Fontana, sadly died this year. The album (with its iconic cover later inspiring the artwork for the Clash’s London Calling two decades later) contains classics like Blue Suede Shoes and Money Honey recorded for Elvis’s new label, RCA, as well as some previously released songs from his original label, Sun Records.

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2. Chuck Berry – After School Session

Although Chuck Berry stuck around until 2017 most of the musicians on his 1957 debut album (which features many classics like Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Too Much Monkey Business and School Days) passed away some decades earlier. Many would argue Johnnie Johnson’s piano was as much an integral part of that early rock n roll sound as Berry’s guitar. However, by the 1980s Johnson was working as a bus driver until support from the likes of Keith Richards put him back in the public eye. Johnson was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years before his death in 2005.

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3. Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced

Hendrix’s 1967 debut was praised by Melody Maker for its artistic integrity and by the NME’s Keith Altham for being brave, original and exciting. However, just three years later Hendrix would be dead, followed by bass player Noel Redding in 2003 and drummer Mitch Mitchell in 2008. They leave behind an album that has been held up as one of the greatest and most influential debuts of all time.

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4. Ramones – Ramones

Critically acclaimed upon its release in 1976 and containing evergreen classics like Blitzkrieg Bop, the album “posed a direct threat to any vaguely sensitive woofer and/or tweeter lodged in your hi-fi” claimed the NME’s Nick Kent. The Ramones would be around for another two decades but at the turn of the millennium Joey (d. 2001), Dee Dee (d. 2002) and Johnny Ramone (d. 2004) would all go in rapid succession of one another, followed by original drummer Tommy Ramone in 2014.

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5. Motörhead – No Sleep ’til Hammersmith

A tearful rock world said goodbye to the seemingly indestructible Lemmy in 2015, only one month after the death of Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor. Just over two years later the last member of Motorhead’s most famous and most memorable lineup, Fast Eddie Clarke, was gone, too. The trio recorded six albums together including this iconic live album. When Lemmy formed the band back in 1975 with a promise that “it will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die” he probably wasn’t expecting to be regularly appearing on Top Of The Pops and releasing a live album that went to number one but that is exactly what happened.

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The death of Elvis is relayed to a caravan in Morecambe. August 1977

Music culture & history, Rock music, , , ,

A caravan site in Morecambe, Lancashire. My older stepsister returns with the morning paper and attempts to relay the day’s main news to my mum.

“Elvis dead.”

“Elvis’s dad? What about Elvis’s dad?”

“No. Elvis is dead.”

“Elvis’s dad’s dead?”

No. Elvis is dead.”

At this point my mum bursts into tears. It had always been her ambition to see him, she tells us. And now she would never get the chance.13615008_10154293790751449_4858489364011888766_n

Looking back, the death of Elvis was a bit like a prototype Diana moment for 1970s Britain. And for this 11 year-old it certainly didn’t seem very cool. And throughout my teenage years thoughts of Elvis tended to revolve around cheeseburgers and white jumpsuits and awful films and general excess.

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But slowly that began to change. As my voyage of discovery with rock music careered back through the 70s and then the 60s and then the 50s it was impossible to ignore the presence of Elvis and it was impossible the brilliance of songs like Jailhouse Rock and Hound Dog and That’s All Right Mama.

Gradually, Elvis started becoming cool for me. Indeed, when I began switching from vinyl to CDs in the early 90s one of the first discs that I bought was Elvis’s greatest hits. And not long afterwards that was joined by a compilation of Elvis’s early Sun recordings where you can sense the palpable excitement as Elvis and his fellow musicians bring together white country influences and black rhythm and blues influences to create something truly special.

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Indeed, everything about the tiny Sun Records studio in Memphis held a growing fascination for me. My mum, of course, never got to see Elvis. But she did still harbour a lifelong ambition to visit his Graceland home. And I was just as keen to set foot in Sun studio. So last year we arranged a trip to Memphis together and both got to fulfil our ambitions and pay our respective homages.

Thank you Elvis. January 8th 1935 – August 16th 1977.

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Visit to the legendary Sun Studio, Memphis

Music culture & history, Rock music, , , , , , ,

In the history of rock ‘n’ roll there can’t be many more important places on the planet than this modestly-sized building on the outskirts of Memphis. 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee is the home of Sun Studio, where Sam Phillips established his Memphis Recording Service back in 1950 with the aim of giving a recording outlet to black blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf and BB King; where Ike Turner and others recorded what is now commonly held up to be the first rock ‘n’ roll record: ‘Rocket 88’ in 1951; where a young Elvis Presley walked in to cut a one-off disc, supposedly for his mother; where Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash all recorded their early singles; and the place which indisputably can proudly claim to be the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll.

Sam Phillips moved the Sun operation to a larger nearby facility in 1959, which somehow never quite managed to repeat the pioneering and magical success of the original, and by the 1970s 706 Union Avenue was being used as a hairdressers. In 1987, though, the building, along with the next- door diner, was reopened as a studio and tourist attraction and is now listed as a historic national landmark.

Sun studio run daily tours and a free shuttle bus service can ferry you between downtown Memphis, Elvis Presley’s Graceland and Sun Studio. The old diner is now a gift shop-cum-cafe and the tour first takes you upstairs to a compact but magical display of period artefacts; including studio equipment, instruments and other historic memorabilia. A tour guide talks you through the history and plays snatches of music, including that very first Elvis recording: ‘My Happiness’.

And then it’s down to the actual studio, first passing the reception area, once staffed by Sam Phillips’ assistant, Marion Keisker: a pivotal figure in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, and the one who first spotted Elvis’s talent. But like too many women in the music business, one who’s name often doesn’t not get the recognition it deserves.

reception

The studio, itself, has been recreated using authentic equipment and instruments from the era and, in spite of it’s post-Sun uses as a hairdressing salon and everything else, the original studio soundproofing that Phillips and Keisker applied by hand is still there to this day.

sudio tour

The tour guide ends the tour by bringing out an original studio microphone from the control room, one that Elvis and Jerry Lee and Johnny had all sung into at the start of their careers. He tells us it was donated by Sam Phillips on condition that it wasn’t just locked away in a glass case but that visitors could pose and have their photographs taken with it. You can’t get a better photo-opportunity than that and it’s a great end to a magical tour of a historic site.

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Elvis songs before Elvis – the origins of six iconic Presley classics

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