Around the Elvis web in 80 seconds

Today, I want to point you over to some great posts that I’ve recently found around the web.

The Elvis Shuffle, Revisited. A couple of months ago, I told you about the incredible, thought-provoking Elvis essays that have been cropping up lately at The Sheila Variations blog. Well, those high-quality Elvis posts have continued. For example, here is an excerpt from Elvis Shuffle: Notes Taken By Hand On Flight to Chicago:

“‘Solitaire’ – ‘A loonely man’. Who could imagine that the jiggly boy in 1955 could sing like this? No wonder people still have a hard time taking EP whole. They still feel the need to break him down, piece him apart, make him manageable, palatable. He is neither.”

Elvis, just a one-hit wonder? That seems to be the direction Billboard is heading lately. Check out an investigative piece on the subject by David Troedson over at Elvis Australia.

He Touched Me (FTD, 2011)Elvis was focused during the He Touched Me session. Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick would have us believe that Elvis’ attention was wandering during this session, but the new FTD release seems to tell otherwise. Over on Elvis Today Blog, Thomas Melin has posted a well-written review of the FTD Classic Album version of He Touched Me, Elvis’ 1971 gospel album that earned him his second Grammy.

A daily blog on everything Elvis Presley. Finally, I want to mention Elvis Day By Day, a news blog that has been tracking events in the Elvis world since January 2010. As someone who struggles to get a half dozen decent blog posts up a month, I can tell you that trying to compile a daily news blog is much tougher than it looks. It’s not a challenge I would want to take on, I’ll say that. Elvis Day By Day does a fantastic job of compiling news from various sources, doing a service to Elvis fans by giving us a quick, at a glance view of what is going on each day. Highly recommended.

Christmas Dreams 2011: An Elvis Playlist for the Holiday Season

Nearly every year since I was about 13, I’ve made some form of an Elvis “Christmas mix” for my own personal use. This started out in the late 1980s on cassette tapes. I eventually graduated to CD-Rs in the late 1990s. The present incarnation of this concept is, of course, in the form of iPod playlists. It sure is much easier to perfect the sequencing on a playlist than it is on a tape, let me tell you.

As you might imagine, in many ways, this is simply a reshuffling of the same couple of dozen songs every year. Why bother when I could just reuse a previous year’s compilation? The main reason is that I have so much fun putting this together. It’s how I kick off the Christmas season.

This year, I thought I would share my Elvis Christmas playlist sequence with you in case you would like to try it out on your own.

Elvis: Christmas Dreams (2011)

Elvis: Christmas Dreams (2011)

  • Santa Claus Is Back In Town/Blue Christmas (Live) [Tiger Man]
  • I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day (Alternate) [Today, Tomorrow & Forever]
  • Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (Alternate) [If Every Day Was Like Christmas]
  • It Won’t Seem Like Christmas (Alternate) [If Every Day Was Like Christmas]
  • If Every Day Was Like Christmas [Elvis' Christmas Album (1970 Edition)]
  • Santa Bring My Baby Back [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • Here Comes Santa Claus [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • Silver Bells [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • White Christmas [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • Winter Wonderland [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • I’ll Be Home For Christmas [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • If I Get Home On Christmas Day [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • Blue Christmas [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • It Won’t Seem Like Christmas [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • O Little Town of Bethlehem [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • On A Snowy Christmas Night [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • The First Noel [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • O Come All Ye Faithful (Alternate) [Memories Of Christmas]
  • Silent Night [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • Santa Lucia [Elvis For Everyone]
  • The Wonderful World Of Christmas [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]
  • Santa Claus Is Back In Town [Elvis' Christmas Album]
  • I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day (Alternate) [Memories Of Christmas]
  • Blue Christmas (Rehearsal) [Let Yourself Go! (Track 25, "Blue Christmas" portion only)]
  • Merry Christmas Baby [Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas]

For those in the US, I also published a variant of this playlist on iTunes as Elvis: Christmas Dreams (2011).

Happy holidays, everyone!