1950s

Sony releasing 5-CD boxed set celebrating 1956 – includes December 15 Louisiana Hayride concert

/ TY / 6 Comments

Today’s post was originally scheduled to be the conclusion of my coverage of Elvis Sings Guitar Man. Sony made a huge Elvis announcement today, though, so I’m shelving that piece for now.

Arriving on September 27 from Sony’s RCA/Legacy label, Young Man With The Big Beat features a plethora of 1956 material. For die-hard fans, the crown jewel of the 5-CD boxed set is the first-ever release of Elvis’ December 15, 1956, concert that marked the singer’s final appearance on the Louisiana Hayride radio program.

Only a portion of one song, “Hound Dog,” has been released from this show in the past. Based on that one song alone, I can tell you that we’re all in for one exciting ride.

The set can be pre-ordered at http://www.elvis.com/1956. From the press release, here is some additional information on a pre-order bonus:

Pre-order customers will also receive an exclusive replica vinyl 7” of Elvis’ first 45rpm EP for RCA Records. Sharing the same striking cover art as Elvis’ debut album, the EP features “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Tutti Frutti,” “I Got A Woman” and “Just Because.” This vinyl single is only available through this special website offer, and it will ship upon payment for the box set.”

Released the same day will be the Sony Legacy edition of Elvis Presley, which will be paired with Elvis.

Below is a full break-down of the Young Man With The Big Beat set, adapted from the press release and marketing material.

Disc 1: Studio Recordings

17 tracks recorded in New York, Nashville, and Hollywood, starting with the 12 songs on the debut LP, Elvis Presley (‘1254’), followed by non-LP single A-sides and B-sides, and EP tracks.

  1. Blue Suede Shoes
  2. I’m Counting On You
  3. I Got A Woman
  4. One-Sided Love Affair
  5. I Love You Because
  6. Just Because
  7. Tutti Frutti
  8. Trying To Get To You
  9. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
  10. I’ll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin’)
  11. Blue Moon
  12. Money Honey
  13. Heartbreak Hotel
  14. I Was The One
  15. My Baby Left Me
  16. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
  17. Shake, Rattle And Roll

Disc 2: Studio Recordings

22 tracks recorded in New York, Nashville, and Memphis, starting with the 12 songs on the second LP, Elvis (‘1382’), followed by non-LP single A-sides and B-sides, and EP tracks.

  1. Rip It Up
  2. Love Me
  3. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
  4. Long Tall Sally
  5. First In Line
  6. Paralyzed
  7. So Glad You’re Mine
  8. Old Shep
  9. Ready Teddy
  10. Anyplace Is Paradise
  11. How’s The World Treating You
  12. How Do You Think I Feel
  13. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
  14. Hound Dog
  15. Don’t Be Cruel
  16. Any Way You Want Me (That’s How I Will Be)
  17. Too Much
  18. Playing For Keeps
  19. Love Me Tender
  20. Let Me
  21. Poor Boy
  22. We’re Gonna Move

Disc 3: Live Recordings

Rare remasters of shows at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas (four songs); Little Rock, Arkansas (seven songs); and a recently discovered, previously unreleased concert in Shreveport, Louisiana, in December (ten songs).

Recorded Live At The Venus Room, Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas, May 6

 1.  Heartbreak Hotel
 2.  Long Tall Sally
 3.  Blue Suede Shoes
 4.  Money Honey

Recorded Live At The Robinson Memorial Auditorium, Little Rock, Arkansas, May 16

 5.  Heartbreak Hotel
 6.  Long Tall Sally
 7.  I Was The One
 8.  Money Honey
 9.  I Got A Woman
10. Blue Suede Shoes
11. Hound Dog

Recorded Live At The Hirsch Youth Center, Louisiana Fairgrounds, Shreveport, Louisiana, December 15

12. Heartbreak Hotel
13. Long Tall Sally
14. I Was The One
15. Love Me Tender
16. Don’t Be Cruel
17. Love Me
18. I Got A Woman
19. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
20. Paralyzed
21. Hound Dog

Disc 4: Outtakes

Four outtakes from the first historic RCA session in January (“I Got A Woman,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “I’m Counting On You,” “I Was The One”), segueing into the complete session of February 3rd (11 takes of “Lawdy, Miss Clawdy” and 12 takes of “Shake, Rattle And Roll”); plus the first of the interviews – the complete Warwick Hotel (NYC) interview by Robert Brown in March.

  1. I Got A Woman – take unknown
  2. Heartbreak Hotel – take 06
  3. I’m Counting On You – take 13
  4. I Was The One – take 02
  5. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – take 01
  6. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – take 03
  7. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – take 04
  8. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – take 05
  9. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – take 06
  10. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – takes 07, 08, 09
  11. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – take 10 (master)
  12. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy – takes 11, 12
  13. Shake, Rattle And Roll – takes 01, 02
  14. Shake, Rattle And Roll – takes 03, 05, 06, 07
  15. Shake, Rattle And Roll – take 08
  16. Shake, Rattle And Roll – takes 09, 10, 11, 12, 12 (undubbed master)
  17. The Complete Warwick Hotel Interview

Disc 5: Interviews

The Paul Wilder interview, plus his interviews with Colonel Parker and Oscar Davis; plus two segments of Elvis’ rarely heard candid monologue, “The Truth About Me,” and two advertisements for RCA Victrolas.

  1. The Complete TV Guide Presents Elvis interview
  2. Colonel Parker Interview
  3. The Truth About Me
  4. The Truth About Me Interview
  5. Victrola Radio ad 1
  6. Victrola Radio ad 2

Book

The focal point of the book, spread across its 80 pages, will be a unique, meticulously-researched, day-by-day chronology of Elvis’ iconic year, including every concert, every recording date, every television appearance, personal events in Elvis’ life, and much more. A dazzling photo array of memorabilia will illustrate each day and entry. Concert ticket stubs, RCA memoranda, letters from fans, postcards from Elvis to his family, tour itineraries, magazine covers and articles, trade charts, fan club relics, RCA publicity photos, concert photos, candid photos, and more will be a feast for the eyes and the imagination as 1956 unfolds.

Other Items

Will also include five rare 8×10 photographs, five original-size poster replicas, and a replica concert ticket stub.

* * *

I’ve lamented the seemingly constant focus on 1956 in the past. However, Elvis’ achievements in that year certainly cannot be overstated. This looks like a spectacular release, and the best part is that it’s on the mainstream label. This will certainly capture the attention of music critics and fans alike.

It wouldn’t be an Elvis boxed set without the inclusion of those four songs recorded live in Las Vegas on May 6, 1956, now would it? Those same performances, tracks 1-4 on Disc 3, have appeared on the following Elvis boxed sets:

  • Elvis Aron Presley
  • ELVIS: The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Complete 50s Masters
  • Live In Las Vegas
The early to mid 1990s focused on decade boxed sets, while the late 1990s to early 2000s focused on outtake boxed sets. Will the 2010s become the decade of year boxed sets? Will success for this set mean that we’ll get a box for another year in the future? Who knows, but I can tell you one thing: Since 1977, there has never been a better time to be an Elvis Presley fan.

My favorite Christmas song

/ TY

In response to the following Elvis Today on Facebook post:

Playing Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas right now. Which Christmas song is your favorite? My vote goes to ‘Merry Christmas Baby’.”

I’m not on the Facebook, so I’m just going to take the easy route and answer the question right here. My favorite Christmas song is 1957’s “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” from Elvis’ Christmas Album. I also love his brief take of the same song on the Tiger Man album, a concert recorded for the ELVIS (’68 Comeback) TV special.

Of course, I can’t play by the rules and choose just one. Another favorite is 1971’s “I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day,” including the original version on Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas and an alternate version on Today, Tomorrow & Forever.

Truth is, I love all of his Christmas music, though. I love this time of year. I’m a bit of a Christmas music fanatic. I probably have 500 Christmas songs. Now that the season is here, I’ve set my iPod to start placing Christmas music into the rotation. I up the percentage each week until Christmas Eve, when it is 100% Christmas music for two days. I’m not sure why I can’t just do things like normal people, but I guess I wasn’t designed that way.

Also, why is it when I plan to write a six word response that I end up writing six paragraphs?

Anyway, right now I’m listening to “Tiger Man” on 1969’s From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis album. Not a Christmas song, but one of the greats! He really rocked that one. I wish he were still here.

Read Phil Arnold’s foreword to Elvis: The Early Years

/ TY / 2 Comments

ElvisBlog‘s Phil Arnold has released online the full text of his foreword to the latest Alfred Wertheimer photography book, Elvis: The Early Years. The cover of this 120-page hardbound volume from earBOOKS features an iconic 1956 image of Elvis on his Harley.

Phil’s well-written essay for the October 2010 book explores the details behind Wertheimer’s various experiences with Elvis in 1956-1958, illuminating how he was able to gain closer access to the singer than any other photographer.

While other sources have indicated that Wertheimer took nearly 4,000 photographs of Elvis, Phil reveals that this number is exaggerated. “After culling out the unusable shots (too dark, out of focus, etc.), Wertheimer says he has around 2000 commercially viable photos to license for future ventures,” he notes in the foreword. Elvis: The Early Years contains 96 of those images.

The book, available in the United Kingdom, also includes 3 CDs of Elvis music from the same time period.

Read Phil Arnold’s foreword to Elvis: The Early Years over at ElvisBlog.

Could 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Have Been Wrong?

/ TY
Cover of 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong

Cover of 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong

When I order a new Elvis CD on Sony’s Follow That Dream Records collectors label, I usually pick up one of their older releases as well. This month’s release was an upgraded Classic Albums edition of 1972’s Elvis Now. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out Thomas’ great review of Elvis Now over on Elvis Today.

My backfill purchase this time to go along with Elvis Now was a 2007 entry in FTD’s Classic Album series, 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong: Elvis’ Gold Records – Volume 2. RCA released the original LP album version in December 1959, near the end of Elvis’ stint in the US Army. The original consisted of the following songs:

Side A
I Need Your Love Tonight (1958)
Don’t (1957)
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck (1958)
My Wish Came True (1957)
I Got Stung (1958)

Side B
One Night (1957)
A Big Hunk O’ Love (1958)
I Beg Of You (1957)
A Fool Such As I (1958)
Doncha’ Think It’s Time (1958)

I’ve actually never bought this specific album in any form until now. When I bought The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Complete 50s Masters set in 1993, I assumed it contained all of the tracks from this album.

Turns out, I was wrong. When I researched the albums for my recent marathon of Elvis songs released during his lifetime, I found that RCA released two slightly different versions of “Doncha’ Think It’s Time” back then.

The first version was the actual single (a splice of takes 47, 40, and 48), and it’s the one I had on The Complete 50s Masters. For whatever reason, they released a second version (a splice of takes 40 and 39) on the 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong album. The second version was the one I was missing.

I don’t try to keep up with each of the thousands of song variations released since Elvis’ death – I pick and choose on those – but I do feel it is important to have all of the ones released while he was alive. I still have variants of four other songs to track down, including one on an FTD release that is no longer available (I waited too long to backfill that one).

The original 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong album is a strong follow-up to 1958’s Elvis’ Golden Records. It contains several classic performances, including “One Night,” one of the best recordings of his career. Other highlights include “Don’t,” “A Big Hunk O’ Love,” and “A Fool Such As I.” The only weak spots are “My Wish Came True” (which needs a Jordanaires & Millie Kirkham mute button) and the lightweight “I Got Stung.”

Outtakes

The FTD edition of 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong contains 88 tracks on two CDs. Compared to other Classic Albums releases I’ve bought, I have to say that I love the way FTD presents the outtakes on this release.

Instead of in the somewhat random fashion of other releases, FTD instead presents each one chronologically in order of recording. Each take, even false starts, gets its own track. That means you get to hear the same song several times in a row, which to me is the entire point of this kind of collectors label release.

Okay, so it’s not always a good thing. In the case of “I Got Stung,” you get to hear it 23 times in a row, which is about 22 times too many. For most songs, though, this is usually a great way to hear how Elvis and the band worked until it was just right. To be fair, even “I Got Stung” is better on the last take.

Unfortunately, they were apparently a lot faster to turn off the tape when recording Elvis in the 1950s versus the 1960s and 1970s. When a take is blown, someone usually cuts the tape quickly, so missing for the most part is a lot of the in between song banter that makes this kind of release so much fun.

Incidentally, most of the outtakes presented here are from Elvis’ June 1958 session in Nashville, which took place only three months after his induction in the Army. The weekend session was the only time he formally recorded while in the service.

Bonus Tracks

FTD adds “Ain’t That Loving You, Baby” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” to the album for this release. “Ain’t That Loving You, Baby” gets 11 takes, including some versions at superspeed.

Beyond the masters, the best tracks for me on this album were actually the three that made up the 1958 Elvis Sails Extended Play album. This was a “talking album only” that consisted of three interviews conducted with Elvis while he was in the Army, shortly before leaving for Germany. It reached #2 on the EP charts.

It contains one of my all-time favorite Elvis quotes. A reporter asks the probing, in-depth question of, “Elvis, what’s your idea of the ideal girl?”

Elvis doesn’t miss a beat, answering, “Female, sir.” The press members erupt in laughter.

In a more serious segment, Elvis talks about his mother, who had passed away only weeks before:

My mother, I suppose since I was an only child that we might have been a little closer […] and Mother was always right with me all my life. And it wasn’t only like losing a mother, it was like losing a friend, a companion, someone to talk to. I could wake her up any hour of the night, and if I was worried or troubled about something, she’d get up and try to help me.”

Though the outtakes are occasionally interesting, it was Elvis Sails and the LP variant of “Doncha’ Think It’s Time” that made this release worthwhile for me.

So, were 50,000,000 Elvis fans wrong? Of course not. This is a great album, whether you bought it in 1959, 2007, 2010, or any other year.