Elvis remembered - on the road to Aberystwyth, Wales -
Elvis still rocks, on a rock
This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, perhaps the most famous popular music star of all time.
At the end, but still popular despite his demise
I was only young when Elvis died, I had only seen him and his music through odd glimpses of his films that were put on television during the school holidays. This was the post 'Sun' Elvis, but even so, when his death was announced on the television news, it did have meaning to me, even at that age. I was yet to discover the 'Sun' records era and when I did, this was a game changer.
Elvis in 1954 at the Sun Studios
The real Elvis to most people isn't the singer of saccharine material that was foisted on him in the course of the films he made or the latter Vegas years, no the real deal to most was the material recorded at the Sun Studios with Scotty Moore, Bill Black and DJ Fontana.
The Elvis that was Hound dog, That's all right, My Baby left me and Mystery train, to name but a few of his landmark early records.
The raw energy of this music was so different from anything else at the time and everything changed overnight. It eclipsed Bill Haley, one of the founding fathers of Rock and Roll. Although I am a great fan of Bill, Elvis and his group were raw firepower.
Bill Haley was an important artist and catalyst, he came along at the time through Western Swing and from a jazz background and was part of the evolvement of music that came to be Rock and Roll. Rock around the Clock was catchy and it was musical 'Pop Art.'
Roy Lichtenstein's 'Pop Art' was simple, impact heavy and immediate -
Just like 'Hound Dog,' if it had been done on paper
The music fulfilled the 'Pop Art' ethos that would come along with Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol around the same era. It had dynamic, but simple impact.
Tracks like Hound Dog with the explosive drum phrasing and the Scotty Moore sharp and echo laden guitar sound even today sound fresh, over 60 years later.
Elvis - the 68 comeback
It was like he never went away
The syrupy early 60's allowed Elvis to star in the films and produce more middle of the road appealing material which kept him popular, but to many, Elvis was that stripped down hard edge of roots music from 1954.
Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones often references the sound of Scotty Moore in his musical education, but also the 'stripped down' nature of the Sun Studio set up.
Often all the Sun studio performers were in one studio with the inevitable overspill of sound into other performer's own microphones, helping to create that unique sound.
These players were all mixed onto a one track recording in the main, although Sam Phillips of Sun was a technical innovator in those early days of 'modern' music recording.
Keith Richards still performing and enjoying it
Keith Richards said in an interview how these days the Rolling Stones had the luxury of a studio with the capacity of almost infinite amount of tracks for each song. He lamented that in the Sun days how they achieved so much with so few tracks and that helped with the immediacy of the music.
No years in the studio making an album, likely it would be concluded in a day or two, with little if any possibility for adding on to existing tracks. It was then a case of play, record, press out the record for sale.
Scotty Moore with Elvis, on stage in the Sun days
Even on some of those early records that made the record shops, they are often not the 'best cut,' but Sam Phillips instinctively knew that some takes, mistakes included were superior to others. But it was just 'that sound' that Sam Phillips got.
The sum of the parts, unrelated as they were just came together. Elvis, the band, the acoustics of the room. Today we are spoilt with modern technology to play and record music with.
Back in the day, many musicians often used what was available -
Not everyone could afford top of the line Gretsch, Gibson or Fender guitars
A whole industry caters for 'vintage' equipment but is that actually the way to find that sound? Cheque book musicianship is not the way to get a good sound, you need the ability and talent in the first place.
The other factors required are talent and the artist's individuality. Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and hundreds of others did it their way. And that was what made them unique.
Elvis in the Vegas years - some wrote him off as a rhinestone parody
He however produced some landmark records in this era
The 68 'Comeback Special' that Elvis appeared in, was a situation that showed that Elvis was still lean and could do the music. This led onto the Vegas circuit, Elvis managed to get material like 'Suspicious minds' and make it his own during this era.
The important thing was he was still performing, even if others from the 50's were largely now no longer performing or even alive.
Vegas topped off a wealth of music, Vegas also proved that Elvis was not stuck in a time warp, reissuing old hits, no, he was carving a new path and the Vegas type material also showed his breadth of talent, tackling material and arrangements that showed how good he was as a performer.
However you remember Elvis, he was good.
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