Wednesday, July 29, 2020

I was the one (Elvis) (LP 439)

Elvis Presley
 Elvis Presley (Vinyl, RCA, 1956 - 2000 edition) ***


Genre: Rock 'n' Roll 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records - Roger gave me this when it looked like vinyl was dead as a format and he was getting rid of it from the shop. He was down to one bin and gave me the pick of what I wanted. Hence this album.


Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Shake Rattle and Roll


Gear costume:  Blue Suede Shoes  

Active compensatory factors: I have never been much of a Presley fan. Well, I was born a year after this album came out so he was never part of my generation in the seventies. By then he'd become a rather pathetic bloated version of himself.

It's quite hard in 2020 to see how this was so revolutionary at the time (I'm sure modern teenagers feel the same way about early Beatles, Sex Pistols, Devo and so on). While for me, it's all rather tame as Elvis tries every style he can except for gospel on these tracks, other listeners will marvel at his depth and breadth.

The peak rock'n'roll tracks do contain plenty of oomph and reward repeat listens. On those, Elvis does give it his all, and as an original, he will forever be the King.

Where do they all belong? A one off in my collection - not even a greatest hits, just some Sun era tracks on sampler collections.

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