ALBUM
ELVIS PRESLEY
EPiC
Sony Music Japan International
There are many songs put forward as the first Rock ‘n’ Roll record and several worthy contenders as the first Rock ‘n' Roll act. For the former, you can nominate Jackie Brenston’s 'Rocket 88' from 1951 or from 1954, Big Joe Turner’s 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' and Bill Haley’s, Rock Around the Clock'. For the latter, take your pick of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and others. One indisputable fact though is that when Elvis burst onto the scene with 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Hound Dog in 1956, he not only took stage performance to a whole new level, he united black and white music fans as well. He became ‘The King’, overnight, and remains so to this day.
Elvis Presley in Concert is not a straight-forward live show nor a documentary in the traditional sense. To paraphrase the director, Baz Luhrmann’s liner notes, it is ‘an imagined concert where Elvis comes to you in a dream, singing you his life story’. As such, much in the same way that Cirque Du Soleil took The Beatles’ recordings and created Love for their show, so too has the team behind this, added orchestration and sampled parts. That’s the premise of the film then and also the soundtrack of which it must be said, is beyond all expectations; you’ve never heard Elvis quite like this.
With today’s technology, old recordings can be digitised at a high sampling rate, cleaned and enhanced but the fact remains that if the foundations for those recordings, i.e. the performances on the multitrack tapes, are not good, no amount of patching up, adding or polishing is going to make them shine. Of course, there is the man himself; that unmistakable voice fills your room. Between songs, he laughs and jokes, even gets a bit rude at one point but whether he’s belting out some rockers from the fifties or a ballad from his later years, the depth and soul of his commitment to singing a song is unwavering.
Behind him, Elvis had a band that were always on point and knew all his cues which meant all he had to do was sing. That band, James Burton on guitar, Jerry Scheff on bass, Ronnie Tutt on drums and Glen D. Hardin on piano have previously been buried in the mixes of other releases but here, as with the other backing musicians, they are separated and brought forward, giving you the chance to feel what Elvis felt behind him; the power the ensemble make on this release is an element of Elvis’ shows we’ve never heard before.
This is more than just another live album; it’s an actual experience. Forget all the stuff about his terrible films, the pills, the hamburgers and peanut butter sandwiches, this is who Elvis was and still is - the singer, The King.
Track List
01. Can't Help Falling In Love (EPiC Intro)
02. Also Sprach Zarathustra/An American Trilogy *
03. That's All Right *
04. Tiger Man *
05. Wearin' That Night Life Look
06. Hound Dog *
07. Polk Salad Annie *
08. You've Lost That Loving Feeling *
09. Little Sister/Get Back *
10. Burning Love *
11. Never Been To Spain *
12. Love Me †
13. I Can't Stop Loving You *
14. Are You Lonesome Tonight? *
15. Always On My Mind *
16. How Great Thou Art *
17. Oh Happy Day *
18. A Big Hunk O' Love *
19. Bridge Over Troubled Water *
20. In the Ghetto †
21. Walk A Mile In My Shoes *
22. Suspicious Minds *
23. Bring The Curtain Down (EPiC Outro)
24. Can't Help Falling In Love *
25. American David *
26. A Change Of Reality (Do You Miss Me?)
27. Don't Fly Away ‡
* EPiC Version
† Jamieson Shaw Remix
‡ PNAU Remix
ALBUM
MARTY WILDE
LET'S ROCK THIS PLACE
Cherry Red Records
Next year, 2027, will see Marty Wilde celebrate an unbelievable seventy years in the music business. He was/is one of the UK’s original Rock ‘n’ Rollers, the second singer, after Tommy Steele, to be taken on by impresario Larry Parnes; Marty’s first four singles all hitting the Top 5. Branching out towards the end of the sixties, he wrote hits for Lulu, Status Quo and The Casuals, raised a family and then in the eighties skilfully guided three of his children Kim, Ricky and Roxanne, through their own careers (the fourth, Marty Jr, becoming a professional golfer). He has seen every change in the music business there ever has been to see but one thing that has never changed is his love of Rock ‘n Roll.
Rather amazingly, given his grand old age of 86, his voice hasn’t changed that much either; neither has his ear for a good song and sound. Immaculately produced, the album has the clarity of today’s recordings whilst retaining the feel of late 50s records. Who produced it? Marty Wilde of course and that feel is created by Marty’s choice of band for this album, the much-acclaimed Darrel Higham and The Enforcers, one of the UK’s finest Rockabilly bands.
A glance at the track list throws up a surprise. The Police’s 'Can’t Stand Losing You' would be a long way down anyone’s list ideas of a cover for a rock ‘n’ roller to sing but changed from the original reggae/verse – rock/chorus to swing all the way through, it works incredibly well; I doff my hat to whoever came up with that idea and speaking of swing, this album has oodles of it. 'The Boogie Was King' and 'Back on the Road' along with 'Love Bug Crawl (originally by the much-underrated Jimmy Edwards) and Marty’s own 'Your Loving Touch', a 1957 B-side and also a hit for fellow Parnes artist, Joe Brown, will have you bopping down the street looking for a Friday night dancehall. Elsewhere Marty takes on Johnnie Ray’s version of 'Just Walking in the Rain' and Frankie Laine’s 'Remember Me (The Girl in the Wood),' both stay true to fifties recordings, the latter being given a lovely Joe Meek style makeover with haunting backing vocals.
Last but by no means least, 'Words Fell Down' one of Marty’s own songs, was first recorded and released as the second track from Kim’s second album, Select. Back then, in 1983, it was a synth-pop dance number; this version replaces the synths and Simmons drum kit with a Carl Perkins style guitar and string arrangement. It’s where the 50s and the 80s mix, yet more proof, if ever there were more needed, that a good song is a good song that will cross decades, as do the great singers, like Marty Wilde.
Track List
Let’s Rock This Place
Your Loving Touch
The Boogie Was King
Dynamite
How I Cried
Can’t Stand Losing You
Back On The Road
Love Bug Crawl
Just Walking In The Rain
Lonely Weekends
Remember Me (The Girl In The Wood)
Words Fell Down