Elvis Presley

The King of Rock and Roll, the Memphis magician, the boy from Tupelo, and other descriptions. He was born just under 80 years ago, and in the mid-50's, was able to shift the world of rock & roll music forward massively, changing the lives of millions in and out of the music industry. He sold millions and topped the charts many times, made many films, and had his life cut short at the early age of 42. Like him or not, his impact was seismic, and continues to be felt. Here are just a handful of his great moments: (obviously as he shone brightest in the pre-video days, many of his clips are either from his few most memorable live gigs (Aloha from Hawaii, the 68 Comeback special) or are specially-concocted compositions to interpret the songs -

Heartbreak Hotel

It's Now Or Never

In The Ghetto

Way Down

Hound Dog - has to be seen to be believed - even Elvis found it as ridiculous as things ever got

Altered By Elvis
Like me, you might think there was little left unsaid about the 'King'. But this impressive 2006 featured chats with his hairdresser, his first girlfriend, the owner of rival theme park Graceland Too, a photographer who utilises 2 weeks worth of photos taken in March 1956 in a plethora of merchandise opportunities, the designer of special Elvis sunglasses, a tour guide, a tribute singer; best of all Jesse Lee Denson, who supposedly taught Elvis his act and was then gazumped. His brother hates Elvis to this day. So it was nice to get a taste of the flipside amongst the fans.

Kings of Rock and Roll
Another in a similar series, this looked at Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Buddy Holly & Chuck Berry. Many talking heads contributed, from the obvious to the less so. The irreverent voiceover didn't help. Each 'King' contributed to making their era so successful.

The Nation's Favourite Elvis Song
Another arbitrary poll to judge what people feel are his best songs, together with talking heads to tell the story of most of them. The rundown was as follows:
01 Always On My Mind
02 Suspicious Minds
03 Can't Help Falling In Love
04 In The Ghetto
05 A Little Less Conversation
06 Jailhouse Rock
07 Hound Dog
08 Love Me Tender
09 Return To Sender
10 Are You Lonesome Tonight?
11 The Wonder Of You
12 Blue Suede Shoes
13 All Shook Up
14 It's Now Or Never
15 An American Trilogy
16 Heartbreak Hotel
17 Viva Las Vegas
18 Don't Be Cruel
19 If I Can Dream
20 King Creole

Elvis Presley: Legends in Concert - The Early Years
A frenetic compilation of his formative efforts. Notably included a duet with Frank Sinatra (combining 'Witchcraft' with 'Love Me Tender'), and his concluding performance of 'Hound Dog' to a real life basset hound, which has to be seen to be believed.

Elvis: That's All Right - 60 Years On
Whilst a contrived studio session where modern acts record various Presley songs on the 60th anniversary of the session where he recorded That's All Right, presenter Sam Palladio also told the story of Elvis' session, driving force, and so on. Those doing the covers were a mix of Americans I've never heard of, and more familiar names like Candi Station and The Pierces. Most bizarrely, Lucie Silvas got the big gig of singing "That's All Right" itself. A good idea for a show, though.

Apparently, private Presley planes are going up for auction.

Rock Milestones: Elvis
One of many EP progs, this did at least interview some people who actually knew and worked with Elvis, like Scotty Moore or DJ Fontana. There was even some audio chat from Elvis himself. His musicianship will always be questioned, but the Jordanaires at least stand by him.

Elvis - In The Beginning - The Inside Story
Sticking just to the folks who were there - Scotty Moore, DJ Fontana and Ray Walker and Gordon Stoker from the Jordanaires, plus audio from the King himself, this covered the familiar story in more sincere mode than can become the case sometimes.

Elvis Presley - The Later Years
In same-but-different style, here were Loanne "on Tom's behalf" Parker, Joes Guercio and Esposito, and band helps like Ronnie Tutt, Larry Strickland and Bill Baize. The consensus was that Elvis was still a sharp customer and passionate, and generous to his friends. Perhaps the most honest moment was the view that Elvis, like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, wasn't cut out to get old. Certainly an Elvis in the 80s or 90s doesn't really bear much thinking about.

Elvis '56
A heady hour, narrated by Levon Helm, recounting quite how busy 1956 was for Elvis Presley, and indeed the world. From recording Heartbreak Hotel, making his TV debut, touring like mad, scoring #1 records, starting his acting career, becoming notorious on television for his hip-wiggling, being reduced to signing to a basset hound, becoming the source of multiple merchandise opportunities, trying to spend down-time with his family, and so on. This 1987 tribute at least kept its tale steady without overdoing the momentousness of events.

Elvis By The Presleys
From 2005, a family-approved effort to retell his story, how he met Priscilla and overcame their age gap to remain happily married for so long, and raise Lisa Marie. The schism of Elvis wanting to be both a loving husband, and "one of the boys" added melancholy to his later years, and it's sad that after his '68 comeback, he sank back into a decline.

Elvis - The '68 Comeback Special
Lean & mean, Elvis performs in a square, sometimes alone, sometimes in a guitar circle. He belts through a large range of material, impressively saving "If I Can Dream" for his finish, which is partly shown with him dressed in white instead of the black he wears for the rest of it. Just a shame to know this comeback led to another decline.

Magnificent Obsessions: Elvis
Only a half-hour from 2008, at a tribute event with more than a dozen different impersonators giving their $0.02 about the importance of honouring the memory of the King. They should all honour whoever came up with the rhinestone-clad white jumpsuit, which has enabled impersonation to become easier.

Elvis - Videobiography
Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana represented the musicians, whilst Ray Walker and Gordon Stoker were there from the Jordanaires. There was more on the early days, inevitably, though the decision to make so many films was seen as a creative negative. "Colonel" Tom Parker's wife Loanne inevitably spoke up for her husband's business ideas, even though he was a disgraceful charlatan who helped kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, and sold the eggs for brass money.

...Sings Elvis
Another hour compilation mixing the great and the good, from Paul McCartney and Willie Nelson, to Tom Jones and Robbie Williams. The more unlikely names like John Cale or the Stylistics lifted the overall tone.

Classic Albums: Elvis Presley
From the iconic sleeve inwards, this album backed up the growing phenomenon, even if it didn't have 'Heartbreak Hotel' on it. This 2001 doc included Keith Richards and BB King paying respect, along with more obvious folk like Scotty Moore, DJ Fontana and Sam Phillips.

Memories of the King
Can't prove it, but I had a strong suspicion this was much of the same material as the Early Years/Later Years docs seen earlier. Still enjoyable again, mind. Elvis' dislike of teddy bears, his generosity, his continual stage jitters through the need for perfection, or his vow never to wear jeans or overalls, were the sort of trivia that round out the overall picture. Views on Tom Parker varied. The consensus was that his friends couldn't save him, as he had to do it himself. And he could have done. But clearly, he didn't.

Elvis Presley has now been #1 in the UK album charts for 2 weeks with "If I Can Dream" a collection of his songs now with added orchestrations

Storyville: Orion - The Man Who Would Be King
Never heard this one before. A guy called Jimmy Ellis came to small prominence in the mid-70s because he could sing as close to Elvis' style as anyone ever has. But he couldn't make a living out of it. Then! Elvis dies, and his agent is sent a book about a rock star who fakes his death and returns as "Orion" - and before you can say "life imitating art", Jimmy Ellis is out on the road as Orion, wearing a face mask to back up the illusion. He recorded a plethora of albums, but never received royalties from his agent (the book writer never received any acknowledgement either). After a few years, he ditched the mask, but it didn't help. Eventually, he was shot dead during an attempted armed robbery. There was some suggestion, since Jimmy had been adopted, that his real father might have been Vernon Presley, since there was some facial resemblance (more than Jimmy had with Elvis, anyway), but the 10 year age gap between Jimmy and Elvis seemed enough to confuse any further examination.

Elvis Presley is causing trouble in Denmark:

Danish Elvis Presley museum forced to rebrand after name dispute

Graceland Randers, which opened in 2011 in the town of Randers, will now be known as the Memphis Mansion.

The building is a replica of the singer's Memphis home, but is twice the size to house a shop and restaurant.

Henrik Knudsen, who runs the Danish attraction, said Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc demanded a name change.

He said the company also sought 1.5m kroner (£148,000) in compensation for the infringement of the Graceland name.

Reflections w/Keith Bilbrey - Ronnie McDowell
A short interview series on a country music channel. But Ronnie McDowell's story seemed so linked to Elvis Presley that it should go here. Dubbed the "pride of Portland", he broke through after Elvis died with "The King is Gone", received strong reactions when he took a limited number of acetates to radio stations, and made it to Epic Records. He went on to open for Conway Twitty for 7 years, considered on stage entertainment as a necessity, worked with George Jones, and had a useful sideline as a portrait painter. Likeable guy.

Reflections w/Keith Bilbrey - TG Sheppard
Might as well nudge this here, too, since he credits Elvis with saving his life (having runaway from home to Memphis rather than Nashville, he bumped into the big guy at a bowling alley). He then spent 7 years living at Graceland, from where he had his first brief musical success under his alias (his real name being Bill). Apparently, Elvis told him that he "dreamed" his achievements, being a success on stage etc. Elvis also liked to listen to folk like Roger Whittaker when at home, too.
Later, Sheppard worked with Waylon Jennings, and was encouraged to record Country himself. Lo, he got a good response, friendly support from Roger Miller, and becoming friends with guys like Barry Gibb. His wife's a star, too. I warmed to him, anyway.

Lives On! An unauthorised tribute to Elvis Presley
A pretty ordinary account of the usual material, amusingly highlighted by what footage they could clearly use, eg lots of him before he became a GI etc. The hysterical press asking him about whether he feels guilty of the moral outrage they accuse him of shows how little has changed in the last 60 years. Donny Osmond was one of the few people who seemed to have been interviewed fresh for this. There was a lot of vox pops of fans mourning him in death from various parts of the globe, come to Memphis to pay tribute. There was also a mad clip of then-President GW Bush with the Japanese-PM Koizumi, apparently a big Elvis fan. There was some discussion of his daughter Lisa Marie's daughter Riley and her being a model, so maybe that fame circle will never close.

The legendary guitarist Scotty Moore has died, at the age of 84

He was the last survivor of Presley’s original band which also included producer Sam Phillips and bassist Bill Black.

Moore played guitar on many Elvis’s hits such as Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock.

He was a key part of an epochal time in rock music history, and always seemed like a nice bloke when I've seen him speak about those days. RIP

Hairy Bikers' Mississippi Adventure
This 3-part 2012 series combined the HB's usual cookery format with some musical stuff from the Mississippi Delta. So the first show went to the Stax Records Museum, discussed Martin Luther King and church gospel music, whilst also looking at fried chicken, lemonade and peach cobbler. The second show discussed the Blues, bottleneck slide guitar, but also the Po'boy sandwich, oysters and Mississippi Mud Pie. The final show looked at southern-style BBQ, the origins of the supermarket, monster cheese-burgers and milkshakes, and visited Sun Studios and Graceland, as well as interviewing George Klein, a friend of Elvis. In an amusing break from the norm on this sort of thing, they clearly found their day in Graceland coincided with a minor monsoon of rain which made the outside sections look different.

Elvis: On Tour
From 1972, with much concert footage, mixed with backstage vignettes of all sorts. He did many songs I knew, many I didn't. Ones like Proud Mary and Bridge Over Troubled Water perhaps point to how he might have continued had he lived into the 1980s and 1990s. A quirky account, really, and I admit I'm on the side of those who regret his early passing.

Another new (or old) album of previously unreleased material, "Way Down In The Jungle Room" has entered the top 20 UK LPs chart

The South Bank Show Originals: Lieber & Stoller
Looking back at this 1982 edition, by which time L&S look well into middle age. They were drawn to the sound of the blues. Hard Times was their first success, whilst Kansas City was their first standard. They wrote Hound Dog for Big Mamma Thornton of course. Jerry Lieber was appalled by Elvis Presley's version, and found Elvis had learned it from a lounge singer's reinterpretation of it. Though they were pleased with the money. They realised they should stop songwriting for a teen market when they were no longer of the same age bracket themselves. They went on to create The Coasters, and produced The Drifters, and had other success.

All You Need Is Love: Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll
Ep 13 of this series was predominantly about Elvis Presley and the effects he had. Sam Phillips repeated his story of how he was able to embody the sound of the South, mixing black and white. He got screwed by Colonel Tom Parker, and opted to cut his losses and work with Carl Perkins instead. Pat Boone once again got to show off how he had hits with songs by acts like Little Richard who were considered just too much for middle America. Churches and some music stations campaigned against the "evils" of rock & roll. Music show wiz Jack Good had plenty to say, dismissing Lonnie Donegan's efforts to counter rock & roll with skiffle. Good also scorned the way Brits imitated the Americans. This was a cue for Cliff Richard, of course. When Elvis joined the army, his danger was neutralised, and he emerged to do saccharine movies and croon like Crosby. This all contrasted with Jerry Lee Lewis, the all-action piano-bashing swine. At least Jerry Lee praised the Beatles for getting the drop on the industry. Which set up the next episode...

A second album of tracks backed by an orchestra was a similar big success a month or two back.

In sadder news, though, Joe Esposito has died at the age of 78.

Esposito was Presley's professional assistant and a member of his inner circle, known as the "Memphis Mafia".
He was one of two best men at the star's wedding to Priscilla in 1967 and a pallbearer at his funeral in 1977.
Esposito's daughter Cindy Bahr said he had died of natural causes in California on 23 November after suffering from dementia.
The pair met while serving in the Army in 1959. When they completed their service, Esposito became Presley's assistant, a role that saw him acting as road manager when Elvis was on tour.

RIP