Elvis at his best

I picked up a copy of the DVD Elvis #1 Hit Performances. This has been out a while but I had not got around to getting it. The reason is that I have all of the performances on one thing or another. I felt I needed this thought for the collection. For the average fan that might not have a serious collection of Elvis's work this would be great. This has some of his best work. A lot of good stuff that could have been added was left off, but I am going to focus on the positives. Hound Dog could have had several different performances chosen, but they went with the performance from the second Sullivan show. They hit a home run there, that is one of Elvis's greatest performances, period. This DVD showcases Elvis from early 1956 to 1973. My favorite performances on here besides Hound Dog are, Stuck On You and Return To Sender. A cool thing as well is the two bonus interviews on here. I have seen them both a million tomes but they are great. They are the 1960 press confrance at Graceland and the 72 press conference in New York for the Madison Square garden shows. Overall this is a pretty good DVD even though it does not really aim for the serious fan. I am sure a lot of casual fans will love this.

Don't Be Cruel

"Don't Be Cruel" is one of my favorite Elvis songs of all time. Written by Otis Blackwell, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2002. In 2004, it was listed #197 in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greastest Songs Of All Time. "Don't Be Cruel" was originally the A Side of RCA single with "Hound dog" on the B Side although both sides became chart-toppers, RCA reissuing the single in later decades as double A side. The single was the first to top all three extant Billboard charts: pop, rhythm & blues, and country & western.
The song was recorded for RCA Victor by Elvis' regular band of Scotty Moore on lead guitar, Bill Black on bass, DJ Fontana on drums and backing vocals from the Jordanairs. Elvis recorded this song on July 2nd 1956 at RCA's New York City studio. The producing credit was given to RCA's Steve Sholes, however the studio recordings reveal that Elvis produced the songs in this session (as well as many others) himself, which is verified by the band members. Elvis selected the song, reworked the arrangement himself on piano, and recorded eight takes of the song with the band (number 7 being the take released on the record) during one recording session following the thirty takes of "Hound Dog" (number 28 being released on the record) recorded that day. "Any Way You Want Me" was also recorded in that same session following "Don't Be Cruel". "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" were released on July 13th 1956
Elvis reworked the Otis Blackwell demo and changed the music and lyrics, just as he did to other compositions by Blackwell. Thats the reason he received co-songwriting credit.
Elvis, Scotty, Bill, DJ, and the Jordanaires first performed "Don't Be Cruel" on national televsion on the September 9th 1956 Ed Sullivan Show. They revisited the song twice more when appearing on the Sullivan Show October 28 of the same year, and on January 6th 1957.

Junior update

I am a huge NASCAR fan. Certified Elvis freak Dale Earnhardt Jr started out with a top ten at Daytona before getting into a wreck that was not his fault at California that left him in 42nd place. He has made a huge climb the last two weeks with a second and third place finishes at Vegas and Atlanta. He has climbed back to sixth in points. The drivers head to Bristol this weekend where Dale has had success before.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

I ran across this picture the other day by accident. This is one of my favorite pictures ever. There is many reason why I like Elvis in the 50's the most and this picture sums it all up. Elvis was truly an original and always that coolest. Elvis did not have to act cool he just was that way. In the 50's Elvis was just truly being him self for the most part, and he came off cooler than anyone ever. This picture is from 1956 out at his house on Audubon. Most people think Elvis was posing this picture and trying to act like the 50's type rebel or bad ass much like Dean or Brando. That is not the case however. Elvis was having problems with his bike and was just pissed at his problem. Elvis just acting natural, but looking like the coolest cat ever.

Edwards top 5

Much thanks to Vince for holding the blog down while I was out of town this weekend. I am back and ready to post all kinds of stuff this week. Now to my top five songs of the week.

1.Paralyzed(56)
2.A World Of Our Own(62)
3.That's All Right(Mama) (54)
4.I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder-private recording in 1960
5.After Loving You(69)

Well i'll be damn, it's ol Mike

This pic is dedicated to Mike Edwards.

Vince's Top 5

1. Mystery Train/Tigerman (That's The Way It Is Disc 2)

2. Don't Be Cruel (Studio Version)

3. Blue Moon Of Kentucky

4. Earth Angel (Rare Recording from Germany)

5. Too Much

Although The Mystery Train/Tigerman was on the TTWII Cd, It looks like 50's Elvis dominated more than ever this time.

Vince Everette vs. Danny Fisher

2 key characters in Elvis's movie career duking it out. Both guys are bad asses, both guys can fight. Who do you think would win? Personally, I think Vince could take him. I think ol' Hunk might have showed him a move or two in prison. What do you think Mike?

Vince's Elvis Image Of The Week

This pic is one of the coolest if not the coolest 68 comeback pic ever. I'm a huge 68 Comeback fan and thought it was only necessary to make my first image of the week be one of the 68 comeback. This image of Elvis was also used for the 3oth anniverasy Elvis Week. He looks almost like a statue in the pic, it's definately in my top 5 fav pics of Elvis.

Is this train the frankfort special

GI Blues is the movie I am watching this morning. GI was the first film Elvis filmed when he returned from Germany in 1960. Elvis played the part of a GI in the army named Tulsa McLean. The story is of a singing GI on his way to spend some time in Frankfort Germany. He has to take on a bet where he has to try to spend the night with a dancer for the night. If he does not come through then him and his band mates loose a lot of cash. Along the way he actually falls for the dancer Lili(Juliet Prowse). In the end he ends up with her despite the fact she learns of the best. GI Blues featured elven songs and is one the best soundtracks of the 60's. My favorite song from the movie is Pocketful of Rainbows. GI is a pretty good movie. It set the tone for the Elvis movies of the early 60's. I really dig the music in it, for the most part it is really good and make the movie better. Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana would appear in one last movie as the have a small part as musicians at the first of the movie. Also the Jordanaires play the part of singing GI's. GI Blues is for sure in the upper tier when it comes to Elvis movies.For the year GI ranked #14 in top grossing films despite only being out for the last four months of the year. GI would bring in an incredible $4.3 million for the year of 1960. GI Blues was on of Elvis's most successful movies.

What the hell is wrong with the world....

when Roy Orbison is beating out Elvis Presley in anything. Roy is cool and all but he could not ever touch Elvis in a million years. SunRecords.com has a poll on what is your favorite Sun artist. Roy was killing Elvis. I don't understand it, I think Elvis has ten fans for every one fan Roy has. I can't figure it out, there must be some odd fuckers that are part of a Roy group voting every day. That's alright though, the Elvis Insiders are coming out of the wood work. No way we can let Elvis loose to Roy Orbison in this thing. We can play this game too. We have done it! Elvis is leading at the moment over Roy 3,281-3,035. It is not over yet, we took the lead once. We have to keep voting. These crazy people I think are out there voting just to have Elvis loose I think. If you can go to sunrecords.com and vote. If for some crazy reason you are not going to vote for E, then at least vote for the freaking Killer. The one that could at least come close to rivaling Elvis.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Juliet Prowse is our doll of the week. She appeared in the movie GI Blues. She was actually to have appeared in Blue Hawaii as well but because of her unreasonable demands, she was replaced. I love her in GI but can't see her playing the lead in Blue. At the time of the movie she was was engaged to Frank Sinatra. She still had a fling with Elvis, and she did not care to tell you about it. She once said, "Elvis and I had an affair.... We had a sexual attraction like two healthy young people, but he was already a victim of his fans. We always met in his room and never went out." She can be seen on the original release of That's The Way It Is, as they are interviewing people as they come in. She is ranting on about him being so great and how she has seen him already several times. She seemed like she always had a thing for him afterwards.

I was reading once that Elvis used to come home and talk about Juliet's athletic abilities and how she could be bent into any position when in bed, which was a delight for Lamar. This always makes me giggle when I think about this for some reason. Lamar could only get off on listening to Elvis's stories. Cracks Me Up. I am going to go watch GI and enjoy those nice legs of Juliet's.