Thirty four years ago, Elvis was found dead in his little home we called Graceland and the influx of Elvis impersonators jumped up from a handful to 80,000 today according to the BSN (Bullshit News Service). I remember it somewhat clear in 77, his Moody Blue album was released. When Elvis died, no place had any of his albums to sell for about two weeks. Somehow I managed to find a cutout copy of The Sun Sessions later on but for the most part I did buy Moody Blue and reviewed it and gave it a B minus at best. I enjoyed the title track and Way Down but for the most part his version of Unchanged Melody and Little Darlin' was awful. I think I gave the album to my folks. While Elvis legend of being The King Of Rock And Roll, I find that term to be a bit biased, he was rock before he went into the Army but when he came out, he was more becoming more pop than rock before those Elvis movies almost sunk his credo once and for all. The big comeback was partly a lotta Memphis based R and B but once he hit Vegas it became pompous and too over the top. Had Elvis lived, I just didn't see him strip his band back down to Scotty Moore, Bill Black and DJ Fontana, I'm thinking he would have builded upon his big band sound with backing singers galore. In some ways kind of like that CD they put out last year Elvis Lives, the Brendan O'Brien mixed project of what would have happened had The King lived. Good in spots but fucking tacky in others, including that American Idol reject chick singer going all over the scales on a song that escapes my mind. Nevertheless, I still continued to follow The King with buying some of his spotty 70s singles, the best being the rocking Promised Land and TROUBLE the only two songs that actually did rock out. Problem was Elvis didn't do a whole lot of that and Moody Blue wasn't the best album to bow out but then again nobody knows when the time will come for you to bow out. It boggles the mind that EP would have been 76 this year had he lived. But then again, had Buddy Holly lived, chances are that there would be a different king of rock and roll. But that's another guessing game for another time.
This summer we have had three stage collapses at three different state fairs, Cheap Trick lost their stuff doing one, There was one in Oklahoma with The Flaming Lips but the big one came from a big windstorm that toppled a stage at Indiana, killing five people and forcing Sugarland to cancel their appearance at the Des Moines Iowa State Fair the next night. Sara Brallanes, the opening act just finished her set and Kristan and Jennifer were about ten minutes ready to hit the stage till the whole thing toppled over like a bad erector set. In fact you can see the big dust cloud in the distance. Seeing the You Tube video and unedited footage, there was no time to react to this. It just hasn't been a good time for going to concerts at the state fair. And in the end, Sugarland's big backdrop and set was destroyed in the process.
And now this week's bunch of tunes. When I did the Madison 45's, I ended up with a cool 10 songs from 10 different forty fives but didn't consider that to be a top ten of the week. Could have but we all know you love to read about my top tens. Gotta keep my 10 readers up to date. After all I have two lists, one being Rock And Roll And The Brains Blog which has a readership of its own, and then there's the others. Gotta love the links to that blog although it does keep the viewership around 1,000 views.
1. Promised Land-Elvis Presley 1974 And now our customary Elvis tribute. Perhaps The King was listening to Rock And Roll by Led Zeppelin and thought that he needed a song to sound that rocking so he picks the old Chuck Berry tune, tell Ron Tutt to beat those drums and James Burton to play some mad guitar and this is the end result. On a different subject, I'm not much into Hank 3 but I know Diggy Kat is. Next.
2. Scratching The Surface-Saga 1983 They had a big hit with On The Loose but their best album was the followup Heads Or Tails, which includes failed single The Flyer and this song which wasn't sung by Mike Sadler but rather Jim Gilmour and at times they did sound like a more radio friendler Rush but lesser on the theatrics. Portrait CBS released their albums in the US whereas Polydor issued Saga albums across the big pond. Heads Or Tails did fairly well but the next album bombed and Saga moved to Atlantic for a one off before staying overseas. One of the best sounding albums thanks to Rupert Hine. Side Note: there has never been a US version of Saga best songs, but Polydor did issue Time's Up, a strange collection of Saga's greatest hits, to which I found at a old closeouts place about 20 years ago during the beginning of the CD era. Only time I ever seen that CD, glad I picked it up eh?
3. Country Woman-The Magic Lanterns 1971 Their claim to fame was Shame Shame to which John Paul Jones did the arrangements and the myth that was Mike Oz Osbourne to which Mark Marymont thinks was the Ozzy that played in Black Sabbath to which it wasn't so but I heard rumours that Black Sabbath is back together this week. Ozzy sure gets around don't he and I thought he was still doing his solo tour. Nevertheless, The Magic Lanterns original lineup splintered up and somehow Albert Hammond joined up and with him and Mike Hazlewood, turned the Magic Lanterns into The Family Dogg part 2. Family Dogg being the band that Hammond was in prior before joining. And Steve Rowland who produced also played a big role in The Family Dogg. The Family Dogg sounded a cross of Moody Blues, Foundations and The Fortunes but with an eye on the pop rather than rock and there was a import that confirmed that whatever they were doing in that band they were doing now in The Magic Lanterns. This song got some airplay on WLS in Chicago in 1971 and was probably the best song from the Hammond/Hazlewood era.
4. I'm Too Old For This-Christopher Cross 2011 Guess who is still around and putting out new albums? Thirty years ago, he took just about every known Grammy known to man and got blistered all over the rock press for that. Unjust too, Christopher Cross had four top ten singles off it and the b sides weren't too bad either except for a plodding Minstrel Gigolo. And beautifully produced too. Cross continued to make albums for the WB and later Reprise but each album sold less and less than the other one and by the 90s he was recording for the old folks label CMC international. He swears this is his most guitar sounding album and at times it does have more guitar and even old Mike McDonald puts in a vocal appearance. But for a new release, nobody cares anymore, hell this cd was in the used bins for three months before yours truly decided to take a listen to it and some songs will put you to sleep. But you have admire that he's still in the game although the folks in the UK seem to like his music more than the autotuned tonedeaf American counterparts.
5. Drugs-Ammonia 1995 Sony Music attempt to find the next Nirvana and this band apes their sound from Kurt and company. One of those Cd's you find in the dollar bin to hear what you missed. Not bad but not memorable either. (no auto-tuner in this song kiddies).
6. Can't Get Enough-54-40 2005 I'm sure my talk and mention of the lesser known bands are probably cause why the ratings are not triple digits or even double digits. But 5440 has been around for years, they just across the border and been one of Canada's more productive bands although they haven't had anything released in the US since Casual Viewing USA, a collection of their hits across the border. Lead the distinctive vocals of Neil (Oz) Osborne, I'm surprised they haven't included him in being Ozzy of Black Sabbath either. Haven't heard much of 5440 since 2008's Northern Soul and although I have most of their albums, I didn't have Yes To Everything, the 2005 effort till somebody donated it at the Davenport Goodwill along with a few other 5440 albums that I already did have. And probably have more than any of y'all out there too.
7. Prison Bound-Social Distortion 1989 From their underproduced album of the same name, kind of disappointed that they didn't add It's The Law to the Social D Greatest Hits comp from 2007. I had a passing interest in what Mike Ness has done some good (Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell), some forgettible (blame Micheal Beithorn for the bad production on White Light, White Heat, White Trash album) but never a bad album. The tracks that he did use from the Epic albums seem to be a bit more less polish mix than on the original albums but that that shouldn't deter you from checking them out.
8. Up And Down-The Cars 1980 As much as I like the first two Cars album, both have been overplayed to the point that I really don't care having them in my collection again. But the third album, much maligned in the press remains my favorite album from Ric and the boys but it also shows that Benjamin Orr is sadly missed. After Shake It Up, I ignored their albums up till Move Like This but managed to buy Ben's solo album plus most of Ric Osacek's albums. Never heard anything from The New Cars, the half Cars, half Utopia collaboration but read that it did get some good reviews.
9. It's Nothing To Me-Jim Reeves 1962 (new lead guitar dubbed in 1977) My dad had a whole bunch of Jim Reeves LPs in his procession. And a few other RCA artists in the time of I was around 4 or 5 (Bobby Bare, Don Gibson) and getting my grubby little paws on them. But the ones he had were the lush arrangements of Moonlight & Roses and A Touch Of Velvet but this comes off Tall Tales And Short Tempers to which this song was taken from. Fifteen years after the fact, RCA remixed it, added some 70's style country guitar for a decent chart showing. For years, Gentleman Jim was remained one of the biggest selling artists even after his death in a plane crash, to which I see a lot of his albums in the bins at Goodwill or Salvation Army for about fifty cents. Strange, that out of all the best ofs and greatest hits I've seen I have yet to see this song on any of them.
10. Don't Let The Sun Go Down-Mike Farris & The Cumberland Saints 2010 Once upon a time Farris was part of the Screaming Cheetah Wheelies who made four albums for Atlantic and Capricorn but basically it was hippy dippy noodling around. Farris left, got born again and reinvented himself as a gospel blues singer. Made two albums of note for INO/Columbia but on this EP, find himself on a new label E1 and this came out during the time of the Cumberland River Flood that ran through downtown Nashville. Funny how one year passes and Nashville seems to be back on the road recovery whereas out here three years after the big floods Cedar Rapids is still a ghost town in areas. Didn't know anything about this EP till I came across it during the Borders Store Closing sale in Davenport and got this for four bucks. Farris is the real deal and here's hoping that T Bone Burnett will produce one of Mike's albums in the future. I think it's a perfect fit myself. Side Note: Sam Bush, all everything bluegrass star plays some mandolin on the EP.
Finally, much thanks to Mike Eldred for sending out a T Shirt and an autographed copy of his 61 and 49 CD on his own label before Zoho Roots picked it up for release. Got it over the weekend when I was spending quality time with my GF but I'll be sure to wear the T shirt proud. Plus it updates my wardrobe too.
Again, if you want to read about something worth reading, we take you to Groove Sandwich for this. http://groovesandwich.typepad.com/groove-sandwich/
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