"The Gospel According To Elvis" - an EIN Spotlight by Nigel Goodall:

 

In celebration of the new BMG release of 'I Believe: Elvis Gospel Masters' acclaimed author and EIN contributor Nigel Goodall explores this least appreciated influence on Elvis’ career. More than any other musical genre, gospel played a consistently important role in Elvis’ life, from his childhood to his final years on the road. Gospel music brought Elvis his only Grammy awards, and also became his consolation in times of stress or depression. During the dark years of the 60s, when Elvis' recording career came close to collapsing in a sea of trivia, his spiritual releases acted as a beacon of artistic quality. Yet this side of Elvis' great legacy is too often ignored by the general public. Click here for this fascinating spotlight.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight_thegospel.html

 

(Spotlight, Source;EIN/Nigel Goodall)

Robert Plant and Elvis sing to each other!:

 

In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine assembled a panel of 179 judges from the ranks of musicians and singers, record company executives and music industry insiders, journalists and Rolling Stone staff. Each voter was asked to list his or her 20 favourite vocalists from the rock era, in order of their importance. Those ballots were recorded and weighted according to methodology developed by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, which then tabulated and verified the results for Rolling Stone magazine.

Elvis ranked #3 behind Ray Charles at #2 and Aretha Franklin at #1.

 

Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant penned the article on Elvis:

 

There is a difference between people who sing and those who take that voice to another, otherworldly place, who create a euphoria within themselves. It's transfiguration. I know about that. And having met Elvis, I know he was a transformer.

 

The first Elvis song I heard was "Hound Dog." I wasn't equipped with any of the knowledge I have now, about the Big Mama Thornton version or where all that swing was coming from. I just heard this voice, and it was absolutely, totally in its own place. The voice was confident, insinuating and taking no prisoners. He had those great whoops and diving moments, those sustains that swoop down to the note like a bird of prey. I took all that in. You can hear that all over Led Zeppelin.

When I met Elvis with Zeppelin, after one of his concerts in the early Seventies, I sized him up. He wasn't quite as tall as me. But he had a singer's build. He had a good chest — that resonator. And he was driven. "Anyway You Want Me" is one of the most moving vocal performances I've ever heard. There is no touching "Jailhouse Rock" and the stuff recorded at the King Creole sessions. I can study the Sun sessions as a middle-aged guy looking back at a bloke's career and go, "Wow, what a great way to start." But I liked the modernity of the RCA stuff. "I Need Your Love Tonight" and "A Big Hunk o' Love" were so powerful — those sessions sounded like the greatest place to be on the planet.

 

At that meeting, Jimmy Page joked with Elvis that we never soundchecked — but if we did, all I wanted to do was sing Elvis songs. Elvis thought that was funny and asked me, "Which songs do you sing?" I told him I liked the ones with all the moods, like that great country song "Love Me" — "Treat me like a fool/Treat me mean and cruel/But love me." So when we were leaving, after a most illuminating and funny 90 minutes with the guy, I was walking down the corridor. He swung 'round the door frame, looking quite pleased with himself, and started singing that song: "Treat me like a fool. . . ." I turned around and did Elvis right back at him. We stood there, singing to each other.

 

By then, because of the forces around him, it was difficult for him to stretch out with more contemporary songwriters. When he died, he was 42. I'm 18 years older than that now. But he didn't have many fresh liaisons to draw on — his old pals weren't going to bring him the new gospel. I know he wanted to express more. But what he did was he made it possible for me, as a singer, to become otherworldly.

 

 

"Only in America":

 

How many thousands of books are published in America every year? And of those how many does the world actually need?

 

Here is a book the world has needed for many decades –Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s own story in well-arranged, wildly readable words. Short, punchy, as irresistible as a Leiber/Stoller song.

 

Some say Leiber and Stoller invented rock ’n’ roll.

 

I don’t think so. I think that honor should go –if to anyone –to Sam Phillips of Memphis’ Sun Records, who recorded all sorts of great black blues musicians but yearned and searched high and low for a white performer with a black feel to conquer American popular music. What happened when he found Elvis Presley ultimately transformed world culture in a way we’re still beginning to understand.

 

So Leiber and Stoller may not have actually invented rock ’n’ roll. But they WERE rock ’n’ roll –the very first to be in

America, long before Elvis. They were the mass culture marriage of black America and white America in ways that even jazz and swing never thought of. Born a few months apart in 1933, they met in Los Angeles as mutual admirers of boogie woogie, the blues and so much of what once used to be relegated in America to “race records.”

 

They were “the original cool cats,” promoter, producer and singer Steve Tyrell told Ken Emerson in Emerson’s amazing book “Always Magic in the Air.” “Mr. Disorderly Conduct and the Man from Another Planet,” they’re called by Atlantic Records’ patriarchal honcho Jerry Wexler in his book “Rhythm and the Blues” (it is Wexler, by the way, who is usually credited with inventing the phrase “rhythm and blues” to describe, among other things, the first music that Leiber and Stoller wrote with such crazy panache).

 

Wrote Emerson: “Manic, impetuous and aggressive, Leiber was a motormouth with curly red hair. One eye was blue, the other was brown, and there was a crazy glint in both of them. (Asked what he put down for eye color on his passport, Leiber told a friend ‘assorted.’ ”) Stoller, wrote Wexler, “was the taciturn virtuoso, an enigmatic keyboard wizard who looked as if he’d just arrived from Venus or Jupiter. He had formal musical training and a taste for jazz piano.”

 

What resulted, wrote Wexler, was “a comic spin to their musical vignettes, their reflections on black American life, their witty lyrics, their gritty syncopations…Creators of fantastic characters, they were fantastic characters themselves. Their place is secure in the annals of pop. Their roots a combination of barroom blues and radio programs of their late-’40s childhood.”

 

When they first met, writes Leiber in one of the alternating Leiber and Stoller sections of “Hound Dog,” “I saw a kid my age with a beret on his head and a Dizzy Gillespie-type goatee on the end of his chin. A bebopper, I thought to myself. Oh s—-, not one of them.”

 

When they quickly realized how united they were by the blues, writes Stoller, “I started playing some blues” on the piano. “Jerry improvised some lyrics and sung them as if he had been born in Mississippi.”

 

“We shook hands and said, ‘We’ll be partners.’ ”

 

America and the world were never quite the same. It’s hard to pick my favorite story from the typhoon of them blowing through “Hound Dog,” one of the indispensable books of 2009 as well as one of the most rollickingly pleasurable.

 

Is it Jerry Leiber at Elaine’s suddenly attacked from behind and strangled by Norman Mailer, after having decisively whipped a bruising friend of Mailer’s in a wrestling match supervised by Elaine Kaufman herself? Surely there’s inestimable value to American culture in the confirmation of the widespread suspicion that a sneak attack and stranglehold from behind would be a drunken Mailer’s M. O. Or is it Mike Stoller’s story about how he and Leiber and “avant-garde composer” and longtime University at Buffalo Music Department mainstay Morton Feldman almost wrote the background music to the arty and rather dreadful 1961 Carroll Baker movie “Something Wild.”

 

Writes Stoller: “I’d written a jazz theme and a big band arrangement. Jerry had written a lyric and we’d put together an orchestra of great musicians, half from the Basie band and half from Ellington’s.”

 

Never one to leave well enough alone, Feldman, typically, had an idea. “Let me take your arrangement and redistribute it into various small groups. Then you and Jerry and I will each conduct the ensembles at different tempos, all at the same time and in the same studio.”

 

In typical Leiber/Stoller style, Stoller responded “why not?” to his friend Morty’s lunatic proposal of Ivesian film music in 1961. “The result,” writes Stoller, “was annoying, frightening and wonderfully nauseating. It would have worked phenomenally well in the film.” (Note: the revered and far more conventional Aaron Copland ultimately got the “Something Wild” scoring gig, out of which he later fashioned his superb “Music for a Great City.”)

 

By this time, Leiber and Stoller had already virtually invented the job of record producer and re-created the sound of American pop music with the Drifters’ “There Goes My Baby,” the “everything but the kitchen sink” record that pointed their onetime acolyte and associate Phil Spector into the innovative direction of his “Wall of Sound.”

 

It’s mind-boggling to think that Feldman was so close to those whose songbook includes so many hits. (See accompanying story.)

 

“Today,” writes Stoller, “R&B and rock ‘n’ roll are taken seriously as art forms. When we started writing and producing, a two-line review in Cash Box magazine was the best one could expect for a blues or R&B record. As far as Jerry and I were concerned the song we were writing might have a life span of a few months. They were cute, they were appealing, they were seductive. Singers liked to sing them and fans liked to listen to them.”

 

Which, except for the unfortunately derogatory connotation of the word “cute,” describes their collaborated autobiography in their mutual 76th year. Yet another Leiber and Stoller product that may be destined for an entirely unforeseen and insanely long life.

 

Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography By Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with David Ritz; Simon and Schuster; 322 pages, US$25.00

 

(News, Source: Jeff Simon,buffnews.com)

 

Read EIN's earlier Spotlight interview/article on the 'Leiber-Stoller' biography :dance:

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_leiberstoller2009.html

 

 

The other Scottish journalist who interviewed Elvis:

 

Friends and colleagues of former journalist Ian Nelson – whose funeral takes place today – always believed he was the only British reporter to interview Elvis on UK soil.

But Press and Journal editor Derek Tucker knew different.

After reading Ian's obituary on HoldtheFrontPage yesterday, Derek contacted the website to tell us that former P&J reporter Alastair Bisset was also present during the 'royal visit' in March 1960. Elvis stopped off at Prestwick Airport mid-journey from Frankfurt to the US after leaving the Army – the only time the King set foot on UK soil. Alastair died in December 2007, aged 66, and, as this obituary from the Northern Scot shows, he also claimed to be the only Scottish journalist to interview Elvis in the UK.

 

Below is the piece Derek sent us from the Press and Journal's archives.

...............

While others can only ponder the appeal of Elvis from afar, Moray councillor and former Press and Journal reporter Alastair Bisset is one of the few Scots who can claim to have witnessed it for himself. He was one of only a handful of people who met Elvis during his one and only visit to Scotland – a late-night refuelling stop at Prestwick on his way home from Germany, where he'd been stationed with the US Army.

Then a fresh-faced reporter in his first job in journalism with the Ayrshire Post, Mr Bisset wangled his way past airport security and quizzed the bemused GI.

He recalled: "I asked him how he felt about being in Scotland and he said: 'Gee, am I in Scotland?'"

Something about Elvis' startling eyes told Mr Bisset that this clean-cut young man, who was by then a major star, was destined to achieve even greater things. But had he known just how popular Elvis would become, he'd have been more careful with the memento he managed to snatch from the encounter.

He said: "In those days I used to smoke Embassy cigarettes. I didn't have a notebook with me – it had been quite a late call – so I got him to autograph the back of my cigarette packet.

"After the cigarettes were finished, I threw the pack away. It wasn't until some time later I thought: 'Hell, that was Elvis' autograph,' but by then it was too late – I'd thrown it in a bucket. I wouldn't like to think what it might be worth today. It would probably have saved me from spending a further 40 years slogging away at journalism though."

 

(News, Source: holdthefrontpage.com)

 

Can you believe that he threw the cigarette packet away with Elvis' autograph on it :o I can understand why he was kicking himself afterwards :blink:

 

 

 

Great Andy Warhol & Elvis shot: :cheer:

 

A fabulous photgraph of Andy Warhol in front of a New York City movie theater billboard featuring an Elvis poster for the movie 'Tickle Me.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/Elvis_warholx.jpg

 

Go here for EIN's Spotlight on Andy Warhol - The Elvis Works:

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight_warhol_ang.html

 

In the narrative and pictorial article EIN looks at some of the iconic images by pop artist, Andy Warhol.

The visuals range from variations of "Elvis in Flaming Star" to "Red Elvis".

 

(News, Source;SanjaM/EIN)

Cliff Richard Talks about Elvis :yahoo:

 

(3:07) Audio courtesy Elvis Presley MP3 Audio Central.

 

http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/audio/...bout_elvis.html

 

Video and Audio, Elvis News June 18, 2009

Elvis Presley and Magdalene Morgan

 

Elois Bedford was probably Elvis' first 'girlfriend' - the relationship ended after perhaps one year when Elvis handed Elois a note as she was about to board the school bus. It said he had gone to another girl. Her name was Magdalene Morgan. Magdalene had had her eyes on the shy youngster for a longer time and she knew - just knew - that one day, sooner or later, they would become 'an item'.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/magdalene_morgan.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews June 23, 2009

Elvis, Scotty & Bill - Lamar-airways Shopping Center Opening Sept. 9, 1954

 

Elvis, Scotty and Bill were hired to perform at the grand opening of the shopping center on September 9, 1954. They did so on a makeshift stage built on a flatbed truck in the center's expansive, unprecedentedly large parking lot. Still relatively unknown outside of Memphis the Memphis Press-Scimitar again misspelled Elvis' name, this time with two S's in Presley. Elvis' appearance at Katz drugstore drew a a huge crowd of teenagers and is MCed by Elvis' former Humes classmate George Klein

 

http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictur...eptember_9.html

 

Elvis Articles June 29, 2009

Think I may have posted this first article before, but it's a good read so I'll post it again B) The second, I'd never heard before.

 

Elvis' Secret Life Exposed:

 

And now for something a little different! From Libertyland to the White House, Dolly Parton, Kill Bill and in-between, we think you will enjoy this recent, very clever and amusing, article...

Elvis Presley, the man who jump-started the rock-and-roll revolution from a tiny Memphis recording studio in 1954 and went on to become the world's most recognizable entertainer, died Monday, August 6th, of cardiac arrest, at his Horn Lake, Mississippi, home. He was 72 years old.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight_secretlife.htm

 

 

How The Mystery of the Broken Elvis Records was solved in 1957

 

On January 5, 1957, Billboard magazine reported on a mysterious case of damaged Elvis records. How The Mystery of the Broken Elvis Records was solved -- Larry Kanaga, then vice-president and general manager of RCA's Record Division, heard the true story at a convention of record distributors in Indianapolis ...

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/the_myster...ords_1957.shtml

 

Elvis Articles July 16, 2009

Think I may have posted this first article before, but it's a good read so I'll post it again B) The second, I'd never heard before.

 

Elvis' Secret Life Exposed:

 

And now for something a little different! From Libertyland to the White House, Dolly Parton, Kill Bill and in-between, we think you will enjoy this recent, very clever and amusing, article...

Elvis Presley, the man who jump-started the rock-and-roll revolution from a tiny Memphis recording studio in 1954 and went on to become the world's most recognizable entertainer, died Monday, August 6th, of cardiac arrest, at his Horn Lake, Mississippi, home. He was 72 years old.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight_secretlife.htm

How The Mystery of the Broken Elvis Records was solved in 1957

 

On January 5, 1957, Billboard magazine reported on a mysterious case of damaged Elvis records. How The Mystery of the Broken Elvis Records was solved -- Larry Kanaga, then vice-president and general manager of RCA's Record Division, heard the true story at a convention of record distributors in Indianapolis ...

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/the_myster...ords_1957.shtml

 

Elvis Articles July 16, 2009

 

 

I have heard the first one before but like you i haven't heard the second. :D

 

Click here for the interesting Ernie Barrasso story - Ernie knew Elvis from growing up in the same neighborhood. Ernie talks about selling Elvis a red Thunderbird Landau and when Elvis rented out his Thunderbird Lounge in 1967 and 1968 for New Year's Eve.

 

http://www.elvis.com/legacy/default.asp?id=26

 

(News, Source;EIN/Tony Stuchbury)

Elvis photographer Richard Weede EIN Interview:

 

On October 28th 1956 Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the second time. This was the first time that Elvis had been at the New York CBS studio since Elvis' previous Ed Sullivan appearance had been linked in live from a studio in Los Angeles.

Richard Weede, an aspiring photographer, was also in the CBS Studio that day and captured some fabulous candid images of Elvis at the Ed Sullivan rehearsals. His father was the famous opera star Robert Weede, so Rock'n'Roll was certainly not a staple at his home!

It was only recently that an envelope of these lost photographs was discovered - images that beautifully capture a classic moment in Rock'n'Roll history. EIN's Piers Beagley recently interviewed Richard Weede about his iconic 1956 Rock'n'Roll images.

 

Go here for the exclusive interview and 1956 photographs.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_rich...0_sullivan.html

 

(Interviews, Source;EIN)

Lost Elvis donut commercial found?

 

Elvis made only one commercial in his life on November 6, 1954 for Southern Maid Donuts. This commercial was broadcast during the Louisiana Hayride. Elvis sang the jingle: 'You can get 'em piping hot after four PM, you can get 'em piping hot. Southern Maid Donuts hit the spot, you can get 'em piping hot after four PM'. This commercial has never been released. George Klein recieved a phone call this week in his radio show. The caller claimed that he received the commercial thru an ex-employee from the production company and that is willing to give the commercial to EPE for free, if they arrange a meeting with Lisa-Marie.

 

Sat, Nov 6, 1954 Municipal Auditorium, Shreveport, LA - 'Louisiana Hayride' broadcast

 

Songs: I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You), Fool, Fool, Fool, Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Sittin' On Top Of The World and the Jingle ('Southern Maid Donuts').

 

Elvis News August 5, 2009

Lost Elvis donut commercial found?

 

Elvis made only one commercial in his life on November 6, 1954 for Southern Maid Donuts. This commercial was broadcast during the Louisiana Hayride. Elvis sang the jingle: 'You can get 'em piping hot after four PM, you can get 'em piping hot. Southern Maid Donuts hit the spot, you can get 'em piping hot after four PM'. This commercial has never been released. George Klein recieved a phone call this week in his radio show. The caller claimed that he received the commercial thru an ex-employee from the production company and that is willing to give the commercial to EPE for free, if they arrange a meeting with Lisa-Marie.

 

Sat, Nov 6, 1954 Municipal Auditorium, Shreveport, LA - 'Louisiana Hayride' broadcast

 

Songs: I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You), Fool, Fool, Fool, Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Sittin' On Top Of The World and the Jingle ('Southern Maid Donuts').

 

Elvis News August 5, 2009

 

 

I would love to see that commercial :yahoo:

Didnt know this was missing...seems no one has posted on any other sites. Seen this at ELVIS HOLIDAY back in 80 and 81 at pontins holiday camp

 

Great clip of film...nice and clear :dance: :dance:

Bronze note for Dewey Phillips

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/beale.jpg

 

Early this morning, when the August sun was already heating up the city of Memphis, a crowd of about 100 fans gathered on Beale Street to attend the unveiling of the Broze Note for legendary radio DJ Dewey Phillips. Dewey hosted the Red Hot and Blue radioshow and was the very first DJ ever to play an Elvis Presley record. His name is now forever linked to the musical heritage of Memphis. The Bronze Note is cemented in the foot path of Beale Street, next to WC Handy's statue. Present at the ceremony were Dewey Phillip's sons and Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises.

 

Published: August 13th 2009 06:02 PM.

Source: ElvisMatters/Graceland Tours / Published by: ElvisMatters - Michel van Erp . - Photographer: Michel van Erp

 

Bronze note for Dewey Phillips

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/beale.jpg

 

Early this morning, when the August sun was already heating up the city of Memphis, a crowd of about 100 fans gathered on Beale Street to attend the unveiling of the Broze Note for legendary radio DJ Dewey Phillips. Dewey hosted the Red Hot and Blue radioshow and was the very first DJ ever to play an Elvis Presley record. His name is now forever linked to the musical heritage of Memphis. The Bronze Note is cemented in the foot path of Beale Street, next to WC Handy's statue. Present at the ceremony were Dewey Phillip's sons and Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises.

 

Published: August 13th 2009 06:02 PM.

Source: ElvisMatters/Graceland Tours / Published by: ElvisMatters - Michel van Erp . - Photographer: Michel van Erp

 

 

 

Thats super :cheer:

Elvis faithful can't visit site of last #1:

 

Presley fans flocking to Memphis this weekend to remember the day he died are being encouraged to also celebrate the 40th anniversary of his final No. 1 hit single, "Suspicious Minds."

 

While they can tour Graceland, the estate where he died 32 years ago, or Sun Studio, which helped make him the King of Rock 'n' Roll, the Elvis faithful can't see the place where that hit record was made. There's nothing left, not even a historical marker, to remind people of the sessions that produced the "From Elvis in Memphis" album.

American Sound Studio folded in 1972 and the building was later torn down. In its place is a beauty shop and a crumbling parking lot.

"I haven't been back there to see," said Chips Moman, who ran the studio and produced the 1969 Elvis sessions. "I put it out of my mind."

But in 1969, American Sound Studio was at the top of its game, in the middle of a three-year span that would yield more than 100 hit records for artists that included B.J. Thomas, Neil Diamond and Dusty Springfield. Presley, meanwhile, had spent much of the previous years filming and recording soundtracks to his largely forgettable movies. He hadn't recorded in Memphis since leaving the Sun label in 1955. But he was also coming off the roaring success of his televised comeback special in December 1968 and proved willing to take some risks in hopes of charting his first No. 1 hit in six years.

 

"All of us had always liked Elvis, his early stuff," Moman, 72, said in a telephone interview from his home in LaGrange, Ga. "We didn't like all that movie stuff, so when we got our chance we wanted to cut some stuff that we liked."

Initially, it didn't appear Presley was going to want to move in a different direction. He arrived at the studio in January 1969 with his sizable entourage of friends and handlers, and some potential songs were presented to Moman and the band.

 

"And of course all those guys were boogalooing to all those terrible songs," recalled Bobby Wood, 68, piano player for the 827 Thomas Street Band. "And we were just standing around wondering, 'What in the world is going on here?"'

Wood said he was approached by Elvis confidant George Klein and asked what he thought about the songs. He answered frankly that he thought "they were a bunch of crap" and was shocked when Klein carried that message back to Presley.

 

"I didn't know whether Elvis was going to say 'Get out of here,' or what," Wood said. "But he just started laughing, and he was laughing to the top of his voice. So I knew he was all right after that."

The entourage began melting away as Presley began to gel with Moman and the house band in overnight recording sessions. He agreed to record "In the Ghetto," unusual in Elvis' repertoire for its social commentary on the cycle of crime and poverty, and "Suspicious Minds," which became a centerpiece of his live Las Vegas performances that would begin that year.

 

"I knew that he was only a good song away from being as big as he ever was," Moman said. "I knew Elvis had what it takes. We just gave him something new, and a new kind of groove."

Four years later and well into his jumpsuit-and-cape era, Elvis returned to Memphis to record at Stax Records in an effort to recapture the feel from the American sessions. Wood and several other members of the band — now known as the Memphis Boys since moving to Nashville — were brought in to back him up.

 

"The whole scenario had changed, and even Elvis didn't seem like he was that interested anymore," Wood said. The studio was teeming with people and there were too many distractions to record quality music, he said. "If you're not in control of the recording and getting it done with a small group of people, it's just not the same," Wood said.

Presley never lived to see another No. 1 single. He died Aug. 16, 1977, of heart disease worsened by years of prescription drug abuse.

 

(News, Source: AP)

 

I would love to have been able to visit the American Sound Studio as I love the music Elvis made there :wub:

 

Chips Moman gives a little more conversation on Elvis' 1969 creative rebirth:

 

By any standard, Chips Moman has an impressive résumé. As a songwriter, Moman is responsible for several true classics, from "Dark End of the Street" to "Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." As a producer, he helped define Stax Records during its early years before going on to sire a succession of hits at his American Sound Studio.

But, perhaps more than any aspect of his storied career, Moman will be remembered as the man who helped midwife Elvis Presley's creative rebirth in 1969.

 

On Saturday, Moman will be back in the Bluff City for a rare public appearance and an even rarer conversation about the King. He'll be here, along with the members of his famed American Studio band, to mark the 40th anniversary their work on the landmark From Elvis in Memphis album. Moman and company will be interviewed on Saturday in a panel discussion at the Cannon Center for Elvis week.

 

For Moman, his relationship with Elvis predates the 1969 sessions -- and actually began on a Ferris wheel. "See, I used to go out to the fairgrounds whenever Elvis would rent it out, and I would go out and hang out with him and ride the rides," says Moman.

By 1969, with his movie commitments over and the famed "Comeback Special" behind him, Elvis was ready to get back to serious recording. As it happened, the hottest band, producer and studio in the world were right in Presley's backyard.

 

Over the years, Moman and his American Sound Studio -- located on Thomas Street in North Memphis -- had grown into a monster. Moman had recruited a crack unit of players from the house bands at Hi Records and Phillips Records to form the American Studio group: guitarist Reggie Young, drummer Gene Chrisman, pianist Bobby Wood, organist Bobby Emmons and bassists Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill.

 

The lineup, mostly with Moman behind the board, would become a hit-making machine in the latter half of the '60s, working up a series of chart smashes for artists like the Box Tops ("The Letter''), Dusty Springfield ("Son of a Preacher Man''), Neil Diamond ("Sweet Caroline''), B.J. Thomas ("Hooked on a Feeling'') and Bobby Womack ("Fly Me To The Moon") .

Given the firm grip of Elvis' manager, Col. Tom Parker, his label RCA, and song pluggers at Hill and Range Music Publishers, getting Elvis into Moman's studio proved a challenge. It was Marty Lacker -- onetime foreman for Presley, who'd gone to work for Moman -- who brought the project in through the back door.

 

"Marty was working for me and he was still in close with Elvis," says Moman. "So Marty was talking to me about Elvis and talking to Elvis about me and slowly bringing us together. He's really the one that got that album to take place."

The sessions, which took place in January and February of 1969, began with a bit of turbulence, as Moman was forced to take charge, clearing the studio of Presley's pals and business associates, and setting the tone for the record he wanted to make.

"There was a big entourage and there were these publishers in town and they were pushing the kind of songs that Elvis had been cutting, and I wanted to change that," says Moman. "See, we all liked Elvis, but we all liked Elvis in the old days. And so we were really excited about cutting him because we thought that we could do something real special."

 

For Moman, the secret of the sessions was finding the right material for Presley. A gifted songwriter himself, Moman always had an ear out for the next hit tune. "People were sending me songs all the time. People who write songs, they knew I would listen. I always stayed in touch with a lot of songwriters and I would constantly be calling them and asking them for new things."

Among those who provided songs for the Presley sessions were young writers like Mac Davis ("In the Ghetto"), Mark James ("Suspicious Minds"), and Eddie Rabbitt ("Kentucky Rain"). Combining the fresh material with a mix of old country, R&B and rock favorites, Presley was able to showcase his range and interpretive gifts.

 

For Moman, the sessions with Presley were not unique from a musical standpoint -- "we did exactly what we normally did" he says -- but Presley, who was being pushed in the studio for the first time in more than a decade, was performing with a newfound energy and enthusiasm.

 

"He came in there and he was on fire, man. He really was," says Moman. "He was excited about this session. I think he liked the strangeness of it, 'cause it was so different from his sessions that he'd been doing."

"He hit it off with everybody too. He was in a good mood and always joking. And it was always funny. He could tell a joke and even if it was a bad joke, everybody would laugh," says Moman, chuckling.

 

The collaboration between Elvis and Moman would result in Presley's return to the charts, and the King's musical resurgence, which continued with his return to live performing later that year.

Though Presley did not return to record at American, another album, Back in Memphis, containing leftovers from the American sessions, was released in 1970, much to Moman's chagrin.

 

"The fact is they took the culls, the throwaways, that I had and made an album out of it and released it, too. That was all outtakes. The guys from RCA, they took every tape in the world that they thought had Elvis on it. And that's how they got that other album." (A remastered version of both Memphis albums was reissued by Sony/Legacy as a two-disc package last week.)

 

For Moman, who's been reclusive in recent years, Saturday's Elvis interview will be a rare opportunity to hear him talk about his most famous charge. "Ordinarily I just don't do any interviews about Elvis. The thing of it is, man, I just get wore out of people asking me about Elvis," he says, with a laugh. "This is the first time I'm doing something like this, but I think it will be great to be with the (American Band) and just reminisce."

 

The interview will also be the first public appearance for Moman since suffering a stroke last year. He's slowly been recovering, and getting back to the things he loves most. "I'm doing better, but I'm having to really work with my left hand a lot because the stroke messed it up. I haven't been able to play the guitar very well but I'm trying. I'm starting to play my guitar a bit and write some more songs," says Moman.

 

"Might be another hit left in there yet."

 

(News, Source;MLacker)

Elvis Presley In The U.S. Army - Take our 20 Page Tour :dance:

 

On January 19, 1953, like all young American men of the time were required to do at age 18, Elvis Presley registered for the U.S. Selective Service System. Under the system, young men of good health were expected to be available to serve for two years of active duty and then four years in the reserves. Take our 20 page tour of Elvis Presley in the U.S. Army. Includes, photos, video, audio, and information.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvisandtheusarmy.shtml

 

Elvis Articles August 15, 2009

Elvis Presley In The U.S. Army - Take our 20 Page Tour :dance:

 

On January 19, 1953, like all young American men of the time were required to do at age 18, Elvis Presley registered for the U.S. Selective Service System. Under the system, young men of good health were expected to be available to serve for two years of active duty and then four years in the reserves. Take our 20 page tour of Elvis Presley in the U.S. Army. Includes, photos, video, audio, and information.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvisandtheusarmy.shtml

 

Elvis Articles August 15, 2009

 

 

 

There are some brilliant pictures there, he looks gorgeous. :wub: :cheer: