Track Listing
1. Blue Suede Shoes
2. I’m Counting On You
3. I Got A Woman
4. One-Sided Love Affair
5. I Love You Because
6. Just Because
7. Tutti Frutti
8. Trying To Get You
9. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
10. I’ll Never Let You Go
11. Blue Moon
12. Money Honey
Well, we've already jumped ahead a year, how about that? Only 2 albums in and we're already at the dawn of rock 'n' roll. And by "dawn", I mean "some white dude doing black people's songs." Although this album has massive historical value being the first rock album to have any degree of success (as can happen when it's number one for 9 weeks!), it's not very good. You know how excited I was talking about Frank Sinatra making an album as artistic statement instead of a bunch of random songs? Turns out that idea hadn't quite spread to the folks at RCA, who after signing this new star promptly threw together some r&b covers and some country songs that were recorded back when he was on Sun Records and called it an album. Considering it sold over a million copies, I guess it worked!
"Groundbreaking", "earth-shattering", and "explosive" are just some of the platitudes I have seen used to describe this album. To be honest, I'm just not hearing it. Perhaps it was considered groundbreaking to have a white guy covering black music then, but all the R&B covers here are inferior to the originals, particularly 'Tutti Frutti', which doesn't even come a fifth of the way to matching the sheer manic energy of Little Richard's original. I mean, they're not bad. I kind of dig the swing time ending he sticks on to 'I Got A Woman', but I'd still rather listen to Ray Charles.
Really, the only time that Elvis sounds truly comfortable on this album is when he's doing the up-tempo rockabilly that made him famous in the first place. His versions of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)' are the best songs on the album, because they're what Elvis does best. Which leaves the country ballads. Now, it took several years of musical development and maturity for me to admit that all country doesn't suck, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy these bland, forgettable songs that rather break up the flow of what is supposed to be a 'rock' album. Frankly, Elvis doesn't quite have the voice yet for these kinds of songs, so they all fall flat with the exception of 'Blue Moon', which has a sparse backing and vocals trapped inside a giant echo chamber giving it a haunting and ethereal tone, something that I'm positive other Elvis songs don't have.
I'm definitely sure that this album merits a place in the list due to being the first successful rock album, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. The fact that this guy shoes up in the list 3 times and Chuck Berry can't get in once is one hell of an oversight. 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment