Tracks: 1) Rip It Up; 2) Love Me; 3) When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again; 4) Long Tall Sally; 5) First In Line; 6) Paralyzed; 7) So Glad Youʼre Mine; 8) Old Shep; 9) Ready Teddy; 10) Anyplace Is Paradise; 11) Howʼs The World Treating You; 12) How Do You Think I Feel; 13*) Hound Dog; 14*) Donʼt Be Cruel; 15*) Any Way You Want Me*; 16*) Too Much; 17*) Playing For Keeps; 18*) Love Me Tender.
Yep, his covers of "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" are utterly fantastic, or I should say Scotty Moore's covers because both have some of his most kickass guitar work ever! I think what makes Moore's playing so cool to me is that a lot of his solos are so clean and methodical, as if he was a great rockabilly strategist calculating the perfect solo or tone for the song, yet he also makes sure to have fun and play them mean and dirty enough. It's like the perfect balance of kicking ass and intelligence that makes him a lot of fun to hear, and on those songs especially I feel he shines really brightly. Those solos are not complex, but goddamned do they rock the fucking house down! "Love Me" is also an excellent song in my opinion, just because I love the way Elvis delivers those verses (he really could imbue real heartbreak into songs like those!)
Also, you are so right about "Hound Dog", it reaches a level of ecstasy that is totally unsurpassed in rock n roll that can be compared to punk music (which I guess a lot of early punk relates to post-punk and alt-rock the way rockabilly relates to prog-rock and 70s art-rock, so that makes sense). Yet, out of his singles around this time, "Don't Be Cruel" has always been my favorite, that song is sonic perfection! I have a real soft spot for these sorts of soft-rock bouncy pop songs of his, which is why I really love "Paralyzed" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" even if they are clearly inferior. Anyways, good review George, you're one of the only serious reviewers around who gives Elvis his due.
Yep, his covers of "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" are utterly fantastic, or I should say Scotty Moore's covers because both have some of his most kickass guitar work ever! I think what makes Moore's playing so cool to me is that a lot of his solos are so clean and methodical, as if he was a great rockabilly strategist calculating the perfect solo or tone for the song, yet he also makes sure to have fun and play them mean and dirty enough. It's like the perfect balance of kicking ass and intelligence that makes him a lot of fun to hear, and on those songs especially I feel he shines really brightly. Those solos are not complex, but goddamned do they rock the fucking house down! "Love Me" is also an excellent song in my opinion, just because I love the way Elvis delivers those verses (he really could imbue real heartbreak into songs like those!)
Also, you are so right about "Hound Dog", it reaches a level of ecstasy that is totally unsurpassed in rock n roll that can be compared to punk music (which I guess a lot of early punk relates to post-punk and alt-rock the way rockabilly relates to prog-rock and 70s art-rock, so that makes sense). Yet, out of his singles around this time, "Don't Be Cruel" has always been my favorite, that song is sonic perfection! I have a real soft spot for these sorts of soft-rock bouncy pop songs of his, which is why I really love "Paralyzed" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" even if they are clearly inferior. Anyways, good review George, you're one of the only serious reviewers around who gives Elvis his due.