sun elvis
tonight, while working at home (something i try to avoid -- the curse of the work laptop), jerry lee lewis' old tyme country music led inexorably to elvis' sun sessions ceedee (because i'm too lazy to change vinyl when i have my head down slaving away over a hot 'puter; '80s technology is more functional in those moments.) perhaps i was recalling something my dtr's ex-housemate, a '50s trash culcha obsessive, once told her when she was depressed: "you need _more rockabilly_ in your life!"
until '97 or so, i was kinda of the same mind about el as chuck d and john sinclair ("after 1958, elvis was _not_ a rebel -- _he went in the army!_"). when i was just a wee laddie, i somehow got the idea that elvis was italian (because all the ppl i knew who looked 'n' dressed like that were italian), and that he had something to do with my uncle frank (who served in the army in germany around the same time as pvt. presley). but i bought the sun sessions 'cos reading greil marcus' mystery train stirred my curiosity (a good rawk scribe can make you wanna hear music that you _know_ you don't like) and experienced an epiphany thru repeated plays with a headful of cold medicine that transformed me, against my better judgment, into a dyed-in-the-wool fan of el in his "hillbilly cat" (tho not "40-and-fat") daze. the 'riginal punk-rock? perhaps. whatever he mighta devolved into later, his version of "blue moon" remains otherworldly. pass the nyquil.
until '97 or so, i was kinda of the same mind about el as chuck d and john sinclair ("after 1958, elvis was _not_ a rebel -- _he went in the army!_"). when i was just a wee laddie, i somehow got the idea that elvis was italian (because all the ppl i knew who looked 'n' dressed like that were italian), and that he had something to do with my uncle frank (who served in the army in germany around the same time as pvt. presley). but i bought the sun sessions 'cos reading greil marcus' mystery train stirred my curiosity (a good rawk scribe can make you wanna hear music that you _know_ you don't like) and experienced an epiphany thru repeated plays with a headful of cold medicine that transformed me, against my better judgment, into a dyed-in-the-wool fan of el in his "hillbilly cat" (tho not "40-and-fat") daze. the 'riginal punk-rock? perhaps. whatever he mighta devolved into later, his version of "blue moon" remains otherworldly. pass the nyquil.
posted by stashdauber at 11:09 PM
2 Comments:
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Ohh man .... Scotty Moore's playin' is so great on that early stuff ... a vitual guitar clinic that too many people miss. Makes me remember what's possible on the guitar.
I just taught "Love Me" to one of my students last night. And "Blue Moon" is right there with "Sleepwalk" as one of the more dark pop tunes of that era.
Than there's the guitar solo on "Hound Dog". It was one of those first solos where you couldn't really hear all the notes but you you could still tell there was some amazing stuff goin' on.
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