DVD: "Elvis, the king of rock'n'roll"

/ ARTIST: Elvis Presley / TITLE: "Elvis, the king of rock'n'roll" / GENRÉ: Musical film / FORMAT: DVD /

This wonderful DVD has been in my collection for a while, but I haven't watched it until now.

What you get on this disc is a collection of TV performances and parts of his movie acting career where he sings. This means that some of his best stuff, the stuff he did at Sun records, before he got a chance to be on the telly, stuff like my all time fave Elvis tune, Mystery train, isn't included. That's a pity, I'd love to see someone unearth old amateur films of his performances from the mid-50's, if they exist.

There are 30 numbers apart from two bonus material-press conferences on this disc. Most of the stuff is from his hey-day, the 50's TV performances and his many films from the 60's. This fact means that you get a lot of material which harks back to the days when the establishment tried to tame him and make "safe" numbers about teddy bears, but, sure enough, Hound dog and Heartbreak hotel are included.

You also get a few cuts from his comeback in 1968, as well as some of his 70's stuff. Now, I like the schmalzy side of Elvis too, his ballads and his teddy bears, but there is something wrong when he performs with a big band. Rock'n'roll was meant to be played with guitars, bass and drums. Not, as I said, with a big band and a million background singers. Most of the stuff made by the king in the 70's is just the antithesis to what one appreciates in Elvis. The one big exception vein Suspicious minds, of course. You can try to tame Elvis and give him a rhinestone jacket, but in the end, a rebel remains a rebel and Elvis was, as top UK punk band What A Riot put it, "born a rebel".

When Elvis performs Suspicious minds, a tune that will go down in music history as one of the best tunes ever made by any human being, you can glimpse a bit of 50's Elvis, dancing, singing and joking. Top quality! It doesn't get much better than this!

Apart from the "true" numbers, you get some of the most joked about Elvis tunes too, like Are you lonesome tonight?, which I won't comment and In the ghetto.

The ghetto tune has been ridiculed, but I don't find that funny. Sure, Elvis was rich and famous by the 70's, but he had a background in deep poverty and knew what he was singing about. I appreciate Elvis, cos he was very much an antithesis to the pot-smoking hippies at the time (sorry, Willie Nelson, you still rule!) who didn't know what they were singing about, but trying to make a stance as radical as possible. The fact that Elvis, icon of another generation, takes his time to write a protest song, which he pulls off with full credibility in my book, speaks more to his favor more than any MC5 tune.

If you're an Elvis fan, you're gonna like this. True, there's a zillion Elvis clips on youtube, but this a movie and well worth the investment. Any Elvis fan should have it in his or hers collection.

A great DVD like this naturally get's a high rate of satisfaction, 96,7%, to be precise!

Jerry Lee Lewis, "The best of..."

/ ARTIST: Jerry Lee Lewis / TITLE: "The best of" / GENRÉ: Rock & roll / LABEL: Crimson / FORMAT: CD /

To my generation, those born in the 70's, too young to have experienced the first wave of punk and too old to fall for all the shite on the pop charts, we have to settle for retro. Myself, I like old school punk, old school country and old school rock & roll.

The problem with retro when it comes to soulful music like all those three genrés, is that you can't really appreciate how groundbreaking it was when it first shook society.

Sure, punk was rebellious, but them kids were wearing designer clothes that ordinary folks couldn't afford and the anarchist message was very much a middle class pose.

No, I don't think any musical genré has shook society to the extent that early rock & roll did. Here you have a nice, well-mannered nation who listens to Jim Reeves (that being said, I bleeding love Jim Reeves) and all of the sudden two southern kids appear on the charts. One shakes his hips in obscene ways and another kids sings about what the first one symbolize with his fits. To top it off, he sets fire to his piano. What ever punk did, it had nothing on Jerry Lee Lewis, not even the first wave of real punk. I'd much rather fight Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 in a fist fight than that mean old geezer Jerry Lee Lewis. Gary Hodges of the 4-skins is a different kettle of fish entirely, though. I think the only genré that has ever come close to the impact of early rock & roll is oi!.

Well, enough the manners of that old rebel that will surely go to his grave a rebel and let's talk music, cos, at the end of the day, that's what matters!

Not surprisingly, what you get on this record is the best of Jerry Lee. According to the bloke that put the record together, at least. There's a load of covers on this album and I would've wanted to see the Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace being covered too. If anyone doubts that this is one of Jerry Lee's best covers, just get on youtube.

The record is a bit predictable, with other words. You get great tunes like Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On and Great Balls Of Fire. Great tunes and well established ones of his career.

Maybe precisely cos it's full of lack of surprises it makes this a good record. Not a perfect record, but a good record. Perfect to give to those of your relatives that were young in the 50's or to anyone interested in the ear and to be honest, that's what Best of's are for.

As I said, there's a load of covers, some better than others. I was surprised that, his voice being so different from the original singer, Jerry Lee could make such a brilliant version of Malcolm Yelvington's rockabilly classic Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-o-Dee. It's better than the original and the best cover on the album, the worst being a piss-poor version of Hank Williams Sr's You Win Again.

Jerry Lee has never had the voice of other greats of the era, but with the voice he had, he managed to put across the spirit of youth rebellion like no other and irregardless of what you think of his personal qualities, at least he's one of the best piano players in the industry and that piano and voice is backed up by a driving drum sound.

I really liked this record and it get's a whoopin' 91,3% in rate of satisfaction!

Elvis Presley, "Christmas with Elvis"

The content of this record might fall out of the usual scope of this blog, as Elvis, most of the times, was a rock & roll singer and not a country singer.

But, on the other hand, I think Elvis will be remembered in the future as a classical artist of the 20th century. He will, in his genre, which he helped popularise, be remembered as one of the American greats. I think he might even be remembered as a great American folk singer, if the French regard Edith Piaf as French folk, why not Elvis as American folk?

Well, enough about that. What you get here is a triffic Christmas album featuring the king. How can you go wrong with that? This is a cheap CD reissue of Elvis Christmas Album, it includes the same tracks, but also a few bonus tracks, which I could do without, as they've got nothing to do with christmas or God, but I can understand how the regular guy who might like Elvis, but who won't collect records as manically as I do, sees this as a good thing. A pair of beautiful christmas anthems coupled with some of his greatest hits.

Most songs (if you exclude the bonus tracks) are slow numbers packed with christmassy emotions and spirit. Cept for the opening track, Santa Claus is back in town, but even if some of the number ooze more 50's pop than the Presley brand of rock & roll we're used to, Elvis will be Elvis and keeps his rebel attitude in it.

He also got those background singers singing in almost country style harmonies he used on Teddy bear.

Best tunes are Silent night, Santa Claus is back town and, one of my all time fave Elvis songs, Blue Christmas.

Everyone likes Elvis, so I'll try to play this record on my family's Christmas party this year. My sis always get away with playing that heathen hippie John Lennon's socialist anthem which has nothing to do with Christmas. This year will be the year of Elvis. Move over, limey!

Last but not least. I'm a christian man, despite my flaws, and I try to go to Church on Sundays. On the one hand, this might shock some that i love God and still like Elvis, but on the second it shouldn't. Elvis was a rebel, but so was Christ and in fact, Elvis has some nice faithbased tunes on this record, which you gotta love. I can't see any contemporary singer record tunes like some of the ones on this record and if he or she would, the atheist lobby would make radio and television boycot his or hers record.

This is the perfect christmas album. Naturally, it gets 100% in rate of satisfaction. You can just ignore the bonus tracks, I did. Not that they're bad, they just got nothing to do with christmas.