Elvis - 30 years after

[NC]

To give credit where credit is due, I think Moman helped give Elvis a more commercial sound, and they were encouraging him to record more contemporary sounding material. He had been working with basically the same band and backup singers since 1960, and it was starting to sound a little stale. The band at American had a hot sound, and were producing a lot of big records at the time, so it was a smart move and it got him back to the top of the charts.

He was recording some great material in 66-67, but it was not commercial. If you really look at the non-soundtrack material recorded during what might be considered as the "wilderness years", say 63-67, there are very few stinkers, and some absolute gems like "Tomorrow Is A Long Time", and "It Hurts Me".

[Rocker]

I agree that the Memphis-sessions had a more contemporary sound. But I don't think that his '66-'67 recordings were not commercial. There are some songs that very well could've been hits.

[Rocker]

I was just looking through the booklet of the great "Memories - The '68 Comeback special"-CD which features the version of "A little less conversation" that was remixed and became a worldwide hit in 2002. Among some other wrecking crew-members a certain Charles Britz is credited as a guitar player for that song. Is that Chuck Britz? Didn't know he played an instrument. Anybody know this ?

[MBE]

Most likely an error.

[Rocker]

Most likely an error.

Did he even work for Elvis at any time?
Carol Kaye claims to be on ALLC but she was not afaIk. The credits in the booklet for the "Memories"-CD are for the MGM-Track of the same song, but what we hear, and hat was used for the remix, is a new track that was recorded for the comeback. Didn't know that, but guessed it, for sure until yesterday.

[MBE]

I think it's possible Elvis could have run into Chuck at one time or another but I don't think they did anything significant together.

[Rocker]

Here's something very special for all. It's a Vegas-rehearsal (as a stream, should start automatically in your realplayer) of Elvis doing "Any day now" which he never played live afaIk. His original studiorecording is on the "From Elvis in Memphis"-album.

Any day Now



EDIT: Great, Priscilla will be on Larry King and you can send questions via email. Check this out:

http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/  (scroll down a little)


Here's my question (I don't think she will/can answer it if it will even be used):

Hi Priscilla,
maybe you can answer my question. When will EPE/BMG start to treat Elvis' legacy with more respect? His face is on every crap you can think of and then there are already official impersonators. When will those guys finally go back to what really counts; Elvis and his art ? I mean many of his original albums aren't even avilable on the regular market and it takes independece label such as the "Memphis Recording Service" to get out something tasteful and artisticall useful, while BMG often not even uses the right mixes of songs that Elvis decided to release.

Thanks, have a great week !

[I. Spaceman]

Anyone else get the new FTD's?

[Rocker]

Anyone else get the new FTD's?

I don't. I don't buy FTD's too often because it's too expensive for me, but there are some that I really need.
"Raised on rock" is one of my favorite 70s albums by Elvis, although his performances are mostly really weak. His version of Tony Joe White's "For ol' times sake" is unbelievable though (btw TJW was in the studio watching Elvis record that which got Elvis telling him that "you write about my life"). What do you think about the new release? I like these album-releases with sessions much more than the stuff like "I sing all kind" (or what it's called) with songs from different albums just being mixed together.


Oh and what about "Leave my woman alone"? I heard an acetat (at least it sounded like that) which claimed to be Elvis. The backing track might very well be the one from Elvis' session and the voice had some similarities but it was to bad quality to tell for sure. Did you hear that acetat and can say what is on the "Easy come easy go"-FTD? Is it the same backingtrack?

[Rocker]

I thought some of you might be interested in this, it's Peter Guralnick's article about "From Elvis in Memphis" which appeared in "Rolling Stone" on august 23rd 1969. I think it's fascinating to read reviewas about albums from the same time as they were released. If anyone got more, I think it would be awesome to post them, or just a part of them:





Elvis and Memphis have changed, along with everything else. Country music has beenpolysyllabized, and rhythm and blues, which was once just that, has long since dropped the blues from it's make-up. When Elvis was in high school he could have heard Muddy Water's "Long distance call" or "Honey bee" as popular new releases, and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't start me to talkin'" came out at just about the same time as Elvis' own first song. Sam Phillips, Elvis' discoverer, had in the course of just a few years recorded Howlin' Wolf, Bobby Bland, Little Junior Parker, Johnny Ace and BB King, all for the first time. Some records had been leased; others had appeared on hisown Sun label. There was a relaxed interplay- musical and probably social- between white and black that was the product as much of naivete as of conscious commercial exploitation.
When Elvis first redorded fifteen years ago there was no name for the kind of music he was playing. It was just the sort of thing you heard at roadhouses and country fairs all through Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. Country singers like Sonny Burgess were known for raucous blues like "Red headed woman", and Harmonica Frank, the Great Medical Menagerist recorded by Phillips, was popular for his blues and novelty numbers. All of this was at Elvis' fingertips, and he could sing Arthur Crudup's "That's allright" as naturally as "Isle of broken dreams" or "My happiness" (the song he originally paid to record for his mother's birthday).
Elvis' first commercial release, Crudup's blues backed by a Bill Monroe bluegrass tune, changed everything. For one thing, it changed Sun Records. From a white-owned blues label which might have given the Chess brotehrs (to whom much of Phillips' material was leased) stiff competition Sun became first the harbinger and then the king of the new rockabilly sound. It's generally been assumed that the phenomenal commercial success of this music reflected a correspondent deteriotation in quality, but I think that in reality no such decline took place. In just three years Phillips put together a list that could rival that of any other recording company in any other field. There was room for the talents of artists as diverse as Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Billy Riley, Warren Smith, Johnny Cash, and Elvis himself, and really the only conclusion to which we are led is that Phillips was a man of exceptional and wide-ranging musical taste who possessed extraordinary abilities as a producer.
Dewey Phillips, a popular Memphis DJ with a big rhythm and blues following, broke Elvis' song on the radio, and according to legend the station was flooded with calls demanding that the song be played over and over again. Elvis himself hid out in a movie theatre and at last appeared on Dewey Phillips' radio show to quiet the publicuproar, and, at Phillips' prodding, to give assurance (in order to authenticate his color) that it was indeed all-white Humes High School that he had attended. We listen to these accounts not with disbelief but with a kind of incomprehension, unable to recapture so revolutionary a moment. In those days Sonny Boy Williamson was on the radio broadcasting from West Helena, Arkansas with his King Biscuit Boys, who sometimes included Elmore James and BB King. Rufus "Bear cat" Thomas, the novelty blues singer, was a regular DJ on WDIA- as he remains today- and it was just a couple of years before that Howlin' Wolf left his job at KWEM and went north to Chicago after five years of spinning records and selling fertilizer. It seems in retrospect like such a fabulous time- yet many of these same singers are still around, and Elvis is still on top.
The new album is great. I think it is flatly and unequivocally the equal of anything he has ever done. If it were made up only of it's weakest elements it would still be a good record and one that would fulfill in many ways all the expectations we might have had of Elvis.
"In the ghetto", a hit big enough to substantiate Elvis' continued popularity, is for all it's lush orchestration convincingly sung and phrased with sensitivity. It substantiates as well the whole liberal complex we grafted onto Elvis in adopting him for our hero, and despite a message fuzzy enough to allow the song considerable C&W popularity it gives us a statement as explicit as any we are ever likely to get. "Only the strong survive", while a little stiff and tightly sung, is a creditable soul offering, and even "ny day now" is palatable enough in this vein. Finally "Gentle on my mind" offers us Elvis in the new mod buckskin image of country music, as he triumphs forcefully over the banality of the lyrics with a willingness to use dramatics, even at the risk of seeming melodramatic, and all this on a song that has previously been the bland property of singers like Glenn Campbell and Bobby Goldsboro.
Most striking are the powerful evocations of an earlier style with "Power of my love", a tough blues with a popular bridge, and "Afetr loving you", a stammered blues ballad very much like "One night". Both have basic rock and roll accompaniment, both are marked by the boastful sexual swagger of earlier days, and "After loving you" is highlighted by what sounds like Elvis' own lowdown guitar (with the same runs that brought cries of "Play it dirty, play it dirty" on the TV special). "True love travels on a gravel road" gives us a well-written love ballad, eerily updated with scarcely a hint of the anachronistic style of "Love me", "Love me tender" and "Loving you". It's put across in Elvis' best genteel manner, offering a glimpse of real sophistication while at the same time "It keeps right on a-hurtin'" and "Movin' on" are masterful reminders of country and western roots. "It keeps right on a-hurtin'" showcases fine Jerry Lee Lewis-styled country piano, and "Movin' on", Hank Snow's driving classic, complete with whining steel guitar, is nicely understated by Elvis' normally extravagant voice. Both cuts are marked by the same sensitive arrangements which distinguish the greater part of the album, and both are vivid, highly successful performances.
All of this is merely confirmation of what we already knew about Elvis, though. What is new, and what is obvious from the first notes of the record, is the evident passion which Elvis has invested in this music and at the same time the risk he has taken in doing so. From the hoarse shout that opens the album to the hit song that closes it, it seems clear - as indeed it was clear on the TV special - that Elvis is trying, and trying very hard, to please us. He needs our attention, and it comes as something of a shock to discover that a hero whom we had set up to feel only existential scorn, a hero who was characterized by a frozen sneer and a look of sullen discontent should need us in the end. It is his involvement after all which comes as the surprise.
Many of the songs take their inspiration from gospel stylings. "Wearin' that loved on look" is very much in the gospel idiom, for example, with it's strained hoarse vocal, ethereal female chorus, and the almost classic piano break in the middle. Both "Power of my love" and "After loving you" are sung with umistakable feeling, with "After loving you" in particular notable for it's staggered gospel-type phrasing. Even the soul ballads, "Only the strong survive" and "Any day now", present an unashamed emotionalism that few of Elvis' golden hits would admit to and achieve a kind of tension at least that is singularly absent from the earlier songs.
But it is "Long black limousine" and "I'll hold you in my heart" which mark the highpoint of the album and indeed may mark the highpoint of Elvis' carreer to date. "Long black limousine" is the almost quintessential C&W ballad, whose melody bears traces of such mournful standards as "Old shep" and "Green green grass of home". It tells the classic story of the country girl who goes to the city in search of riches, only to be corrupted by city ways:

When you left you know you told me
that someday you'd be returning
In a fancy car for all the town to see

Well now, everyone is watching you,
you've finally had your dream
And you're riding in a long black limousine

Ordinarily a song like this will be treated as a kind of grim cautionary tale, delivered in a flat unadorned voice with simple sentimental country backing. Here the accompaniment is ornamented with bells, horns, and female choir, but it is Elvis' voice upon which the words depend for theri dramatic effect. In a departure quite uncharacteristic of most country music there is a fierce, almost shocked indignation in the voice, and the passionate intensity of Elvis' voice transforms a fairly ordinary song into a vehicle for savage social protest.
"I'll hold you in my heart ('til I can hold you in my arms)", an Eddy Arnold composition, is a simpler kind of song and a simpler kind of message. Here Elvis dispenses with words almost altogether, the arrangement is just country-gospel piano, strong supporting guitar, organ, and rythm, and the message consists only of one or two verses repeated hypnotically over and over. The effect is all-enveloping, though, and nothing could better exemplifythe absorbing character of Elvis' unique and moving style. At the same time nothing could more effectively defy description, for there is nothing to the song except a haunting, almost painful emotionalism. It goes on and on, long past the point where you would think it might logically have stopped, as Elvis himself is seemingly caught up in the mesmerizing effect of words and rythm untile he is lost in the song, using the dynamics of his voice to marvelous effect, calling up an aching vulnerability whic he has never before exposed. He doesn't let go of the song until he has wrung every last ounce of feeling from it, and listening to this performance is an absorbing, emotionally riveting experience. Elvis has never sung better.
And yet it's still not the same. There is that unavoidable tightness in his voice. For a moment we lose sight of it in "I'll hold you in my heart", but it's a function of knowledge as much as anything else. You can't rercapture the innocence ease of those first sides, you can't recall the easy innocence of adulthood, wether for listener or for singer. What is so striking about the Sun sides, even today, fifteen years after their first release, is the freshness of style, their cleanness and enthusiasm. There is a total lack of pretentiousness in Scotty Moore's crisp lead guitar and in the easy swing of the combo. The sound is without affection or clutter, and the songs - about equally divided between blues and country and mostly available on two RCA albums, A Date With Elvis (LSP 2011) and For LP Fans Only (LSP 1990) - are all of them timeless. Most of all the voice, free of the mannerisms with which it has inevitably become infected, is joyously full of confidence and youthful vitality.
The first arrangement of "That's allright", it is said, was worked out during a coffeebreak between takes of a ballad called "Without you". Really, all the early songs sound like some kind of inspired accident. It's as if some musicians got together and fooled around to make music for themselves, and the result somehow found it's way onto record. There's the unexpected falsetto and chuckle with which Little Junior Parker's "Mystery train" trails off, the bubbly beginning to "Baby let's play house", and the too-perfect,beautiful slow take of Kokomo Arnold's "Milkcow blues" when Elvis says, "Hold it, fellas. That don't move me. Let's get real, real gone for a change."
Well, he got gone. Sun sold his contract to RCA for $35,000, Elvis and Colonel Parker got rich, and Sam Phillips wrote several more chapters in musical history. Elvis may have benn a little bewildered, but he never let it show, for he withdrew from the world to make movies. He made more money, the Colonel's formulaic approach to show business continued to pay off, and he didn't go back to record in his hometown of Memphis until 1969.
His homecoming can now be accounted a triumph. But then his whole carreer can be accounted a triumph. There's no point in wasting any sympathy on Elvis or on anyone else. Because if he lost what he had he certainly got what he wanted, and that's all you can really hope for, isn't it? When he first came to our attention it would have been difficult to imagine the seriousness with which rock and roll would one day be greeted. We took Little Richard's outlandish screams for a welcome relief, and the nonsense lyrics of Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins seemed to express an implicit view of the world that each of us secretly shared. Now the secret is out, and everyone is covering up.

- Peter Guralnick




Elvis with the "American sound studio"- band.


To tell you the truth, imo it puts too much the feeling across that Elvis didn't do any great music after the Sun sessions until "From Elvis in Memphis", but there's alot of great work, some of it even better than the Sun stuff imho.
Hope you liked reading this article.

[halblaineisgood]

I haven't had time to read everything in the elvis threads.....so excuse me if this has been covered...
Did anybody here see Elvis: The concert? I guess it might be considered tacky .....but for an Elvis fan born years too late......it's the closest thing to seeing him live.......and it still featured his great band....Ronnie tutt, James Burton and all......I normally don't like Rock Concerts, but I had a wonderful time when I saw the show several years ago.....Maybe it was tacky.......but certainly much less tacky than a stupid impersonator......

[MBE]

Anyone else get the new FTD's?

I don't. I don't buy FTD's too often because it's too expensive for me, but there are some that I really need.
"Raised on rock" is one of my favorite 70s albums by Elvis, although his performances are mostly really weak. His version of Tony Joe White's "For ol' times sake" is unbelievable though (btw TJW was in the studio watching Elvis record that which got Elvis telling him that "you write about my life"). What do you think about the new release? I like these album-releases with sessions much more than the stuff like "I sing all kind" (or what it's called) with songs from different albums just being mixed together.


Oh and what about "Leave my woman alone"? I heard an acetat (at least it sounded like that) which claimed to be Elvis. The backing track might very well be the one from Elvis' session and the voice had some similarities but it was to bad quality to tell for sure. Did you hear that acetat and can say what is on the "Easy come easy go"-FTD? Is it the same backingtrack?

Raised On Rock is a great album to me. Bluesy, funky, beautiful. Never understood how people wouldn't like it. I should be getting the FTD's in a trade soon so I I will let you know when I do. Email me at my personal email edermike@msn.com for info on Leave My Woman Alone.

[Rocker]

I haven't had time to read everything in the elvis threads.....so excuse me if this has been covered...
Did anybody here see Elvis: The concert? I guess it might be considered tacky .....but for an Elvis fan born years too late......it's the closest thing to seeing him live.......and it still featured his great band....Ronnie tutt, James Burton and all......I normally don't like Rock Concerts, but I had a wonderful time when I saw the show several years ago.....Maybe it was tacky.......but certainly much less tacky than a stupid impersonator......

I haven't seen it in person but saw some video-recordings and now it's also got an official DVD-release, which I haven't seen yet. On the whole I don't like those nostalgia things, but this band is one of the ebst bands in the world, alsways was and will be, with members of very high quality each, so from that point I think it's really an interesting thing. On the other hand the communication with Elvis that was so great during the concerts (I was born too late and an ocean to far to see him) is missing as it is always the same every night from Elvis (reason being of course that the videos won't change)

 EDIT: Here's a stream to a very good audience-recorded-video f the show from aug. 16th 2002. I wonder why Scotty Moore wasn't there as they even had used the enw technology for some 50s appearances, featuring DJ Fontana.
25th anniversary concert

Never understood how people wouldn't like it.

I guess, and that's my downpoint with the album too, that Elvis sounds tired and like he didn't wanna be there. Only some cuts like TJW's "For ol' times sake" really stands out, and might very well be one of his best performances of the 70s.
Again, I like the album, I think it's much better than "Good times" for example, but it isn't a very strong or good performance of Elvis (of course compared to what he was capable). I wonder if this is the rock and roll-album that he mentioned in an '72 interview

[MBE]

Yeah it is the Rock and Roll album. I never thought he sounds tired. He doesn't attack the songs like 68-9 he just kind of finds a deeper more mellow groove. If You Don't Come Back for example is really funky, I think he was trying to just sound laid back. Nobody seems to see this though. Anyways I love For Old Times Sake, it had a lot of passion. He doesn't sound like "Elvis" on it but someone very insecure and just truly heartbroken.

[Rocker]

Yeah it is the Rock and Roll album. I never thought he sounds tired. He doesn't attack the songs like 68-9 he just kind of finds a deeper more mellow groove. If You Don't Come Back for example is really funky, I think he was trying to just sound laid back. Nobody seems to see this though. Anyways I love For Old Times Sake, it had a lot of passion. He doesn't sound like "Elvis" on it but someone very insecure and just truly heartbroken.

Well, I used to think that too but the more I listen to it the more I think he is just tired. His voice is flat on some of the songs and I don't see anything funky about him in "Just a little bit". The band is funky though but compare this to Jerry Lee's version of the song from the same year. "Girl of mine" might've been a nice filler if it wasn't for the sound of the mic he used. Sounds like speaking through a phone (from the 70s !). Personally if I want to listen to a great Elvis-album from that periode which had Elvis really doing what he felt like (I was even told that you can actually hear him being bored on the outtakes), I listen to "Promised land". But again, "Raised on rock" is for some strange reason one of my favorite albums of that era. It's charming the same way as Smiley Smile.


While we're at album discussions, here's an english article for the 30th tribute that discusses 7 of Elvis' best albums.... (well, at least that's what they say)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml;jsessionid=BYHWNNFH2HDG5QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/arts/2007/08/04/bmelvis104.xml

[MBE]

Jerry Lee's is a great version but he and Elvis approached the song quite differently. Elvis kind of made it sly subtle invitation to bed, Jerry Lee attacked it hard, with pure energy substituting for anything subtle. He is demanding sex. Promised Land is very good too but I still love Raised On Rock and the way Elvis sounds on everything (except Girl Of Mine that does sound bad). Glad you like it too even if for different reasons.

[NC]

It's fairly evident to me that he was disinterested during the ROR sessions. It was an interesting experiment that failed. Consider the December Stax sessions where he sounds much more engaged. The first sessions were scheduled during a terrible time in his life, and that is evident in the performances. It's still an album I enjoy, mainly because it is so different. On a few songs, the laid back feeling adds to the feel of the track, like "Just A Little Bit" and "For Ol' Times Sake". On others, like "Raised On Rock" and "Girl Of Mine", he sounds tired and lifeless.

I also like Good Times a lot. I consider it more introspective than anything before From Elvis Presley Boulevard. The only tracks that don't fit in are "Spanish Eyes" and "I've Got a Thing About You Baby", which would have fit in better on ROR.
 

[Rocker]

I also like Good Times a lot. I consider it more introspective than anything before From Elvis Presley Boulevard. The only tracks that don't fit in are "Spanish Eyes" and "I've Got a Thing About You Baby", which would have fit in better on ROR.
 

Really? I always feel that "Good times" was one of his weaker albums, although there are a few great cuts on it. "Take good care of her" though is imho one of his worst performances. "I've got a thing about you baby" (inspired not by Tony Joe White's original but probably more by Billy Lee Riley's awesome '72 version) is a classic and should have been a hit. "My boy" is great and I think it reveals some of his personal feelings. I don't know why he didn't use the "pills"-line in "Good time Charlie's got the blues", probably because he didn't wanna be put in that direction. Cool performance btw, same for "Talk about the good times" and the awesome "Loving arms", one of his best songs ever. Now wait... I actually might like this album much better than I thought.... Except for "Take good care of her", there's alot of great music on it... Thanks for reminding me...

[NC]

I think the big problem with the three albums that came from those sessions was one of sequencning and editing. The weaker stuff brings each of the albums down.

[pixletwin]

I was surprised on this anniversary that noone posted Bono's awesome tribute to Elvis: American David.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ke2Yd3IV3To

I love this poem! 

[Rocker]

I think the big problem with the three albums that came from those sessions was one of sequencning and editing. The weaker stuff brings each of the albums down.

Well to me "Promised land" is probably his best album from the 70s and I can't find anything really weak on that. Some filelrs but still of high quality. They should've put the title track on "Raised on rock" though and another sad ballad on this album and it would be perfect. A great collection of sad songs, like Pet Sounds was once described.

I was surprised on this anniversary that noone posted Bono's awesome tribute to Elvis: American David.

 

Very interesting, I never saw this. Although I usually don't care much about all this myth-things but for the only important thing, the music, it's always fascinating what he means to others and this here was done pretty intelligent.

[MBE]

It's funny how much debate the Stax sessions always provoke. Kind of like the 8-74 shows which I love myself. In fact the only concerts I find consistently poor are the ones from the first nine months of 1976. While I don't really like the  Love Letters LP as a whole nor the 71 Xmas, the other studio LP's Elvis did in the 70's are very good. I really think a record like Fool, Raised On Rock, Elvis Now etc are superb albums despite them stemming from various sessions. I mean take Girl Happy Kissin Cousin's or things like that. That is the bad stuff. From 1954-1977 Elvis was usually an amazing artist. Only on some of the soundtracks do I truly dislike anything.

[Rocker]

From 1954-1977 Elvis was usually an amazing artist. Only on some of the soundtracks do I truly dislike anything.

I don't think anyone was denying this, but even a great artist like Elvis could do merda when he wasn't in a good enough mood. Anyway, thankfully most of his 70s stuff is far from being merda.


Guys, I just got the new "Viva Las Vegas"-CD. No, not the soundtrack to his movie, but a new BMG/RCA-CD of live stuff. I believe in the U.S. there will only be the one disc-edition, which is a shame, as the second includes an unreleased complete '69 concert, the first one that was recorded by RCA back then. The first one has some of the best Vegas-recordings Elvis did in great sound quality and at least "Polk salad" comes in the original mix, not the new one they used many times for CDs. Don't know about the other ones, because I hadn't had a chance to listen to everything yet. But I managed to listen to the '69 concert. It's not the best one from that time, but even an average '69-Elvis is better than most other rock-musicians. You should check it out, as it really is a fantastic release with probably the best music Elvis recorded.
There will be a TV-special on Elvis and Las Vegas and this CD should be the soundtrack to it if I understood it rightly.
If anyone wants to hear a snippet or two of this double-CD, email me at  onkelzlife@gmx.de or pm

Here's the single disc:

http://www.amazon.com/Elvis-Viva-Las-Vegas-Presley/dp/B000RIWAWQ/ref=sr_1_23/105-8601982-2757267?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1186497592&sr=1-23


and this is the double disc with the unreleased '69 concert:

http://www.amazon.com/Viva-Las-Vegas-Elvis-Presley/dp/B000RZOR6G/ref=sr_1_68/105-8601982-2757267?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1186497764&sr=1-68 (romours were that this won't be available after the TV-show, but I don't know if they changed their mind about it)


BTW did I told you that a german TV-station will play "Flaming star", "Elvis by the Presleys" plus the '68 Comeback in a row on august 15th? Word was that they also show the Aloha-concert the next day but I couldn't find it on their site.


EDIT: See this, official, site for a trailer for the "Viva Las Vegas" (single disc) and I guess infos where you can get the 2-disc-edition n the US:

http://www.elvisthemusic.com/

[halblaineisgood]

Has anybody heard Arthur Alexander's original version of Burning Love?.....I have not.

[MBE]

Yeah I have Alexander's  LP it's pretty good.  Elvis added the ending with the screaming.