Author: TY

Hint for ET #10

/ TY

Does Elvis Trivialities #10 have you stumped? Not a single guess after 12 hours. Never fear. Here’s some more of the quote to help you figure out who this might be.

“I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time. It’s the kind of thing you can’t describe. It was wonderful. […] It was a kick that an Elvis album was named after my song. The whole thing was just a blur, just one more thing I couldn’t believe and didn’t expect. It was one more fantasy coming true. Of course you’d never expect that.”

Place your answer in the comments of the original ET#10 post. [Update: We now have a winner.]

Elvis Trivialities #10

/ TY / 4 Comments

Elvis Trivialities On TheMysteryTrainBlog.comSurprise, it’s another edition of Elvis Trivialities! Your question is:
Who said the following?

“I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time. It’s the kind of thing you can’t describe. It was wonderful.”

If you’re the first person to post the correct answer in the comments below, you’ll be able to blast bragging rights through your radio.

Best of luck!

Thomas walks away with Elvis Trivialities #9

/ TY / 2 Comments

Thomas (Elvis Today) has won Elvis Trivialities #9. And the answer is…

Copies of the Elvis album On Stage-February 1970 are being thrown into the audience during the Elvis Presley Appreciation Society convention footage featured in the movie That’s The Way It Is.

On Stage Giveaway At Elvis Convention, Luxembourg, 1970

On Stage Giveaway At Elvis Convention, Luxembourg, 1970

Congratulations to Thomas!

* * *

The next question could be thrown out at any time. Be ready to catch it by subscribing to The Mystery Train using the feature below this post. That way, you’ll be emailed whenever a new post appears.

The Mystery Train’s Night Riders

  • February 3, 2012: Thomas (Elvis Today) (2:18)
  • December 21, 2011: Wellsy (2:37)
  • October 31, 2011: Thomas (Elvis Today) (17:32)
  • October 1, 2011: Anton Jeldres Tiselj (Jimmy Cool) (1:01)
  • September 9, 2011: Steve Brogdon (0:17) <— Record time
  • August 6, 2011: Thomas (Elvis Today) (2:26)
  • July 9, 2011: Thomas (Elvis Today) (5:26)
  • June 23, 2011: Fred Wolfe (0:18)
  • June 22, 2011: Ty stumps the train (no winner)

Elvis Trivialities #9

/ TY / 1 Comment

Welcome to Elvis Trivialities. Your question is:

Copies of what album are being thrown into the audience during the Elvis Presley Appreciation Society convention footage featured in the movie That’s The Way It Is?

Elvis Presley Appreciation Society Convention, Luxembourg, 1970

Elvis Presley Appreciation Society Convention, Luxembourg, 1970

Get this one right by being the first person to post the correct answer in the comments below, and I’ll throw you a shrink-wrapped set of bragging rights.

Good luck!

Elvis Countdown: The 15 Greatest Albums

/ TY / 18 Comments

Focusing on those released during his lifetime, below is a countdown of Elvis Presley’s 15 greatest albums.

Elvis' Christmas Album#15 Elvis’ Christmas Album (recorded 1957)
A strong mix of Christmas and gospel songs make this album a seasonal favorite.
Best track: “Santa Claus Is Back In Town”

#14 Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas (1971)
Though recorded nearly 15 years later, this one is a perfect follow-up to his first Christmas album.
Best track: “I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day”

#13 Moody Blue (1974, 1976-1977)
Recorded in the two places Elvis felt most comfortable, Graceland and on stage, this would prove to be his final album and a strong finish.
Best track: “Pledging My Love”

#12 Almost In Love (1966, 1968-1969)
Easily the best of the Camden budget albums, this one can even hold its own against his regular releases.
Best track: “Clean Up Your Own Backyard”

#11 Elvis Is Back! (1960)
People who claim Elvis died in the Army must have missed this spectacular album, featuring a mix of blues, pop, and rock ‘n’ roll. This one feels like it should be in the top ten, but I could not find a slot for it.
Best track: “Reconsider Baby”

Promised Land

#10 Promised Land (1973)
Elvis made only weak albums in the 1970s? Bet me! Promised Land offers a perfect Elvis blend.
Best track: “Promised Land”
[Though I’ve had it in my hands for a month now, I’ve managed to hold off on listening to the FTD version of this album. I won’t have much of an Elvis budget this year, so I’m trying to string out a few FTDs I bought late last year to make them last. Check out Thomas Melin’s top-notch Promised Land FTD review over on Elvis Today Blog.]

#9 Elvis’ Golden Records, Volume 3 (1960-1962)
Say what you will about the 1960s strategy of usually withholding Elvis’ single releases from his main albums, it did result in strong compilations in the Golden Records series – especially this album.
Best track: “Are You Lonesome Tonight”

#8 From Elvis In Memphis (1969)
Fresh off the success of his 1968 ELVIS “comeback” special, this album represented a new beginning for Elvis.
Best track: “Power Of My Love”

#7 ELVIS-TV Special (1968)
Finally, after years of movies and a seeming indifference to his music career, Elvis put himself back on the track with the ELVIS special and album.
Best track: “If I Can Dream”

#6 Elvis In Person At The International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada (1969)
After the TV special and From Elvis In Memphis album, the next crown jewel of the comeback was returning to live performances. Elvis sounds on fire in these recordings.
Best track: “Mystery Train/Tiger Man”

#5 Elvis’ Golden Records (1956-1957)
Elvis’ achievements in 1956 and 1957 are nothing short of astounding. This album compiles his greatest singles of the period and even throws in album cut “Love Me” as a bonus.
Best track: “Jailhouse Rock”

#4 How Great Thou Art (1960, 1966)
Though it provided the most fuel, the television special did not begin the comeback. Rather, it was the 1966 session that resulted in this Grammy-winning album where Elvis first began to claw his way back.
Best track: “Run On”

#3 Elvis Country (1970)
Nearly ruined by the inane decision to include snippets of “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” between each song, this album manages to rise above its concept due to the power of Elvis and the underlying recordings.
Best track: “Tomorrow Never Comes”

#2 On Stage-February 1970 (1969-1970)
This compilation of live songs demonstrates Elvis’ versatility while capturing the excitement of his show.
Best track: “Polk Salad Annie”

That's The Way It Is#1 That’s The Way It Is (1970)
I consider the overall That’s The Way It Is project (the studio recordings, the rehearsals, the concerts, the movie, and all of the associated releases) to be the greatest achievement of Elvis’ career, so this album has to be number one. I do cheat a bit here and recommend the studio singles of “I’ve Lost You” and “Patch It Up” over the live versions presented on the album. I also recommend the Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters mix of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” rather than the album mix. Even without these substitutions, though, That’s The Way It Is shines.
Best track: “How The Web Was Woven”

Some of you share my enthusiasm for iPod playlists, so here is one featuring the 100 best songs from the above albums. This list does not necessarily represent my 100 favorite Elvis songs, though, as some of my favorites happen to be on releases that did not make the top 15 albums list (e.g., “Always On My Mind” and 1955’s “Mystery Train”).

  • Heartbreak Hotel (1956)
  • I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
  • Hound Dog
  • Don’t Be Cruel
  • Love Me
  • Too Much
  • All Shook Up (1957)
  • Peace In The Valley
  • Jailhouse Rock
  • Here Comes Santa Claus
  • Silent Night
  • Santa Bring My Baby Back
  • Santa Claus Is Back In Town
  • I’ll Be Home For Christmas
  • Make Me Know It (1960)
  • Stuck On You
  • Like A Baby
  • Thrill Of Your Love
  • Such A Night
  • Are You Lonesome Tonight
  • Reconsider Baby
  • I Feel So Bad (1961)
  • His Latest Flame
  • Little Sister
  • Run On (1966)
  • How Great Thou Art
  • Where No One Stands Alone
  • So High
  • Farther Along
  • By And By
  • In The Garden
  • Without Him
  • If The Lord Wasn’t Walking By My Side
  • US Male (1968)
  • Edge Of Reality
  • Trouble/Guitar Man
  • Heartbreak Hotel/Hound Dog/All Shook Up (Live)
  • Can’t Help Falling In Love (Live)
  • Jailhouse Rock (Live)
  • Love Me Tender (Live)
  • If I Can Dream
  • Charro
  • Clean Up Your Own Backyard
  • Long Black Limousine (1969)
  • Wearin’ That Loved-On Look
  • I’m Movin’ On
  • Gentle On My Mind
  • In The Ghetto
  • Rubberneckin’
  • Power Of My Love
  • After Loving You
  • Any Day Now
  • Opening Riff/Blue Suede Shoes (Live)
  • Johnny B. Goode (Live)
  • Are You Lonesome Tonight (Live)
  • Runaway (Live)
  • Yesterday (Live)
  • Hound Dog (Live)
  • My Babe (Live)
  • Mystery Train/Tiger Man (Live)
  • Can’t Help Falling In Love (Live)
  • Let It Be Me (Live-1970)
  • The Wonder Of You (Live)
  • Release Me (Live)
  • See See Rider (Live)
  • Polk Salad Annie (Live)
  • Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Live)
  • Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
  • I’ve Lost You
  • The Fool
  • Little Cabin Home On The Hill
  • Bridge Over Troubled Water
  • How The Web Was Woven
  • Stranger In The Crowd
  • You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
  • Just Pretend
  • I Really Don’t Want To Know
  • Tomorrow Never Comes
  • Make The World Go Away
  • Funny How Time Slips Away
  • There Goes My Everything
  • Patch It Up
  • I Just Can’t Help Believin’ (Live)
  • You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (Live)
  • Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
  • Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (1971)
  • Merry Christmas Baby
  • I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day
  • Winter Wonderland
  • It’s Midnight (1973)
  • You Asked Me To
  • Thinking About You
  • Promised Land
  • Your Love’s Been A Long Time Coming
  • She Thinks I Still Care (1976)
  • Moody Blue
  • Way Down
  • Pledging My Love
  • He’ll Have To Go
  • Unchained Melody (Live-1977)

“Slow versions” support Theory of Relativelvisity

/ TY / 6 Comments

The Theory Of RelativelvisityHow we perceive something is often relative to our starting point. For instance, people who became fans when Elvis first rose to fame in the mid-1950s often view him differently than those who became fans after his comeback of 1968 or his death in 1977.

Many of those earliest fans seem to favor the 1950s recordings. That is, after all, how they first discovered Elvis. Being the rebel that she is, my mom is actually an exception to that generalization. She became an Elvis fan in 1956, but she definitely favors his 1968-1977 recordings – often to the exclusion of anything else.

I’ve mentioned before that the first Elvis record I can remember listening to is “My Way” backed with “America, The Beautiful,” recorded live in 1977 and 1975 respectively. I had definitely heard Elvis music before that record came out, but those are the earliest specific songs I can remember.

After that, the next major Elvis recording in my life was a cassette tape of 1972’s As Recorded At Madison Square Garden. My mom played that tape just about every time we went for a car ride in the early-to-mid-1980s. It may still hold the record as the concert I’ve heard most often.

She would always crank it up when certain songs came on, especially “Suspicious Minds.” She still does that, in fact. If you are ever in my town and a car drives past you blaring Elvis, it is far more likely to be my mom than me behind the wheel.

Eventually, the Madison Square Garden tape began to wear thin. She next switched to a tape copy of the 1977 album Elvis In Concert. Though it lost a few points for not including “Suspicious Minds,” she played that one almost as much as she did Madison Square Garden.

For the longest time, other than the occasional radio song or record album that my family played around the house, those two live concerts tapes were Elvis to me.

Eventually, I started to collect my own albums. One of the first ones I acquired was Elvis’ Golden Records, which compiles some of his hits from 1956 and 1957.

Keeping in mind that my perception of most of them was based almost entirely on As Recorded At Madison Square Garden and Elvis In Concert, I was sure in for a shock when I played the original studio versions of some of the songs from those live albums:

  • Hound Dog
  • All Shook Up
  • Heartbreak Hotel
  • Jailhouse Rock
  • Love Me
  • Don’t Be Cruel
  • Teddy Bear
  • Love Me Tender

Though I loved the overall sound of the record, many of the songs initially seemed “off” to me. I began to think of them as the “slow versions.” It took years for my perception of those songs to change.

While I came to love and appreciate the 1950s material, I am glad that my Elvis journey started like it did. I believe it allowed me to be much more sympathetic towards his later years than I otherwise might have been.

Besides, I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything. Thanks, Mom. Keep cranking it up!

Happy Elvis Day 2012

/ TY / 16 Comments

Elvis rehearsing in 1970

Today is the 77th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley. Celebrate it well!

* * *

Time sure does fly. It was back to work last week, and now it will be back to school this week. If all goes well, this should be my last semester. Though I have enjoyed the experience, it will be nice to have the time back to do other things – such as write.

I did manage to find some time to read during my winter break, including one book about Elvis that I hope to review soon.

I have also started the process of cleaning out a spare bedroom, and I found something fun in there yesterday – an archive of newsletters that I created for an official Elvis fan club that I ran from 1992-1997. I was 16-years-old when I started that fan club on January 8, 1992.

As I’ve said before, the “club” was really just an excuse to create a newsletter about Elvis. That means I’ve now been writing about him for twenty years, unbelievable.

I released the first issue of that newsletter in March 1992, so I’m planning to share some of that content with you beginning in March of this year. It is funny to see how my writing and opinions have changed (or not) since that time.

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Have a fantastic Elvis Day, everyone!

Elvis – thanks for the music.