Elvis Does the Blues

Elvis actually was a great blues singer. In addition to the astonishing range of his voice, he could really get down and dirty with some powerful blues songs.

You've all probably heard his hit Reconsider Baby. Here are a couple of slightly lesser known blues numbers from the King. In 1969, Elvis went into the American Studios in Memphis with Chips Moman producing. The day Elvis showed up at the studio, he had a cold (that later worsened) and the rough early studio takes highlighted here definitely show the hoarseness in Elvis' voice. Still, these sessions were fantastic and yielded Elvis' first number one hot since the early sixties (Suspicious Minds)

The first song is Stranger In My Own Hometown a nice bluesy number. Here, I have featured the undubbed master which obviously sounds much rougher and unpolished than the final released version. The second is a beautiful country-blues number called Long Black Limousine with really nice "story" lyrics that end with a nice twist. This again, is an early take (Take 6) that shows Elvis having some trouble with his voice. Still, these sound fantastic. If you happen to be familiar with the released versions, you'll notice two problems. First, the artificially added echo (missing in the takes here) drowned out Elvis' powerful voice. Second, the addition of overdubs and strings changed the tone of some of the songs from raw blues to more syrupy ballads. Enjoy these rare gems here.

Both these outtakes are from the FTD release Memphis Sessions. If you are even slightly an Elvis collector, I very strongly recommend these releases. FTD (Follow That Dream) is a legal Elvis collector's label run by Sony/BMG. The contain rare and unreleased studio and live material that is meant for collectors. The CD runs tend to be smaller than commercial releases, but contain high quality, beautifully remastered rarities. I think this is a model for how music companies should treat fans. If you can provide fans with carefully researched, high quality rarities, why would I ever be interested in a bootleg?

You can find the album on Amazon here. Most of the other FTD releases are also available on Amazon here. Although Memphis Sessions is not available, you should also look for FTD releases on http://www.shopelvis.com/ as they're cheaper than Amazon.

1. Elvis Presley - Stranger In My Own Hometown (4.5 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Elvis Presley - Long Black Limousine (3.93 MB; 128 kbps MP3)

Beez on Beale Street

Continuing on the theme of local bands and bars, here's another great bar experience of mine. I was in Memphis several years ago and stopped by the B.B. King's Blues club. The band that was playing that night was fantastic. Enjoying myself tremendously, I decided to buy their CD. Got all of them to autograph it too!

The band was the King Beez and the CD I bought was Against The Grain. This was a great, energetic band playing with a clean, strong, percussive sound. They handled the big band blowout songs just as well as the down, slow, groovy blues numbers.

The CD is outstanding, with the great instrumental title track and some good pure blues. Looking at the bios on their web site, it appears that the only members still playing from the lineup I saw are the founders James Jackson and Solomon McDaniel. Also, unfortunately, it almost appears that they have evolved into a blues cover band. The album Against the Grain has mostly originals except for one song. The key songwriter on the CD (David Bowen) seems to have left the band. Too bad. Listen to this tune - you won't be surprised that I heard this band at the B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street!

1. The King Beez - I Wanna Git It (4.43 MB; 128kbps MP3)