|
|
Post by rick on Oct 22, 2018 3:29:25 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by erik on Oct 22, 2018 19:18:42 GMT -5
It's almost certainly a match made in American pop music heaven, since, whenever Elvis made a movie, he usually recorded the songs to those movies here in Los Angeles; and like almost anyone who was anyone in the music scene here in the 1960s, he utilized the folks of the Wrecking Crew, of whom GC was a member, as was James Burton as well (he would work with Elvis from 1969 onwards, and then work with Emmylou Harris in her Hot Band following Elvis' death in 1977).
What these recordings will likely do also, however, is stress once again that many of these movie songs were meant to custom-fit some fairly routine, mediocre movies for Elvis during the Sixties. "Do The Clam", "Clambake", and "Spinout" are a long, long way from "Hound Dog", "Don't Be Cruel" or "Hard Headed Woman" in terms of quality or the level of engagement on Elvis' part, and that's due to the movies themselves, which were basically figments of the Colonel's imagination, as opposed to the kinds of movies that could show what kind of an actor Elvis could actually have been.
No one's going to fault a song like "We Call On Him", which is a Gospel number of the kind that was part of Elvis' very musical and spiritual essence as an American legend. But most of the rest, even with GC's involvement, and given the kind of pressure the writers Sid Wayne and Ben Wiseman were under to produce according to what the Colonel wanted, as opposed to either the songwriters, the screenwriters, the directors, and Elvis himself, illustrates just how frequently Elvis was made to merely give the fans what the Colonel thought they wanted, as opposed to what the fans really wanted, which was Elvis as a force of nature.
|
|
|
|
Post by sliderocker on Oct 22, 2018 21:40:14 GMT -5
It's almost certainly a match made in American pop music heaven, since, whenever Elvis made a movie, he usually recorded the songs to those movies here in Los Angeles; and like almost anyone who was anyone in the music scene here in the 1960s, he utilized the folks of the Wrecking Crew, of whom GC was a member, as was James Burton as well (he would work with Elvis from 1969 onwards, and then work with Emmylou Harris in her Hot Band following Elvis' death in 1977).
Most of the musicians who played on Elvis' soundtracks actually were not members of the Wrecking Crew, except for Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine. Guitarist Tommy Tedesco played on some songs and I believe he was a member of the Wrecking Crew. Curiously, Leon Russell played on the Viva Las Vegas soundtrack and he was a member of the Wrecking Crew, but the Wikipedia page for the soundtrack does not list him as having played on the sessions. Most of the musicians who played on the soundtracks were people like Scotty Moore and Nashville musicians such as Boots Randolph and Floyd Cramer. James Burton said he played on one of the soundtrack sessions but he's no credited on any of the soundtracks listed on Wikipedia. Even Elvis himself, who played guitar or piano in the 50s and early 60s on some of the sessions and he's not listed in the musician credits. The Wrecking Crew was used primarily as the musicians for the show songs recorded for Elvis' 1968 TV special, but not every member was used on the soundtracks. They probably should've been because they probably could've made some of those soundtrack songs better than what they were.
What these recordings will likely do also, however, is stress once again that many of these movie songs were meant to custom-fit some fairly routine, mediocre movies for Elvis during the Sixties. "Do The Clam", "Clambake", and "Spinout" are a long, long way from "Hound Dog", "Don't Be Cruel" or "Hard Headed Woman" in terms of quality or the level of engagement on Elvis' part, and that's due to the movies themselves, which were basically figments of the Colonel's imagination, as opposed to the kinds of movies that could show what kind of an actor Elvis could actually have been.
I used to follow Dave Marsh's criticism of Elvis' songwriters as being hack songwriters. Every song those songwriters seemed to write were based on melodies that were in the public domain. It was particularly galling when some of these same songwriters wrote song for other artists (such as Mr. Bland, Pat Boone and Cliff Richard) and those artists would be given songs with original melodies. So, like Marsh, I called them hacks too. That is, until I started reading about Parker's business practices of taking the publishing and then wanting as much as he could get from the songwriters on their songwriting royalties. Both came the same two cents, so Parker already had half of the royalty on the publishing but to take so much of the money from the songwriting, the writing credits might as well have listed Elvis Presley in the writers' credits. Elvis made it clear to Parker he didn't want his name on songs he didn't write nor did he want Parker taking any money from the writers. Parker as usual, never listened to his client. The songwriters, by using melodies that were in the public domain, only received 20% of a penny for a song that was in the public domain, so Parker didn't get much from robbing the songwriters.
Even so, some of the songwriters could be inspired. The team of Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye penned the rocking "(You're the) Devil in Disguise," the European-psychedelic "Edge of Reality" (one of Elvis' best movie soundtrack songs) and the bluesy "Power of My Love." Those writers had been writing songs since the 40s, not necessarily with each other. Producer Bob Johnston's wife, Joy Byers was credited with writing quite a few Elvis songs, such as "C'mon Everybody" and "Let Yourself Go." She was also credited as co-writing (with Charlie Daniels on his first sale), "It Hurts Me." Johnston later said he actually wrote the songs and credited them to his wife because he was signed as an ASCAP songwriter - which didn't make sense as Elvis had music publishing companies with both BMI and ASCAP. Johnston's wife actually was a songwriter as well and signed with BMI, but had Johnston actually wrote the songs in questions, there would've been no need to have put them in his wife's name. Maybe he helped on some of the songs and thought he had written them all. He made the claim late in his life.
No one's going to fault a song like "We Call On Him", which is a Gospel number of the kind that was part of Elvis' very musical and spiritual essence as an American legend. But most of the rest, even with GC's involvement, and given the kind of pressure the writers Sid Wayne and Ben Wiseman were under to produce according to what the Colonel wanted, as opposed to either the songwriters, the screenwriters, the directors, and Elvis himself, illustrates just how frequently Elvis was made to merely give the fans what the Colonel thought they wanted, as opposed to what the fans really wanted, which was Elvis as a force of nature.
Weisman was the most successful songwriter who worked for Elvis, writing 57 songs that Elvis recorded. He was perhaps Elvis' most inspired songwriter. He penned ballads and the occasional rocker. His last songwriting efforts for Elvis were in 1970, appearing on 1970's Elvis: That's the Way It Is and 1971's Love Letters from Elvis. Elvis didn't hold another regular recording session until 1973 and by then, Elvis had already laid down the law to Parker he didn't want him in the studio hassling songwriters and music publishers for a quarter interest in a song already published. It's unclear whether those who wrote songs for Elvis years before still submitted songs to Parker for Elvis' consideration, or if Parker retaliated by not letting Elvis hear new songs. Hill and Range, which had been the administrator for Elvis' publishing companies were sold to Chappell and Co./Unichappell Music in the 70s, and new publishing companies had been started for Elvis in 1973.
As for the posthumous album by Glen Campbell, what's notable about the album isn't the songs Elvis recorded, but there were six songs written by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne that Elvis never recorded. Or did he? It's hard to believe Weisman could've written a song Elvis would've declined to have recorded. Some of the titles seem interesting, so it will be curious to hear what Elvis turned down. Or did he? (The second disc writer alluded to one song, saying because Elvis never recorded the song "Love On the Rocks," that freed up the title for Neil Diamond to use the same title. Titles cannot be copyrighted. Same for chords. Only the melody and the lyrics can be copyrighted.)
|
|
