Elvis Presley was the biggest influence on my formative years, and back in the fifties/early sixties could literally be called my god. When, as an innocent kid, I heard a 78rpm wind-up gramophone playing his ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ in 1956, I experienced the only true mystical revelation of my life. I didn’t know what it was and couldn’t make out the words, but I knew that this was for me.
From that point on, I suffered the teasing that all true fans know, and the chiding of my parents for growing sideburns (which I kept until the beard grew in ’70!).
Without Elvis, I may well have become interested in music anyway – but without Elvis would music have been the same? Certainly, it was to recapture the intensity of his earlier records that in the early sixties I turned towards R&B and soul music when his own material became less potent. Thus my life was moulded.
As a DJ, I naturally use many Presley platters whenever the occasion calls for some rock ‘n roll, and experience has taught me that (of his uptempo tunes) this is the Elvis Top Ten: ‘Return To Sender’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘Hound Dog’, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Wear My Ring Around Your Neck’, ‘Mean Woman Blues’, ‘Shake Rattle And Roll’, ‘All Shook Up’, ‘I Got Stung’, ‘Baby Let’s Play House’ (the last being his best rockabilly bopper).
He wasn’t meant to die. Ever. But then he wasn’t meant to get old, grow fat and play Vegas, either.
New Spins
GIORGIO: ‘Utopia – Me Giorgio’ (Oasis 1)
Wow! Donna’s producer now hits us with his own synthesizer pounder – a fast instrumental in the Space bag – but wait for his terrific continuously seguing album, out in a fortnight . . . it’s dynaMITE!
CELI BEE & THE BUZZY BUNCH: ‘One Love’ (TK XC 9145) (BNDA debut 4/9/77)
Great long-awaited frothy fast rhythm rattler, particularly good after the trite singing stops in the second half. It’s a full-length 8:08 commercial 12-incher, in T-Connection style!
STEVIE WONDER: ‘Another Star’ (Motown TMG 1083) (BNDA debut 10/23/76)
Almost as pretty as ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ and always big in US discos, the happy subtle salsa-style rhythm builder’s been remixed for 45.
Continue reading “August 27, 1977: “Elvis Presley was the biggest influence on my formative years””