Rant #1,827: Viva Las Elvis

I feel like talking about nothing much today, so I am going to talk about a quest that I started several weeks ago that I told you about several Rants ago.

I am trying to collect all the single sides that Elvis Presley had during his career, in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

He had several releases after his death, but I am most concerned about those 45s that were released during his lifetime.

No, I don't have the cash to actually collect them all--I have several, but really only a fraction of his actual singles in my record collection--but I can get them through various means, including off LPs that I have and off the Internet.

When I digitize all of the tracks, I put them on a thumb drive--and later a CDR--and I can listen to them in the car while I drive to and from work. It kind of gives me some incentive driving to work, and it relaxes me as I come home from my daily drudgery.

Right now, I am smack dab in the middle of the 1960s, which I have found to be the more difficult decade to collect his singles from.

It was the only decade where he was around as a hitmaker for the entire decade, and to me, it was the first decade that I was aware of him for what he was.

Sure, I was around in the 1950s--since 1957--but I was too young to understand his impact back then. In the 1960s, I first understood who he was, although much of his music, to me, was an afterthought at the time.

My main years of interest in popular music are 1964-1971, the Beatles years, and during that period, Elvis continued to be popular, continued to have hit records, but he wasn't the king of the charts anymore.

The Beatles changed things music-wise for everyone, and when you listen to Elvis' single sides during this period, much of his music sounds like it could have been recorded in 1961, 1962 or even 1963--even though it was being released in 1966, 1967 and 1968.

But late in the decade, even Elvis' music began to change. He went through what I call his "relevancy" period, singing songs that addressed more than just the love between boys and girls.

Using good, young songwriters of the period--including Mac Davis--Elvis had his "relevant" songs late in the decade, such as "In the Ghetto," and "Suspicious Minds," and it kind of revitalized his career.

Sure, anything with Elvis' name on it was going to sell anyway, but these were actually great songs, and deserved to be the big hits that they were.

But most of his 1960s' output revolved around his films, and like the films, they basically followed a formula that was very comfortable for Elvis' fans to digest. The songs were simple, had credible hooks, and again, Elvis sang them, so they became hits even if they weren't that good.

Elvis placed many singles up and down the charts during the 1960s, and the one song that has really come into its own and had a second life is "Viva Las Vegas" from the film of the same name, which co-starred the sultry, beautiful and very talented Ann-Margret.

Funny, you could see that there was something going on between the two as you watch the film, something beyond just being co-stars. The chemistry was incredible, and I am sure the chemistry off screen was too.

The song itself wasn't one of Elvis' biggest hits--it didn't even crack the Top 20 on Billboard's Hot 100--but it has lived on and persevered, and I will bet if you ask the average person what his or her favorite Elvis songs are, "Viva Las Vegas" would make the list.

Anyway, as I said, I am right in the middle of getting his music from this decade now--I am actually up to "All That I Am" from 1966, a song that only made it up to No. 41--so I have plenty of music to go.

It is a fun thing to do, really relaxes me, and it almost forces me to look back at Elvis' recording career, which had many, many ups, and certainly many downs.

I like lots of his music during this decade, don't like a lot of it, also, but heck, this guy really was the King. He could read the phone book and it would sound great.

I should be done with this decade soon, and then I will move on to the 1970s, another period where he had as many highs as he had lows, where he kind of became of characterization of himself, and the decade in which he ultimately left us.

It should be a fun ride for me, and I look forward to it.