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Rating: One cannot seriously talk about rock without knowing at least thirty songs by Elvis Presley. After Gene Vincent, it was Elvis the greatest innovator, and inventor, of rock'n roll.
Elvis' artistic life began, as all critics agree, between 1952 and 1953 and is divided into three stages: 1) the Fifties, flourishing and wonderful; 2) the Sixties, dignified and catchy; 3) the Seventies, decadent and hollow. Elvis was born in Tupelo, on the banks of the Mississippi, in 1935 and moved to Memphis in 1948. He cultivated a passion for music with great courage and determination: he took an interest in gospel, country, even "popular" songs and did not disdain the rhythm and liveliness of black music. He recorded his first tracks in the summer of 1953 and achieved substantial public success. The success grew over the years and reached its peak in 1956.
Elvis is a myth for millions of rebellious and 'burned-out' teenagers: the prudish country folk would only understand him in the early Seventies. Between March 1958 and March 1960, Elvis was called to fulfill his military service obligations, but RCA, which had signed him at a young age, decided to continue releasing previously recorded material. Years later, in 1992, RCA decided to release three very interesting music collections: "The King of rock'n roll". These are 3 precious and luxurious box sets that tell the musical exploits of Elvis first in the Fifties, then in the Sixties, and finally in the Seventies.
Each box set consists of 5 CDs and it is obvious, almost self-evident, that the best of the three is, for evident artistic reasons, the first one. There are so many classics to dissect and listen to carefully: "Love you because", "Harbor lights" (two inimitable and enveloping slow songs), "Heartbreak Hotel", "I want you I need you I love you", "Hound dog", "Don't be cruel", "I got a woman", "Teddy Bear", "Hard headed woman", "I got stung", "A fool such as I", "A big hunk of love" and the very famous "Love me tender". They are captivating and melancholic, languid and sly, tender and charming tracks. Elvis's voice is very warm, betrays his age (after all, he is just over twenty), and he masters the guitar in a marvelous and sumptuous manner. The very first songs, those from 1954, are especially beautiful: Elvis is accompanied on guitar by Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. It is not a true rock band, rather a group of friends who, to pass the time between a glass of whiskey and a walk along the banks of the Mississippi, enjoy strumming the guitar and bass damned well. Their spirit is free and vaguely exuberant, they transform the blues by taking it to extremes almost to its primordial annihilation and, in an excellent way, even alter the very rigorous country. Dubious operations, undoubtedly effective.
In 1955 Elvis would dissolve the group and focus on more melodic and thus less shocking tracks, but he would still manage to astonish with vocal excesses that were dizzying at the time (the sexy and ambiguous voice with which he sings "Love me tender" says a lot about how much Elvis influenced the erotic adolescent dreams of millions of girls oozing sex and virginity). Among so many masterpieces, the very famous "Jailhouse Rock" (translated into Italian as "Tango della Gelosia" and performed, somewhat frantically, by an extremely lively Adriano Celentano) is worth noting. The elegant box set also includes the stunning "Christmas Album" dated November 1957, a beautiful Christmas work in which Elvis attempts to engage with what's called classical music and momentarily distance himself from rock'n roll.
The inventor of rock and rock-a-billy (a particular type of rock created by Elvis but especially by the fiery guitar of Scotty Moore) was, for half of the Fifties, alongside Gene Vincent, the progenitor of a daring and innovative musical genre, still obviously trendy today despite everything. The box set "The King of rock'n roll" dedicated to the Presley of the Fifties is, for all modern music enthusiasts, a fundamental starting point to understand where historic bands like Deep Purple or the Rolling Stones originated from. It costs a bit (indeed, a lot) but the artistic value is priceless.
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