April 1, 2025 • 28 mins
Elvis Presley's self-titled debut album, released on March 23, 1956, is a landmark in rock and roll history. As the first rock album to top the Billboard charts, it helped launch Presley into superstardom and solidified his status as a cultural icon. The album blends rockabilly, rhythm and blues, country, and pop, showcasing Presley's dynamic vocal style and magnetic stage presence.
With hits like "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Tutti Frutti," alongside heartfelt ballads such as "I Love You Because," the record captures the raw energy and rebellious spirit of early rock and roll. Backed by Scotty Moore’s innovative guitar work and Bill Black’s driving bass, Presley's performances exude charisma and youthful excitement.
The cover, featuring Elvis mid-performance with his name in bold pink and green letters, has become one of the most iconic images in music history. More than just an album, Elvis Presley marked the beginning of a revolution, influencing countless artists and shaping the future of rock music.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_06 (00:00):
It's just the normal noises in here!
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
This is Polyphonic Press, the podcast where two
music fans pick a classic albumcompletely at random.
Using the patented random albumgenerator, they are given an
album to review from a curatedlist of over 1,000 classic
releases, spanning multiplegenres.
And now on to the show.
(00:35):
Here are your hosts, Jeremy Boydand John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_07 (00:50):
And I'm John Van Dyke.
And uh let's not waste any time.
We've got the patented randomalbum generator right in front
of us here.
Uh so let's hit the button andsee what album we're gonna be
listening to this week.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
The album you will be reviewing this week is Elvis
Presley by Elvis Presley.
SPEAKER_07 (01:07):
Alright.
Um, okay, so this is adescription of the album.
This is Elvis Presley'sself-titled debut album,
released on March 23rd, 1956, isa landmark in rock and roll
history.
As the first rock album to topthe Billboard charts, it helped
launch Presley into the intoSuperstardum and solidified his
(01:29):
status as a cultural icon.
The album blends rockability,rhythm and blues, country and
pop, showcasing Presley'sdynamic vocal range and magnetic
stage presence.
With hits like Blue Suede Shoesand Tutie Fruity, alongside
heartfelt ballads such as I LoveYou Because, the record captures
of the raw energy and rebelliousspirit of early rock and roll.
(01:53):
Backed by Scotty Moore'sinnovative guitar work and Bill
Black's driving bass, Presley'sperformance exudes charisma and
youthful excitement.
The cover, featuring Elvis'mid-performance with his name in
bold pink and green letters, hasbecome one of the most iconic
images in music history.
More than just an album, ElvisPresley marked the beginning of
(02:14):
a revolution, influencingcountless artists and shaping
the future of rock music.
Alright.
Okay, so yeah, so this wasreleased on March 23rd, 1956.
Um genres are rock and roll androckabilly.
Uh label is RCA Victor, andproduced by Sam Phillips, uh
from Sun Recordings, and StephenH.
(02:37):
Scholes from RCA Recordings.
And so, yes, the album is uhthere's 12 tracks on the album
and it's uh split evenly, uh sixand six.
So the first uh song is BlueSuede Shoes, and uh side one
ends with Just Because.
So if you're listening along,which we encourage you to do, uh
(02:58):
if you want to stop at justbecause we'll pause at the
halfway point to have uh adiscussion there.
And um we've linked the uh albumin the show notes to both
Spotify and Apple Music so youcan get it on your preferred
streaming service.
Oh um, okay, so here we go.
Here's the first song on thealbum, uh Blue Suede Shoes.
(03:32):
Okay, ending the side one withjust because.
Uh yeah, this is um I I reallylike the rawness of this.
Yeah.
Early Elvis is best Elvis.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like this is still pretty earlyin rock and roll, and this is I
(03:54):
think this is really consideredone of the first rock albums in
terms of an album as a structureand not just a collection of of
singles.
Um and so you know, this is umbecause there there is actually
(04:14):
a sort of a like he's got tworockers and then a slow ballad,
and then two rockers and anotherslow ballad.
And so there's a there's a astructure to they thought out,
okay, how are we gonna sequencethis album?
And I don't think n there hadbeen albums before, but I don't
(04:34):
think rock and roll had had analbum where they had actually
thought about what the listenerwas going to experience.
I think this might be one of thefirst cases of that.
SPEAKER_06 (04:47):
Interesting.
Yeah, um I'm not sure howconscious they were of it,
because I know the first Well,there's one rocker, then a
slower one, then there were tworockers, and then a slower one,
and then another rocker, so umIt could be intentional.
SPEAKER_07 (05:06):
Like his voice on this is great.
Like he is this is obviously oneof his, you know, very young, so
his voice has that youthful sortof um sort of quality to it.
But you know, I mean it it feelsvery um I don't know what the
word is live, it feels very livef feels full of energy.
SPEAKER_06 (05:25):
Yeah, uh yeah, I think on the last uh Elvis uh
one we were talking about, I Ihad mentioned that uh, you know,
Elvis has this an energy abouthim that uh you know, the later
album I wasn't so sure if if ithad captured that energy.
There was a little bit of it uhin there at the time.
(05:46):
That one that one came out in1960, I think.
Yeah, 60 or 61 around there,yeah.
So he had uh come back from uhhis stint in the navy.
Or the army.
Yeah, the army and stint in thearmy.
And this is before all that.
This is when he's still you knowfresh in Dragon Ball.
(06:10):
This is the first album.
Um not the first uh singlethough.
SPEAKER_07 (06:14):
Um Yeah, his first single was That's Alright Mama.
Right.
And that came out that was late55 uh July 19th, 1954.
So this is about a year andyeah, so this is about a year
and a half after that.
Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_06 (06:32):
54, oh wow.
Alright.
And it's a rocker too.
Um and and yet it was beforereally people coined it rock and
roll.
SPEAKER_07 (06:44):
And well, to be and you know, to be fair, I mean
that that was really before likethe single was the thing.
Yeah.
So it wasn't like he it wasn'tthe intention to go in.
No, the way we think of an albumnow today, that hadn't really
formed at this point.
You know.
So he wasn't thinking of, oh, Igotta record an album because
(07:05):
I've got this collection.
SPEAKER_06 (07:07):
You go in, you record a single, you maybe
record a couple songs so theycan record or release the uh you
know, single to the buyingpublic, put them in jukeboxes,
whatever.
Um, send them to radio stationsand yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (07:23):
You know, it it is pretty amazing to think this
just occurred to me how like howmuch of a phenomenon Elvis was.
And a lot of it was because ofcurrent the his manager Tom
Parker, who was just ruthless inthe m in marketing.
(07:45):
But you know, it is prettyphenomenal to to think about in
in the 50s when like now we haveso many different uh types of
media.
There's internet, there'swhatever, there's like there's
so many different ways that youcan advertise.
But back then there really wasthere was it was the still early
(08:09):
days of television.
SPEAKER_06 (08:11):
And they weren't advertising music on television.
Not really, no.
They they would sometimes getlike a spot to play on a TV
show.
And that was basically all thepromotion on TV you would get.
Which was no small thing.
I mean, just talk about theBeatles.
SPEAKER_07 (08:28):
Well, I mean that that's that that's an
interesting point too, becausethat was what, about eight years
after this, yeah, and that's howquickly television took off.
Whereas like in this era Yeah,he he he made uh uh I think I I
know he did the uh Ed Sullivanshow, because the famous thing
(08:50):
of uh back then is the uh EdSullivan show was um he could
only be shown from the waist up.
Right.
Because they thought you knowhis dancing was too sexual, um,
and they thought it would beinappropriate for kids to see
that.
Um but you know the thing thefunny thing about that is uh I
(09:12):
can't I wish I knew the name ofthe show and the network it was
on.
I know I think Ed Sullivan's howEd Sullivan was on CBS and I
think a a week before or later,like it was big news that they
he was only gonna be shown fromthe waste up.
And I think I could be wrongabout this, but I think the
(09:36):
rival network decided to foregothat.
Decided to to and it wasobviously j about grabbing
ratings.
Of course.
We're we're no, we are gonnashow his full body, you know,
dancing and whatever.
It's like writhing away,wiggling about like uh yeah.
Um gotta totta keep the you knowkeep it from the the children's
(10:02):
eyes, which you know and todayit's it's so tame, but you know,
it's yeah, there's you know, youcan go too far the other way for
sure.
SPEAKER_06 (10:14):
Um but uh yeah, they were definitely very uh what's
the word?
Well, very sensitive aboutthings like that at the time.
SPEAKER_07 (10:26):
Yeah, you know, and uh I mean but like the the album
itself, I you know it's funny, Iwas thinking about this and th
like the the cover of the albumso thinking about how raw this
is, and and I think it's fittingthat like during the late 70s
(10:49):
punk movement was sort ofwanting to get back to this, and
I think it's fitting that uh theclash on their album London
Calling paid tribute to thecover of this album by using the
same uh sim similar the samefont for the for the album
title.
So I think like this is sort ofthe album that this is the album
(11:13):
that represents that rock androll in its pure form of what it
meant to a lot of kids in thefifties and sort of not just
Elvis, but all like Chuck Berryand and and Little Richard and
all and all the rock the earlyrock and roll artists it was
(11:35):
where rock and roll started andand and just thinking about uh
like think listening to the songso far, I'm more familiar with
the the music that thisinfluenced than listening to
this.
So I'm uh sort of I'm I'm usedto hearing the more uh fleshed
(12:02):
out ideas of where this camefrom.
So I'm expecting like the endingof uh I Got a Woman, I was
expecting an extra note tofinish off the song.
Because I've heard I think TomPetty and the Heartbreakers did
the version that was on thisalbum.
They didn't do the Ray Charlesversion, they uh did this
(12:24):
version.
So and I think to end it theyplayed the that extra note.
I was expecting that.
So it's sort of interesting tohear the sort of the germs of
ideas that other bands had andmaybe come and sort of okay, we
could how how can we sort ofpolish that this is sort of the
unpolished version of what I uhlike and not just like and
(12:49):
listening to like Beatlesversions of early rock and roll
songs and and sort of expectingthe more polished version of oh,
but no, this is where sort of itstarted, you know.
SPEAKER_06 (13:01):
Yeah, it's it's uh it's absolutely true.
It's it is sort of interestingto to hear it, and it's uh and
yeah, it's not it was justrecorded live off the floor at
Sun Studios.
It was um there wasn't a lot offussing about with uh, you know,
it's not Dark Side of the Moon,it's not that it's it's not
(13:22):
labored over the same way.
Basically, they wanted to get agood take, and that's what they
would um concentrate on.
There was no real sp I don'tthink there was any uh you know,
overdubbing and stuff like that,really.
SPEAKER_07 (13:37):
No, it doesn't sound like it anyway.
No, yeah, I mean i it it's uh itis very raw and it's it's funny
that I think the song I love youbecause because of the uh the
the primitive recordingequipment that they had at the
time it l it made it sound likeit was recorded like on a front
(14:02):
porch.
Like just someone uh someonestrumming a guitar on a front
porch.
I don't think that was theintention, but that's just the
way it sounded like it was wrecorded outside.
It doesn't sound like it wasrecorded in the studio.
SPEAKER_06 (14:19):
Yeah, it had a very uh um there was a lot of
presence to it.
Like you're you're really upclose to it.
It it's a very intimate sort ofuh recording.
Um yeah, I think I know what youmean by that.
It's uh whereas I didn't reallyhear the outside thing, I
definitely could bet definitelypicture that in in the studio,
(14:40):
but again, there wasn't a lot ofextra going on.
There's no reverb on anything oranything like that.
It was just Yeah, and the ideawas just to capture the song,
but it was a very intimateperformance and and the
recording style uh picks up onthat.
SPEAKER_07 (14:56):
And speaking of reverb, I love I love that 50s
uh slapback echo.
I love that sound.
And uh on the guitar and on thevocals, um, it sounds really
cool.
Um that very fast delay.
Yeah.
I did manage to find a fewpretty interesting facts about
(15:18):
the album.
It was the very first rock androll album to top the charts.
Um Elvis Presley became thefirst rock and roll album to
reach the number one uhBillboard Pop album chart, uh,
where it stayed for ten weeks,marking a major turning point
for the genre.
Which is pretty interesting.
(15:39):
I mean, uh, you know, to haveobviously there had to be one,
there had to be a first, butit's it's interesting that this
would be the first.
Yeah, I'm not surprised thatit's the first uh rock album to
top the charts.
And it was recorded just in justa few sessions.
The album was recorded in amatter of days across different
(16:01):
sessions at RCA Studios in NewYork and Nashville, and even
included tracks from an earliersession at Sun Studios in
Memphis.
Um it was a genre blendingbreakthrough.
The album uh features a mix ofrockabilly, country, RB, paw,
and pop, demonstrating uh Elvis'versatility.
(16:22):
Uh his cover of Carl CarlPerkins Blue Suede Shoes became
one of one of the definitiveversions of the song.
And that is interesting.
Yeah, he um I I don't I Ihesitate to say that his version
of Blue Suede Shoes is more wellknown because Carl Perkins'
version is pretty pretty wellknown.
SPEAKER_06 (16:43):
But it's fairly well known, but I think that was a a
a product of after this versioncame out.
It was one of those songs that Ithink was waiting for someone to
do.
Because I know Carl Perkinswould uh you know, he records
stuff like that, but he wasn'tas big of a household name.
SPEAKER_07 (17:01):
That's true.
That is true.
Yeah, I mean, uh Elvis kind ofmade yeah, Elvis kind of made
him sort of famous just by recrecording his song, I suppose.
Yeah.
And yeah, and yeah, uh theiconic album cover inspired punk
rock.
The album cover featured blackand white action shot of Elvis
(17:22):
with his name in pink and greenletters, was later recreated by
The Clash for their 1979 album,London Calling, where I talked
about that, but uh and um andyeah, and and uh it the album is
not just singles, it's a fullexperience, unlike many albums
of the time, which were oftencompilations of previously
(17:42):
re-released singles.
Alvis Presley was one of thefirst major rock albums to feel
like a cohesive listeningexperience, shaping the way
albums were structured in therock era.
Um so yeah, so I like it, it'sit's I don't think uh there were
singles from the album, butthere weren't any singles that
(18:05):
were there weren't any songsthat were previously singles put
like tacked onto the album.
This was like a fresh sort of uha fresh release, basically.
SPEAKER_06 (18:16):
Yeah, and it probably was one of the very, if
not the first example, one ofthe first, very first examples
of a single being released offof a record.
SPEAKER_07 (18:27):
Yes, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
Um yeah, the could we becausethat was not common at the time.
It was more common to release analbum and ro and release a
single with along with thealbum, but not include the
single on the album.
Yeah.
Because I I don't know why.
Um I guess it was just one ofthose things that they're gonna
(18:49):
be.
That's it, yeah.
Exactly.
Um, but yeah, I guess we'll getuh back into the uh the second
side of the album.
Uh but before we do that, uhlet's hear from our friends over
at the Six Picks Music Club.
(19:10):
Uh so check that out.
SPEAKER_03 (19:13):
Hey there, I'm Dave, and I host Six Picks Music Club
with my two buddies Jeff Roweand Russ.
We talk about six songs on aplaylist that meet a theme to a
topic that we've already decidedon.
SPEAKER_05 (19:24):
Just real quick, do you meet themes?
Do you meet them?
SPEAKER_03 (19:28):
Okay, no, I don't know.
SPEAKER_05 (19:30):
I guess that what's the Russ, can I get a ruling on
the verbal phrase meet thetheme?
Jeff, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04 (19:36):
I'm not fluent in the spoken word.
SPEAKER_05 (19:38):
People just don't say meet the theme, they say fit
a theme.
And every week we talk about sixsongs that fit a theme.
SPEAKER_03 (19:46):
Alright, okay, fit a theme.
Guys, we're gonna have tore-record this.
SPEAKER_05 (19:50):
Ah mic.
SPEAKER_04 (19:55):
Okay, and Dave, don't forget, it's Six Picks
Music Club.
Not your dark web pod, Sex PicksBooty Grub.
SPEAKER_01 (20:04):
We'll now take a few seconds before we begin side
two.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07 (20:12):
All right, and uh ending the album with money,
honey.
Yeah, uh this is um I I reallyenjoyed this album.
Uh I I you know I'm when I was avery little kid, like maybe like
three or four years old, I lovedElvis.
And this listening to this hassort of brought me back to that
(20:34):
sort of point.
Um yeah, I I I just I I Ithought this was a lot of fun to
listen to, and I, you know, it'sit's cool in a ho is in a
historic sense as well.
Um, you know, just listening toearly rock and roll.
Uh I I I I do enjoy listening to50s rock and roll just to hear
(20:58):
like okay, this is where it itcame from.
Um yeah, I mean this was uh thiswas a cool experience.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (21:07):
Yeah, it's a pretty good record um for uh definitely
uh for its time.
It's uh you know um it's just uhit's a good collection of songs.
There's not really a dull spot.
Um yeah, and plenty of rockers,and that's always I always
thought that's where ElvisPresley shine the bet the
(21:30):
brightest is when he was doingthose rockers.
Um especially in his early days.
SPEAKER_07 (21:36):
Yeah, I yeah, I mean the this the 50s Elvis is yeah,
that's like you said, that'sthat's his best period.
Yeah.
Um yeah, later in the 60s, likewhen he was doing the movies, I
uh he he actually hated doingall those movies.
It was his manager who kind offorced him to do them.
SPEAKER_06 (21:57):
Contractual obligation movies.
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_07 (22:01):
Exactly, yeah.
He he just wanted to go out ontour and and play music.
Pete but his his manager,Colonel uh Tom Parker, uh he
really had a a hold on Elvis.
It's actually quite tragic, andI think that's what led to his
uh his addiction to to drugs andand food and sort of numbing
(22:22):
himself because he was depressedthat you know he couldn't do he
couldn't express himself as anartist.
Um and I think he was frustratedby that.
SPEAKER_06 (22:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (22:33):
It's a pretty old tale.
But you know, the the like thisthis Elvis there's still that um
there's still that optimism inhis voice.
You know, the optimism of uh youknow, I'm getting to to do the
thing that I love, I'm gettingto play this music that I love,
I'm getting to record it andthey're gonna release it.
(22:56):
There's that excite you can tellthat excitement in his voice.
Um that that sort of even ifit's a naive excitement, there's
still that excitement there.
SPEAKER_06 (23:07):
Before the cage comes down with the Japanese
fighting spiders inside.
Exactly.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_07 (23:16):
Um, I mean it's it is sad that but uh it's true.
I mean, if you've ever I don't Iw I would recommend that that
Elvis Presley movie um to sortof see like sort of what
happened.
I mean this guy, Colonel TomParker, had such control over
(23:38):
his his career and his public.
You know, the this is this issomething that I thought was
really interesting is um heactually printed he had buttons
made that said I hate Elvis tocash in on pe on well it's like
(24:00):
well all the a lot of peoplelove Elvis, but a lot of people
hate him too.
I could probably make money offthe people that hate him too.
SPEAKER_06 (24:06):
Yeah, I know.
I'm well aware that that was athing.
Um yeah, I don't know how wellknown that is, but that is a
thing that he did, so yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (24:16):
And and the players on this, like his backing band
is is really good.
I mean Scottie Moore, uh, who wediscussed on the the previous
Elvis Presley album that we did.
Uh like his guitar playing, umit's pretty rudimentary to for
today's standards, but it's itit gets the job done.
(24:37):
You know, it's it's well it'snice and tasteful.
SPEAKER_06 (24:41):
It doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be too
flamboyant or anything, but itwas you know it it's it's
tasteful but but groovy at thesame time.
Exactly the thing going for it.
So yeah.
And of course he influenced uhwell almost all of my favorite
guitar players.
SPEAKER_07 (25:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is his Elvis's first band,the one that is playing on this
and the one that he toured withthey were a really you know,
they were a a tight unit.
So this this might be uhinteresting to us.
What would be your f their threeuh highlights on the album?
SPEAKER_06 (25:25):
I was trying to think.
I'm gonna go with Blue SuedeShoes, just because that's just
that's a classic.
It's classic.
It's the classic, it's probablythe best song on the album, and
they started it off with it.
That might be the only drawbackto the album is that they got
the big biggest best thing outof the way, but nothing else is
(25:45):
really bad.
So um let's see here.
I thought Money Honey is prettyfun.
Um and I got a woman, I guess.
Those are pretty good.
Oh, I I also want to mentionthat uh I I'll never let you go,
little darling.
The way it sort of transitionedfrom a um a uh a a ballad into
(26:09):
something that suddenly had alittle bit more upbeatness to it
was kind of cool.
SPEAKER_07 (26:14):
Uh it's funny because I was gonna say the
exact same things.
Those were those were my picksfor uh and I was gonna mention
the th the thing about I'llnever let you go, little
darling.
I I th yeah, uh yeah, exactly.
You literally took all the wordsout of my mouth.
Like oh yeah.
Sorry.
No, no, it's it's good that I Icompletely agree.
(26:35):
I mean it's it's um yeah, thosethose will be my uh my picks as
well.
Um so would you would you listento this album again?
Yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_06 (26:45):
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, yeah, it it it's worthputting on.
It's it's it's a good good albumfor uh, you know, if you like,
you know, early rock and rolland stuff like that, this is
probably you know the beginningof some of the best.
SPEAKER_07 (27:01):
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, this is um it it yeah,it's it's a great album, and I I
think it's a good it's a funalbum to listen to, but I also
think if you're like uhinterested in music history,
it's also an important album tolisten to because this is sort
of like the foundations of evera lot of stuff that would come
(27:22):
after.
Yeah.
Um so yeah, I I would absolutelylisten to it again.
But uh yeah, I guess we'll endthe episode there.
Uh thank you so much forlistening.
If you made it this far, umdon't forget to subscribe and
follow the show.
Uh, and we'd love it if you giveus a re a rating, a review, uh,
because it helps uh newlisteners find us.
(27:44):
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(28:04):
You can do all that there.
And uh you can also check outthe website, go to
polyphonicpress.com.
Uh you can get all the previousepisodes um that we've done so
far, and uh different updatesand things like that.
And uh and yeah, I think thatpretty much does it.
Uh, I'm Jeremy Boyd, and I'mJohn Van Dyke.
(28:26):
Take it easy.
It's just the normal noises in here!
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
This is Polyphonic Press, the podcast where two
music fans pick a classic albumcompletely at random.
Using the patented random albumgenerator, they are given an
album to review from a curatedlist of over 1,000 classic
releases, spanning multiplegenres.
And now on to the show.
(00:35):
Here are your hosts, Jeremy Boydand John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_07 (00:50):
And I'm John Van Dyke.
And uh let's not waste any time.
We've got the patented randomalbum generator right in front
of us here.
Uh so let's hit the button andsee what album we're gonna be
listening to this week.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
The album you will be reviewing this week is Elvis
Presley by Elvis Presley.
SPEAKER_07 (01:07):
Alright.
Um, okay, so this is adescription of the album.
This is Elvis Presley'sself-titled debut album,
released on March 23rd, 1956, isa landmark in rock and roll
history.
As the first rock album to topthe Billboard charts, it helped
launch Presley into the intoSuperstardum and solidified his
(01:29):
status as a cultural icon.
The album blends rockability,rhythm and blues, country and
pop, showcasing Presley'sdynamic vocal range and magnetic
stage presence.
With hits like Blue Suede Shoesand Tutie Fruity, alongside
heartfelt ballads such as I LoveYou Because, the record captures
of the raw energy and rebelliousspirit of early rock and roll.
(01:53):
Backed by Scotty Moore'sinnovative guitar work and Bill
Black's driving bass, Presley'sperformance exudes charisma and
youthful excitement.
The cover, featuring Elvis'mid-performance with his name in
bold pink and green letters, hasbecome one of the most iconic
images in music history.
More than just an album, ElvisPresley marked the beginning of
(02:14):
a revolution, influencingcountless artists and shaping
the future of rock music.
Alright.
Okay, so yeah, so this wasreleased on March 23rd, 1956.
Um genres are rock and roll androckabilly.
Uh label is RCA Victor, andproduced by Sam Phillips, uh
from Sun Recordings, and StephenH.
(02:37):
Scholes from RCA Recordings.
And so, yes, the album is uhthere's 12 tracks on the album
and it's uh split evenly, uh sixand six.
So the first uh song is BlueSuede Shoes, and uh side one
ends with Just Because.
So if you're listening along,which we encourage you to do, uh
(02:58):
if you want to stop at justbecause we'll pause at the
halfway point to have uh adiscussion there.
And um we've linked the uh albumin the show notes to both
Spotify and Apple Music so youcan get it on your preferred
streaming service.
Oh um, okay, so here we go.
Here's the first song on thealbum, uh Blue Suede Shoes.
(03:32):
Okay, ending the side one withjust because.
Uh yeah, this is um I I reallylike the rawness of this.
Yeah.
Early Elvis is best Elvis.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like this is still pretty earlyin rock and roll, and this is I
(03:54):
think this is really consideredone of the first rock albums in
terms of an album as a structureand not just a collection of of
singles.
Um and so you know, this is umbecause there there is actually
(04:14):
a sort of a like he's got tworockers and then a slow ballad,
and then two rockers and anotherslow ballad.
And so there's a there's a astructure to they thought out,
okay, how are we gonna sequencethis album?
And I don't think n there hadbeen albums before, but I don't
(04:34):
think rock and roll had had analbum where they had actually
thought about what the listenerwas going to experience.
I think this might be one of thefirst cases of that.
SPEAKER_06 (04:47):
Interesting.
Yeah, um I'm not sure howconscious they were of it,
because I know the first Well,there's one rocker, then a
slower one, then there were tworockers, and then a slower one,
and then another rocker, so umIt could be intentional.
SPEAKER_07 (05:06):
Like his voice on this is great.
Like he is this is obviously oneof his, you know, very young, so
his voice has that youthful sortof um sort of quality to it.
But you know, I mean it it feelsvery um I don't know what the
word is live, it feels very livef feels full of energy.
SPEAKER_06 (05:25):
Yeah, uh yeah, I think on the last uh Elvis uh
one we were talking about, I Ihad mentioned that uh, you know,
Elvis has this an energy abouthim that uh you know, the later
album I wasn't so sure if if ithad captured that energy.
There was a little bit of it uhin there at the time.
(05:46):
That one that one came out in1960, I think.
Yeah, 60 or 61 around there,yeah.
So he had uh come back from uhhis stint in the navy.
Or the army.
Yeah, the army and stint in thearmy.
And this is before all that.
This is when he's still you knowfresh in Dragon Ball.
(06:10):
This is the first album.
Um not the first uh singlethough.
SPEAKER_07 (06:14):
Um Yeah, his first single was That's Alright Mama.
Right.
And that came out that was late55 uh July 19th, 1954.
So this is about a year andyeah, so this is about a year
and a half after that.
Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_06 (06:32):
54, oh wow.
Alright.
And it's a rocker too.
Um and and yet it was beforereally people coined it rock and
roll.
SPEAKER_07 (06:44):
And well, to be and you know, to be fair, I mean
that that was really before likethe single was the thing.
Yeah.
So it wasn't like he it wasn'tthe intention to go in.
No, the way we think of an albumnow today, that hadn't really
formed at this point.
You know.
So he wasn't thinking of, oh, Igotta record an album because
(07:05):
I've got this collection.
SPEAKER_06 (07:07):
You go in, you record a single, you maybe
record a couple songs so theycan record or release the uh you
know, single to the buyingpublic, put them in jukeboxes,
whatever.
Um, send them to radio stationsand yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (07:23):
You know, it it is pretty amazing to think this
just occurred to me how like howmuch of a phenomenon Elvis was.
And a lot of it was because ofcurrent the his manager Tom
Parker, who was just ruthless inthe m in marketing.
(07:45):
But you know, it is prettyphenomenal to to think about in
in the 50s when like now we haveso many different uh types of
media.
There's internet, there'swhatever, there's like there's
so many different ways that youcan advertise.
But back then there really wasthere was it was the still early
(08:09):
days of television.
SPEAKER_06 (08:11):
And they weren't advertising music on television.
Not really, no.
They they would sometimes getlike a spot to play on a TV
show.
And that was basically all thepromotion on TV you would get.
Which was no small thing.
I mean, just talk about theBeatles.
SPEAKER_07 (08:28):
Well, I mean that that's that that's an
interesting point too, becausethat was what, about eight years
after this, yeah, and that's howquickly television took off.
Whereas like in this era Yeah,he he he made uh uh I think I I
know he did the uh Ed Sullivanshow, because the famous thing
(08:50):
of uh back then is the uh EdSullivan show was um he could
only be shown from the waist up.
Right.
Because they thought you knowhis dancing was too sexual, um,
and they thought it would beinappropriate for kids to see
that.
Um but you know the thing thefunny thing about that is uh I
(09:12):
can't I wish I knew the name ofthe show and the network it was
on.
I know I think Ed Sullivan's howEd Sullivan was on CBS and I
think a a week before or later,like it was big news that they
he was only gonna be shown fromthe waste up.
And I think I could be wrongabout this, but I think the
(09:36):
rival network decided to foregothat.
Decided to to and it wasobviously j about grabbing
ratings.
Of course.
We're we're no, we are gonnashow his full body, you know,
dancing and whatever.
It's like writhing away,wiggling about like uh yeah.
Um gotta totta keep the you knowkeep it from the the children's
(10:02):
eyes, which you know and todayit's it's so tame, but you know,
it's yeah, there's you know, youcan go too far the other way for
sure.
SPEAKER_06 (10:14):
Um but uh yeah, they were definitely very uh what's
the word?
Well, very sensitive aboutthings like that at the time.
SPEAKER_07 (10:26):
Yeah, you know, and uh I mean but like the the album
itself, I you know it's funny, Iwas thinking about this and th
like the the cover of the albumso thinking about how raw this
is, and and I think it's fittingthat like during the late 70s
(10:49):
punk movement was sort ofwanting to get back to this, and
I think it's fitting that uh theclash on their album London
Calling paid tribute to thecover of this album by using the
same uh sim similar the samefont for the for the album
title.
So I think like this is sort ofthe album that this is the album
(11:13):
that represents that rock androll in its pure form of what it
meant to a lot of kids in thefifties and sort of not just
Elvis, but all like Chuck Berryand and and Little Richard and
all and all the rock the earlyrock and roll artists it was
(11:35):
where rock and roll started andand and just thinking about uh
like think listening to the songso far, I'm more familiar with
the the music that thisinfluenced than listening to
this.
So I'm uh sort of I'm I'm usedto hearing the more uh fleshed
(12:02):
out ideas of where this camefrom.
So I'm expecting like the endingof uh I Got a Woman, I was
expecting an extra note tofinish off the song.
Because I've heard I think TomPetty and the Heartbreakers did
the version that was on thisalbum.
They didn't do the Ray Charlesversion, they uh did this
(12:24):
version.
So and I think to end it theyplayed the that extra note.
I was expecting that.
So it's sort of interesting tohear the sort of the germs of
ideas that other bands had andmaybe come and sort of okay, we
could how how can we sort ofpolish that this is sort of the
unpolished version of what I uhlike and not just like and
(12:49):
listening to like Beatlesversions of early rock and roll
songs and and sort of expectingthe more polished version of oh,
but no, this is where sort of itstarted, you know.
SPEAKER_06 (13:01):
Yeah, it's it's uh it's absolutely true.
It's it is sort of interestingto to hear it, and it's uh and
yeah, it's not it was justrecorded live off the floor at
Sun Studios.
It was um there wasn't a lot offussing about with uh, you know,
it's not Dark Side of the Moon,it's not that it's it's not
(13:22):
labored over the same way.
Basically, they wanted to get agood take, and that's what they
would um concentrate on.
There was no real sp I don'tthink there was any uh you know,
overdubbing and stuff like that,really.
SPEAKER_07 (13:37):
No, it doesn't sound like it anyway.
No, yeah, I mean i it it's uh itis very raw and it's it's funny
that I think the song I love youbecause because of the uh the
the primitive recordingequipment that they had at the
time it l it made it sound likeit was recorded like on a front
(14:02):
porch.
Like just someone uh someonestrumming a guitar on a front
porch.
I don't think that was theintention, but that's just the
way it sounded like it was wrecorded outside.
It doesn't sound like it wasrecorded in the studio.
SPEAKER_06 (14:19):
Yeah, it had a very uh um there was a lot of
presence to it.
Like you're you're really upclose to it.
It it's a very intimate sort ofuh recording.
Um yeah, I think I know what youmean by that.
It's uh whereas I didn't reallyhear the outside thing, I
definitely could bet definitelypicture that in in the studio,
(14:40):
but again, there wasn't a lot ofextra going on.
There's no reverb on anything oranything like that.
It was just Yeah, and the ideawas just to capture the song,
but it was a very intimateperformance and and the
recording style uh picks up onthat.
SPEAKER_07 (14:56):
And speaking of reverb, I love I love that 50s
uh slapback echo.
I love that sound.
And uh on the guitar and on thevocals, um, it sounds really
cool.
Um that very fast delay.
Yeah.
I did manage to find a fewpretty interesting facts about
(15:18):
the album.
It was the very first rock androll album to top the charts.
Um Elvis Presley became thefirst rock and roll album to
reach the number one uhBillboard Pop album chart, uh,
where it stayed for ten weeks,marking a major turning point
for the genre.
Which is pretty interesting.
(15:39):
I mean, uh, you know, to haveobviously there had to be one,
there had to be a first, butit's it's interesting that this
would be the first.
Yeah, I'm not surprised thatit's the first uh rock album to
top the charts.
And it was recorded just in justa few sessions.
The album was recorded in amatter of days across different
(16:01):
sessions at RCA Studios in NewYork and Nashville, and even
included tracks from an earliersession at Sun Studios in
Memphis.
Um it was a genre blendingbreakthrough.
The album uh features a mix ofrockabilly, country, RB, paw,
and pop, demonstrating uh Elvis'versatility.
(16:22):
Uh his cover of Carl CarlPerkins Blue Suede Shoes became
one of one of the definitiveversions of the song.
And that is interesting.
Yeah, he um I I don't I Ihesitate to say that his version
of Blue Suede Shoes is more wellknown because Carl Perkins'
version is pretty pretty wellknown.
SPEAKER_06 (16:43):
But it's fairly well known, but I think that was a a
a product of after this versioncame out.
It was one of those songs that Ithink was waiting for someone to
do.
Because I know Carl Perkinswould uh you know, he records
stuff like that, but he wasn'tas big of a household name.
SPEAKER_07 (17:01):
That's true.
That is true.
Yeah, I mean, uh Elvis kind ofmade yeah, Elvis kind of made
him sort of famous just by recrecording his song, I suppose.
Yeah.
And yeah, and yeah, uh theiconic album cover inspired punk
rock.
The album cover featured blackand white action shot of Elvis
(17:22):
with his name in pink and greenletters, was later recreated by
The Clash for their 1979 album,London Calling, where I talked
about that, but uh and um andyeah, and and uh it the album is
not just singles, it's a fullexperience, unlike many albums
of the time, which were oftencompilations of previously
(17:42):
re-released singles.
Alvis Presley was one of thefirst major rock albums to feel
like a cohesive listeningexperience, shaping the way
albums were structured in therock era.
Um so yeah, so I like it, it'sit's I don't think uh there were
singles from the album, butthere weren't any singles that
(18:05):
were there weren't any songsthat were previously singles put
like tacked onto the album.
This was like a fresh sort of uha fresh release, basically.
SPEAKER_06 (18:16):
Yeah, and it probably was one of the very, if
not the first example, one ofthe first, very first examples
of a single being released offof a record.
SPEAKER_07 (18:27):
Yes, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
Um yeah, the could we becausethat was not common at the time.
It was more common to release analbum and ro and release a
single with along with thealbum, but not include the
single on the album.
Yeah.
Because I I don't know why.
Um I guess it was just one ofthose things that they're gonna
(18:49):
be.
That's it, yeah.
Exactly.
Um, but yeah, I guess we'll getuh back into the uh the second
side of the album.
Uh but before we do that, uhlet's hear from our friends over
at the Six Picks Music Club.
(19:10):
Uh so check that out.
SPEAKER_03 (19:13):
Hey there, I'm Dave, and I host Six Picks Music Club
with my two buddies Jeff Roweand Russ.
We talk about six songs on aplaylist that meet a theme to a
topic that we've already decidedon.
SPEAKER_05 (19:24):
Just real quick, do you meet themes?
Do you meet them?
SPEAKER_03 (19:28):
Okay, no, I don't know.
SPEAKER_05 (19:30):
I guess that what's the Russ, can I get a ruling on
the verbal phrase meet thetheme?
Jeff, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04 (19:36):
I'm not fluent in the spoken word.
SPEAKER_05 (19:38):
People just don't say meet the theme, they say fit
a theme.
And every week we talk about sixsongs that fit a theme.
SPEAKER_03 (19:46):
Alright, okay, fit a theme.
Guys, we're gonna have tore-record this.
SPEAKER_05 (19:50):
Ah mic.
SPEAKER_04 (19:55):
Okay, and Dave, don't forget, it's Six Picks
Music Club.
Not your dark web pod, Sex PicksBooty Grub.
SPEAKER_01 (20:04):
We'll now take a few seconds before we begin side
two.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07 (20:12):
All right, and uh ending the album with money,
honey.
Yeah, uh this is um I I reallyenjoyed this album.
Uh I I you know I'm when I was avery little kid, like maybe like
three or four years old, I lovedElvis.
And this listening to this hassort of brought me back to that
(20:34):
sort of point.
Um yeah, I I I just I I Ithought this was a lot of fun to
listen to, and I, you know, it'sit's cool in a ho is in a
historic sense as well.
Um, you know, just listening toearly rock and roll.
Uh I I I I do enjoy listening to50s rock and roll just to hear
(20:58):
like okay, this is where it itcame from.
Um yeah, I mean this was uh thiswas a cool experience.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (21:07):
Yeah, it's a pretty good record um for uh definitely
uh for its time.
It's uh you know um it's just uhit's a good collection of songs.
There's not really a dull spot.
Um yeah, and plenty of rockers,and that's always I always
thought that's where ElvisPresley shine the bet the
(21:30):
brightest is when he was doingthose rockers.
Um especially in his early days.
SPEAKER_07 (21:36):
Yeah, I yeah, I mean the this the 50s Elvis is yeah,
that's like you said, that'sthat's his best period.
Yeah.
Um yeah, later in the 60s, likewhen he was doing the movies, I
uh he he actually hated doingall those movies.
It was his manager who kind offorced him to do them.
SPEAKER_06 (21:57):
Contractual obligation movies.
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_07 (22:01):
Exactly, yeah.
He he just wanted to go out ontour and and play music.
Pete but his his manager,Colonel uh Tom Parker, uh he
really had a a hold on Elvis.
It's actually quite tragic, andI think that's what led to his
uh his addiction to to drugs andand food and sort of numbing
(22:22):
himself because he was depressedthat you know he couldn't do he
couldn't express himself as anartist.
Um and I think he was frustratedby that.
SPEAKER_06 (22:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (22:33):
It's a pretty old tale.
But you know, the the like thisthis Elvis there's still that um
there's still that optimism inhis voice.
You know, the optimism of uh youknow, I'm getting to to do the
thing that I love, I'm gettingto play this music that I love,
I'm getting to record it andthey're gonna release it.
(22:56):
There's that excite you can tellthat excitement in his voice.
Um that that sort of even ifit's a naive excitement, there's
still that excitement there.
SPEAKER_06 (23:07):
Before the cage comes down with the Japanese
fighting spiders inside.
Exactly.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_07 (23:16):
Um, I mean it's it is sad that but uh it's true.
I mean, if you've ever I don't Iw I would recommend that that
Elvis Presley movie um to sortof see like sort of what
happened.
I mean this guy, Colonel TomParker, had such control over
(23:38):
his his career and his public.
You know, the this is this issomething that I thought was
really interesting is um heactually printed he had buttons
made that said I hate Elvis tocash in on pe on well it's like
(24:00):
well all the a lot of peoplelove Elvis, but a lot of people
hate him too.
I could probably make money offthe people that hate him too.
SPEAKER_06 (24:06):
Yeah, I know.
I'm well aware that that was athing.
Um yeah, I don't know how wellknown that is, but that is a
thing that he did, so yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (24:16):
And and the players on this, like his backing band
is is really good.
I mean Scottie Moore, uh, who wediscussed on the the previous
Elvis Presley album that we did.
Uh like his guitar playing, umit's pretty rudimentary to for
today's standards, but it's itit gets the job done.
(24:37):
You know, it's it's well it'snice and tasteful.
SPEAKER_06 (24:41):
It doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be too
flamboyant or anything, but itwas you know it it's it's
tasteful but but groovy at thesame time.
Exactly the thing going for it.
So yeah.
And of course he influenced uhwell almost all of my favorite
guitar players.
SPEAKER_07 (25:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is his Elvis's first band,the one that is playing on this
and the one that he toured withthey were a really you know,
they were a a tight unit.
So this this might be uhinteresting to us.
What would be your f their threeuh highlights on the album?
SPEAKER_06 (25:25):
I was trying to think.
I'm gonna go with Blue SuedeShoes, just because that's just
that's a classic.
It's classic.
It's the classic, it's probablythe best song on the album, and
they started it off with it.
That might be the only drawbackto the album is that they got
the big biggest best thing outof the way, but nothing else is
(25:45):
really bad.
So um let's see here.
I thought Money Honey is prettyfun.
Um and I got a woman, I guess.
Those are pretty good.
Oh, I I also want to mentionthat uh I I'll never let you go,
little darling.
The way it sort of transitionedfrom a um a uh a a ballad into
(26:09):
something that suddenly had alittle bit more upbeatness to it
was kind of cool.
SPEAKER_07 (26:14):
Uh it's funny because I was gonna say the
exact same things.
Those were those were my picksfor uh and I was gonna mention
the th the thing about I'llnever let you go, little
darling.
I I th yeah, uh yeah, exactly.
You literally took all the wordsout of my mouth.
Like oh yeah.
Sorry.
No, no, it's it's good that I Icompletely agree.
(26:35):
I mean it's it's um yeah, thosethose will be my uh my picks as
well.
Um so would you would you listento this album again?
Yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_06 (26:45):
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, yeah, it it it's worthputting on.
It's it's it's a good good albumfor uh, you know, if you like,
you know, early rock and rolland stuff like that, this is
probably you know the beginningof some of the best.
SPEAKER_07 (27:01):
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, this is um it it yeah,it's it's a great album, and I I
think it's a good it's a funalbum to listen to, but I also
think if you're like uhinterested in music history,
it's also an important album tolisten to because this is sort
of like the foundations of evera lot of stuff that would come
(27:22):
after.
Yeah.
Um so yeah, I I would absolutelylisten to it again.
But uh yeah, I guess we'll endthe episode there.
Uh thank you so much forlistening.
If you made it this far, umdon't forget to subscribe and
follow the show.
Uh, and we'd love it if you giveus a re a rating, a review, uh,
because it helps uh newlisteners find us.
(27:44):
And uh if you want to supportthe show and get some exclusive
content, like getting theseepisodes the day before they go
live, and you can um get a shoutout at the end of each episode,
and and uh you can even pick analbum first review, so that's
kind of cool.
Uh you can go to our Patreon, goto patreon.com slash polyphonic
press.
(28:04):
You can do all that there.
And uh you can also check outthe website, go to
polyphonicpress.com.
Uh you can get all the previousepisodes um that we've done so
far, and uh different updatesand things like that.
And uh and yeah, I think thatpretty much does it.
Uh, I'm Jeremy Boyd, and I'mJohn Van Dyke.
(28:26):
Take it easy.
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