Think well of me on the beach ...
Elvis picks his `Best Albums of 2003`
....... except they are from 1974 and 1962.
In the new Mojo ( Jan. `04) he tells Andrew Male -
' On The Beach [ Neil Young] is pretty great. I was so glad to get it again because I`d have it on vinyl and I don`t dig it out as much because I`m often travelling. The really sad thing is that the best thing I`ve heard all year was released in 1974! Actually , if it wasn`t that it was Think Well Of Me by Jack Teagarden which is much older. `
Comments
In the time since I posted this I`ve
realised that I have the Teagarden album ( as well as
the Young one , of course). I got it in 1999 ( I
think) , going cheap in a sale. Elvis has made a
choice that will be hard to get ; it`s a Verve Elite
Edition from 1998 that is `available only until this
first pressing is sold out`.
I only knew Teagarden`s 1930`s
recordings , first becoming aware of them when Steven
Soderbergh used his 1933 rendition of A Hundred Years
From Today on the soundtrack to his (excellent) 1993
film King Of The Hill. When I played the 1960`s
recording I was disappointed , finding it sounded over
produced , with Teagarden`s vocal monotone and boring.
The 1930`s recording ( and other`s I`d heard) has a
charming rough `n ready sound. Indeed my abiding
memory of playing it in `99 was the reaction when I
had it on in my shop ; nearly everyone who came in
felt obliged to ask me what was that `awful` song they
were hearing.
Playing it again today I think I can
see why Elvis likes it. It really is an uncompromising
disc ; the singer is doing the songs the way he damn
well feels like it. This - surely - must have been
something that Elvis found reassuring as he prepared
and recorded North. Even the - whisper it! - lush
arrangements must have seen like another reason why
Elvis obliged to do his own orchestral arrangements. I
had forgotten that the album includes a favourite song
, Willard Robison`s Don`t Smoke In Bed. Here it get`s
a relatively sparse arrangement , making it nearly as
good as Julie London`s version , a highlight of her
1960 Around Midnight album.
Another disc I was playing today - also
kind of Costello related - was a 1958 album by actor
Tony Perkins called On A Rainy Afternoon . After
seeing a passing reference to in a Uncut feature on a
albums by actors I was attracted by the comparison
with the doom-laden vocal efforts of Chet Baker.
Thanks to the `net I got a cheap copy of 1996 RCA
Spain re-issue. On arrival I was curious to see the
cover -see it at
http://www.triad.rr.com/dance/content/perkins.html -
was startlingly similar to North. In many ways it`s a
reverse negative version ; the singer - in a long
light coloured coat - is stridingly up an empty , rain
soaked , country road. There , alas , the similarities
end. The recordings are awful , wavering vocals with
musical arrangements all over the place. The
sleevenote does , however , have a sentiment echoed by
Elvis of late. John Mehegan`s pretencious twaddle
includes the lines `This is not a `commercial`
recording in that it was not made for any special
segment of Tony`s public. It was made by Tony for
Tony.....If you should run across a rainy afternoon,
listen to Tony sing for Tony - and perhaps for you.`
You`ve been warned!
Posted by: johnfoyle | December 13, 2003 5:57 PM