The Elvis Experience with Buddy Love is a curious bit of Elvis-iana from Spain. Apparently it's yet another E impersonator, but one that raises a number of questions: why does he go by the name Buddy Love, the name of a Jerry Lewis film character? What's with that picture (taken from his MySpace page)? Is he doing a Buddy Holly impression on "True Love Ways"? And why does he start this CD-R (presumably sold at shows) with four obscurities, then a Peggy Lee cover, instead of Elvis classics? Maybe those songs where big in Spain. "Edge Of Reality" is totally great, tho, it shouldn't be obscure - this late-period b-side from a forgettable film had me seeking out the original (see vid below). Would go well on a psychotic-themed playlist with Porter W`goner's "Rubber Room" and The Cramps "Can't Find My Mind."
Buddy's accent and not-entirely-complete grasp of English does come thru on the slower numbers like "Fever," where he sings lines like: "fever started out ago." And on "Viva Las Vegas" is he singing "Fever Las Vegas?" Weird how he doesn't do many of the famous songs - I had to use an internet lyrics search to find what some of these songs were called, and I thought I had a fairly good grasp of The King's career. Guess I don't know as much about him as I thought...and I've even been to Sun Studios, Graceland and his childhood house in Tupelo.
The Elvis Experience with Buddy Love
01 Pocketful of Rainbows
02 It Hurts Me
03 Young and Beautiful
04 Edge Of Reality
05 Fever
06 Flaming Star
07 Are You Lonesome Tonight
08 Memories09 Forever My Darling
10 She's Not You
11 Rubberneckin'
12 True Love Ways
13 Separate Ways14 Viva Las Vegas
15 My Boy
And if anyone wants to buy me a Christmas present, holy crap, check THIS out - it's the female Eilert Pilarm!
Thankyouverymuch, windy.
Like I said: "During the upheaval of the late '70s/early '80s punk days, there was a real changing-of-the-guard feeling that led many groups of the time to cover classic oldies from the sacred rock 'n' roll canon in an irreverent (if not downright disrespectful) fashion." Part 1 and Part 2 of this series have been two of my most-downloaded collections, so here's a third batch - with suggestions from some of you - of wild 'n' wooly '70s/'80s devolved covers ranging from hardcore slammers to New Wave synth nerdiness to art-damaged tune destructions. You'll probably recognize a few famous things here, but there's plenty of obscure-but-great ripped-from-vinyl rarities as well. Weirdly enough, there are not one, but two electric violin-based tracks here: Walter Steding, and Nash The Slash. And, seriously, when was the last time you listened to the Plasmatics?
Put your hands in your pockets and commence pogo dancing...NOW!
New Wave Covers For Oldies Lovers - Part 3
Elvis section:
1. Dead Kennedys "Viva Las Vegas"
2. Walter Steding "Hound Dog" [Robert Fripp on guitar]
3. John Cale "Heartbreak Hotel" [live, with possibly Brian Eno, Kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield)
4. Judy Nylon "Jailhouse Rock"
5. Frank Sumatra And The Mob "Telstar"6. The Plasmatics w/Lemmy "Stand By Your Man"
7. Nurse With Wound "Antacid Cocamotive 93 ["The Locomotion"]"
8. Brian Sands "Baby You're A Rich Man"
9. Dictators "I Got You Babe"10. Hüsker Dü "Love Is All Around ["Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme]"
11. Talking Heads "Love Is All Around" (live) [The Troggs]12. Pure Hell "These Boots Are Made For Walking"
13. Ronny "If You Want Me To Stay"
14. The Plugz "La Bamba"
15. Brian Eno "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
16. Nash the Slash "Dopes on the Water" ["Smoke On The Water"]
17. Implog "On B'way"
18. Hüsker Dü "Eight Miles High"
19. Plasmatics "Dream Lover"
20. The Stranglers "Walk On By"
Thanks to those of you who suggested some of these.
"It's a postcard!"
"No, it's not. It's a record! Lemme play it"
"No, it's a postcard! I wanna mail it!"
(removing pipe:)
"Hold on kids, you're both right - these 6 postcards we bought at the World's Fair can also be enjoyed on any record-player."
"Gee, dad, that's swell!"
(Dad goes back to his pipe, nodding and smiling)
Despite the ridiculous amount of music I have, I'm not really a "collector." I'm more like a bottom-feeder, buying the stuff no-one else wants. But, while visiting Seattle some years back, I really did have to pry open my wallet and shell out $50 or so for these lovely postcard/records. It was so worth it - all six were in mint condition, never played, and they look and sound great. The artists were probably Seattle locals. I found some info on The Frantics and Frank Sugia, but as for the others, they apparently never made the national scene, or even other recordings.
This fascinating article describes some of the literally hundreds of songs written about the Space Age extravaganza known as the "Century 21" World's Fair of 1962, but I couldn't find many. Two, to be exact, included here as bonus tracks, courtesy of the "I'm Learning To Share" and "Beware of the Blog" blogs. I've also added a song from the soundtrack to an Elvis film shot on location at the fair. (Of course, strange music fans know and love Attilio Mineo's "Man In Space With Sounds" LP, but many other blogs have already posted it.) So this is all I got so far, but it is, to quote Joe Juma, "an acme of delight."
Seattle World's Fair 1962 (file includes picture/label scans)
01 "Invitation To The Fair" - Joe Juma (a country stomper)02 "World's Fair Seattle" - Billy Earles (Man, dig this finger-snappin' lounge crooner)
03 "Summer of '62 - Ronnie Draper and the Fordomatics (frantic banjo-driven hoedown with those white-bread folk-revival vocal harmonies)
04 "Cafe in The Sky" - Kelly Gates (Space-Age organ sounds? Now we're talkin'!)
05 "Gayway Twist" - the Frantics (this rock'n'roller is an instrumental, which, considering the title, is perhaps just as well)
06 "Come and See Seattle" - Frank Sugia Trio & Naomi (an accordion waltz for the Lawrence Welk crowd - Sugia seems to have had a fairly successful musical career, releasing an album in 1967)
bonus tracks:
Elvis Presley - "Take Me To The Fair"
Joy and the Boys - "Meet Me In Seattle"
The Lancers - "See You In Seattle"
"Dolores Fuller, the onetime actress-girlfriend of cross-dressing schlock movie director Ed Wood who co-starred with Wood in his low-budget 1950s cult classic "Glen or Glenda," has died. She was 88. Fuller, whose show business career included writing the lyrics to a dozen Elvis Presley movie songs, died Monday at her home in Las Vegas after a long illness," sez the LA Times.Co-author of some of The King's greatest tunes, like "Rock-A-Hula Baby," and "Do The Clam," memorably covered by The Cramps. Too bad she didn't stay with Wood, at least professionally. What a power couple they would have been - his movies, her songs...
