#332 Elvis Presley, 'Elvis Presley' (1956)
Previously #56
“Well it’s a one for the money…” This is the album that started it all. The album that changed the course of music history. The first #1 rock ‘n roll record on the Billboard charts, the first rock ‘n roll album to sell more than a million copies and the first record to make more than $1,000,000 for RCA Victor (incidentally, the first record ever to sell more than a million copies was 'Vesti la giubba' from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, sung by the Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso in 1902).
“Two for the show…” No one realised the impact this album, or rather this man would have. The album was released in March 1956. He had spent the year bubbling under but it was his performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in September that would truly change everything. Most music biographies I’ve read have cited this performance as the one that changed the respective artist’s life. From John Lennon to Paul McCartney to Bruce Springsteen, honestly I could go on forever, but the fact is, without Elvis and that performance, we might not have had The Beatles as we know them, or even at all (not to say that he was the sole influence on the band, of course there was Chuck Berry, Little Richard etc.). And think about all the bands that THEY influenced. But this isn’t about The Beatles.
“Three to get ready now go cat go…” ‘Blue Suede Shoes explodes through the speakers. Imagine hearing this for the first time in 1956. Even when I heard it the first time as a kid, I was astounded at how good it was. It’s timeless! It was originally written and performed by Carl Perkins based on an idea from Johnny Cash. Also included on the album are covers of Ray Charles’s ‘I Got A Woman’ and Little Richard’s ‘Tutti Frutti,’ both songs that originally piano based, Elvis changed the central instrument to guitar. That plus the iconic album cover; having Elvis front and centre with a guitar, played a major role in positioning the guitar as the lead instrument of this growing new genre.
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