Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 07/12/2005
By this time, it ought to be reasonably clear to most people who know
rock & roll history that
Elvis Presley's music was the product of a diverse variety of influences, but most of the time, when someone writing about
Presley's formative days talks about his sources, "white boy who liked the
blues" usually ends up being the beginning and end of the story. Sure,
Elvis liked the
blues, but his taste for the
blues ran from the rough and ready rural sounds of
"Hardrock" Gunter and
"Big Boy" Cruddup to the downtown swing of
Big Joe Turner and
Ray Charles and the more polished approach of such harmony groups as
the Robins and
the Drifters.
Presley was also big on
gospel,
country,
pop, and nearly anything else that came his way over the radio, all of which seemed to find a way into his musical worldview if you're willing to look for it, and this compilation offers a fascinating perspective on
Elvis' wildly eclectic musical tastes.
The Roots of Elvis features original (or at least seminal) recordings of 25 songs that made their way into
Presley's repertoire over the years, and listening to these performances you can hear what
Elvis drew from them, but you can also recognize how much of his own personality spilled over into his later renditions. While some folks still subscribe to the theory that
Elvis simply white-washed the
blues for consumption by the
pop audience, the truth is that
Willy & Ruth's
"Love Me" and
the Eagles'
"Trying to Get to You," both featured here, are great vintage
R&B but they lack the fierce passionate edge central to
Presley's versions. The
gospel sides are equally revelatory;
Darrell Glenn's
"Crying in the Chapel" is tepid compared to
Presley's cover, which speaks powerfully of sincere belief, and
"There's a Leak in This Building" by
Brother Claude Ely is hard white
gospel that speaks to the strength of his religious upbringing. And while it's hard not to listen to this as archeology for
Elvis fans, this also happens to be a great collection of fine tunes of the 1950s that confirms, if nothing else, that
Presley had a really great record collection. Fascinating stuff.
~Mark Deming, All Music Guide
;)
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