An ART58Koen exclusive for the Hole!
In 1972 Elvis Presley was busy preparing rehearsals for his
upcoming Vegas shows, but at the same time getting more and more
frustrated by Colonel Parker’s rules.
In the very early 70s Presley had
heard some of the Marley written tracks sung by Johnny Nash and was
intrigued. Unbeknownst to the Colonel, Presley had even contacted Johnny
to find out more about this new Jamaican sound. Nash was of course
happy to oblige, invited him to come over to Studio One and check it
out. And that’s exactly what he did during a break of a few days!
How he
managed to travel incognito to Jamaica without the Colonel noticing
remains unclear, even the dates of this visit are lost in time, but he
did enter the studio and met the musicians! They decided to cut 2
oldies; Crying in the Chapel with The Wailers and In The Ghetto with
Sound Dimension. After this 1 day session, Presley had to return to the
States as the Colonel was getting very suspicious about his whereabouts.
Of course details of Presley’s Jamaican adventure eventually reached
the Colonel who went ballistic. He threatened Studio One with massive
lawsuits if the 2 songs were released and insisted on the master tapes
being delivered to him asap. This duly happened BUT a very small number
of 45s had already been pressed and delivered to a few local record
shops.
However in classic Jamaican style, there had been some spelling mistakes and the few Elvis Persly records didn’t cause any waves, but instead sank without a trace…
Fast forward to 1998, during a break from teaching I was wandering through the alleys of Bangkok’s Chinatown and out of habit stopped by an old dusty record shop. I browsed through stacks of 45s and started laughing; Elvis Persly?! You gotta be kidding! But for 100 baht I bought it out of curiosity, only to be blown away much later once I learned about the background of this mythological 45…
I’ve managed to remove most of the scratches/surface damage and ripped it for the faithful followers of The Good Old Major’s Hole!
Ah Mi Waan' Fi Hear Dat, Dah One Yah Come In Like 'Rocking Horse '*hit'...
ReplyDeleteI have never heard this fabled original! 25 years after its release, another intrepid crate digger uncovered a copy of the "Persley" single and sampled the b-side for a German hip hop crew called the Ghetto People.
ReplyDeleteThey credited the vocal to a local Elvis impersonator (Detlef "Def" Malinkewitz) in order to avoid litigation from the Presley Estate. But rumors have long circulated among hip hop headz that it was the King himself rocking the mic. And now it can be told!
https://youtu.be/Zlguu0vsa1A
PS - any truth to the rumor that the Wailers wanted to call their track "Crying In The Chalice"?
Delete"Crying In The Chalice"? No, however "Crying without a Chillum" was briefly considered...
DeleteBrilliant Bambi, much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteSince no photos exist (or have disintegrated over time) of this legendary meeting I tried using Midjourney's Artificial Intelligence thingie in creating some possible pictures, which are used in my story... As you might have noticed they seem a bit 'odd' to say the least!
ReplyDeleteI'll add the top secret download links later once after all of you have shared your most fascinating musical discovery (whether true or not, I'm open minded!)...
ReplyDeleteI didn't discover it on my own, but tracking down a copy of the original "Daddy-O" (an obscure polka that NRBQ covered on their Grooves In Orbit album) was fun.
DeleteLast week, I asked the staff at a local used record store to put on a strange looking LP called DisinHAIRited. Spent awhile reading the story behind it after I got home. We can only imagine how different our lives might be today if "I'm Hung" had not been cut from the Hair soundtrack:
https://genius.com/Galt-macdermot-im-hung-lyrics
https://youtu.be/EISATu_BZV8
A worthy submission for my download link for sure, although the Utube link didn't work for me, 'Video Unavailable'.
DeleteYoutube clip of Elvis after a few 'hits on the bong'. Pictures don't sync with music, but worth a listen to this short well know clip.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbzxENP2eE
Ah, that Laughing version was even released in Holland as a single if I remember correctly...
DeleteThere are lots of places Elvis didn't play and Australia was one of them.
ReplyDeleteHowever it didn't stop him getting together with the Young Brothers from AC/DC in a top secret studio session after he accidentally received a demo from them. He heard it, loved the song and the rest is history!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOGkmoijhYI
Thanks Steve! Jim Brown aka The King, he did lots of cool songs in a similar Elvis style, brilliant.
DeleteOne of the most bizarre Elvis tributes.
ReplyDeleteTrue or not? Who knows?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_2iHxvMn5k
Bizarre indeed!
DeleteDiscovery: not discovered on vinyl but live in Perth Western Australia in 1976 I was there.Split Enz opened and were fantastic. Here is Frank live at the WACA ( a Cricket ground!)
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/mwCy9wYP-KY
Good one!
DeleteThanks everyone for sharing, so here is the link at last:
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.nz/file/jBcnhKzA#bE0TMoQP5Kvl0GwOM0l2Xcjma9TiSkGYYikGYZtBu4w
The real story is less sensational, it concerns a 2006 'mashup' of Elvis' vocals with over The Wailers "Satisfy My Soul Babe" instrumental and "Taurus Song" by Sound Dimension...
https://www.discogs.com/release/862523-Elvis-Crying-In-The-Chapel-In-The-Ghetto
Many thanks - strange but good. I prefer the Chapel mash up to the original!
DeleteAnother good mash up.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yayq3W-Mayk
I never cared much for the original Chapel, but this version is pretty cool.
DeleteI also tried writing a version of this story using https://chat.openai.com/chat but the results were mediocre to say the least: 1972, Elvis Presley was on tour in Jamaica when he heard about a small but renowned recording studio in Kingston called Studio One. Intrigued by the studio's reputation for producing some of the best reggae and ska records in the world, Elvis decided to pay a visit to Studio One and see if he could record some music there. While at the studio, Elvis met The Wailers, a talented group of reggae musicians who had been recording at Studio One for several years. The Wailers were excited to meet Elvis and quickly struck up a friendship with him. As they talked, Elvis mentioned that he had always been a fan of the song "Crying in the Chapel," and he expressed a desire to record a version of it.
ReplyDeleteThe Wailers were happy to oblige, and they quickly set to work arranging a reggae version of the song for Elvis to sing. The group spent several days rehearsing and recording the song at Studio One, working tirelessly to get everything just right. Despite the intense heat and humidity of Kingston, Elvis and The Wailers were able to record a powerful and soulful version of "Crying in the Chapel." When the recording was finished, Elvis and The Wailers agreed to keep the collaboration a secret, knowing that it would be a major surprise for fans when it was eventually released. And so, the recording of "Crying in the Chapel" by Elvis Presley and The Wailers remained a closely guarded secret for many years, until it was finally released to the world and became a hit all over again.
You have to thank Steve for an unusual bonus album that goes way beyond a mere gimmick. Here's The King (aka Jim/James Brown), an Irish singer with a great Elvis-like voice doing versions of classic rock songs (Sympathy For The Devil, L.A. Woman, etc.), pretty cool! Ripped at 320 kbps & scans included:
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.nz/file/vB83EbZK#Tm7uwuVWq6OWa-B8dw4AmWwtVbaM_X7LHr9mKwdUbAI
I love the album title: Return To Splendor.
DeleteSame same!
Delete