Highlights for February include:

• Paul McCartney’s “Kisses on the Bottom” in standard and deluxe editions (Feb 7)
• deluxe editions of the last five Queen albums (Feb 7)
• a number of classic Bob Dylan albums on limited edition vinyl (Feb 7)
• the Van Halen reunion album, “A Different Kind of Truth” (Feb 7)
• the 3-CD set “Santana Anthology 68-69″ (Feb 14) and “Santana – Live at Montreux” on DVD and Blu-ray (Feb 21)
• Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in Experience, Immersion and Vinyl editions – Feb 28.

In January 1971, RCA records slipped its latest Elvis Presley LP on the market, not two months after the previous one. That record, “I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country,” the singer’s 30th of original material (excluding live collections, compilations and greatest hits sets), wasn’t just another Elvis LP. It was an honest to gosh concept LP. The songs were not only linked stylistically and thematically, but all the performances were linked by splices of a song interspersed between each number.

Even the cover wasn’t the usual head shot of a smiling Elvis, concert pose, or movie still. In their place was a sepia toned photo of a very familiar looking young boy. A smaller black and white photo, which included the parents, revealed that the unsmiling child was Elvis Presley aged two. Clearly, Elvis was trying to do something that he had never done before, revealing something about himself in the process.

Prior to this moment, concept albums had been as far away from the image of Elvis Presley as bowling alleys were from Zsa Zsa Gabor. In the bloom of the goodwill created by his comeback, the music press of the era, with a few exceptions, was generous to this new stance, with an especially enthusiastic write up appearing in Rolling Stone.

Despite its ambition and the good press, the album came and went commercially. While it was far from a flop, peaking at #12 and selling half a million units, the numbers it moved were not any better than any of the LPs Presley had released during the past two years, and certainly came nowhere near the barnstorming numbers of Presley’s early ’60s hit soundtracks like “GI Blues” and “Blue Hawaii”. Nor did they match the success of the live albums that would dominate Presley’s public profile in the upcoming decade. They were also short of the numbers put up by acts like Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and Led Zeppelin; other artists who assailed the top of the charts in the early 1970s. In the end, it became just another Elvis album instead of a defining artistic moment. A slew of subsequent country releases by RCA then BMG using the Elvis Country title made it something even less. Somehow this most personal and purposeful release became indistinguishable in the public mind from the hordes of slapped together compilations that have so defined Elvis’ output for the past five decades. “But I thought THIS was ‘Elvis Country.’” This month, the Sony Legacy label has taken a step, albeit a tentative one, to reverse that perception with their new re-release of the LP. This makes it a good time to draw attention to this remarkable document from the last time in Elvis Presley’s career when his ambition matched his talent.

When 1970 began, Elvis was scalding hot, both artistically and commercially, after being out in the cold for a long time. After seeing his recording and movie career bottom out in mid-1968, Elvis stormed back at the end of that year with the highest rated television special of the year, a show that reminded fans of what Elvis had once been and what he still could be. A single from that show “If I Can Dream” sold about 800,000 copies domestically, made the Top Ten in Cashbox and just missed it in Billboard, the best numbers for any Elvis release since 1965.

From there he moved from strength to strength for most of the next year. In January and February 1969, he recorded a series of songs in Memphis, Tennessee under the supervision of Chips Moman and with the American Studios’ house band. The initial series of singles released from those sessions- “In the Ghetto,” “Suspicious Minds” and “Don’t Cry Daddy,” in combination with “If I Can Dream” and “Clean Up Your Own Backyard,” a smaller hit from one of Elvis’ final and more interesting movies, made Elvis Cashbox’s singles artists of the year. The initial LP from those sessions, “From Elvis in Memphis,” wasn’t as successful commercially although it went Gold and made the Top 15, success mostly out of Elvis’ reach since 1966. More importantly, it received a rave lead review from future Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick in Rolling Stone, the first LP accorded such respect in the magazine’s then short history. It has since been almost universally recognized as one of Presley’s most enduring achievements.

In the summer of 1969, Presley returned to live performance in Las Vegas with similar success. Creating one of the most ambitious live shows of its era, Presley floored audiences and critics in both the establishment and underground press with a show that combined nearly all the streams of the mainstream American pop tradition save jazz. The show was so popular that it became the first show in Las Vegas history to make a profit. (Normally shows in Vegas are loss leaders designed to pull people into the casino.)

Elvis on stage at the International, Las Vegas in August 1969

Bizarrely, Presley’s manager “Colonel” Tom Parker elected not to send Elvis out on the road in the wake of that triumph, but to rebook him in Vegas only four months later. Presley, though, was so hot that he effortlessly turned that lemon into lemonade. In late January through mid-February 1970 with “Don’t Cry Daddy” peaking in the Top Ten, Elvis remade his live show. Rather than playing the returning hero, he became Vegas’ King of the Top 40. Scratching many of the oldies from his act, Elvis played his current string of hits and included a slew of songs into the act- “Proud Mary,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Polk Salad Annie,” “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”- that had just recently been in the Top 40. He also threw in a sprinkling of revamped older songs- “See See Rider,” “Release Me,” “Let it Be Me,” “The Wonder of You”- that had not previously been recorded by/or associated with him. All the newly added material continued to reflect Presley’s democratic musical vision, incorporating everything from traditional blues to adult contemporary.

Despite taking place in the dead season for tourism, again the show drew record crowds. Again, the reviews were largely ecstatic. RCA took eight songs from the stand and two from the previous engagement and released a highly successful live album of all previously unrecorded material for Presley, an unusual, if not wholly unprecedented move. The album, “Elvis On Stage,” eventually moved a million copies.

“The Wonder of You” the single pulled from the LP became one of Presley’s signature tunes, selling a million and making the Top Ten in the US and Number One in the UK.

In March, Presley was booked into the Astrodome as the main attraction of the Houston Livestock show. He played four shows, afternoon and evenings, over a weekend. The evening shows both broke attendance records.

Not since the 1950s had Elvis sustained such a string of unqualified successes. This was the environment that informed Elvis’ return to the recording studio in June 1970 for his first recording sessions since the epochal teaming in Memphis with Chips Moman more than a year before. Although Presley was pleased with the results of the Moman sessions, he was not in love with the producer’s heavy-handed and rigidly-structured style of recording. Presley preferred a more spontaneous approach. Additionally, the singer and his in-house producer Felton Jarvis did some post-op overdubs on “Suspicious Minds” that rankled Moman. So, Elvis and Jarvis returned to Nashville, the city that hosted the vast majority of Presley’s sessions.

Jarvis wasn’t going to let things go stale though. He had hired a new band to back Elvis, including guitarist James Burton, who led the singer’s on stage unit, hot young session players like Chip Young, Jerry Carrigan, and Norbert Putnam, and old hands like Charlie McCoy. Many of the players had played in producer Rick Hall’s legendary Muscle Shoals Band.

Flush with the confidence of his recent success, Presley dived into the sessions with enthusiasm. As he had since the ’50s, he approached the sessions as a voyage of discovery. There might be a few preordained objectives going into the session (in these sessions a version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” seemed to fall into this category), but in general Presley liked to wade his way through demos until he found something he liked. If he didn’t, he’d recall something from the musical past that he could inject with new life. This was not quite as off the cuff as it sounds. Some titles Presley had considered for years before the moment was right. Recording such as “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water” were born this way, just as earlier recordings had been, including “Reconsider Baby,” “After Loving You” and “Stranger in My Own Hometown.”

Elvis Presley – “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water”

The sessions, which began on June 4, 1970, got off to a good start. Elvis recorded a first rate original adult contemporary ballad in “Twenty Days and Twenty Nights,” a couple of originals he believed in, but to which time has not been especially kind in “I’ve Lost You” and “The Sound of Your Cry,” along with some terrific blasts from the past. Arguably, the best of these were loose and improvisational attacks at Bill Monroe’s “A Hundred Years From Now,” and “Little Cabin on the Hill.” The bluegrass tunes were the most down home country of any Elvis recordings since Sun, unabashed hillbilly music. No one would hear a “A Hundred Years From Now” for another two and a half decades, but “Little Cabin on the Hill,” along with “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” and a remake of Sanford Clark’s rockabilly mini-classic “The Fool,” would take on a completely unanticipated function, one that no Presley songs had fulfilled to that point.

Despite the strong start, the sessions slowed up, especially in their quest to create hit single material. The reason for this was because Presley’s publishing companies were not able to provide a first-rank supply of new material. Presley and Parker had always agreed to give priority to material that had come from their publishing companies, administered through Hill and Range, because the publishing industry was and is, for the most part, more lucrative than recording. This strategy had worked fine in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Hill and Range had a stable of strong writers like Don Robertson, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, and Otis Blackwell among others. At the same time, Elvis was so much hotter than the rest of the industry that even writers outside the houses could be convinced to make deals because their piece of the pie on one of his cuts was so large. Neither of those situations were the case anymore in 1970.

While Elvis was still a big seller, he was no longer tops in the industry. Plus, the industry had expanded so much that a half million or million selling record was no longer the rarity it once had been. It was a much easier decision for a songwriter to gamble with a new potential hit song.

Compounding the problem was the fact that Hill and Range’s stable of great writers virtually vanished. Some like Leiber, Stoller and Mort Shuman (although he contributed a title in 1969) had flown the coop for greener, or at least different, pastures. Some like Otis Blackwell, Don Robertson, and Doc Pomus had dried up creatively at that time. The industry had changed as well with many songwriters now opting for a career in performing instead of providing material for other performers. The few great remaining non-performing writers were often bound to production deals with record labels or their own artists, or owned their own publishing companies. So, although they still managed to introduce a few solid writers like Eddie Rabbitt (who co-wrote “Kentucky Rain”), none of the new brood were able to fill the shoes of the company’s former stars. Worse, the majority of Hill and Range’s 1970 staff were pedestrian at best. As the decade wore on and Presley became less inspired, this became an increasing problem, and most of Elvis’ better hits came from outside the confines of Hill and Range or were remakes.

Elvis arriving at RCA’s Studio B on June 5, 1970.

In June 1970, Elvis was content to let his personal tastes and memory, along with Hill and Range lead the way. The trouble was the discrepancy between the two. The next two nights, Elvis led the way through first rate remakes of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” Muddy Water’s “Got My Mojo Working” and Al Martino’s “Mary in the Morning.” To be fair, there were a handful of better than solid Hill and Range songs recorded, out of their dozens of submissions, “Just Pretend,” “Stranger in the Crowd,” “How the Web Was Woven” (a British copyright purchased by the company and a hit in its native land for Jackie Lomax), and “It’s Your Baby, You Rock It.” None of these songs were even close to single material though. (Eventually, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” would be the single and would do extremely well.) What’s more, the paucity of good Hill and Range work wore Elvis down to the point where he was elevating the second team.

Elvis Presley – “It’s Your Baby, You Rock It”

The third night of the sessions, ended with Elvis laying down three inferior tracks in a row including one of his all time worst- “Life,” a melodically challenged attempt to explain the universe. When the fourth night of the sessions began with another non-descript ballad from the Hill and Range stable, it seemed the sessions that had gotten off to such a promising start would end up an anti-climax, Elvis’ first step backwards in his recent renaissance.

Then, almost out of the blue, Elvis tore into Don Robertson’s ballad “I Really Don’t Want to Know,” a number that had been a hit for Eddie Arnold, Les Paul and Mary Ford, and Tommy Edwards, and that had always defined the poppiest edge of country music. Elvis didn’t perform it like a pop number though. He didn’t perform it as a country number either. He sang it like it was blues. It was the same type of reinvention he used at Sun on “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “That’s All Right Mama” all those years ago. Now instead of Sam Phillips recognizing the moment and catching it for posterity, it was Elvis himself. The song set him on a fit of inspiration. Next thing he laid into an absolutely rocking version of Bob Wills’ standard “Faded Love.” A few nights before, Elvis had planned to record the song, but had been put off because he didn’t have the lyrics. Now he did and there was no putting him off. He had a knockout master in one take.

Then it was onto an almost operatic reading of Ernest Tubb’s “Tomorrow Never Comes.” With the exception of a brief side step into the pleasing but dated pop number “The Next Step is Love,” Elvis was into a complete country jam. Soon he had laid down a version of “Make the World Go Away,” an acidic reading of Willie Nelson’s country soul classic ‘Funny How Time Slips Away” and a version of “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water” that sounded like the jailbreak its lyrics described.

Elvis Presley – “Tomorrow Never Comes”

Norbert Putnam described being caught up in the momentum of Presley’s stroke of genius to writer Gillian G. Gaar:

The run continued the next night when Elvis opened the session with an impassioned rendition of “There Goes My Everything.” Material quickly ran out, but Elvis and Jarvis recognized on the spot that what had developed in the last nights of the sessions was the core of a first rate country and western album. Elvis even spoke of the upcoming country theme album on stage in Vegas that summer.

To his credit, Jarvis recognized that, even with the fine country material that opened the sessions added in, a little bit more material was needed to make a really fine country album. In September, Jarvis got Elvis to come into the studio to complete the set. Elvis wasn’t in the greatest mood to record, but he came up with the two final pieces of the puzzle- a version of “Snowbird” that didn’t change a ton from Anne Murray’s hit recording but was deeply felt and eventually led off the LP, and an absolutely furious smash through “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” The fist clenching anger at the heart of Presley’s version made any comparisons to Jerry Lee’s hit moot.

Somewhere along the line, Presley and Jarvis decided against including the gospel traditional “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” in its entirety on the LP, despite the aesthetic similarity to much of the material on the collection. Instead they opted to chop the song in splices that would link each song to the next and make some sort of vague comment on the proceedings. The duo felt so strongly about the importance of the linking track that they used a modified version of the song’s title, “I’m 10,000 Years Old,” as the name of the album. “Elvis Country” is actually the subtitle. The move transformed what was a theme album into a full fledged concept album.

RCA’s art department got the hint, and contributed one of the most memorable covers of all Presley’s LPs. Although, Elvis’ debut LP and the Gold Records would contribute more well remembered covers, no Presley cover better conveyed the contents of the LP.

To that point, relatively few people had seen the now iconic photo of the two-year-old Elvis clad in overalls and a broad hat that donned the cover. The first photo ever taken of the future legend, it appeared in Jerry Hopkins’ biography which arrived almost simultaneously with the LP. For a man who did not like to publicly remind people of his upbringing, it said a lot that Elvis would permit its use as the face of his new collection of music.

That’s because this was an LP that said a lot about Elvis. More than any other album in his canon, it is here that Elvis makes the statement: “This is who I am. This is what I’m about.”

That sense of personal disclosure can be seen in the title and subtitle of the collection. “I’m 10,000 Years Old” captured the impact that Elvis had on the pop scene. Although, he had only been a superstar for less than 15 years when the LP came out, to the rock audience it seemed as if he had been there forever. His rise coincided with the rise of the mass media as we would know it- television, radio, movies, and the press. He was basically the only superstar of that initial era to make it into the 1970s intact. (Brando’s resurrection was still a year and a half in the future.) Personally, he had been on a journey that had taken so many diverse twists and turns that he felt older than his years. He would often joke on stage that he had originally had a hit with “Hound Dog” in 1912.

Even the subtitle, which would seem standard due to the nature of the material, is much more personal. This is not just Elvis singing country songs. This is literally Elvis’ country music. It’s the songs that made him like the bluegrass of Bill Monroe and the country swing of Bob Wills. It’s the stuff that his success made possible including everything from rockabilly like “The Fool” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On,” to the countrypolitan bombast of “Tomorrow Never Comes,” to the light country pop of “Snowbird” that would guide many artists to crossover success in the 1970s. Even the LP’s sole original song “It’s Your Baby, You Rock it” was based upon one of the singer’s pet expressions.

When I first got “I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country” in the mid-1980s, I was amazed at how hard rocking it was. This seemed an odd contradiction on what I thought was going to be a strictly country record. That contradiction is another part of Elvis Presley’s peculiar brand of country. At his best, Presley mixed and matched genres to the point where the performances reside in no recognizable genre save his own. Many times the distance would seem irreconcilable, but he’d still go there. You hear that all over this album.

There’s the blues interpretation of “I Really Don’t Want to Know.” The organ on “Funny How Time Slips Away” underlines why that track has long been a standard in both soul and country. The phrasing and vocal improvisations on many of the tracks bear a closer relationship to gospel than country, although the material and arrangements make the music’s origins clear. “Faded Love” is a prime example. It’s an old country swing tune with a resigned, melancholic lyric that aches of old school Nashville, but James Burton’s guitar solo is all rock n’ roll. Elvis’ vocal drawls enough to be country, but borrows its sense of liberation from gospel. In the end, it can’t be classified as anything but Elvis music.

Elvis Presley – “Faded Love”

He did a lot of the same things with emotions. Gaar commented on the sense of triumph that Elvis imparted to the ending of “Tomorrow Never Comes.” This is an odd note since the song details the end of a breakup. It also was one of Elvis’ most unique gifts. On the surface, it’s Sam Phillips’ mantra of take a sad song and make it happy. But it’s really a manifestation of Presley’s joy in performance. He gives us the meaning of the lyrics, but he also allows us to vicariously taste his joy in performing them. It’s what he does on “Suspicious Minds” and “Mystery Train” and it’s what he does on this song. In the end, it deepens the recordings because it gives us an insight into what happens on the other end, when the songs fade out.

Taken as a whole, this was arguably the most ambitious LP that the singer had undertaken to that point. “From Elvis in Memphis” and the accompanying singles had proved that Elvis was not a figure of the past, that he was aware of contemporary concerns and musical trends. “I’m 10,000 Year Old: Elvis Country” was a step further. A gauntlet had been thrown down. Albums, much more than singles, were now the prime vehicle of expression for rock n’ roll performers. And a great album was no longer simply a collection of great performances. It was now its own statement with each individual piece connected to one another to make a greater point. Performers of the era had also eliminated the lines between themselves and their work. In the 1950s, an artist expressed a point about the world in their work, and their performances could be heartfelt and reflect their worldview. But it was never personal or autobiographical. There was never a sense that it was literally the singer’s experiences emanating through the speakers. In 1970, performers now used their music as a window into their direct personalities.

To this point, Elvis had never tried either method of expression, at least not as pop singer. His gospel LPs showed Elvis thinking beyond song to song, but there was no attempt to link the songs. And there was no overt attempt to allow us an inside view of Elvis. The 1969 recordings had shown that Elvis could perform in the new styles, but was this new mode and style of expression beyond him? “I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country” answered that question. For the only time in his career, a Presley LP was its own entity, something more than a marketing tool to feature individual performances.

But most people missed it. Today, the LP is known among some rock critics and diehard Elvis fans and that’s about it. What Elvis tried to do has been wiped from the record. What should have been a watershed release has been reduced to a footnote at best. Part of the problem was the marketing strategy of Presley’s record label RCA, which seemed predicated on the idea that the revival of interest in Elvis was a temporary condition mandating the need to maximize quick profits. When “I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country” was released in January 1971, it was the ninth Elvis album released by RCA in the past eight months, a pace that would have even given a 1950s budget label pause. Most of these LPs were repackages including budget releases, but they were all packaged with a contemporary photo of Elvis and at the very least most of them contained material that hadn’t been available in a while. It was a release schedule that would have taxed the finances of all but the most well heeled Elvis fanatic. And when you’re releasing nine LPs in one year, often fanatics are the only people willing to wade through it all.

Amazingly, RCA compounded their error by releasing the LP a mere six weeks after Elvis’ most recent collection of new music, a mix of studio and live work called “Elvis: That’s the Way it is”. It was a move that cut the market for both albums. Fans who knew that Presley had a new studio album out would have to choose, if they didn’t have enough to buy two at one time. Or they might pick up one LP or the other thinking that it was “the new Elvis.”

One could also imagine that stores had much the same problem, stocking one or the other, not perhaps even dreaming that RCA would release two new products so close together.

Ironically, the strength of the 45 pulled from the album, “I Really Don’t Want to Know”/”There Goes My Everything,” also probably curbed its appeal. Among the people who actually heard it, the single did very well, approaching three quarters of a million copies in the US alone. The problem was that stations played both sides. “I Really Don’t Want to Know” hit #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, but “There Goes My Everything” was played enough to merit its own chart tagalong position. When airplay is split, it often keeps either side from getting enough momentum to make a broad impact. That meant fewer people knew there was a new Elvis LP out that contained these songs.

Elvis Presley – “I Really Don’t Want to Know”

Also, the country aspect of the project may have been a turnoff to some fans, particularly the youth market that was most likely to appreciate a concept album. Country rock had not become a commercial force. While some country stars like Glenn Campbell and Johnny Cash had crossed into the mainstream, their appeal was mostly limited to adults. To the youth audience, the fact that it was a country album probably disguised the fact that Elvis was doing something new here. Hadn’t he been covering country songs since the beginning?

On the other side, the country audience may have resented the concept album idea. Despite valiant efforts by Cash and some others, country was still a very conservative market in the early 1970s. The traditional audience may have resented Elvis’ attempt to gussy up their music, just as their parents had 20 years earlier. Even many diehard Elvis fans found the linking song distracting or annoying.

Elvis and Parker did the LP no favors as well by giving it no extra special promotion. Elvis featured some of the songs in his stage show and mentioned his new country LP, but he engaged in no interviews or any other sort of promotion that would have whetted the public’s appetite and explained what he was trying to accomplish. This was largely standard course for the operation. Presley LPs generally sold themselves as he had a large fan base that bought everything he did. Albums would move beyond that base usually when they featured a hit single, or were connected to larger project like a movie or TV show. The base, though, was enough to keep everything profitable. The problem was that this was not just another record. If Elvis really wanted to make a statement with the album, he had an obligation to let the public know that’s what he wanted to do.

As if that weren’t enough, “I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country” had the misfortune to be released during, arguably, the greatest year ever for LPs in rock ‘n’ soul history. “Sticky Fingers,” “What’s Going on,” “Who’s Next,” “Led Zeppelin IV,” “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” “Every Picture Tells a Story,” and “Imagine” were only a handful of the career defining albums released in 1971. While Elvis was doing one of his best, many in the industry were releasing their very best. It was easy to get lost in the shuffle, particularly when Elvis’ organization from top to bottom made no effort at placing their record among the industry’s elite.

Still, over the years the LP has gained a slow but steady appreciation in the public eye (an appreciation that has not translated into sales partly because of RCA abusing the Elvis and country concept and partly because Elvis is not associated with albums). It received five star reviews in the Rolling Stone Record Guide as well as the All Music Guide. In 2000 Mojo included it in their list of the 1,000 greatest albums ever made. It also made an Uncut list of underrated albums. And reviews of the recent reissue have been very positive.

All of which makes it sad because if the response to the LP had been greater there might have been more like it. Save for one more gospel and Christmas LP, this was the last anyone ever saw of Elvis Presley album maker. It was also the last anyone ever saw of Elvis Presley the invigorated artist willing to find new outlets for his talent. While he would have the occasional stroke of inspiration that led to some great records now and then, he was never again able to deliberately channel it as he did here. Save for some records about his divorce, he never again had that something he was just busting to say on record as he did here. In March 1971, with the concept record still on the charts, Elvis went into the studio seemingly bound to do what he had done with country, almost a year before, with folk music. Sadly, the session was limited to four songs because the singer came down with an eye infection. The next time he was back in the studio in May, the folk idea has been largely forgotten. Perhaps discouraged by the lack of public reaction to “I’m 10,000 Years Old,” he figured “why bother?”

Regretting what could have been shouldn’t keep us from appreciating what actually was though. “I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country” did not need to start a trend. It stands as a unique collection of powerfully personal music that tells us as much about the man who created it as anything he ever did. For that we should be grateful.

Sources:
Return of the King: Elvis Presley’s Great Comeback – Gillian Gaar
Elvis Presley: A Life in Music – Ernst Jorgensen

“Elvis Country – Legacy Edition” is available now from:

Title
Elvis Country – Legacy Edition (2 CDs)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

Fans will be able to view items from Elvis’ personal wardrobe, movie-worn clothing and several pieces of jewellery. There will also be a large stall containing the latest books, CDs and DVDs for those who want to stock up on Elvis goodies.

For those wanting to make a night of it, singer Shayne Driscoll will perform a show of ’50s and ’60s classics on the Friday and Saturday nights at 8.00pm.

The Burlington Hotel is located on Marine Parde, West of Worthing Pier. You can contact the hotel on 01903 211222.

The event will benefit the Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice.

The Legacy Edition pairs the original “Elvis Country” album, as first released in January 1971, with a weaker effort from the same year, “Love Letters From Elvis,” as well as singles and B-sides recorded at the sessions that produced those albums.

The music on “Elvis Country: Legacy Edition” was in large part the product of Elvis’ mammoth session at RCA’s Studio B, Nashville, in June 1970. Elvis was now around 18 months into an impressive comeback during which he had wowed America with a top rated television special, released some of his most critically acclaimed and successful music in years, and made a highly successful return to live performance.

Elvis and the band at Studio B, Nashville in June 1970:

Top: David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, Elvis Presley, Al Pachuki, Jerry Carrigan
Bottom: Felton Jarvis, Chip Young, Charlie McCoy, James Burton

CD 1: Elvis Country

Tracklist (including recording dates):

“Elvis Country” – original album

 1. Snowbird – (22 Sep, 1970)
 2. Tomorrow Never Comes (7 Jun, 1970)
 3. Little Cabin On The Hill (4 Jun, 1970)
 4. Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On (22 Sep)
 5. Funny How Time Slips Away (7 Jun, 1970)
 6. I Really Don’t Want To Know (7 Jun, 1970)
 7. There Goes My Everything (8 Jun, 1970)
 8. It’s Your Baby, You Rock It (5 Jun, 1970)
 9. The Fool (4 Jun, 1970)
10. Faded Love (7 Jun, 1970)
11. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water (7 Jun, 1970)
12. Make The World Go Away (7 Jun, 1970).

Bonus tracks

13. I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (4 Jun, 1970)
14. A Hundred Years From Now (4 Jun, 1970)
15. Where Did They Go, Lord (22 Sep, 1970).

The album opens with a solid cover of Anne Murray’s “Snowbird” which deviates very little from the original and is one of the more conventional country recordings on the album. “Tomorrow Never Comes” is an excellent power ballad that builds to an impressive crescendo. The song evokes Roy Orbison’s dramatic style and this was not lost on Elvis who can be heard in an outtake (not included here) singing “Running Scared” over the opening bars of the song.

“Little Cabin On The Hill” is a Bill Monroe song that Elvis had been fooling around with for years in private, including during the so-called Million Dollar Quartet session in 1956. The “Elvis Country” version is good, with a natural singalong quality, but it would have had a little more drive if sung in a slightly higher key. The same is true of “The Fool,” which is a cool bluesy tune that Elvis sings in slightly menacing fashion at the bottom of his register.

“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On” features one of Elvis’ best rock ‘n’ roll vocals of the decade. What makes it so great is the variety present in Elvis’ performance. Instead of sticking rigidly to the melody as written, Elvis is all over the place, even exploring the bass harmony on both the verses and chorus. This is a great approach as it brings the rather repetitive lyric to life and gives the performance real dynamic range. It’s the kind of imaginative performance that Elvis gave so often in his first decade of recording on tracks such as “One Sided Love Affair.”

“Funny How Time Slips Away” is a Willie Nelson-penned track that Rick Nelson had recorded for his 1966 album “Country Fever.” It is the Nelson version that inspired the Elvis cut and the similarities are heightened by the fact that James Burton plays dobro on both. As similar as the songs are instrumentally, Elvis invests far more emotion in his vocal and his is easily the more memorable performance.

“I Really Don’t Want To Know” features one of Elvis’ most passionate performances on the album. It is this type of performance that makes some choose this as their favourite Elvis period, because he rarely sang with such intensity and passion before or after.

Elvis arrives at Studio B for the June 4, 1970 session

Elvis delivers a flawless performance on the country standard “There Goes My Everything.” The song had been a big country hit in 1966 for Jack Greene and an even bigger hit the following year on the pop chart for Engelbert Humperdinck. Elvis’ version has a slightly looser arrangement and a very heartfelt vocal.

Don’t be put off by the slightly odd title of “It’s Your Baby, You Rock It” as James Burton’s melodic guitar work, Elvis’ highly engaged and imaginative vocal, and the well judged female backing vocals all contribute to make this a contender for the best recording on the album. The way Elvis sings the line “You made that bed you’re sleeping in and I’m tired of hearing about it friend” for the final time is the kind of moment that makes you want to start the song over.

“I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water” has Elvis and the band cutting loose on a great country blues jam. Elvis was so suited to this kind of performance that it’s a shame he didn’t do more in this style as the decade progressed. Stonewall Jackson and Johnny Rivers had both had success with the track several years before, but Elvis was perhaps drawn to the song by Charlie Rich’s version which was the flipside of “Mohair Sam” – the song Elvis repeatedly played when the Beatles came to visit in 1965.

“Make the World Go Away” is an excellent recording, with Elvis once again fully committed. Listen to him sing the line “Do you remember when you loved me?” for an example of Elvis’ ability to make you really believe a lyric. It’s not as polished as Eddy Arnold’s straight country rendition, but has a truckload more feeling.

“I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” appears in snippets between tracks on the “Elvis Country” album, but is also present here in full as the first bonus track. It’s a fun, up-tempo gospel song which Elvis relishes singing. Elvis seems to also get a kick out of “A Hundred Years From Now,” which has its roots in bluegrass music and is the kind of song you can imagine Elvis fooling around with at home.

The final bonus track on CD 1 is “Where Did They Go, Lord,” which was released on single in 1971, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.

CD 2: Love Letters From Elvis

Tracklist (including recording dates):

“Love Letters From Elvis” – original album:

 1. Love Letters (7 Jun, 1970)
 2. When I’m Over You (7 Jun, 1970)
 3. If I Were You (8 Jun, 1970)
 4. Got My Mojo Working/Keep Your Hands Off Of It (5 Jun, 1970)
 5. Heart Of Rome (6 Jun, 1970)
 6. Only Believe(8 Jun, 1970)
 7. This Is Our Dance (6 Jun, 1970)
 8. Cindy, Cindy (4 Jun, 1970)
 9. I’ll Never Know (5 Jun, 1970)
10. It Ain’t No Big Thing (But It’s Growing) (6 Jun, 1970)
11. Life – (6 Jun, 1970).

Bonus tracks

12. The Sound Of Your Cry (4 Jun, 1970)
13. Sylvia (8 Jun, 1970)
14. Rags To Riches (22 Sep, 1970).

The second CD features the complete “Love Letters From Elvis” album, plus three bonus tracks. The album opens with a remake of the song “Love Letters,” which Elvis had originally recorded in 1966. It’s sloppy compared to the original and it’s unclear what the motivation was to revisit the song, other than pianist David Briggs’ apparent desire to improve on the piano part that he had laid down on the original.

The songs “When I’m Over You” and “If I Were You” are both well executed country songs, but neither are particularly memorable compared to the best work Elvis was doing in this period. The same can be said of the Neopolitan-flavoured “Heart of Rome” which Elvis enjoyed singing but wasn’t really deserving of a spot on a mainstream Elvis release during a period where his work had been so strong. It’s also sung just a notch too high for comfort, which leads to a slightly over the top performance.

“Got My Mojo Working/Keep Your Hands Off Of It” is a different story, with Elvis ripping into an inspired medley of two old R&B tracks. Elvis’ natural feel for this type of music is very apparent and you only have to listen to the slightly exhausted laugh at the end to know how much fun he was having.

The gospel-flavoured “Only Believe” is simple material, but so well sung that it is a treat for those of us who simply enjoy Elvis’ voice.

“This Is Our Dance” is essentially Elvis occupying Engelbert Humperdinck territory and was actually co-written by Les Reed, who had a hand in penning Humperdinck’s monster hit “The Last Waltz.”

“Cindy, Cindy” was modified from a traditional folk song by songwriters Benjamin Weisman, Dolores Fuller and Fred Wise. It’s hard to escape the suspicion that Elvis isn’t particularly enamoured with the material, as he seems to be going through the motions a little here.

“I’ll Never Know” has a very appealing melody and delicate vocal from Elvis. It’s one of the better songs on the album.

Despite the pretty appalling title, which invites an obvious schoolboy joke, “It Ain’t No Big Thing (But It’s Growing)” is a very listenable straight country track, with good harmonica work from the great Charlie McCoy, an appealing lead guitar break from James Burton, and a solid vocal from Elvis.

“Life” is an unusual track which tells the story of the Creation. It’s the kind of song that is an acquired taste – acceptable as an LP track but a little surprising that it was selected as a single.

The bonus tracks commence with “The Sound of Your Cry” which has a well crafted melody and is nicely recorded, but Elvis perhaps gets a little carried away towards the end.

“Sylvia” was recorded at the June 1970 sessions but wasn’t released until 1972 when it appeared on the “Elvis Now” album. The song and performance is not without appeal, but ultimately it’s fairly average and the decision to hold it back is understandable. Felton Jarvis’ overdubs, which are often criticised, are quite tasteful and interesting here.

The final track on the album is “Rags to Riches” which Elvis delivers in bombastic but appealing fashion. The title suggests that the song might have an autobiographical element, but “Rags to Riches” refers not to financial status, but to the metaphorical change of fortunes that can arise from finding true love.

Summing up

The best of the music that Elvis recorded in Nashville in the summer of 1970 is a notch below his strongest 1969 material, but there is much to enjoy and the “Elvis Country” album that came out of the sessions is one of the most cohesive of his career – often noted as one of Elvis’ few real concept albums.

It’s no surprise that Elvis rose to the occasion on this material, because he had always had a real affinity with country music. What we get here though is rougher and more earthy than the classic Nashville sound of the 1960s. Just as Elvis had done when he first recorded for Sun Records in the mid-’50s, on these tracks he merges genres and puts his own stamp on what are often familiar and well worn song selections.

This release follows the pattern of the previous Elvis Legacy Editions by coupling the main title with a second album from the era. However, this time the policy has attracted more criticism because of the decision to include what is regarded as a classic Elvis album (“Elvis Country”) with a more throwaway selection (“Love Letters From Elvis”). Clearly, the two albums were deemed a neat fit because most of the material came from the same sessions, but there is a marked difference in quality between the two and this release would have been stronger if some of the best outtakes from the main “Elvis Country” album had been included, instead of the weaker material.

Criticisms aside, there is enough strong material here to make it a worthwhile release, particularly given the surprisingly low price and the fact that the highly regarded Vic Anesini 2007 remasters are used throughout.

If you admire Elvis Presley, the album “Elvis Country” belongs in your collection.

“Elvis Country – Legacy Edition” is available now from:

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Elvis’ home town of Memphis has been at the heart of the celebrations over the last couple of days, with a Fan Club Presidents event, an Elvis Insiders reception, a Gospel concert, and a concert featuring the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Terry Mike Jeffrey. The celebrations culminate today with a special Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony at Graceland which begins at 9.30am CST.

You can view the Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony live at www.elvis.com

The birthday activities in Memphis kick off Elvis Presley Enterprises’ year long celebration of Elvis’ life and legacy to mark the 35th anniversary of the rock ‘n’ roll legend’s death.

Elvis Express Radio are also marking Elvis’ birthday today with a special tribute show that concentrates on the music Elvis recorded in Memphis at Sun Studios, American Studios, Stax Records and Graceland. The show will be uploaded on the Elvis Express Radio website at www.elvis-express.com

In other Elvis news, the 2002 JLS/Elvis remix, “A Little Less Conversation,” may be set for a return to the charts as it is featured in the Olympics-themed advert for BMW’s 3 Series Saloon, which is set to run for several months. The tag line is “What all winners have in common….is joy.”

Highlights for January include:

• “Elvis Country – Legacy Edition” – Jan 3
• a number of releases in the Original Album Classics series from the likes of Johnny Cash, Elvis, Journey, the Byrds, Bob Dylan and David Bowie – Jan 17
• the Doors’ “L.A. Woman – 40th Anniversary Edition” and “Mr. Mojo Risin’” DVD and Blu-ray releases – Jan 24
• Dion DiMucci’s “Tank Full of Blues” – Jan 24
• Leonard Cohen’s “Old Ideas” on CD and vinyl – Jan 31.

Winfield Scott Moore III was born on December 27, 1931 near Gadsden, Tennessee and began playing guitar as a child. After serving in the Navy from 1948 to 1952, he formed a country band called “The Starlite Wranglers” which also featured future Elvis bassist Bill Black. Everything would change in July 1954 when Sun Records owner, Sam Phillips, asked Scotty to work with an enthusiastic young singer called Elvis Presley.

Left to right: Elvis Presley, Bill Black, Scotty Moore & Sam Phillips at Sun Records

On July 5, 1954, Scotty was involved in one of the most important moments in rock ‘n’ roll history while at an informal session at Sun with Elvis and Bill Black. Here’s how Scotty remembered the incident when speaking to author Jerry Hopkins in 1971:

It was Elvis’ energy and instincts that brought a new dimenion to the Crudup tune, but Scotty’s subtle yet driving guitar work, and Bill Black’s throbbing bass were hugely important in bringing the whole thing together and producing a sound that would enthrall local teens at the time and continues to enthrall listeners today.

Elvis Presley – “That’s All Right”

Phillips convinced Dewey Phillips (no relation) to play the song on his “Red, Hot and Blue” radio show in Memphis and the local response was such that the young Elvis was rushed to the studio to be interviewed on the show – he’d been so nervous at the prospect of the song being played, that he had to be tracked down hiding out at the movies.

The response to “That’s All Right” meant that a B-side was required. For the A-side, the trio had added country elements to a blues song, but for the flip they would add blues elements to Bill Monroe’s country hit “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” The results were on a par with the A-side and it was evident that something special was happening.

Scotty’s pioneering rockabilly style would feature on many classic Elvis recordings over the next few years, including “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Baby Let’s Play House,” “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone,” “Mystery Train,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Too Much,” “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” “Jailhouse Rock” and many more.

Elvis Presley – “Baby Let’s Play House”

Elvis Presley – “Blue Suede Shoes”

Scotty also played hundreds of concerts with Elvis in the early barnstorming days and appeared in the classic movies Loving You, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole, each time as a member of Elvis’ band. He’d continue to play at Elvis sessions throughout the 1960s, and the pair ended their professional relationship on a high in 1968 as Scotty backed Elvis on the acclaimed so-called “sit down” segment of his 1968 television special.

The next 20 years saw Scotty working in the studio for the most part, engineering records such as Ringo Starr’s “Beaucoups of Blues” and Carl Perkins’ “EP Express,” and also engineering television shows for the likes of Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Dolly Parton.

Fans got a chance to see Scotty live on stage for the first time since 1968 when he joined Carl Perkins at the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis as part of the “Good Rockin’ Tonight” show in 1992. This welcome return to the stage continued with a number of tours and appearances at special events, including the 1994 Elvis tribute at the Pyramid in Memphis.

Scotty has also been involved in a number of reunion/tribute recording projects, including “All the Kings Men” in 1997 which featured artists such as Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, and members of the Bill Black combo.

In 2004, some of rock music’s finest gathered in London’s Abbey Road studios to pay tribute to and play alongside Scotty Moore. The artists assembled included Eric Clapton, Ron Wood, Dave Gilmour, Bill Wyman and Albert Lee. Here’s one of the highlights from that night.

Scotty Moore and Eric Clapton – “Mystery Train”

Recognising that arthritis was compromising his ability to play guitar, Scotty Moore made his farewell live performances in the two “Last Man Standing” shows during the 2007 Elvis Week at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Scotty played alongside “The Mighty Handful,” which featured some of the all time great session musicians, including Bob Moore and Boots Randolph, who had played with Scotty on Elvis recording in the 1960s. Scotty also produced the two-volume “Might Handful” CDs.

Scotty celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this month with a party at the Gibson Memphis Showcase. Among those in attendence were Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla Presley and Gibson Guitar President David Berryman, who presented Scotty with a Gibson Custom ES-295 replica of the guitar that he had played throughout his career.

Scotty Moore was an integral part of Elvis’ early band and one of the real pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll guitar. Twentieth century popular music would have been very different without his contribution.

Happy Birthday Scotty and thanks for all the fine music.

For those who want to know more about Scotty, the excellent out-of-print “That’s Alright, Elvis: The Untold Story of Elvis’s First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore” has recently been made available on Kindle by author James L. Dickerson. The 1997 book is Scotty’s account (as told to Dickerson) of his long career, including his time playing guitar for Elvis Presley.

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The Christmas number one has long been regarded as a prestigious achievement in the UK, with some of the biggest artists competing for the honour. Over the years, the Christmas number one has been occupied by classic pop songs, fun seasonal offerings, best forgotten novelties and, in recent years, the debut singles of television talent show winners.

The Beatles hold the record for the most UK Christmas number ones with four, followed by Cliff Richard and the Spice Girls who both have three.

* – As established by the Official Charts Company, the official British singles chart is the New Musical Express chart from 1952 to 1960, the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969, and the Official UK Singles Chart from 1969 on.

The 1950s

The first Christmas number one on the UK singles chart was Al Martino’s “Here in My Heart” which was at number one for nine weeks in 1952.

Pre-rock ‘n’ roll favourites Frankie Laine, Winifred Atwell and Johnny Ray all hit the top spot at Christmas after this, with the latter’s “Just Walkin’ in the Rain” staying on top for seven weeks.

The first rock ‘n’ roller to achieve a Christmas number one was Conway Twitty, with the classic “It’s Only Make Believe” in 1958.

Harry Belafonte’s “Mary’s Boy Child” and Dickie Valentine’s “Christmas Alphabet” were the only songs with a Christmas theme to reach number one at Christmas in the 1950s.

Harry Belafonte – “Mary’s Boy Child”

The 1960s

Although Cliff Richard and Christmas are linked in the public consciousness, his first Christmas number one was the chirpy love song “I Love You” which carried no seasonal theme. This trend continued throughout the decade, with none of the remaining Christmas number ones having anything to do with Christmas.

Elvis Presley recorded the best selling Christmas album of all time, but his only Christmas number one was the pop classic “Return to Sender.”

Each of the Beatles’ Christmas number ones were in the 1960s, starting with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in 1963 and concluding with “Hello, Goodbye” in 1967.

The Beatles – “I Feel Fine”

Tom Jones’ “Green Green Grass of Home” occupied the top spot for Christmas 1966.

The 1970s

In contrast to the previous decade, the 1970s saw several Christmas-themed songs achieve the coveted Christmas number one, including the perennial favourite “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade, Mud’s “Lonely this Christmas,” Johnny Mathis’ “When a Child is Born” and “Boney M’s “Mary’s Boy Child.”

Slade – “Merry Xmas Everybody”

The novelty song tends to do well around Christmas time in the UK and the 1970s saw two examples reaching the Christmas number one – Benny Hill’s “Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) and Jimmy Osmond’s “Long Haired Lover from Liverpool.”

The 1980s

The 1980s Christmas chart toppers are a real mixed bag, including the great synth pop song “Don’t You Want Me” by the Human League, a welcome vintage offering in the shape of Jackie Wilson’s “Reet Petite” and a handful of classic Christmas songs.

Band Aid’s “Do they Know It’s Christmas?” reaching the top spot in both its original incarnation and when re-recorded by a new batch of pop stars, including Cliff Richard who had the previous year’s Christmas number one with “Mistletoe and Wine.”

Cliff Richard – “Mistletoe And Wine”

The other seasonal offering to reach the top spot in the 1980s was Shakin’ Stevens’ very catchy and still popular “Merry Christmas Everyone.”

The 1990s

Cliff Richard’s third and final Christmas number one, “Saviour’s Day,” was the only Christmas-themed song to reach the top spot at Christmas in the 1990s.

Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” had already been a Christmas number one in 1975 and repeated the feat in 1991 (backed with “These Are the Days of Our Lives”) in the wake of Freddie Mercury’s untimely death.

The Spice Girls were the biggest thing in pop in the mid-late 1990s, as reflected by their hat-trick of Christmas number ones from 1996 to 1998.

Spice Girls – “2 Become 1″

The year before the Spice Girls’ period of dominance began, Michael Jackson achieved his first and only Christmas number one with “Earth Song.”

2000+

The Christmas number one spot has been dominated by reality tv show winners since 2002. The only exceptions have been Michael Andrews and Gary Jules’ “Mad World” and Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name,” with the latter only achieving the top spot as a result of a Facebook campaign to prevent the X-Factor winner hitting number one.

Robbie Williams was at his commercial peak when his duet with Nicole Kidman on the Sinatra classic “Somethin’ Stupid” reached number one for Christmas 2001.

Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman – Somethin’ Stupid”

Scotty’s groundbreaking guitar work featured on a string of classic Elvis recordings, including “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Mystery Train,” “Baby Let’s Play House,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog” and many many more. He also played on hundreds of live performances and television shows with Elvis, culminating in the classic so-called “sit-down” segment of Elvis’ acclaimed NBC television special in 1968.

The Kindle edition of “That’s Alright, Elvis: The Untold Story of Elvis’s First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore” can be downloaded now:

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Veteran artist nominees

A number of veteran artists also received nominations this year, including Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck and Bruce Springsteen. Here’s your round-up…

Elvis Presley’s “Young Man With the Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters” goes head-to-head with Paul McCartney’s “Band On The Run – Deluxe Edition” in the Best Historical Album category. They will face competition from Syl johnson’s “Complete Mythology” and the multi-artist compilation “The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Music.”

The excellent Bruce Springsteen box set “The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story” is nominated in the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition category alongside Radiohead’s “The King of Limbs,” Sting’s “25 Years,” the Wingless Angels “Wingless Angels – Deluxe Edition,” and Danny Elfman & Tim Burton’s “25th Anniversary Music Box.”

Legendary keyboard player Booker T. Jones is nominated in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category for his album “The Road to Memphis.” Brian Setzer’s “Setzer Goes Instru-Mental!” is also nominated in that category.

Jeff Beck’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Pary Honoring Les Paul” will face stiff competition from Foo Fighters (“Wasting Light”), Kings of Leon (“Come Around Sundown”), Red Hot Chili Peppers (“I’m With You”) and Wilco (“The Whole Love”) in the Best Rock Album category.

The Best Americana Album category is dominated by veteran acts, with Levon Helm (“Ramble at the Ryman”), Emmylou Harris (“Hard Bargain”), Ry Cooder (“Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down”), Lucinda Williams (“Blessed”) and Linda Chorney (“Emotional Jukebox”) competing for the award.

Greg Allman’s “Low Country Blues” will go up against fellow Allman Brothers Band member Warren Haynes’ “Man in Motion” in the Best Blues Album category. Also nominated are Marcia Ball (“Roadside Attractions”), Keb Mo (“The Reflection”) and Teseschi Trucks Band (“Revelator”).

Veteran crooner Tony Bennett is nominated in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for his duet with Amy Winehouse on “Body and Soul.” The duet appears on his album “Duets II” which picked up a nomination in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category. Barbra Streisand is also nominated in that category for her album “What Matters Most.”

The “Big Four” categories

The nominations for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist are as follows:

Record Of The Year

• “Rolling In The Deep” — Adele
• “Holocene” — Bon Iver
• “Grenade” — Bruno Mars
• “The Cave” — Mumford & Sons
• “Firework” — Katy Perry.

Album Of The Year

• “21″ — Adele
• “Wasting Light” — Foo Fighters
• “Born This Way” — Lady Gaga
• “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” — Bruno Mars
• “Loud” — Rihanna.

Song Of The Year

• “All Of The Lights” — Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West, songwriters (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie)
• “The Cave” — Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)
• “Grenade” — Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Bruno Mars)
• “Holocene” — Justin Vernon, songwriter (Bon Iver)
• “Rolling In The Deep” — Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele).

Best New Artist

• The Band Perry
• Bon Iver
• J. Cole
• Nicki Minaj
• Skrillex.

Click here for the full list of Grammy nominees.

The 54th Grammy Awards airs live from L.A.’s Staples Center on Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 8 pm on CBS.