Here we go again...
It's been a year now since the last issue of On The Beat. As too often happens, I lost all control of my time and let 1979 slip by without On The Beat #4. To those of you who've been waiting — sorry for the delay. To those of you who've forgotten — surprise. Let's get on with it.
So, what's happened? Well, for starters, Elvis made his first appearance on the big screen in a terribly un-funny movie called Americathon. That was after he made another amazing sweep through the U.S. between February and April. Of course, there was the highly publicized fight with Bonnie Bramlett in which he slagged off all Americans in general and Ray Charles in particular. This led to an unprecedented press conference in New York. There, Elvis said that his comments were made just to annoy Bramlett. He wasn't a racist at all, he said. The button on his lapel which read "Desire Me" told the whole story.
You might also remember that this happened at the worst time possible. Armed Forces had just hit the Top 10 in Billboard and the single had just been released. The crucial point had been reached; long time fans had pushed the LP to that point, now it was time for Columbia to do its part with good promotion. But, with the "blind nigger" comments now big news (even People mag did a 2-page layout on it), CBS made it official, albeit unstated, policy to let Elvis die a quick death and take the heat off the record company... high ranking source within Columbia said later that "the big guys were very upset", and weren't willing to weather the storm of bad press that would accompany bigger sales. No further singles were released ("Accidents" peaked at 104) and the album quickly vanished from the charts and playlists. There was even talk within the company of dumping him from the label.
All of this was ridiculous. Elvis never was and isn't a racist. The year before his remarks about Ray Charles, he'd headlined a Rock Against Racism show in London. He was drunk, plain and simple. That's not an excuse — just the fact. He put his foot in his mouth and paid the price for it.
Elvis, though, can not be totally left without any blame for lack of publicity and sales. He was offered cover stories by both Newsweek and Rolling Stone, but turned them down. If he wants to continue his policy of granting no interviews, that's fine. But with that choice must come the realization that the road is going to be tougher. You don't have to follow all the rules, but you do have to play the game to win.
Which doesn't mean that I'm on a soapbox telling him what to do or that I'm just bitching about Columbia Records. I just get frustrated when, each time it seems that he's so close to breaking through, someone throws another log in his way.
But, that's off the track, which is (in case you've forgotten) sorting out the past year. Much of the rest of 1979 was spent touring Europe and Scandinavia. During all that, he did take time out to produce two albums. The first, for The Specials, was released towards the end of the year. It's a frantic, high-speed tour through the new ska revival. But, more than a mere revival, it is a new sound all its own, the best synthesis of black and white music ever put to vinyl. (Take notice Ms. Bramlett) Elvis' production is almost unnoticeable, which for this album, is the highest complement possible.
E.C. spent some more time at the board producing an as-yet unreleased LP by The Attractions. It was scheduled for October or November 1979, but as that coincided with the legal problems with Radar Records, it never came out. Hopefully it will be released after Get Happy!! cools off. Look for a great Steve Naive composition called "Sad About Girls."
As long as we're talking about Radar, it's probably a good time to mention the demise (almost) of that label. Toward the end of '79, as it [looked] like Radar was ready to go under, Jake Riviera gathered up Elvis and Nick Lowe and went shopping for another label. Warner Bros. (WEA) the parent company of Radar screamed foul and claimed it had the exclusive rights to Elvis and Nick. Riviera Global, undaunted by WEA's protests, went ahead anyway and pressed up 500 copies of "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" on 2-Tone records (the Specials' label) and distributed them to radio and press people in the UK. WEA sought an injunction against it and it looked like Elvis would be caught up in the same type of situation that kept Bruce Springsteen from recording for two years. But, about a month ago, an agreement was reached whereby Jake, along with ex-Radar president Andrew Lauder, would run F-Beat records, a subsidiary of WEA.
That settled, the single was released on February 8 and the LP on the 15th. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There were other things that happened. There was the duet of "Stranger In The House" with George Jones, released on the LP My Very Special Guests. The cover featured director's chairs with everyone's name on the back, with Elvis' lying knocked-over on the floor. Aha! Incidentally, Elvis never actually sang with George; he went in and recorded his part and George added his half later on.
Back in England, Elvis played his first support gig in almost three years when he was billed second to Paul McCartney and Wings in a benefit concert for the Kampuchean (Cambodian) Refugees. All reports coming back said that he both upstaged the act before him, Rockpile, and totally blew Wings away. Later in the month, at a private show for contest winners, E.C. quipped about Paul's "Incident in Tokyo" and dedicated "Accidents Will Happen" to him.
To jump to yet another totally unrelated topic, 1979 saw a few more of Elvis' songs turn up on other groups' albums. Perhaps the most bizarre of these is the latest LP by the Outlaws, In The Eye Of The Storm, on which they bludgeon "Miracle Man" in their standard three-guitar fashion. On the upswing, however, Dave Edmunds turned in an admirable cover of "Girls Talk." My only complaint is that his version is too long.
Carlene Carter's version of "Radio Sweetheart," despite flubbing the lyrics (and we all know how easy that is to do...) is a nice bouncy arrangement of one of El's bounciest songs so I can't complain and neither should you. There is also one apocryphal song on the new album by The Searchers. The song is called "No Dancing" and is credited to Plangent Visions Music, but bears no relation to the original "No Dancing." The writer is listed as Noel Brown.
El will find the biggest royalty check in his mailbox, though, from the new Linda Ronstadt LP Mad Love. On it, she does "Party Girl," "Girls Talk" and "Talking in the Dark." If she keeps this up, he'll never have to record another song in his life. Just package up the latest and send it off to her care of Jerry Brown. Look what it did for Karla Bonoff!
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