vic colonna

[viccolonna@gmail.com]

problem solved, here is the last bit of that post

MTV evolved, sadly, and it is now nothing but TRW all day long (Please! Bring back “The Grind.”). DVDs have filled the void and virtually every major release now is offered as a “deluxe” CD/DVD combo (or a, grrrrrr, Dualdisc®). Companies are poring through archives and releasing things we never thought we would see (even Neil Young’s voluminous stash was recently opened and a 1970 concert with Crazy Horse was just released). Thanks, MTV, rock fans everywhere are indebted to you and most have little idea just how much you did to change the face of music.

(1) The labels shipped videos to MTV without charge; MTV, with no library to speak of as yet, aired virtually everything that came their way.
(2) That makes me wonder: Just how much does The Who owe to “CSI” and would we ever have had a new Who album had not that show sparked renewed interest in the band?
(3) Six months later Billboard ran an article about the new Tower Records store in NYC that featured TVs throughout the store playing MTV. They called it revolutionary. I yawned.
(4) Powerful enough to add a new word to the lexicon: Veejay. Lines went on forever when they auditioned for new ones. No, I was not in line; I was too busy watching “Downtown” Bobby Brown.
(5) Still at it, I began touting Los Lonely Boys in 2003 when I heard “Heaven” on a live bootleg. That one, admittedly, took a while (they’d been playing the song for over four years before their breakthrough in 2005).
(6) Defined as: 1,760 chords or 5,280 beats.
(7) A title previously held by “Saturday Night Fever” but a dubious one. Counterfeits of that LP flooded the country. They were indistinguishable from the original and Robert Stigwood nearly went bankrupt from the returns, which exceeded sales. Small record stores bought them for $2 and returned them to distributors for $4 credit. Only in America.

[viccolonna@gmail.com]

A Change Is Gonna Come

As 1963 begins it seems normal enough—another Elvis movie, a new Elvis single every three months, and plenty of good new rock ‘n’ roll songs on the radio. Elvis is living it up at the World’s Fair, his heart is worth more than mine, and people from all over the world descend on the west coast. Another invasion loomed on the opposite shore; the rumblings in Germany and England were starting to register on rock seismographs. I had my own radio now, a Christmas present, and although I had kept up on what was new during the fall semester with weekly visits to Woolworth’s (Franklin MA did not have a record store of its own) and by listening to Boston stations (plus WPRO in Providence RI) whenever my roommate was out (no headphones then), I had not logged my usual number of weekly hours. That meant that I missed a few great songs that did not chart but at the same time I made one of the greatest discoveries of my life: I found the record store that I thought only existed in dreams.

I traveled to Boston for the weekend at least once every three weeks (Saturday morning to Sunday night—when the pool hall closed I went to the bus station to sleep); I hitchhiked. I couldn’t afford bus fare, not many had cars and since only seniors (Dean was a Junior College then so that meant half the student body) were allowed to have them on campus (a few, very few, freshmen/freshwomen {alas, only freshly scrubbed} had cars stashed off campus but no one that trekked to Boston) my chances of getting a ride were limited. Now and then that happened; I mainly concentrated on getting a ride to Route 1 that led directly to Boston and then did my best imitation of that cowgirl with the blues (I know the book wasn’t written yet, stop picking on me). My great love aside from music was pool; Rick and I played on a little table in his basement many an afternoon and when we were sixteen we would often travel to Hartford CT and a “real” pool hall (nine–foot tables, billiard tables, and sharks waiting to pounce on little guppies) where our skills improved measurably but our knowledge of the intricacies of the game lagged far behind. In Boston, on Washington Street, I found a pool hall where the best in Boston played; most of my weekends were spent there watching Boston Shorty and Ingersoll demolish those who dared invade their realm. I had seen Willie Mosconi five times between 1960 and 1962 and he was the best ever; these fellows were not far behind (then again, Joe DiMaggio was not far behind Babe Ruth but there was only one Babe). I had also seen “The Hustler” a year before and that still ranks as one of my favorite cinematic moments.

These trips were made possible by some early entrepreneurship; I brought textbooks to Boston and sold them at The Coop (short for cooperative), a huge bookstore across from Harvard that specialized in texts and carried the required tomes for dozens of schools (in the early ‘60s there were over 100 colleges and universities within a 30 mile radius of Boston). They paid a fair price (the Dean student bookstore was tiny, finicky, and paid less) and I kept a percentage; the books belonged to other Dean students. Obviously, my busiest and most profitable times were at the end of the semester; but I picked up enough during the semester to finance my sojourns. It was on one of these forays in early 1963 that I did some exploring—I went looking for a record store that was similar to the one in Hartford, one that carried a good selection of oldies. Welcome to the Big City! I located a few via The Yellow Pages but they were nothing special. It was while traveling on the El in the spring of 1963 (and had this part of the MTA been underground there would be no story) that I happened to spy a record store down on the street below; pure luck, nothing more, for I was in the right car, had the necessary line of sight, and my young eyes picked out a sign: Not only did it spell RECORDS, it also said OLDIES. Lawd almighty, I felt my temperature rising. I noted the stop and vowed to check it out the next time I came to Beantown.

Meanwhile, on the Elvis front, we went cliff diving, made moonshine, and hello Ann Margaret. Woof! Plus the usual great singles, and my favorite of this period is “Witchcraft”.

Return to Boston I did, and if you’re wondering where Elvis fits into all this you’ll find out soon; and you’ll find out that now and then there’s a fool such as I. Down the steps I went and when I hit the sidewalk (the same sidewalk you’re going to want to hit me with) the beckoning neon was just a few doors away. The windows were plastered with cardboard rectangles that had 45s affixed. The brightly colored labels peeked out from the large hole in the sleeves; some of those sleeves were adorned with the label logo but most were plain. There were very few picture covers and that was a good sign. The artists that rated that extra expense were, except for Elvis, Ricky, and Bobby Darin, a lackluster lot. The group sounds I favored were on smaller, independent labels. Gotham (Philadelphia), Back Beat (Houston), M–Z (Meriden CT), and hundreds more vied with Chess, Checker, and Vee–Jay for my entertainment dollar. It was a full five minutes before I actually went inside; the window display mesmerized. Some of my favorites were “Desiree” (The Charts), “A Casual Look” (The Six Teens), “So Tough” (The Casuals), “Guided Missiles” (The Cuff Linx), “The Wind” (Nolan Strong & the Diablos), and The Continentals, The Bop Chords, The Love Notes, The Wrens, Lee Andrews & the Hearts, The Five Keys, and the list and beat went on. I did not find “Crazy Eyes (for You)” by Bobby Hamilton but I sure did find everything else and it was far more than I could ever hope to afford. Here was my Xanadu. They didn’t just have what I wanted, they had stuff I never heard of and that was, to coin a phrase, “Sally Saying Something”. I found “My Girl Awaits Me” by the Castelles (NOT the group that did “Rhythm of the Rain) and four more by that group, “God Only Knows” and three more by the Capris (NOT the group that did “{There’s a} Moon out Tonight”), more Moonglows and Flamingos singles that I could have imagined, and the beat went on. This was 1963 and this place had catalogue dating back to the early ‘50s; they had virtually every 45 a group released. If they carried the group, they carried all that group’s records. And they carried just about every group I could think of and hundreds more that I just knew would delight. No Ricky, no Bobby—Darin or Rydell, no Frankie (Avalon, not the blue–eyed guy), but plenty of Chuck and Bo, and some called Speedo and some called Mo. Cigarettes were 30¢, comic books 12¢, gas 24¢, a cheeseburger at a diner 35¢ (with lettuce, tomato, and onion), milk shakes 25¢ (and they placed the stainless steel cup next to your glass and you could fill it twice more), candy bars 10¢, as were ice cream cones, and those 45s were 89¢. As you can tell from the prices, the dollar went a long way then. They had at least five hundred records I wanted that very minute but I could never afford more than five a week. I figured it would take me three years to get the ones I could not live without; a lifetime to buy everything I wanted. For the next year I was a Saturday regular; I added some wonderful records to my collection, ones I had once thought impossible to obtain (my best hope had been finding them in someone else’s collection and trading for them). Then I left Dean, joined the Army, and I’ll get to that. For now, back to that record store and I’ll tell you about the 45s that were not 89¢. A few were $1.25, $1.50, or $1.75; then they had a select group of titles that were $2/ea. How many? Exactly five. Let me help you count to five, all together now: nine, ten, fifteen, seventeen, twenty-three. Need I say more? Did I buy them? Start throwing those hunks of cement you picked up from the broken sidewalk; start calling me names you have been saving for someone special all these years; say hello to a brand new fool. I had those songs, why would I want them just because they were on a different label? What further evidence need I offer to prove it is not an accident that young rhymes with dumb?

Are you all through laughing out there? Hey, I don’t mind being the butt of a joke now and then, but when all my friends start calling themselves Beavis… Okay, I missed that one. Years later I acquired four of them on 78 and four on 45. Paul has them now. I was going to give them to him as a present but before I had a chance to do that he kicked in my back door, drugged my attack turtle, blew open the safe, left the contents undisturbed because he found nothing in there but money, finally looked under my stack of Archie and Veronica comics, and made a clean getaway. Although I did not catch him in the act I am sure he was the culprit due to the large puddles of drool next to likely hiding places.

Another thing happened in 1963—my allegiance was tested. Many is the story I could tell about seeing her standing there and wanting to hold her hand; they all end the same way—she takes the keys to my Cadillac car… Before then, almost eight years after Elvis Presley ignited a powder keg called rock ‘n’ roll, four English lads were primed and poised. A grassroots beginning, word slowly spreading, the gathering of steam, and before you could say Elvis Again, a runaway train. Here’s the funny part (not funny ha–ha but funny peculiar)—I rather liked this new sound but I couldn’t make up my mind if admitting I liked The Beatles amounted to betrayal. Was I rooting for the bad guys? Did this mean I was transferring my allegiance? You see, much was being made about this foursome taking Elvis’ place; a dethroning if you will. We know now that didn’t happen; these were two distinct events. Similarities aplenty, but rock ‘n’ roll had grown into rock and along came a band with four bona fide geniuses to lead the faithful to the next phase. The Rolling Stones competed, Dylan reinvented himself, San Francisco sent emissaries, Britain’s best bulled their way ashore, but none could nudge the mods from the top rung. As 1964 began its inevitable slide into eternity Elvis began to fade from public view. It was not so much a case of Elvis’ popularity slipping as it was an overshadowing—The Beatles were a total eclipse and there would be no sour grapes from the Elvis camp. Elvis did all right for a while, but here was history repeating itself and this time the music gods decreed Elvis plays the role of onlooker rather than look down from on high. And I joined the Army. We’re up to May of 1964.

Thinking further: doo-wop had its day and then came Motown and folk and then the British Invasion. Interestingly and ironically, doo-wop's dying gasp was in late-63 early-64 when two songs, throwbacks to an earlier era, hit the charts and stuck around for a while. Both infectious, up–tempo little ditties, sung in falsetto, they were sure quite a contrast to the early Beatles, Stones, etc.

They were:

"Mind Over Matter" by Nolan Strong
"High on a Hill" by Scott English

The Accents, backup vocals on "High…" had been around forever and started out like the Ink Spots before they switched to doo-wop and did a great "fast" version of the Tony Bennett hit "Rags to Riches" that is akin to The Regents treatment of "Life Is But a Dream", the Moonglows giant ballad hit from 1953. The one I liked best by them was "Wiggle Wiggle" and the lyrics are racy, like many an early R & B song, and would never have gotten white airplay years earlier. "High on a Hill" by Scott English is still the #1 favorite oldie of all time in Pittsburgh.

Nolan Strong and the Diablos were formed in high school in 1950. One of my all-time favorite groups because they did "The Wind" better than The Jesters (who had the hit) they were forgotten for years and then here came Nolan back from the dead in '64…
Doo-wop vs. British Invasion: Quite a contrast and not much of a contest, but thought it might surprise you to know they once competed for airplay simultaneously. Kindly stay tuned.

[Mike Windgren]

Hi there!! .

Mr. Vic Colonna I really enjoy reading all your memories . I can´t wait for the book you are writing , meanwhile here are some great memorabilia from you, enjoy everybody. Bye for now .

















Mike Windgren.

Viva el vino, viva el dinero, viva, viva el amor!!.

[iamhekev]

WOW...that brought back memories Mike.

I use to get my lps from someone in HOLLAND,still have some of these flyers some were.

[viccolonna@gmail.com]

MY THANKS TO MIKE WINDGREN for posting those pages from a now–ancient booklet–flyer. I was perplexed for a moment when I saw the prices of $10 and $15 for single and double LPs. The prices were $8.98 and $10.98 or $11.98 (the New Year's Eve double AND IF SOMEONE OUT THERE RECALLS WHICH IT WAS PLEASE LET ME KNOW) from my recollection. Thinking further, that flyer was printed in '79 and was 48 pages. An ambitious project done on newsprint (cheapest) and in order to get the best unit price we had to print 100,000 of them. Printers that do small newspapers and those ubiquitous Penny Saver local thingies that crowd mailboxes use giant presses and huge rolls of paper (far bigger than Shrek's bread box ) and scoff at small orders. I believe their minimum was 25,000 and the price for four times that amount was less than twice the cost. Ergo, the large (for us) order and, fortunately and of necessity, i had a large garage rented that gave us a place to store them. As for those prices, they were bumped up a bit for that ad to offset costs and also because that flyer would be going to names purchased from a list service. Our regular customers received the same booklet but they already had the offers at the lower prices and most had the albums. I do not remember one single case of anyone complaining about raised prices (if they had they would have been offered the lower price, of course) so either that worked or I was added to numerous hit lists and somehow escaped.

Rummaging around on the Internet (and if Dire Straits wants to re–record a song and alter the lyrics then "Industrial Disease" will be retitled "Internet Disease") and looking for something connecting Bill Belew to Johnny Cash that would verify he was the one who suggested Mr. Cash wear black (AGAIN, IF SOMEONE CAN VERIFY THAT PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHERE TO FIND THE INFORMATION) I ran across the posting below that will be of interest to many of you out there in the ether. It was posted just a couple months ago and may be news to many. It certainly was to me. I found it not only fascinating to think that the man who became larger than life virtually overnight (Yes, that would be Elvis. What? No, the Hulk site is something different and stop drinking before breakfast) can be traced back to one show that virtually started it all and simply because the product of two million years of evolution has given us teeny–boppers with a hormonal imbalance. And thank God for that. Also, we owe a larger debt to Marion Keister than I ever realized (note: her name is misspelled in the article), for without her some usurper might have claimed the throne that lay empty at the dawn of rock 'n' roll. Just who that could have been other than Elvis is, in some ways, unthinkable and inconceivable; but there was a position waiting to be filled and Bill Haley was too old and Chuck Berry happened to be black. A good–looking white kid who could sing and charm was needed and guess who fit the bill? Anyone who did not guess Elvis Presley must now report to you local SPCA and you will be put down immediately, if not sooner. Here is the post, and, to coin a phrase, "I just stumbled upon it."

Sunday, November 18
ELVIS' FIRST COVERAGE IN THE PRESS
by elvisblog on Sun 18 Nov 2007 05:50 AM EST
Entertainment critics regularly panned Elvis early in his career, particularly in 1956, when he burst onto the national scene. Over the years, Elvisblog has contained prime examples of these unfavorable reviews from the New York Times, the Las Vegas Sun, and Time magazine. However, the very first press report mentioning Elvis was in his hometown newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar.

It appeared on July 28, 1954, in a column titled “Front Row,” written by the Press-Scimitar movie columnist Edwin Howard. It was the result of a rushed interview Elvis had with him during Elvis’ lunch hour (Elvis kept his truck-driving job at Crown Electric until October). The interesting thing about the interview is that Howard didn’t want to do it. He reluctantly agreed as a favor to an old friend he knew from their days in local theater. The persistent friend was a lady named Marion Keisker. Does that name sound familiar? Sure it does, Marion Keisker worked for Sam Philips at Sun Records.

In fact, she was at the front desk in 1953 when Elvis first showed up to cut a record for his mom. Some folks think Marion is the person who actually discovered Elvis, because she had the foresight to turn on the master tape recorder while Elvis sang “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” She also got his name and address on a 3x5 card and added the note: “Good ballad singer, hold.” Marion was the gatekeeper at Sun Records and Elvis passed the test that day. It was another year before she got him back to sing for Sam Phillips, and Phillips may never have seen Elvis if not for Marion Keisker.

It has been duly noted that Elvis, Scotty, and Bill recorded his first song, "That's All Right," on July 5, 1954. Once they recorded a second song, “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” on July 8, Sam quickly produced a 45 record. Soon, local disc jockey Dewey Phillips was giving “That’s All Right” heavy airplay, enabling Scotty to get the group booked at the Bell Air club. They played on two consecutive Saturday nights, July 17 and 24, and their sets consisted of two songs -- the only ones they knew.

Then, Sam Phillips convinced Bob Neal, promoter of the upcoming “Hillbilly Hoedown” show, to add Elvis to the bill. The show was held in the Overton Park Shell on Frida,y July 30, and the headliner was Slim Whitman. This concert appearance is of historical note because it is when Elvis first started shaking his legs and where girls first started screaming for him. This was a big break for Elvis.

Marion Keisker must have foreseen the concert’s potential to aid his career, so she not only arranged the press interview for Elvis, she took him to it. She correctly saw it as a chance to promote both his new single and his upcoming live performance. She even came armed with stats to show how well “That’s All Right” was selling.

In spite of his friendship with Marion Keisker, critic Howard considered the interview a distasteful chore. When he saw Elvis, he was instantly turned off. Howard is quoted saying, “He walked in there looking like the wrath of God. Pimples all over his face, Ducktail hair. Had a funny looking thin bow tie on.” Howard forced himself to ask Elvis a few questions, and Elvis gave a crummy interview. Howard later said, “About all I could get out of him was yes and no.”

So, how bad was Elvis slammed in Howard’s column the next day? Howard opened with a section about the Ringling Bros. Circus coming back to Memphis after a two-year absence. Elvis definitely wasn’t going into the lead of the column. The Elvis item was brief, and the nicest thing Howard could manage to write was: “This boy has something that seems to appeal to everybody… equally popular on popular, folk and race record programs.” Howard obviously tossed off the piece without any rereading and editing, or else that terrible “popular on popular” jam-up would have been fixed.

So, just three weeks after Elvis recorded the songs for his first release, he was mentioned in an entertainment article in the local paper. It’s nice that Elvis received press coverage so quickly after starting his career, but it probably didn’t matter. The important thing was that there were teenaged girls at that hillbilly concert, and they saw something special up on that stage. It started the ball rolling. From that point on, Elvis always had plenty of bookings.

[Little Darlin]

Cool article Vic, thanks. I wonder if someone has it.

[viccolonna@gmail.com]

An overdue thanks to Little Darlin who enjoys my ramblings and lets me know it. Here's one that if you do not know, and I sure did not, is guaranteed to raise a smile.

Further research connecting Bill Belew to Johnny Cash has proven futile. But I did run across the following and nearly fell over laughing. I think you will too.

Q : His costumes became more and more jeweled. What was his favorite?

A : Well I know he liked the dragon suit. I know he liked the peacock. He liked the leopard. And, of course, I think possibly his favorite was always the Aloha Hawaii suit, the American eagle, you know.

Q : Didn't you have short notice to make a cape?


A : Right, right. Well I had this grand idea when we were going to open in Hawaii. And we had long discussions about what the suit was going to be because Elvis said, it's the only time that he really expressed any concern about what he was going to wear. He said "Bill, I just want the suit to say America". And we batted around a lot about what we were gonna do. And I remember when I was in Europe, I had seen the American Embassy there. And there was a big controversy at the time about it, the American eagle being acrossed it. And I said "I've got it". I know what'll work cause I had thought about the American flag and I said no, no. and I said the American eagle. And he said "That's great. I like that", and so we did that.

So I said "We'll do this cape, and you'll come out, you'll have your back to the audience and you'll open it up. And then go into the overture and bam you'll turn, and there you'll be". And the cape was to be floor length. So we made the cape. The cape went to Hawaii. And Elvis put the cape on, went to step forward, and fell over backwards. The cape was so heavy that he couldn't even walk in it. And I got the call that said "Bill, that the cape is great but Elvis can't move in it". So we immediately went in production, made a short cape, for him to wear for it. But I always had this, all these years I always carried this image in my head of Elvis making the step forward and then bam. Laying there amongst all this cape. And I can see him howling with laughter, too.

Q : How long did you have to make the new cape?

A : We had just a little over a day. We worked literally 24 hours on it.

[stranger]

The prices were $8.98 and $10.98 or $11.98 (the New Year's Eve double AND IF SOMEONE OUT THERE RECALLS WHICH IT WAS PLEASE LET ME KNOW) from my recollection.

Hi Vic,
I don't know if this question is still unanswered.
I have a booklet-flyer where single LP's are $ 8.98 and $ 12.98 for a double LP.
The 4 LP set Behind Closed Doors was $ 25.98
This flyer is from 1979

[Little Darlin]

Hopefully those of us who weren't able to get the Albums or flyers back then, have a chance to see pics of them in Vic's long awaited Book!!

[ekenee]

Vic, I think a real selling piece for your book would be to reproduce one of those flyers.

[elvisa]

Today I had the time to read this whole thread.......wow....thank you Mr. Colonna for all those great stories...and you certainly has a great way of telling

[cliveatdell]

Hi,
just a word on sean shaver!
I e-mailed Paul Lichter on this subject.
He says that sean shaver is alive!!! and well and living on the mexican side of texas!!!
Hope this helps

[Inigo Montoya]

The 4 LP set Behind Closed Doors was $ 25.98

Cool! I saved on Behind Closed Doors!

I'm pretty sure my copy was an even $25.

[Juan Luis]

Has ALL the material from that 4LP boxset come out via BMG,FTD and import?

[drjohncarpenter]

Cool article Vic, thanks. I wonder if someone has it.

IIRC, you can see it in two different Ger Rijff works -->



Long Lonely Highway - A 1950's Elvis Scrapbook
(Ann Arbor: Pierian Press [US reprint], 1987)




The Rock 'n' Roll Years - My Wish Came True - Volume One
(Denmark: Elvis Unlimited, 2003)

[drjohncarpenter]

Has ALL the material from that 4LP boxset come out via BMG,FTD and import?

Import may be 100% by now.

Here's my look at the set, including what is still not released officially, after 30 years.

Has ALL the material come out via SONY, BMG, FTD or import? Looking at official channels, the answer is ... almost!



Behind Closed Doors (Audifon Records AFNS 66072-4) - 1979

Side One
1. Lonely Man (Take 1)
2. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 14)
3. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 15)
4. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 16)
5. Wild In The Country (Take 1)
6. Wild In The Country (Takes 15-16)
7. In My Way (Take 1)
8. Forget Me Never (Take 1)

Side Two
1. Hawaiian Wedding Song (Take 1)
2. Island Of Love (Takes 5-7)
3. Island Of Love (Take 8)
4. Steppin' Out Of Line (Take 19)
5. Steppin' Out Of Line (Take 8)
6. Almost Always True (Take 4)
7. Almost Always True (Take 5)
8. Moonlight Swim (Take 1)
9. Moonlight Swim (Take 2)

Side Three
1. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 20)
2. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 21)
3. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 22)
4. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 24)
5. Beach Boy Blues (Take 1)
6. Beach Boy Blues (Take 3)
7. King Of The Whole Wide World (M1 Take 31)
8. This Is Livin' (Take 3)
9. Home Is Where The Heart Is (Take 7)

Side Four
1. I Got Lucky (MX5 Take 2)
2. A Whistlin' Tune (M2 Take 3)
3. A Whistlin' Tune (M2 Take 4)
4. A Whistlin' Tune (M2 Takes 5-7)
5. Drums Of The Islands (tag, A1V Takes 1-3)
6. This Is My Heaven (FOV Take 3)

Side Five
1. Swing Down, Sweet Chariot (Take 10)
2. Almost (Take 31)
3. Signs Of The Zodiac (Take 9)
4. Whiffenpoof Song/Violet (Take 3)
5. Gentle On My Mind
6. Faded Love

Side Six
1. I Got A Woman
2. Suspicious Minds
3. Don't Cry Daddy
4. Kentucky Rain
5. Polk Salad Annie

Side Seven
1. It's Your Baby, You Rock It
2. Tomorrow Never Comes
3. Funny How Times Slips Away
4. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Side Eight
1. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

-----

Boy, was this an exciting release.

It wasn't perfect, they could have speed-corrected a few tracks and the material could have fit on 3 LPs, but it still blew RCA's 1978-79 offerings into outer space.

And that's not even counting all the other Audifon/Golden Archives LPs from those two years.

[stranger]

Has someone the giant size cartoon poster which was with the lp FROM THE WAIST UP ?
I wonder how it looked like.
Is it a Ger Rijff drawing ?

[Ben]

Has ALL the material from that 4LP boxset come out via BMG,FTD and import?

Import may be 100% by now.

Looking at FTD and BMG, the answer is ... almost!



Behind Closed Doors (Audifon Records AFNS 66072-4) - 1979

Side One

1. Lonely Man (Take 1)
2. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 14)
3. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 15)
4. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 16)
5. Wild In The Country (Take 1)
6. Wild In The Country (Take 16)
7. In My Way (Take 1)
8. Forget Me Never (Take 1)
9. Forget Me Never (Take 2)

Side Two

1. Hawaiian Wedding Song (Take 1)
2. Island Of Love (Take 7)
3. Island Of Love (Take
4. Steppin' Out Of Line (Take 19)
5. Steppin' Out Of Line (Take
6. Almost Always True (Take 4)
7. Almost Always True (Take 5)
8. Moonlight Swim (Take 1)
9. Moonlight Swim (Take 2)

Side Three

1. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 20)
2. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 21)
3. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 22)
4. Can't Help Falling In Love (Take 24)
5. Beach Boy Blues (Take 1)
6. Beach Boy Blues (Take 3)
7. King Of The Whole Wide World (Take 31)
8. This Is Livin' (Take 3)
9. Home Is Where The Heart Is (Take 7)

Side Four

1. I Got Lucky (Take 2)
2. A Whistlin' Tune (Take 3)
3. A Whistlin' Tune (Take 4)
4. A Whistlin' Tune (Take 5)
5. Drums Of The Islands (Takes 1-3)
6. This Is My Heaven (Take 3)

Side Five

1. Swing Down, Sweet Chariot
2. Almost
3. Signs Of The Zodiac
4. Whiffenpoof Song/Violet
5. Gentle On My Mind
6. Faded Love

Side Six

1. I Got A Woman
2. Suspicious Minds
3. Don't Cry Daddy
4. Kentucky Rain
5. Polk Salad Annie

Side Seven

1. It's Your Baby, You Rock It
2. Tomorrow Never Comes
3. Funny How Times Slips Away
4. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Side Eight

1. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

-----

Boy, was this an exciting release.

It wasn't perfect, they could have speed-corrected a few tracks and the material could have fit on 3 LPs, but it still blew RCA's 1978-79 offerings into outer space.

And that's not even counting all the other Audifon/Golden Archives LPs from those two years.

Thank you for the tracklisting Doc.

My, My what a line up that release was, apart from some of sides two & three that looks like a [near] perfect line up. How I wish I was around to get them releases.

[drjohncarpenter]

Has someone the giant size cartoon poster which was with the lp FROM THE WAIST UP ? I wonder how it looked like. Is it a Ger Rijff drawing ?

Yes and yes. Enjoy -->



What a great caricature!

[Little Darlin]

Vic,

First of all I want to say it's very nice to meet you. And after having finally gotten through this thread, and the other one with the live interview, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your memories. You truly are a compelling storyteller, in print as well as in person.

When I started to read this thread, I really wanted to dislike you for having been when and where I could not possibly be, petty jealousy nothing more. But I just couldn't do it. The way you speak of it, even to this day, just brings everything to life, like it had just happened yesterday.

So I ended up liking you and I hope you come back and visit often to tell us more of those wonderful stories.

Sylvie

If you click on this link Sylvie, you will hear sam recount his serving in Vietnam!

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42740

[stranger]

Has someone the giant size cartoon poster which was with the lp FROM THE WAIST UP ? I wonder how it looked like. Is it a Ger Rijff drawing ?

Yes and yes. Enjoy -->
What a great caricature!

Thanks doc.
Ger really knows how to make a great drawing.

[drjohncarpenter]

Thanks doc.
Ger really knows how to make a great drawing.

You are most welcome. This is what I do!

[iplayastrat]

Mr. Vic Colonna I really enjoy reading all your memories .

That brings back memories. I think I have one of Mr. Vic's letters stashed
away somewhere. I just wish I would have placed an order. I was probably
too young and didn't have the $$$ at the time.

[elvisblvd]

Vic- Many EP music fans like myself love and appreciate what you did years ago with the releases of rare Elvis recordings-but PLEASE keep your militant political views to yourself--this is a forum to discuss ELVIS PRESLEY, not bash world leaders and argue political issues..many of us come here to get AWAY from all that BS and enjoy a hobby...we respect your right to have and voice your political opinions--just not here,please. Looking forward to your book

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

On one hand, I hear ya ( I forget exactly what was said and when) but Vic is an entire package unto himself (like a few other legends in this sense) and if you're talking Elvis boot history, don't be surprised if you hear an aside about the world at large along the way.

Also, I've edited for space part of this quote below, which I have a question about:

Has ALL the material from that 4LP boxset come out via BMG,FTD and import?

Import may be 100% by now.
Looking at FTD and BMG, the answer is ... almost!

Behind Closed Doors (Audifon Records AFNS 66072-4) - 1979
Side Five
5. Gentle On My Mind
Side Six
1. I Got A Woman
Side Seven
1. It's Your Baby, You Rock It
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Side Eight
1. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

-----
Boy, was this an exciting release. It wasn't perfect, they could have speed-corrected a few tracks and the material could have fit on 3 LPs, but it still blew RCA's 1978-79 offerings into outer space. And that's not even counting all the other Audifon/Golden Archives LPs from those two years.

I imagine the "In the Ghetto" was unofficially released on "The American Way" series but what are the other tracks exactly and where have they been issued since then on import, if ever? (I know the "Don't Think Twice" was released post-humously but edited just a bit and then an import with the same title extended it later with some studio trickery....)

I have a shorter-running CD-R of this album with the same artwork but would love to know if I have these tracks elsewhere. I would hope I do.