Customer Reviews

Elvis Sings Flaming Star

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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It's finally on CD!!! When I was a child, my parents had one, lone Elvis Presley album in their collection---this one, 1969's "Elvis Sings Flaming Star." And, for whatever the reason, they eventually gave the album to me. It was far and away my favorite album as a youngster. I can't even begin to count how many times I spun this album on my record player, rocking out with the King of Rock 'N' Roll practically every single day after school and on the weekends. Naturally, as I grew older, my expanding musical tastes eventually pulled me away from my non-stop enjoyment of Elvis' "Flaming Star." Nonetheless, I still love the album, and I've always kept my old vinyl copy of it. And yet, as I watched Elvis' back catalog being released on CD over the years, I remained totally puzzled as to why the "Elvis Sings Flaming Star" album was never among them. Maybe it'll never get a CD release, I thought. But here it is at last!!! Listening to the album on CD now as an adult, I still love it. Even if the album really is just nine random tracks Elvis recorded between 1961 and 1969 packaged together, I really do think that "Elvis Sings Flaming Star" is the ultimate Elvis Presley album. Not because there are any hit songs on it---there aren't, except maybe the title tune (and don't get me wrong, I love Elvis' hit songs just fine)---but as an Elvis Presley *album*, "Flaming Star" has it all: rock, pop, country, blues, and yes, even a couple of cheesy ballads. And they're ALL great fun. And get this: the whole album is just 21 minutes long! Not one single tune is over three minutes in length (and three songs are not even two minutes). You can listen to the whole thing on your lunch break TWICE if you want. Elvis Presley sure made short albums, but "Flaming Star" is a great one. And how about the tunes themselves? The title song is the country/western number, but Elvis & his band still give it a great rock 'n' roll swagger. You can just picture Elvis riding into the sunset on his horsie with this one. "Wonderful World" is the album's cheeseball ballad, filled with lush strings and backing vocals, but hey, with Elvis' magic vocal touch, it still works (and let's face it, Elvis could sing the phone directory and it would still sound great). "Night Life" is a super little rocker about a hot night in Las Vegas (Elvis' favorite town, of course!). Presley's guitarist even gets to fire off a cool little solo in the middle of it. Awesome tune! Things get quiet and mellow with the next song, the bluesy "All I Needed Was The Rain." It's a great little song, with an excellent performance from Elvis. Then things get upbeat again with "Too Much Monkey Business," a classic Presley rock'n'roller (Elvis even gets to put his trademark "Uh-huh-huh" stamp on it). Next is the patriotic medley of "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" and "The Eyes Of Texas." It may be cheese, but Elvis does it justice, and you can't help but smile & sing along with The King and the male chorus at the rousing finale. From here on out it's all great little rockers---"She's A Machine" is a groovy tune (with horn section), the fun "Do The Vega" is Elvis in Chubby Checker/"Twist" mode, and finally, there's an awesome live performance of the dirty rocker "Tiger Man," taken directly from Elvis' 1968 comeback TV special, with Elvis snarling up a storm, ferociously strumming his guitar like a man possessed and making the girls scream. It's the perfect ending to a perfect Elvis Presley record. The CD sound quality is excellent, and finally, for the cherry on top, there's the price. Go on, look at it---SUPER cheap! I am so happy to finally have this Elvis Presley album on CD. "Elvis Sings Flaming Star" is, in my personal opinion, the ultimate Elvis album. BUY IT! And thank you, Elvis, for being my first rock'n'roll hero.

I have heard some of these songs on compilation cds but somehow they sound so much better on this release. First I want to say I love the Original Album premise. I am too young to have ever seen the actual vinyls but when I see the packaging of this album I feel this is the closest I'll ever get to hearing these songs in the way I imagined my dad used to hear them when he was young (my love of elvis music was passed down from him to the rest of my family) Elvis has always been a great link between me and my dad, and after he passed away I can't help but to think how he would have loved how they reissue his albums and movies. But this is one of those times where I can at least see how it might have felt to be him and to open an elvis record for the first time, and seeing the tracklist/artwork. I'd highly recommend this cd as well as this series (the original albums re-released/remastered)

IF YOU ARE A DIE HARD ELVIS FAN,YOU MUST HAVE IT! NOT ONE OF HIS BEST ALBUMS,BUT ONE I FIRST HAD WAY BACK IN 1972, IT WAS RELEASED IN 1969,MY DAD GOT IT FOR ME FOR CHRISTMAS WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD. AND I BEEN A ELVIS FAN SINCE!!!

My version of this cd has what sounds like a live version of the final track, "Tiger man", but I see this listed version of the album having two versions of that song...which is a pity, as I'd like what I assume to be the studio version of that song on my album. Would have to rummage about to find the vinyl album and see whether it has a live or studio version of that song. Although having excellent sound quality, this cd is an unbelievably short 20 odd something minutes...which seems to be something I had forgotten. I'd say it was my mum who had a copy of this album on vinyl, and I used to love listening to it...which made finding this album now on cd such a treat. Can't say I remember if the vinyl had two sides...one side could easily accommodate the running time of the entire album. Happy to say that my nostalgia for this album hasn't been dimmed by my reacquaintance with it. The songs I loved years ago are still great, and I probably appreciate the rest of the songs more than I did way back when. Perhaps this album has never sounded so good, which is surprising, as vinyl to cd transfers can sometimes sound less satisfying to listen to. Like decades old albums, you do get a certain 'faux' stereo effect at times...the music elements split over two channels, which sounds more like dual mono than true stereo. In this case you can hear things like the backing vocals in one channel, but the effect as not annoying, as it can be with other transfers (some Beatles' songs are spoiled by this early approach to stereo music).


The greats:


Flaming star - nice, sing-along-able piece with equally nice backing vocals. The guitar and other things are on the left hand channel, whilst the backing vocals are on the right had channel. Has what could be a piano accordion or some such instrument. Percussion sounds native American.

Wonderful world - whistling intro. Sing-along-able. Life-affirming lyrics. Features violins and brass section. Backing vocals on r.h.s.


Guilty pleasure:


Do the vega - a really cheesy song, but I quite like it! Bassy intro, Latin/Caribbean flavour to the music. Multi-drums...a cool drumming and drum tone. Vocal melody is familiar. Has backing vocals.


Next best:


Night life - good song for the drumming. Has a bluesy electric lead guitar in the 1960s style (piercing tone). An ode to gambling from the man who made the mecca of gambling (Las Vegas) his home. Good drumming and interesting beats. Brass instruments feature.


Then:


The yellow rose of Texas - good military rhythm on percussion. Two different drums are used. A banjo is used, perhaps, as is a piccolo, perhaps. Two different tunes can be found in this song. It's sing-along-able. Builds in intensity. You get multi-vocals later. Brass also features. Might have been my third favourite track on this album as a child...after "Wonderful world" and perhaps "Flaming star".


The rest:


All I needed was the rain - a sedate, bluesy song. Acoustic guitar. Nice harmonica playing on it.

Too much monkey business - acoustic guitar. Feint harmonica? Lyrical style akin to Bob Dylan's classic "Subterranean homesick blues". I can imagine this song being an influence on Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers punk album "L.A.M.F"! Includes a vocal technique which I think is called "eefing and eiffing"...something like that. Australian entertainer Rolf Harris is perhaps the best known exponent of that style (even though it originates in the southern states of the US!). Notes not clear if it is the backing singers employing this technique or Elvis.

She's a machine - brassy, cheesy lyrics. Sorta of a go-go dancing type sound to it. Backing vocals. Sort of a self-parody feel to it...think Australian cheese king Bob Downe...this song would be right up his alley, so to speak! Good country style lead guitar.

Tiger man - sounds a bit faint...not sure if this was so on vinyl too. A live track. Has a rock-country-blues style. Old school blues song, perhaps. Has a scat vocal technique at times too.


All in all, this album has a good variety of styles...rock'n'roll, moody blues, pop etc.


Recommendations:


Johnny O'Keefe - The birth of Australian rock'n'roll. An excellent 3 cd compilation of Australia's pioneer of the new genre of rock'n'roll music.

Cliff Richard - Platinum collection. An excellent 3 cd compilation of England's pioneer of the new genre of rock'n'roll music. Had his heyday in the 1970s, I think, with his great brand of pop-rock music.

Thank you very much. I thought that I would never have this album again. It was stolen from me quite a few years ago.

For 7 bucks you expect deluxe packaging?? Get real.

All the original music is here. That's what counts!!

Man, this cd brings back lots of great memories.

Don't look at me like that, man: in late 1968 I walked into the Singer Sewing Store in Union City, New Jersey, to pick up my first edition copy. So the 3-stars stick.
Didn't realize it at the time, but RCA delivered a very interesting and important collection with this bag o' leftovers. Just as his first album collected alot of previously unreleased (and non-commercial) country sides, his 1965 release "Elvis For Everyone" took pretty much the same approach, then three years later, another vault sweep. Well, with a few tracks, I gotta say, they missed a few spots. But fans and collectors...check it out!
Flaming Star: previously issued on an Extended Play here and on the UK version of "Elvis For Everyone" [titled "Elvis For Everybody"], it's a good, dramatic uptempto 1961 movie title tune. Doesn't really convey the emotions of Pacer, the "half-breed" Native American in a racial conflict in the old west, as Elvis chooses the crooning style, but it's very well produced.
Wonderful World: zero R & R, more *Rest & Relaxation* - in a waltz beat --from Elvis' first "mature" musical with light comedy-drama, "Live A Little, Love a Little". Again a good arrangement and mix; not to be confused with "It's A Wonderful World" (or "It's a Wonderful Life".............), from other Presleys. Bright vocal.
Night Life: Solid contemporary 4/4 rhythm for this number not used in "Viva Las Vegas". As in all the sides for this especially entertaining film effort, he gets into the lyrics (as plot-driven as they are).
All I Needed Was The Rain: Nice country blues from another (supposed) "adult" venture for Elvis and fans, "Stay, Away Joe". The snakin' bass is the perfect counterpount for Elvis' whisper to a scream dynamics - too bad the movie itself wasa stone horror, with all the racial stereotypes possible as Elvis once again plays a Native American. He won an award for his portrayal as Pacer earlier in the decade - this one was a loser.
Too Much Monkey Business: well mixed here; Elvis digs into a great Chuck Berry song (fans will remember how the title came up during the taping of the "Million Dollar Session"); D. J. Fontana, possibly bangin' on the back of a guitar case, delivers a true 1950s back-beat, the Jordanaires are just riding the outskirts, not all the way up front, and it really cooks. To think that in about 1.5 years Elvis would be fronting a 38-piece orchestra, this cut emerges as a lost masterpiece of the old style.
The Yellow Rose Of Texas/The Eyes Of Texas: adapted for a movie production number, yeah, it's one of those that the jailhouse-rockers will sit slack-jawed (or jumped up in a panic to grab an unused set of earplus for the duration). Objectively, not bad; but even the most dedicated completist won't go for one last spin before bedtime on Sunday night.
She's A Machine: a throw-out from a movie which maybe shoulda been, too. The story is that Elvis intensely disliked the tune (though that wasn't necessarily a reason to kick it outa the movie!). Anyway, he found a way to apply that anger creatively and unintentionally delivers one of his most raw-meat-eatin' vocals of his career. He hits the consonants as if he's saying, I'm gonna sing the h*ll outa this thing, I don't care if it's lousy...or if it's going on the shelf. Does have a contemporary, go-go feel, though it's fortunate it was probably never played in said venue anywhere on this sphere.
Do The Vega: Impossible lyric in a good Presley "work-around": again, he sounds happy and involved. Good idea to hide it for five years, though.
Tiger Man [live]: An incredible surprise....which, in retrospect, maybe didn't belong here - it gave away alot of what was soon coming up on that catacylsmic Television Special. Yes, it's the Rufus Thomas Sun Classic, with Elvis playing Scotty Moore's Gibson, and hitting the seventh note of that "E" chord as hard as *any* supposed guitar legend out there. It's Elvis unleashed...you come up with all the descriptions. At the time, I didn't care for his scat-singing throughout, but the overall impact is rough and ready. What a shock after the mellow movie opus.
Nice package with fun graphics, though there are errors in the track listing recording years.
Also, there are *9* tracks here, not 10, with a studio Tiger Man.
By 1968, the only non-live Tiger Man by Elvis would be the version he referred to on stage - did he really cut it at Sun records as his follow-up to That's All Right, Mama?
But that's for another collection in the R & R Alternate Universe.

For a short CD this has a lot of great music. Flaming star don't shine on me, what a great song! Elvis must have been trying to send a message how he was dealing with his own flaming star. I guess he finally saw it, sad to say. Long live the King!