Customer Reviews

Suspicion

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stafford's version is the one everyone remembers as an Elvis song. If you play the two versions (I have) and compare them, there's really no comparision. Stafford's is simply better.

"Suspicion" was orginally a demo done by Stafford. Crusader Records remastered and released it.

Just because a singer releases a song first, doesn't make it his. Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote the song and they and their publishers own it. They were a prolific team and wrote many songs that Elvis, the Drifters and others recorded. (for example, "All Shook Up," "Don't Be Cruel," and "Great Balls of Fire").

If you listen closely, it's easy to tell it's not Elvis; notes aren't as round. However, since Elvis' voice is decidedly better, I believe Stafford's version is better due to production. That's why, two years after Elvis released it, Stafford's version topped the charts when Elvis' version never made it out of the gate. After all, that's what recording engineers are for... improving a recording.

You can't fault the artist. Back then, the record companies basically owned them and told them what to record, much like the movie studio system in Hollywood back in the day. It's not his fault his voice was similar to Elvis' and the record company exploited it instead of letting him develop his own style. It was probably to his career detriment; you can't be a star imitating someone else.

Stafford later did a country chart topper, "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose" for a different record label.

'Suspicion' was the song that broke the Beatles' long string of #1 hits in Chicago. With all of the eager fans and business machinery behind Elvis' career, why would a totally unknown Elvis soundalike have a hit with this tune when Elvis didn't, (neither then or the few years before when E's version was released)?...Because it's -that- good.

I bought his album in the early 60's. His copy of "Suspicion" is very close to that of Elvis. He does a great job on "I'll Touch a Star". You like Elvis imitators, then get this CD.

Terry Stafford - Born 22-10-1941 In Hollis OK Died 17-03-96 In Amarillo TX
Thirty one minutes of enjoyment on this CD!! Everyone seems to compare him with The King, I prefer to just ENJOY Terry's voice and songs, which bring back happy memories of the 1960's, an era which brought us terrific and talented artists who performed love songs that parents and children could appreciate together. Bring back the 60's!! Bring back Terry, Elvis, Roy, Buddy and all the many other GREAT Artists who could help cure some of our modern day screamers!!
How's that for a stir?
Nick (From Brisbane)

Terry Stafford's problem - if having just two national Pop hit singles to his credit can be considered a "problem" - were all related to timing, as he embarked upon his solo career just at the height of the British Invasion which, before it had run its course, had shoved aside all but the most notable North American artists.

Born Terry LaVerne Stafford in Hollis, Oklahoma on November 22, 1941 and raised in Amarillo, Texas, he began his musical career as a member of the Eugene Nelson combo before moving to California in 1960 where he hooked up with, first, the Lively Ones, and then The Surfmen. None of these associations produced any national hit singles.

His big break came in 1964 when he cut a cover of an Elvis LP offering, Suspicion, for the fledgling Crusader label, and saw it go to # 3 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in April b/w Judy (not here) on Crusader 101. A couple of months later his second release, I'll Touch A Star peaked at # 4 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 25 Hot 100 b/w Playing With Fire on Crusader 105, but by this time he, like other North American artists such as Len Barry, Jewel Akens, Mel Carter. etc., were up against the likes of The Rolling Stones, Beatles, Herman's Hermits, The Byrds, The Dave Clark Five, and a horde of others from Britannia's shores.

When nothing else worked he turned his hand to writing Country music, and in 1969 Buck Owens had a hit with Terry's Big In Vegas, taking it to # 5 Country and # 100 Hot 100. Four years later he himself re-emerged as a pure Country singer for Atlantic with a double-sided hit. The A-side, which he also wrote, was Amarillo By Morning and it made it to # 31 Country in February 1974 on Atlantic 4006 (George Strait would have an even bigger hit with it in 1983, taking it to # 4). The B-side was Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose which actually charted first, going to # 35 Country in November 1973 (Dawn, with Tony Orlando, had the pop hit).

In May 1974, Captured topped out at # 24 Country on Atlantic 4015 b/w It Sure Is Bad To Love Her, and later that summer Stop If You Love Me reached # 69 Country b/w We've Grown Close on Atlantic 4026. Two more minor entries followed in 1977 and 1989 when a re-working of It Sure Is Bad To Love Her struggled to a # 94 Country in Match 1977 on Casono 113, and in February 1989, Lonestar Lonesome did only marginally better at # 85 Country on Player 134.

His Country charters remain impossible to find in one compilation, although a few are in the 1007 release from Koch Records titled Hey Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose. Here I deduct 1 star for the omission of Judy. Seems to me when issuing a volume for an artist with but two Pop hits to this credit, some effort should be made to at least include all four sides of the two hits, even if that means adding a "bonus" track when reissuing material previously released.

Terry, who passed away on March 17, 1996, appeared in the 1992 documentary Wild Wheels, directed by Harrod Blank. Covering the whackiest vehicles ever to appear on North American roads and highways, it is one of the funniest such films you will ever see. If you can find a copy.

Not only did he completely imitate Elvis to the point where I can barely tell the difference (and I KNOW Elvis), but he sang Elvis' songs like a year later! Suspicion, Pocket Full of Rainbows, Kiss Me Quick....all songs the King recorded a year or two earlier. He should be ashamed.