The Very Strange Story of Dean Reed - The Red Elvis! [Import]

Dean Reed | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 2, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bear Family
• ASIN: B000L43NAE
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,467 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Our Summer Romance

2. Hummingbird

3. I Ain't Got You

4. I Kissed a Queen

5. A Pair of Scissors (And a Pot of Glue) [Take 18]

6. Donna Donna [#]

7. Female Hercules

8. You by My Side (La Novia) [English][#]

9. Annabelle

10. The Search

11. Don't Let Her Go

12. Once Again

13. I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know

14. La Novia (You by My Side) [Spanish]

15. Pistolero

16. I'll Be There [#]

17. No Wonder

18. A Pair of Scissors (And a Pot of Glue) [Take 17]

Editorial Reviews

Dozens of records by Dean Reed appeared on Communist bloc labels such as Amiga, Supraphon, and Melodia but his early career as a would-be teen idol on a major label in the USA was undocumented until Bear Family's new CD set the record straight! This CD contains Reed's early major label recordings. The accompanying essay tells the story of a man who became a socialist superstar but was broken in the end because he remained unaccepted by both East & West. A documentary about Dean Reed, The Red Elvis, premiered at the Berlinale in February 2007. Tom Hanks has bought the film rights and will play the leading part. The director will be Steven Spielberg. The incredible story of an American singer in the former German Democratic Republic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Red Elvis: An incredible & fascinating story, September 9, 2007

By 

Ronald Van Scherpenzeel (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Very Strange Story of Dean Reed - The Red Elvis! (Audio CD)

Here we have a born and raised Western farmer boy from Colorado who wants
to be a rock & roll star like so many others in the late 50's. He goes
to Hollywood and records between 1959 and 1961 some 17 songs none of
which becomes a hit except for one that makes it # 96 on the Hot 100.
He goes back to the farm when suddenly he receives a phone call from
the record company (Capitol) telling him that one of the songs he
recorded (Our Summer Romance) hit the #1 spot in....Chile. Capitol
sends him to Santiago (Chile) to find out what's going on and when he
arrives by airplane for the first time, thousands of sreaming girls
are waiting for him as if he were the king of R&R instead of Elvis.
This overnight success makes him stay there and while he's learning
Spanish and recording songs sung in that language. he becomes so popu-
lar that indeed in all of South America he sells more than Elvis or
any other artist. However, at the same time, he strongly gets involved
politically: that means that after seeing the social problems in those
countries (only a few possess everything )he becomes a radical leftist.
After only a few years in Chile and Argentina, the authorities throw
him out of their countries. His next steps are Brasil, Mexico, Spain
and Italy where he becomes a third rated moviestar making typical
Spagetthi Westerns. Since he doesn't have any success he finally accepts
an invitation he received back in 1965 from a Russian communist
youth leader and tries his luck in Moscow. The communist party sees
it's opportunity: a North American radical leftist who plays Rock & Roll.
In those years Western music was forbidden especially Elvis Presley
and the Beatles. Now they could fulfill the needs of the youth for some
"other" kind of music. The Propaganda worked; Dean made covers of
Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers etc. and became
the most popular Western individual ever behind the Iron Curtain in all
socialist countries. His story is so exceptional that both Steven
Spielberg and Tom Hanks will make a movie about his story. This is just
a slight introduction: this man was jailed in in 7 different countries
including the USA but the Russian pression on president Carter was so
big that the Americans decided to free him. He married an East German
top movie star, made several anti-western propaganda films etc, etc.
It is believed that around 1986 he became "homesick" and wanted to go
back to the States. It seems that the East German secret police
wanted to avoid that and one evening he disappeared and was found
five days later in a lake nearby his home. He "officially" drowned himself.
This CD holds these 17 recordings from the late 50's and early 60's,
but the liner notes and the photographs included, make this CD and
above all the story behind this man a real 5 stars "jewel" The
incredible story is that this artist was absolutely unknown
both in the States and Western Europe until a few months back ACE
RECORDS included his only Hot 100 hit in the Teenager Crush Vol.5 CD.
called "The Search" and the liner notes about the song and the man
moved me to find out all about him. It was really worth "the search".