One of the first records I ever bought, ladies and gentlemen was ... still, still! Was ... terrible! Nah, it wasn't even a record, but a tape. I guess it wasn't long after I got the Loving You cassette from Thomas that I found a music cassette on sale somewhere, I Can't Stop Loving You, with ... Per 'Elvis' Granberg?!I guess I wasn't too picky in those years, but instead very curious. What's this going to sound like? The cassette contained a range of well known Elvis songs, from "Mystery Train" to "Steamroller Blues," and I remember playing Per Elvis quite a lot on my little tape recorder. "I'm Yours" was the one song I hadn't heard before, by the way.
Going through a box of old tapes last week I found Per Elvis again and put it in the machine. It was ... not too bad. Of course he tries to sound like Elvis ("Take it!"), but he does it pretty well and the arrangements of some of the songs are quite nice, especially the ballads which are often done with just a piano.
It turns out that Per Elvis (he was from Norway) was already around in the fifties, made some records and then fell into obscurity, returning in the early seventies with live appearances and recording a few albums for the not so small Philips label. And, he even met Elvis, before his matinee show (Elvis's show, that is!) at the Nassau Coliseum on June 24, 1973. Check out the photographs here (Per Elvis is the guy in the blue clothes).
Going through a box of old tapes last week I found Per Elvis again and put it in the machine. It was ... not too bad. Of course he tries to sound like Elvis ("Take it!"), but he does it pretty well and the arrangements of some of the songs are quite nice, especially the ballads which are often done with just a piano.
It turns out that Per Elvis (he was from Norway) was already around in the fifties, made some records and then fell into obscurity, returning in the early seventies with live appearances and recording a few albums for the not so small Philips label. And, he even met Elvis, before his matinee show (Elvis's show, that is!) at the Nassau Coliseum on June 24, 1973. Check out the photographs here (Per Elvis is the guy in the blue clothes).
Per Elvis sadly died in 1980, at the early age of 38. But his music lives on. I guess. Take it!
/Mårtenbrother
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1 comment:
Great guest blog, bro! I remember that tape too, particulary "See See Rider" and Per Elvis' "Take it!" Next time I visit we have to listen to it! Your post also inspired me to write about another guy singing Elvis songs. Do you remember Danny Mirror?
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