Gravelands

Gravelands Artist: The King
Label: Ark 21
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 618681003724
EAN: 0618681003724
ASIN: B00000IITX


Release Date: 1999-04-06

Gravelands


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Come As You Are
  2. Sweet Home Alabama
  3. Voodoo Child
  4. Whole Lotta Rosie
  5. Blockbuster
  6. Something Else
  7. Dock Of The Bay
  8. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
  9. No Woman, No Cry
  10. New York New York
  11. That's Alright Mama

Similar Items:

  1. Return to Splendor
  2. Return to Splendor
  3. Gravelands

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Elvis is not only back from the dead, he is singing their songs.......2005-09-14

First, I do not want to hear about how an Elvis impersonator singing a cover of Nirvana's "Come As You Are" is a sign of a coming apocalypse because that honor already belongs to the Paul Anka version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Second, if I enjoy an immensely overweight Elvis impersonator fronting a reggae band doing Led Zeppelin songs, then I am clearly not going to have a problem with this guy from Belfast passing himself off as The King, especially since postal carrier James Brown is doing it totally straight (okay, not totally given the album title and the quips during "Blockbuster," but he did not do Paul Simon's "Graceland" with new lyrics so that earns points). Third, for the most part here the whole idea is to do songs that Elvis never did, with one small conceit: they also have to be by those who have joined Elvis in the great big rock band in the sky (e.g., Kurt Cobain, Ronnie Van Zant, Jimi Hendrix). So you get to hear songs Elvis never got to sing as only The King can do them. Okay, obviously there are lots of other Elvis impersonators out there who COULD have done this, but they did not, so Brown gets credit for that too. Finally, I could add that I pick the Beatles over Elvis as being at the top of the rock pantheon, but I have liked wacky Beatles covers from George Burns doing "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" to Sean Connery's "In My Life."

Three tracks in and you should know if you consider "Gravelands" complete fun or utter sacrilege. There is some slight lyric tweaking for "Come as You Are" (e.g., "Memories" instead of "Memoria"), but Brown's baritone and phrasing make it work as far as I am concerned. When you listen to "Sweet Home Alabama" you will probably find yourself wishing this were a concert album, because the song would be perfect for a live performance by Elvis in Vegas. Then the King jumps off the deep end with "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)," which is a fave this summer (Bo Bice did it as part of the American Idols tour just to shake things up for das kinder). As long as he is in deep water, the King then does AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie," which also begs to be done live, followed by a rollickin' version of Sweet's "Blockbuster," which suggests Elvis would have some problems with glam rock ("I just haven't got a clue," the King growls at one point), but you have to admit Brown is trying to cover all of the bases here.

After Eddie Cochran's "Something Else," James Brown does soul, ala the King, with Otis Redding's "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" and Marvin Gaye's "I Heard it Through the Grapevine." This is followed by Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," and the Frank Sinatra standard "New York, New York," complete with faux crowd noise that is actually something of a let down because once you have heard the King rock hard this song has become bubblegum music. Knowing that this album is released in other countries with twice as many songs including "Riders of the Storm" is painful news because that would have been a great track to replace this one. The final track is a nice homage to Elvis by doing Big Arthur Crudup's "That's Alright Mama" just like the original, down to the comments before the tape rolls. Finally, credit must be given to the boys in the band, which includes Paul Guerin (guitar), Lee Pomeroy (Bass), Keith Weir (Keyboards), and Steve Emney (Drums), for making sure the King has solid musical accompaniment and this album cannot be dismissed on that basis either. All things considered, "Gravelands" has to exceed your expectations.

3 out of 5 stars James Brown is The King.......2004-04-23

The King is James Brown, an Irish postman. He was discovered singing Elvis songs at a karaoke bar. A record producer had the idea to record the Nirvana song "Come As You Are" with an Elvis impersonator, and he was struck by how much Brown sounded like Elvis. Yes, he actually does sound a lot like Elvis. Anyway, after they recorded the Nirvana song, they decided to record a whole album of songs by dead rockers. Yes, it's an album of songs by dead people sung by an Elvis impersonator. Somewhat surprisingly, the songs are played "straight". The songs aren't played for laughs at all. They are somewhat interesting for the most part, with "Come As You Are" being the best of the lot. If that sounds like something you would be interested in, here it is.

5 out of 5 stars Great CD - but a track is missing!.......2003-12-25

I first bought the original issue CD (subtitled Dressed To Kill) which originally had Riders On The Storm/The End as the final track. Apparently the remaining Doors vetoed it and the general issue did not contain this track. It is wonderful (added tracks were Song To The Siren, Sweet Home Alabama, Something Else, Whole Lotta Rose and New York, New York. Also an undocumented track, That's Alright Mama). I have both issues and saw The King at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh in December 1998 - awesome with all these Elvis lookealikes with their plastic quiffs - an incredible experience! The King is an Irish postman on leave from the Post Office. When is his new album coming out? There must be a mine of new material since his excellent follow up to Gravelands, Return To Splendour (correct spelling!!).

4 out of 5 stars The King Lives!.......2003-10-15

This album is simply amazing, the concept is not only hilarious (an elvis impersonator singing songs by other dead artists in an elvis way) but the quality of the performances is outstanding.

Parodies of this type aren't new, there was Dread Zeppelin doing Led Zeppelin songs in a Bob Marley way and several others, but this one stands about the others because the songs are done in a more serious way.

The band backing this Elvis is incredible, each song sounds like a fresh reworking of the original, and the production is top notch. The US version only has 11 tracks but the UK one has 18, so try to find the import.

What i find cool about this is that had Elvis lived he would have probably done some of these very songs himself. He never did write any of his songs, in his early days most of his songs were written specifically for him by others and then in his later (Vegas) years he did mostly covers, including lots of really cheesy stuff or stuff that was popular on AM radio at the time. So i think had he lived he would have kept putting out album like that, they would probably have been those sold only on tv type things lol.

Anyway, as for the songs, the first track is a cover of Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and this alone is worth the price of the album, this one blows the Nirvana one away, it's subtle yet has far more depth to it and gets the lyrics across much better, it simply shows that even an average at best song by a crappy overrated grunge band who could barely play instruments can still sound good when done in a professional way by musicians who obviously can play and a singer who can sing instead of just shout.

Other highlights include a take on AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" which also features a kickass playing by the band. "Whiskey in the Jar" which is a classic irish folk song that was a hit for Thin Lizzy in the 70's sound fantastic with an Elvis voice singing it (go figure lol). The take on T-Rex's "20th Century Boy" sounds almost like those recent real Elvis remixes that were on his 30 #1 hits and 2nd to none hits collections. And the closing track (on the UK release anyway) is a note for note cover of Elvis's own "That's Alright Mama" and it sounds simply amazing, it's like the orignial being recorded by Elvis himself with his voice still in it's prime but on modern equipment.

This and the followup album "Return to Splendor" are must have for Elvis fans and people who enjoy hearing classic rock tracks
covered by other artists, get it!

5 out of 5 stars

Music Album:

  1. 52nd Street ~ Billy Joel
  2. Answers to Nothing ~ Midge Ure
  3. All I Know ~ Keith Sykes
  4. 19th Nervous Shakedown ~ Thee Milkshakes
  5. North Atlantic Drift ~ Ocean Colour Scene
  6. Something About Airplanes ~ Death Cab for Cutie
  7. Sallies Fforth ~ Rainbow Ffolly
  8. Tell Somebody ~ Sass Jordan
  9. Tantric Obstacles/Erpsongs ~ Ozric Tentacles
  10. The Essential Poco ~ Poco

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Procession ~ Weather Report

The Man with the Horn ~ Ray Anthony

Legends ~ Skitch Henderson & Bucky Pizzarelli

Rite of Spring

Fear of New Shoes ~ New Orleans Stick Band

The Piano Has It ~ Neville Dickie

Parteiverkehr ~ Barwasser

My Favorite Songs ~ Shigeru Matsuzaki

Bons Momentos Nao Morrem Jamais ~ Ambervisions

Viva El Pasodoble ~ Various Artists