Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977) will always be the undisputed king of rock 'n' roll. In 1954, he began his recording career with the legendary Sun Records label, yet only released a couple of 7" singles with the label before his record contract was sold to RCA Victor. The rest is history...
ELVIS PRESLEY
It bears typical elements of the recording practice of its day, not least the obvious tape hiss.
Track: Fever (E. Cooley, J. Davenport)
Album: ELVIS IS BACK! (1960)
Label: RCA
Appears on: DALI CD Vol. 2
Fever was released in 1960 as the second track on the ELVIS IS BACK! album, Elvis' second album for RCA Victor. The song had been a hit earlier, performed by the American singer Peggy Lee, who transformed it into a pop standard after it had already been a hit for rhythm and blues artist, Little Willie John.
Fever
The recording of Fever featured on this DALI compilation was made using only analogue recording equipment (digital recording devices had of course yet to be invented).
It bears typical elements of the recording practice of its day, not least the obvious tape hiss.
However, the recording has a couple of interesting details. Essentially, Elvis is accompanied only by a double bass. Although they're both mono sources and panned to the centre, they still sound spacious due to the added (almost mono) reverb. The percussion and finger snap accents played throughout the song are, though, ping-pong stereo, adding a large sense of space and depth to the recording.
All in all, and despite its age, Elvis' rendition of Fever sounds remarkably modern. Elvis' voice and performance are in a league of their own.
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