It's Quicker with Experience

Hey Guys,

Coming back at you from Graceland, Ontario, this week’s article is in some ways the opposite of last week’s article, but both are essential to your success. Last week, I talked about having a standard and going over something until it reached that standard, however long it took. An example of this being the 31 takes it took Elvis to record the single version of “Hound Dog”. Though it might be empowering to think that you are good enough to have a standard, it’s daunting to constantly be going over things, proofreading for the rest of your life instead of enjoying the exciting, creative part of your work.

This is the second part of this lesson. Like the previous one, it seems simple but people too often overlook it to escape short term pain. They worry that they will always be on the wire and instead they start letting things go, dropping their standard. And they become inferior.

In 1959, three years after “Hound Dog” was recorded, Elvis went into the studio to record “Big Hunk O’ Love”. Elvis was still in the army but these recording sessions during his leave were his way of staying in the record-buying public’s radar while he was in army fatigues. The final take of the song is full of rock ‘n’ rolling energy. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It was a big hit.

And how long do you think it took Elvis to record? Considering the amount of time he put into “Hound Dog”, was it 40 takes? 50 takes? 100 takes!?

Nope.

It took Elvis four takes. The final recording was a splicing of the third and four takes. And though perhaps not as iconic as “Hound Dog”, it did well. It did very well.

Then, years later, in 1968 during his comeback from the movies to the music industry, Elvis walked into the recording studio with a different track; an older, more mature Elvis with larger sideboards went in with a different track. Elvis sang the song that changed his mind about music, his comments being that, “I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in”.

Francis K. Green, a reviewer of Elvis’s ’68 TV Special, mentioned Elvis’s “…three unflagging takes of "If I can Dream"". The song that changed Elvis’s mind about the music he would sing for the rest of his career was done in three takes. Impressive.

Even “Suspicious Minds”, possibly Elvis’s most well know single of the sixties was recorded in six takes. Not 31, six. Both “Hound Dog” and “Suspicious Minds” are examples of Elvis’s best music but the recording he did all those years later took so much less time than the earlier one.

So, what am I saying? Elvis had to put a lot less effort to achieve the standard he wanted later in his career than earlier on. Sure, people will say that technology played a part in this, and it’s true. But Elvis recorded “Big Hunk O’ Love” only three years after “Hound Dog”, not much time for technological innovation to take root. And he recorded the former track in 27 less takes.

Experience does count for something, even in the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s case. The more he practiced recording in a studio, the less effort it took to achieve the same results. And boy, could Elvis create results.

So, are you going to give up on your dreams because of the amount of time it takes to enjoy them at the moment? Hell no, because you know that it’s getting better. It’s getting better all the time and the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Ø After years of practice, life gets easier (or at least work gets done quicker). Experience does count for something. Take it from Elvis.

P.S. If you're interesting in hearing the original recording of "Big Hunk O' Love", here's a link to it on Youtube.

Move On When It's Time

Since that fateful day in 1953 when Elvis Presley first walked into Sun Studios, Elvis had been closely associated with that studio (who also had members such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins) and Sam Phillips. He’d got his first recording contract and cut his first commercial track there. His band started at Sun and all Elvis’s success had stemmed from that little studio in Memphis.

But Elvis was getting big. By 1955, he had a large fan base, a gruelling touring schedule and several minor hits to his name. Elvis’s career needed a boost.

The first big change that changed Elvis’s life and career forever was his meeting Colonel Tom Parker, later to become Elvis’s manager. Parker had managed singer Eddy Arnold but had now heard the buzz about this new singer. He felt he could take Elvis’s career to the next level, as his manager, and that’s exactly what he did.

One of Parker’s first important acts was getting Elvis a recording contract with RCA in late 1955. RCA was a large enough company to get Elvis’s work all over the United States and later the world. Elvis must have been scared. He’d never recorded anything not under the Sun Studios label and everyone who knew him well in the recording industry would have been with the smaller studio. But to become as famous as he would, he needed to move to the bigger company.

Elvis’s musical selection had changed considerably since when he first started. His first couple songs had been bluesy, like Arthur Crudup’s “That’s Alright Mama”, or country-ish, like “I Forgot to Remember to Forget”. They had elements of blues, gospel, and country and were called rockabilly, a style Elvis was originally associated with. These songs tended to be upbeat, crowd pleasers. But when Elvis got the first single done for his LP, Elvis Presley, for RCA, it was the slow, bluesy, hard-hitting “Heartbreak Hotel”. His new studio was furious. They wanted him to be successful so they could be successful and this was like nothing else he’d ever done before. But the change paid off. “Heartbreak Hotel” became Elvis’s first national number one in April 1956.

Elvis’s musical style continued to evolve and he started adding more “real” rock ‘n’ roll into his repertoire, the rhythm and blues that people like Chuck Berry and Little Richard were putting out. Elvis’s cover of “Long Tall Sally” or “Rip it Up” are examples of this.

Then came another big change; Colonel Parker got Elvis into Hollywood and the movies. Starting with Love me Tender in 1956 and moving through films like Loving You and The Jailhouse Rock in 1957, all with songs unique to the themes and titles of the pictures. Scary at first, but Elvis ended up with an average salary of one million USD per picture and continued to make thirty-one films (not including his two concert documentaries).

The best parts of Elvis’s life came with changes. There was when he went into the army, the tracks he recorded while in it and the buzz created when he got out. Then, when musical tastes were switching to the like of The Beach Boys and, later, The Beatles and The British Invasion, Elvis was in Hollywood making movies and selling their soundtracks. When he got tired of that, he did his ‘68 Comeback Special, including the original acoustic portion of the show. He moved on to Las Vegas sporting custom made jumpsuits instead of the typical tuxedoes of other singers. Then, he sang in the first globally broadcast concert in Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii.

And, as a matter of note, the lowest points in Elvis’s life were when he wasn’t changing or doing something new. His movie-making in the 60’s led him to play the same, old, stale characters after a while and he put on weight and was less popular during his later time in Hollywood. Also, his constant touring schedule in the 70’s, staging over 1,100 concerts between 1969 and his death, eventually led to less exciting performances and poor health which eventually killed him. Elvis was known as an innovator of popular music and is remembered for that now. Change is innovation. Stagnation leads slowly, as it did in Elvis’s case, to death. In contrast, he never looked healthier than when he was doing something new, like star in his 1968 comeback special. Makes you think, huh?

Elvis’s Lessons:

Ø Elvis moved to RCA when his career needed to go to the next step. Go to the next big opportunity, even if you’re scared, when it’s time to push the boundary a bit more and get out of a rut. HINT: You’ll know you’re in a rut if you aren’t enjoying what you were doing before as much as you used to, if you feel unfulfilled. Remember Elvis’s Hollywood career.

P.S. If you're interested in hearing some of Elvis's early RCA, Rock n Roll, material, here's a recording of "Rip it Up": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZPpd8-pbm4