“The First Year December 1954 –
February 1955” on Black Belt Records LP2 was released in 1979. This is one of my favorite LPs even though the material is not
uncommon. The cover features Elvis
busting through the front page of a newspaper. His
jacket has been re-touched in bright purple to emphasize the excitement with
which Elvis and the Blue Moon Boys burst onto the music scene.
The back has three blurry photos of Elvis almost being pulled off of the
stage probably circa 1956. The LP label
is bright red with black text and my copy is pressed on neat-looking multi-color
splash vinyl.
Side One: “Good Rockin’ Tonight”,
“ Baby Let’s Play House”, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, “I Got A Woman”
and “That’s All Right Mama” are all live and credited to early 1955 as
Eagle’s Hall Houston, TX. These saw
official release in 1990 on the BMG licensed “Elvis Raw” Outwest Records and
are dated March 19, 1955. The
tracks are in very good quality considering the archaic technology of the day.
It would have been something else to have been there!!
Side Two: Starts off with a 1956
interview with Jay Thompson in Wichita Falls, TX after Elvis’ final Hayride
performance. “Tweedle Dee” is
credited as early 1955 in Gladewater, TX ( April 30, 1955 to be exact ).
“That’s All Right Mama” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” are from
Elvis’ first Hayride appearance on October 16, 1954.
And as we all know, the quality on these is excellent.
The side closes out with a radio interview by Bob Neal on WMPS radio in
Memphis, TN in 1955 promoting the upcoming Texarkana, AR.
Of interesting note is the mention of the “new artist” Johnny Cash
who was to be included on the bill, and who we unfortunately just recently lost.
This interview runs too slow and is quite noisy but is in better quality
on other sources.
Ernie Boyes Jr.