Elvis is not only back from the dead, he is singing their so
Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 10/19/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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."
You should know if you consider "Gravelands" complete fun or utter sacrilege by the end of the first track. 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. The King jumps off the deep end with "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)," which is a fave this summer. 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.
There is more rock with Eddie Cochran's "Something Else," but there are a whole bunch of tracks wehre 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." To show the extremes here this is an album with both 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."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1