Elvis vs JXL: A Little Less Conversation
- Historic Remix of Elvis Presley's 'A Little Less Conversation' to Be Released In the U.S. on June 25
Source: RCA Records
(Yahoo News, June 21, 2002)
Recognized worldwide as the most influential figure in music and pop
culture, Elvis Presley has achieved another career milestone with his latest No. 1 single which comes 25 years after his death. Presley's "A Little Less Conversation," remixed by progressive DJ JXL, has reached No. 1 in the UK giving "The King of Rock and Roll(TM)" more No. 1 singles than any artist in the history of the UK, including the beloved Beatles (18 to 17). RCA/BMG is set to release the remix as a commercial single in the United States on June 25th, kicking off an even larger Elvis campaign culminating in the release of ELV1S 30 #1 HITS. Since its UK release on June 10th, "A little Less Conversation" has rocketed up the charts, reaching No. 1 on Sunday, June 13th. Adding to the historical significance of the release, this is the first time that BMG/RCA and Elvis Presley Enterprises have granted permission to a contemporary artist to remix a Presley song. The overwhelming response to this first-time project reaffirms Elvis' appeal to a contemporary audience. "Elvis' legacy transcends time and generations," said Richard Sanders Executive Vice President and General Manager of RCA Records. "We are thrilled with the response to JXL's remix and see this as another example of how Elvis touches music fans today." ... "Initially, we're always wary of any proposal that involves altering Elvis' master recordings in any way, but this JXL remix just blew us away. Elvis is a great and constant source of inspiration for the creativity of other artists, and this is an outstanding example of that," said Jack Soden President & CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
- Flashback: Elvis tops Beatles
By MICHAEL HAMERSLY
(Miami Herald, June 20, 2002)
Elvis Presley is still The King. The rock-and-roll icon returned to the top of the singles charts in Britain on Monday, rewriting pop history 25 years after his death and passing The Beatles as the artist with the most No. 1 tunes, reports The Washington Post.
- Elvis lives in new albums, film
By John W. Barry
(Pughkeepsie Journal, June 19, 2002)
An American icon known for blue suede shoes is back on top of the charts, thanks to a pitch for a different type of footwear used in a sport that is largely ignored in the United States. Elvis Presley, who throughout his career simply had to sling a guitar over his shoulder to prompt sobs and screams, has topped the music charts in the United Kingdom with a version of ''A Little Less Conversation'' that was reworked with a dance beat for a Nike television commercial highlighting the World Cup soccer tournament. The version used in the commercial, which includes soccer players wearing Nike cleats, topped the charts after its release as a single. On Sunday, the song was certified as the top-seller in the United Kingdom. This distinction allowed Presley to break a tie with the Beatles for 17 number one hits in the U.K., a record that had stood for decades. The single, reworked by DJ JXL, is set to be released in the United States on June 25. That same day, a box set titled ''Elvis: Today, Tomorrow and Forever'' will become available and ''ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits'' is set for release on Sept. 24. The resurgence in all things Elvis comes as Graceland groupies prepare to mark the 25th anniversary of his death, which occurred on Aug. 16, 1977. Joe Borelli of Kingston performs an Elvis tribute act and is scheduled to play in August along with his band The Runaways during Elvis Week, a celebration and memorial staged in Memphis, Tenn. In addition to your television, radio and home stereo system, Elvis is making a comeback on the silver screen. ''Lilo & Stitch,'' a new Disney film that opens nationwide Friday, features six Elvis recordings.
- This is 'Elvis'
(DotMusic.com, June 19, 2002)
A compilation album of Elvis tracks is being put together to capitalise on the success of current UK Number One 'A Little Less Conversation'. The album - titled 'Elvis' - is expected to mirror the world-straddling Beatles compilation '1', which featured all the Fab Four's chart-toppers. 'Elvis' will include all 18 of The King's record-breaking UK Number Ones, plus 13 extra tracks from throughout his career. The album is expected in September, and is likely to smash sales records, according to David Roberts, Editor of the Guinness book of British Hit Singles. He told a UK tabloid: "The fact that Elvis has just had another Number One and this year's 25th anniversary of his death means this is going to be a hugely successful album".
- ELVIS VERSUS OASIS!
(NME.com, June 19, 2002)
Elvis Presley and OASIS are locked in a tight battle for this week's UK Number One single. OASIS released their new single "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" yesterday (June 18). Initial sales reports indicate that the track will be this week's highest new entry. However current chart topper "A Little Less Conversation", the 'forgotten' Elvis Presley track that soundtracks the current Nike television comemrcial, is also selling well and could hold on for a second week.
- Ulster DJ lends hand as Elvis hits top spot
By Mary Fitzgerald
(Belfast Telegraph, June 17, 2002)
Elvis is back on top of the charts, thanks to David Holmes. Elvis is alive - well at least in the singles charts - after a posthumous hit took the coveted No 1 spot for the King 25 years after his death. And an Ulsterman had a big hand in the single success. Belfast DJ and producer David Holmes picked the obscure Elvis track, A Little Less Conversation, for the soundtrack of Ocean's 11 - a recent remake of the classic Rat Pack film which starred Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. It was spotted by Dutch DJ JXL who remixed it as part of a nationwide advertising campaign, and now the chart-topping dance version of Presley's 1968 rhythm and blues B-side has made history as Elvis's 18th No 1. After the Beatles split up in 1970 and Presley died in 1977, it looked like the two would forever be tied on 17 No 1 hits each. The King now has more No 1s than any artist in the pop chart's 50-year history.
- Elvis hit writer delighted at number one success
(Ananova, June 17, 2002)
The man who wrote Elvis Presley's new number one says he's delighted by its success. And he says Elvis would have been thrilled to see it being enjoyed by a new generation. The JXL remix of A Little Less Conversation has taken over at the top of the UK singles chart. Billy Strange, who co-wrote the song with Mac Davis, told The Sun: "Elvis would have been 67 this year. I've got great memories of him and I'm proud my song is making young kids admire him all over again."
- Elvis fans: The King rules again
(BBC News, June 17, 2002)
Fans of the late Elvis Presley have reacted with delight to the news that the King of rock'n'roll has hit number one again - and broken a chart record in the process Andrew Hearn, of the Essential Elvis fan club, said: "It's a thrill seeing Elvis back at number one. "We knew it was coming," he told BBC News Online. "As soon as it came out, we heard from his record company that they were expecting it to be a massive hit." Mr Hearn believes the record, A Little Less Conversation, has crossed over to many buyers outside Elvis's traditional fan base. "Elvis has always been an entertainer who interested all age groups, and I found that his original fans are buying it and a whole new audience of fans are buying it too" he said. The fact that Elvis has now pulled ahead of the Beatles for the number of UK number ones was an extra treat. George Davis, of the Northampton branch of the Elvis Presley fan club, thought the use of the song in a TV advertisement had clinched its chart success. "Looking at all the play it got on the Nike ad I knew it would go to number one. "And with the advert and radio airplay it's got it's reached a lot of new fans," he said. Paul Downie of Scotland's The Elvis Touch fan club was not surprised at the record's sales, he told BBC News Online. "I got a promotional copy from the record company and I'd been playing it at club dances for some time. "People kept asking me what it was. "I thought it had the potential to go to number one because it was aimed at the younger market, with the dance beat running through it." "I listened to it last night on the BBC chart show with my glass of champagne," he said. And Mr Downie offered another reason for the record's sudden success. "Some people have been buying two or three copies - they were determined to get Elvis to number one."
Vote on the BBC site for "Who is Better? Elvis or the Beatles".
- Elvis returns, becoming cool even when he wasn't
By Debra Goldman
(AdWeek, June 17, 2002)
It is the archetypal brand problem. The loyal customers of an established brand are getting on in years, and a once-thriving identity is threatened with extinction along with its market. This dilemma, pointed for any brand, is particularly thorny when said brand came to prominence as a symbol of youthful rebellion. Such is the problem facing the Elvis Presley industry, whose fan base now qualifies for Medicare and whose pilgrimage point, Graceland, comes more and more to resemble Lourdes with every passing year. How to re-create that youth-culture magic for a new generation? As a recording executive at Elvis' label, RCA Records/BMG, wondered out loud to The New York Times, "How do we make him hip, young and irreverent? - into a brand that's relevant to this younger demographic?" In truth, the real Elvis was hip, young and irreverent for a very short time in the course of his long pre- and post-deceased career. That brief moment was captured some years after his death in a wonderful documentary called Elvis '56, focusing on the year when the original avatar of sex and rock 'n' roll (the drugs came later) was at his transgressive height. But let's face it, that was 46 years ago. Then came the Army, Hollywood, gospel records, Vegas, jumpsuits, photo ops with Richard Nixon and 25 years of graveside vigils. All stuff beloved by the die-hard fans who have made Elvis' cult highly profitable over the decades. But cool? Never. From the early '60s until his drug overdose in 1977, Elvis was a tool on which hip young people could hone their irony.
The good news for the folks at Elvis Presley Enterprises, as they gin up the marketing machine for the 25th anniversary of his death this August, is that the real Elvis doesn't matter. The guy has been gone too long. Untethered to history, Elvis becomes a jumble of free-floating signifiers that can be appropriated and adapted as needed to fit whatever model of cool the young demo focus groups are yearning for. And it ain't the "hip, young and irreverent" Elvis '56. It's Elvis '68, the pre-comeback Elvis of Live a Little, Love a Little. That's the flick from which Dutch DJ Tom Holken berg lifted "A Little Less Conversation" and reworked it for Nike's multimillion-dollar World Cup soccer spot. The remix is now headed for the top of the charts abroad. At first glance, Elvis '68 is an odd choice for the recoolification of the King. Consider what was going on then: Vietnam, street demonstrations, hippies, free love, psychedelics and a music scene transformed by Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And then there was Elvis, in the third movie he churned out that year, playing a photographer who works for a conservative ad agency by day and for a girlie magazine by night. Rudy Vallee was one of his co-stars.
The movie did make a few concessions to the tenor of the times: Elvis wears turtlenecks, meets a zany, free-spirited gal who is walking barefoot on the beach, says "dammit" and, for the first time in his cinematic career, goes all the way. Still, it is surely Elvis at his schlockiest and most culturally irrelevant, the King at the nadir of his hipness. But no longer. In the ever-evolving kingdom of cool, the last shall be first? If you wait around long enough. Indeed, so powerful is the reverse chic of Elvis '68 that "A Little Less Conversation" was also used bySteven Soderbergh in his remake of Ocean's Eleven. The song fit perfectly with the movie, which also took something that was culturally reactionary in its own time? - Rat Pack masculinity? - and tried to resurrect it as 21st-century cool. Elvis '68 is but one face of the once and future King. Many others will be gathered in a one-time "bookazine" from Gruner & Jahr (a publication themed "Elvis, then and now"), due in August to coincide with a commemorative week at Grace land. We will also get Happy Meal Elvis, coming soon to a Mc Donald's near you. This is the Elvis who is the guiding spirit of the Walt Disney animated film Lilo and Stitch, premiering this week.
Clearly when Elvis Presley Enterprises talks about making Elvis relevant to the young, they're not kidding. In a much-publicized product placement, the little Hawaiian heroine Lilo is a devoted fan of the King, and the soundtrack includes "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Suspicious Minds," Elvis classics that will pour into the ears of Disney's kiddie audience. Thus, Elvis lives? - if only as an offscreen cartoon character. Of course, some might say that's where he's been heading all along.
Comments to Debra Goldman at [email protected]
- ELVIS TOPS THE CHARTS AGAIN!
(NME, June 16, 2002)
ELVIS PRESLEY has scored a UK Number One single with the release of a
forgotten track - 25 years after his death. 'A Little Less Conversation' has taken the King's tally of number ones to 18 today (June 16), stepping ahead of The Beatles, with whom he has been tied on 17 for years. The song has exploded in popularity since being used on a Nike television commercial - featuring some of the world's best current footballers, as well as former
Manchester United talisman Eric Cantona. It had also appeared on the
David Holmes-helmed soundtrack to Hollywood smash 'Ocean's Eleven' from
earlier in the year.
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