Buy the Import!
10/04/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you want to buy this cd (and it is well worth getting) please make sureyou get the import either here or thruAmazon UK. It has nine extra songs and you'll be missing a large part of the charm of a fine album if you settle for the US version. My two favoriteson the whole album, Hound Dog & I Want You, I Need You, I Love You, are among the missing tracks. And although these are Elvis classics I honestly think I'd rather hear Billy Swan's versions.Swan slows down and relaxes both (although Hound Dog still has a nicebuzz in his voice) that in a bizarreway makes each song more mature and adult than Elvis's famous versions.And since Elvis was a James Dean fanSwan's I Used To Be James Dean fitsright in perfectly. This album is offbeat and fun. If you liked Swan'sI Can Help voice and were an Elvisfan, get this album. It's actuallyseems kinda inspired. It's not just product. Swan's a throwback in a good way. People seldom try like thisanymore. Worth having."
Elvis like Billy Swan did them
dalepres | Park Hill, OK United States | 05/11/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This CD title is inaccurate. The songs are not "Like Elvis Used to Do." These are songs Elvis used to do but done like Billy Swan would (and did) do them.
My wife hates this CD because the songs aren't like Elvis did them. As I keep pointing out to her, if you want the songs how Elvis did them, buy Elvis. What makes these so great is what Billy Swan does for them. Had Elvis never done these songs, many of them would have been hits for Billy Swan.
I am not a huge Billy Swan fan. In fact, until recently, the only song I knew was "I Can Help". I ordered a CD named I Can Help (there appear to be at least 3 different CDs with the same name). That CD contains "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up", both of which are excellent renditions. That prompted me to search out this version of Like Elvis Used to Do and buy it. I wasn't disappointed. Billy Swan has a captivating voice and style and hearing his versions of these songs is worth the money.
If you're a diehard Elvis fan you may not like the new twist that Billy Swan adds to these tracks but otherwise, you'll probably agree with me that these would all have been big hits for Billy Swan had Elvis never done them."
I Can Help Elvis
David Moore | Ann Arbor, MI | 06/30/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"By 1974, rock and roll had seen it best days. The music scene was about to be shaken to it's foundations with the likes of Punk, Funk, Disco and Heavy Metal. The building blocks of '50's rock and roll were only heard on the far end of the AM radio dial, with names like "Honey Radio" as their barker. This dosen't mean that rock and roll was dead. Records like Dave Edmunds' " I Hear You Knockin' and Johnny Rivers' "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" showed rock and roll was breathing and sweating. Out of this period of retro rock came a singer and guitar player in Kris Kristofferson's backup band with an amazing song; "I Can Help". Billy Swan stepped out of the shadows and into the top forty history books with a great retro rock song, at a time when nobody thought it was a good idea. This record (of course) reached #1 in the fall of '74. Everyone loved it. Even Elvis. So much so that Presley recorded his own version the next year. Then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. Back to singing background vocals to "Me and Bobby McGee" in another town near you. 26 years later, Swan steps back in the spotlight to remind us of his love of Elvis and that old time rock and roll sound. The new album "Like Elvis Used To Do" is not at all like Elvis used to do, but that's fine. Swan is nobody's Elvis imitator. Rather, Swan used the backdrop of Presley's music to review various musical styles, styles not heard today by many under 30. "Heartbreak Hotel" is in the tradition of Cab Calloway. "Jailhouse Rock/King Creole" and "Viva Las Vegas" sound like an Ice Capades review of Doo Wop, while "Suspicious Minds" is given a positively giddy treatment, given the subject matter. I found the arrangements fun and unpredictable, and given the state of rock and roll, unpredictable is just fine by me. This isn't like Elvis used to do, but regardless, Billy Swan does alright (mama)."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1