#jerry scheff

"ELVIS ON TOUR" (1972)

GIFS — OPENING AND ENDING SCENES

Roy Orbison (and Friends)  |  (All I Can Do Is) Dream You  |  Live for A Black and White Night (1988) from the 1989 album “Mystery Girl”

Rewind: Buckingham Nicks - Buckingham Nicks (1973)

A long, long time ago, back when Fleetwood Mac was still a (mostly) all-British, blues-based band struggling to find an audience, there was an all-American duo named Buckingham Nicks also struggling to find an audience.

There was no chiffon and there was no Welsh witch called “Rhiannon.” There was no half-twisted, proto-punk rock and a “Blue Letter” had yet to be written.

(Lindsey) Buckingham (and Stevie) Nicks were life and musical partners in 1973 when they released their eponymous debut record that almost no one heard. One guy who did hear - and love - Buckingham Nicks was a fellow by the name of Mick Fleetwood who was looking to plug a hole in his band created by the departure of Bob Welch.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Buckingham Nicks is a country-rock record featuring 10 songs - nine originals and the John Lewis instrumental “Django” - that finds the future mad producer and his soon-to-be ex-partner and spinning gypsy-in-waiting groping their way toward a career they probably never imagined.

It’s dedicated to A.J. Nicks - “the grandfather of country music” - and includes an impressive number of bold-face names in the credits. These include producer Keith Olsen, who went on to work with Mac and the Grateful Dead among others; drummers Jim Keltner and Ronnie Tutt (Elvis Presley, Jerry Garcia Band); bassist Jerry Scheff (Presley and father of Chicago bassist Jason); and mononym guitarist “Waddy” (Wachtel), who co-wrote “Werewolves of London” with Warren Zevon and still works with Nicks today. And of course, the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham and the singer Stevie Nicks.

Forty-seven years after its initial release, Buckingham Nicks still hasn’t been issued on CD or been made available for streaming. This is inexplicable, not least because Buckingham and Nicks are among the most successful and popular songwriters of the 1970s and the album has a built-in audience.

But beyond that, the album stands the test of time and would be worth seeking out even if the namesake artists hadn’t gone on to join one of rock’s all-time most successful bands, which made two BN songs, “Crystal,” and “Don’t Let Me Down Again” their own by re-recording and re-releasing them on Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Live (1980), respectively. Buckingham performed his lovely instrumental “Stephanie” on his solo-acoustic tour in 2012, and “Without You,” an oft-bootlegged outtake from the sessions, was finally released on FM’s digital-only Extended Play in 2013.

But most of the songs are known only to super-Fleetwood Mac freaks and those of us who still have turntables, which is a musical sin.

To this day, “Long Distance Winner” is among Sound Bites’ favorite Nicks compositions, and tracks such as “Without a Leg to Stand On,” “Races are Run” and “Frozen Love” reveal a vocal blend that she and Buckingham never fully recaptured in Fleetwood Mac.

Had Fleetwood not come calling, Buckingham Nicks would be even more of a curiosity than it is and would have left listeners to wonder what happened to the duo with the boy named for a girl and the girl named for a boy who happened to be lovers.

As it goes, Buckingham Nicks is a curiosity that leaves listeners to wonder what might have become of their musical and personal partnership if the whole mega-stardom thing hadn’t worked out. And more than that - it’s 36 minutes of finely composed and constructed, acoustic-based music.

Grade card: Buckingham Nicks - Buckingham Nicks - B+

"There was just something about the way he sang, and also the way he'd interact, that was really really good. It was the musical communication and personal communication. He was just really nice to us. It was fun to play, you know." — Jerry Scheff, bass player.

Scene from "Elvis On Tour" (MGM, 1972): Elvis and his bass player Jerry Scheff. Jerry played bass for the singer from July 31, 1969, to February 23, 1973, and again from April 24, 1975, until Presley’s final show on June 26, 1977, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

The admiration in Jerry's eyes when he looks at Elvis... it was earned. 🥹 Jerry said in an interview he didn't like Elvis' work until 1969, when he was invited to play in Elvis' band in Las Vegas for the first time.

Jerry 'thought that jazz and classical was what was happening at that time' and, although he had played some pop and rock 'n roll songs before working with the King, he never played rock "Elvis' way". The funny thing is: Jerry was a recording studio musician and played in several artists' records, including two records by Elvis himself, but from that moment as a musician working in studios with Elvis prior to work in his live concerts, Jerry has no memories. There's records showing that Jerry Scheff was one of the professional musicians playing in Elvis' soundtrack recording sessions in two occasions prior to the invitation to join in Elvis' TCB Band, but he doesn't remember such moments or ever seeing Elvis at that period. Jerry was asked about it and his first answer was negative, saying that he never played in any of Elvis' soundtrack albums, so the Union contracts were presented to him and there it was. Jerry played bass on the soundtrack albums for the films 'Double Trouble' and 'Easy Come, Easy Go' (both times in 1966).

Below, another picture of Jerry looking at El with that same shine in his eyes (this is 1970 - and that admiration in his eyes means a deep respect, as you'll notice further on):

1970. Jerry Scheff is at the far left in the picture above.

This information above comes from an 1999 interview with Jerry Scheff. Following, a few excerpts that I found very interesting.

Do you remember what songs you rehearsed [in 1969, getting ready for the 'comeback' at the International Hotel in Vegas]? J: Oh, I can't remember. Blues songs, and 'Trying To Get To You', 'My Baby' - things like that. I read somewhere that you rehearsed about 150 songs. J: Oh yeah, we went over a LOT of songs, and then later we never rehearsed at all, so it's a good thing we rehearsed then! (laughs). It surprises me a little that you rehearsed so many songs, and yet stuck to the same 12 - 15 songs the entire engagement. J: Well, that wasn't up to us. It does after a while when you play the same songs, you know, get a little - But the saving grace was that Elvis never did anything the same way twice. We always had to keep our eye on him. You never could just, you know, relax (laughs), you had to pay attention. You never knew what he was gonna do. Never.

Elvis on stage in late 1969 and then early 1972 (with Jerry Scheff).

One interesting point in this interview is what Jerry said about Elvis and his political views:

Did you ever discuss political issues with Elvis? J: No, I never discussed politics with him. But in some ways Elvis was more conservative, and in other ways he was very liberal. He wasn't someone that was following some political line, you know. He'd figure out for himself what he thought was right.

Elvis with Jerry Scheff onstage in the 70s.

Here it is: The most heartwarming moment in this whole interview (I recommend you reading the full article that I'll link at the end), is when Jerry Scheff stands up for his friend:

Towards the end of his life, Elvis was criticized badly for his appearance, his weight gain and so forth. J: You know, I've always been the kind of person that - I don't judge people on what they look like or on their faces. Period. I think that it very well could be that Elvis thought that he was a normal American man approaching middle age, and let himself go a little bit: 'It wasn't anybody's business'.

March 1977: Elvis and his musicians (TCB Band) on stage. Jerry Scheff is at the far up left corner, Ronnie Tutt hides behind his drums and James Burton is at the far right corner.

"The idea that it was Elvis' duty to keep himself pristine looking is ludicrous. It makes me angry to think that people think that. Why, what does he owe them? He doesn't owe them anything."

— Jerry Scheff

The press really went after him for it. J: The press was just horrible. But then again, I don't remember a good review, even in the early years. The press was always horrible. I discounted what they said. There were jokes about him on television shows and stuff, and people were really really cruel. They don't say that about, let's say Neil Diamond. They don't say: 'Neil Diamond is bald now, why doesn't he get a toupet?' or 'He's got a paunch'. Or David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash. They don't go on about him, and he's overweight. But it was Elvis, you know. It makes me angry, it really does. People wanna make money, and if they need to be nasty about it, they'll do that. They'll crack jokes - Saturday Night Live will have a parody of Elvis, some fat guy with a jumpsuit on, and everybody goes Ha, Ha, Ha. They're like grave-robbers, you know. I don't have any respect for them. That part of human nature is not a very positive part of our make-up. A lot of the troubles between human beings are the lack of compassion of one another, and a lack of tolerance between human beings. How many of these same people that are saying this about Elvis and putting these parodies on the screen, how many of them have potbellies, how many of them have let themselves go, how many of them have other faults that are far worse than than the 'sin' of letting yourself get a little overweight? Or being so unhappy that you're - Because I have been there. I had a really bad bout of clinical depression some years ago. I was in that syndrome, that whole thing - drugs, alcohol and stuff. I understand that, you get caught in that. It's not a nice thing. Elvis was obviously in a depression in his last years. Feel some compassion for him, you know. He's a human being, for crying out loud - no worse, and no better. But he was certainly not as bad as some people. He always treated me with respect. We had an extremely good relationship. He was NEVER disrespectful to me. He was always there if I wanted to see him.

Another very interesting thing Jerry Scheff said concerns Elvis' Memphis Mafia guys. It caught my attention because linked that recollection to one of Elvis' old times army buddies' book (Johnny Lang's "My Army Days with Elvis: Friendship, Football, & Follies"). Johnny mentioned attending Elvis concerts in 1975 and 1976. In one of those occasions, Johnny talked to Charlie Hodge backstage and asked him if he could see Elvis and talk to him up close again, after many years without seeing each other after the army service. As Johnny shared, Charlie behaved overprotective and, without even checking, said Elvis was too tired to see anybody, but that he would say Johnny said 'hi' to him. It makes me sad to know not only friends like Johnny were hurt by what they probably assumed were strict orders by Elvis to those men working for him, and that they were only following them, but to think that Elvis many times didn't even was aware there were old friends that still cared for him so much to travel far distances with their families just to watch him perform live on stage, but also hoping that maybe they could be with him for a moment just to catch up a bit, and he never even heard about it... never. We know more about some of those cases than Elvis knew. That's so sad and it makes my blood boil, to be honest. How could they? Jerry Scheff, however, trusts they had their reasons to do such thing as to block people to get too near to Elvis, even old friends:

J: During the last years, these people in the so-called Memphis Mafia got into this Howard Hughes thing, where they could pick and choose who could see him. One night Charlie Hodge came down in the dressing-room, and said: 'You know, Elvis is really bumped out because you guys don't wanna see him'. And Ronnie and I said: 'Charlie, we have been down there to see him, but these guys always say: 'Oh, Elvis is busy'. So Charlie went back and told Elvis that, and Elvis hit the ceiling. Charlie came back and told us that Elvis just blew a stack. So there was that kind of stuff. I'm sure that all these people fulfilled some need that Elvis had, and I don't mean to question their motives. They just did what they thought would be best for him. So I don't try to judge that. But I do know that Elvis was always there for me.