The Tom Green Show

"Wisconsin's Male Vocalist of the Year"

Being in Australia I was ignorant of US based recording and performing artist Tom Green until six of his albums arrived on my desk. And what a pleasant surprise these discs were!

All six offer first-rate vocal interpretations of the Elvis sound and it is not not hard to fathom why Tom Green has been voted Wisconsin's male vocalist of the year. His ability to recreate the Elvis vocal sound, its feeling, inflections and song arrangements is very impressive.

Only a handful of Elvis tribute artists can truly lay claim to having a voice that sounds remarkably like Elvis'...and Tom Green is one of them!

Little Bit of Green [1968-1971 Revisited]: The double entendre meaning to this title serves as a clever opening to what is my favorite of the six Tom Green albums (recorded in 2003). Tom is superb in recreating both Elvis' voice and the arrangement for each of the 25 tracks on the album.

I listened to this album late at night with the lights out and it was eerie. It was as if I had been transported into the recording studio as "Elvis" created some of his most important and powerful music. With tracks like the exquisite Wearin' That Loved On Look, Power of My Love and Any Day Now, and a forceful Rags to Riches and Make the World Go Away, Tom Green achieves that rare blend of power, sensitivity and soul as he moves effortlessly through a seminal songbook.

We rock it up on Too Much Monkey Business and Whole Lotta Shaking Goin' On, and reflect on the pain of relationships gone wrong on Twenty Days and Twenty Nights and Release Me. Several other great ballads also take centre stage as Tom delivers the title track, This Is The Story and Walk A Mile In My Shoes.

One of Elvis' most important hit singles, In The Ghetto, is sung with fine emotion as is the great country ballad, I Really Don't Want To Know.

It's time to get down and dirty with It's Your Baby, You Rock It, while Change of Habit, arguably an unusual track to include, gets our feet a tappin' as does a great version of Rubberneckin'.

Merry Christmas from Me to You: The interesting thing about this 14 track album (apart from Tom Green's vocal parallel to Elvis and an attractive color picture disc), is that besides several Elvis yuletide tracks Tom includes numerous by other artists.

Elvis standards such as Santa Claus Is Back In Town and I'll Be Home on Christmas Day are nicely complemented by Pretty Paper, Run Rudolph Run, Jingle Bell Rock (why didn't Elvis ever record this classic?) and Let It Snow. A heartfelt, soaring rendition of How Great Thou Art is also featured as are two interesting, but very well sung, choices for a Christmas album, Do You Hear What I Hear and If That Isn't Love. It is intriguing to hear these tracks sung as Elvis would have done.

Two standouts are Tom singing Silent Night in two languages and an arresting version of An Old Fashioned Christmas.

"Merry Christmas From Me To You" (recorded in 2003) certainly evokes the spirit of the wintery wonderland and old Saint Nick.

Worth Repeating/Worth Repeating 2: These two albums could well be called "Something For Everybody" as there is a veritable pot pourii of eclectic music from the rock and ballads of the 1950s to the easy listening style of Elvis' 1960s and the emotionally powerful Elvis tracks of the 1970s.

Disc one opens with the wonderful My Wish Came True before seguing into a selection of 60s pop like Roustabout, the underrated Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello, Fame and Fortune, G.I. Blues, the father-daughter ode Memphis Tennessee, and a happy Pocket Full of Rainbows.

Interspersed throughout both discs of Worth Repeating I are other great selections including the powerful Hurt, Lover Doll, His Latest Flame, surreal Edge of Reality, How The Web Was Woven, the country soul of True Love Travels on a Gravel Road and Loving Arms, the poignant Love Letters.

Other songs are Ku-Ku-I-Po, the gospel Lead Me, Guide Me, lively Playing For Keeps, a gem in Clean Up Your Own Back Yard, and a powerful If I Can Dream.

Worth Repeating II "repeats" the diverse song selection with enjoyable film fluff like You Can't Say No In Acapulco and Angel contrasted by the emotionally wrenching Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall, the plaintive Help Me, Thrill of Your Love and great pop tracks such as Soldier Boy.

Also in the mix are the nice ballads Are You Sincere, Lonely Man and For the Millionth and the Last Time and one of The King's best records, the beautiful Ask Me.

Worth Repeating (2000) is a double disc with 30 tracks while Worth Repeating II (2002) is a single album with 15 recordings.

Born Too Late [Tom Green - Almost Unplugged]/Born Too Late 2: These two albums showcase Tom Green's immense talent with early Elvis recordings.

While Tom's vocal similarity to Elvis is most pronounced when he does the older Elvis (1969-1977), the remarkable thing about his recordings of Elvis' rock & roll repertoire is the way he manages to again capture the pacing and vocal inflections Elvis used.

Born Too Late (1994) features 10 tracks while Born Too Late 2 (2004) has 15 and comes with a color picture disc. The song list is a beauty, from Sun classics like Mystery Train and Good Rockin' Tonight to wonderful RCA recordings such as One Sided Love Affair, Too Much, Anyway You Want Me, I Got A Woman and So Glad You're Mine.

For older fans the Born Too Late albums will be a nostalgic trip down memory lane as Tom gets our adrenalin pumping with the atmospheric Money Honey, up-tempo Got A Lot of Living To Do and Shake, Rattle and Roll and then gets down and bluesy with Milk Cow Blues Boogie.

As my fellow conspirator on this website, Piers would say, the inclusion of Don't Leave Me Now and You're So Square (Baby, I Don't Care) from Jailhouse Rock is simply "delicious" and slipping the great 1960 recording I Will Be Home Again onto the first album is a nice touch.

The sleeve notes for Born Too Late (I) indicate that "This session was recorded live in a single nine hour session in the spirit in which the original material was performed and recorded." This is undoubtedly the strength of all six Tom Green albums - his uncanny ability to replicate the Elvis performing and recording spirit.

Tom Green is backed by several obviously seasoned musicians: Paul Jonas, Ken Bindas and Earl Carter (Bass), Jeff Benske and Ian Spanic (lead guitar), Matt Meixner (Piano/Keyboards) and Matt Liban (Drums).

Verdict: Tom Green's albums with their strong "Elvis" vocals and excellent arrangements rank him as one of the world's pre-eminent Elvis vocalists. Recommended.

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