“A Salute to ELVIS”
at BB KING/NYC!

 
Review By Phil Gelormine/ELVIS WORLD
 
Robert Gordon brought his annual "Elvis Birthday Tribute" show to the BB King Blues Club & Grill in midtown Manhattan on January 3, 2008 (one year to the day of his last one). This year Santa brought along friend and guitar legend Chris Spedding to co-star with him throughout the show. They have been playing together again for the first time in decades. As a team, they made some of Robert's earliest and finest recordings and what a treat to see them reunited.
 
 
Apparently, Robert has come to grips with his Elvis association and unabashedly released a superb album last year of tribute covers spotlighting The King's best songs titled "It's Now or Never." He's even recruited Elvis' backup vocal group, The Jordanaires (including original tenor Gordon Stoker and bass, Ray Walker) to sing on the record. These "Birthday" concerts were always a curious mixture of classic Robert Gordon tunes mixed with a sprinkling "of those Presley things" as he called them.
 
But tonight, it was full throttle Elvis! We caught the early show and The Voice bounded on stage with a look of glee in his eye. The supper club was packed with fans of all ages. Wearing a causal, short sleeved, black dress shirt with colorful flames riding up the fabric, Robert was ready to rock. and opened with his trade mark "The Way I Walk." Spedding played like a well-oiled machine, giving Gordon plenty of room to work within and never taking his eyes off of him. What tasty licks and fills. Chris is certainly a master at his craft and it was so good to see these two making music again.
 

 
"Little Sister" followed and the house roared. They mixed it up with Gordon staples like "Lover Boy" and "a song Bruce Springsteen wrote for me" the classic "Fire" (which sounded great while wearing that crazy shirt!). After warming up, he gave the stage to Spedding who sped through “Gunfight”, then sang "Motor Biking," and finally delivered the Spedding original, "Guitar Jamboree." I love this tune whereby Chris replicates the guitar styles of such greats as Albert King, Clapton, Hendrix, Harrison, Chuck Berry and Keith Richards. I noticed a lot of smiling faces seated around me for this one.
 
But the best was yet to come. Robert came back out, along with his current back up group, "The Gordonaires," (get it?). The three men included a face I'd seen before. It was the '50s/early'60s teen chart topper, singer/songwriter Paul "Seven Little Girls/"Midnight Special" Evans! Elvis even cut a couple of things by Paul like the wonderful "I Gotta Know" which, unfortunately, was a no show in the show.
 

 
But Robert didn't just throw us a few bones this time; he followed now with a six song Presley set, nearly all tunes from the album. These songs fit him like a glove. He performed "Don't Leave Me Now," and a gorgeous "Young and Beautiful," both songs from "Jailhouse Rock" Gordon doesn't imitate. He initiates. Instead of the delicious falsetto ending that Elvis used at the end of "A Mess of Blues, Robert held the final note in a long blusy wail. He tailored the songs to fit his feel and Chris was never far behind. "The Gordonaries" provided just the right amount of back up without being overbearing. I dug their "woos-woos" on "Mess of Blues," and "bop-bops" on the iconic "Don't Be Cruel." We were also treated to a rock and rollin' "I Beg of You" and an Elvis song seldom covered and NOT found on the album, the '63 smash "(You're the) Devil in Disguise." The boys performed in on national TV the night before via "The Conan O'Brien Show."
 

 
Hey, surprises were still in store for us on this special night, just days away from what would have been The King's 73rd birthday. With his friend South side Johnny set to play the club the following evening, Gordon borrowed the Jukes Horns which ornamented songs by Elvis contemporaries Dion and Lloyd Price! Wow! To great applause, Robert beamed, "There's nothin' like a horn section, right!" He joked about a couple of false starts earlier, explaining that the show was being recorded, so they can just cut it out! He fended off requests and laughed at couple of female squeals during the night. Who says you can't be sexy at sixty!
 
Robert also introduced some new material in the act including a couple of lovely ballads "Beside You," and "I Love an Angel." He then pumped up the volume with "Rock Therapy" which gave Chris a great solo to show off his chops. It was all over too soon and only train connections back to New Jersey prevented us from staying for the second show on this particularly frigid, January night in New York. However, Gordon & Spedding blazed to a solid ending with the title track from the album they recorded nearly thirty years, title track from the album they recorded nearly thirty years ago, the Gordon staple "Rock Billy Boogie."  A standing ovation followed as the band waved and left the stage. They encored with "Red Hot" leaving the house spent.
 

 

As is his custom, Robert came out and met the fans shortly after the performance, apologizing for having little time to spend signing and posing because of the next show. He's always been gracious and cordial with his following. It was a fun night and truly paid respect to the memory of Elvis Presley - with music, a way in which he would have approved.
 
Robert Gordon has been doing these Elvis "tribute" birthday shows either in late December or early January for the last few years at King's club. I remember one year, during the pre show dinner, an elderly couple sat at our table and asked me, "What kind of jumpsuit will he be wearing tonight?" We smiled at each other as I explained to her that the singer she was about to see was a stylist not an Elvis imitator.
 
"Oh dear," Harry," she remarked to her bewildered husband. "What are we doing here?" I told her to please stay and at least give the guy a chance. Robert came out and blew the house down. The rotund woman stood, cheered, shimmied and clapped all night, even knocking over my martini at one point. At the end of the show, I just had to ask her what she thought. "Oh, I like him better than Elvis, honey!" Call it the Gordon Factor. This Cat rocks! See ya next year Robert!