August 16
On this day in 1977 – a King died. The King of Rock and Roll.
On this day in 2018 – a Queen died. The Queen of Soul.
Both were musical royalty. Did you know they both have a musical group in common? Both have “recorded” with the world famous Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Imagine what some of their songs might have sounded like with an orchestral background! Never mind. You don’t have to, because there are albums you can check out.
Here are a couple of my favorites from those albums (with some bonus cuts and artists later on)
Elvis
A Big Hunk o’ Love
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Steamroller Blues
In the Ghetto
Aretha Franklin
Respect
Natural Woman
Think
Until You Come Back To Me
Elvis has two albums with the RPO and a Christmas Album. Aretha has one. But there are other artists whose song’s have been reimagined by the RPO. The first being The Carpenters. Honestly, many of their songs already had some sort of orchestra background, but these new arrangements are neat to hear.
The Carpenters
I Just Fall In Love Again
We’ve Only Just Begun
The oddest pairing in my opinion is the RPO and the Beach Boys. Orchestral Surf??
Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Sloop John B
My favorite cut is this one – Fun, Fun, Fun
My favorite collaboration (besides Elvis) is the RPO and Roy Orbison. Wow! What an album! Simply amazing.
In Dreams
Crying
It’s Over
Only the Lonely
Running Scared
I have always loved Mean Woman Blues by Roy. However, I think the version with the RPO takes the original and beefs it up with some cool horns and makes it even better! My favorite cut!
Mean Woman Blues
So today we salute a King, a Queen, and some artists that would be considered music royalty – with a “royal” musical group that they all have in common. I hope you enjoyed listening. All of the Royal Philharmonic Albums can be heard on YouTube!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
love how you connected them all here
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I really enjoyed listening to all these and hearing the philharmonic playing. Great post.
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Thanks, Carla! There are SO many more I wanted to post.
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I’ve always found these RPO/old pop star albums a bit weird…. Mainly because the pop stars are usually long dead when it happens. The one that works best is Roy Orbison, because his music was so operatic in the first place!
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I think the Orbison is the best as well. I liked the Elvis Christmas album, too
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Very nice tribute to a pair of icons who passed on the date as you pointed out. I actually hadn’t listened to these RPO pieces before, it certainly adds a new dimension to the music.
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That’s a lot of music to listen to! Luckily I know most of the tunes.
Thanks for the great share!
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I love how little additions like a string or trumpet can take a song to a whole new level
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I’d noted before a year or two back how odd the King of Rock’n’Roll and Queen of Soul both died on same calendar day, but you found a cool connection there with the orchestra!
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Wonderful post! I remember when Elvis passed… Groucho Marx died on August 19, 1977 and his death was swallowed by Elvis. Awesome picks Keith!
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