Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, May 26, 2019.

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The Sixties had been a rollercoaster ride with a very high standard set in the first part of the decade. During 65, 66 we see a lull, and seeming disinterest from Elvis and the management and studio people, with substandard recordings on soundstages, to get songs for the movies done on a shoestring budget. A general fog of indifference from everybody, a public growing tired of the Elvis movie scene in light of the British Invasion, and a change in the direction of music.
    When Elvis recorded his gospel album, the tide started to turn and Elvis clawed his way back into the heart's and minds of the public through some very good recordings and ultimately the NBC TV special which is still revered today.
    Then even better, Elvis moves to American Sound Studios with Chips Moman and the studio band and lays down some of the best recordings of his career and even slides a couple of hits out.
    Parker persuaded Elvis to head to Vegas, essentially as a distraction to how well the American Sound recordings went, and also needing to draw Elvis attention back to himself, as the man with the plan...... This controlling nature of Parker's really was the shot that killed the golden goose.
    Elvis starts off 1970 with the final single from the American sessions and then we move into Camden Releases and some more good stuff, but it is a bumpy ride and Vegas has its tentacles on our boy .... so lets see how this plays out.
     
  2. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Here come the 1970s:


     
  3. Hooperfan

    Hooperfan Your friendly neighborhood candy store owner

    Location:
    New York
    :pineapple:
     
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  4. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Here we go: one of my very favorite albums - On Stage - is coming up soon.
     
  5. Shaker Steve

    Shaker Steve Beatles & Elvis Fan

    He needed to break free of Parker after 1970. Get a new manager who would organise world tours for him. His fans round the world would have loved to have seen him in concert. Meet new songwriters who he wouldn't rip off for royalties. The manager would have cleaned up his act, get him off his drugs, get him recording good songs that would stimulate this interest.

    Instead, thanks to Parker, he took the easy way, doing endless Vegas & other state tours that held no interest for him, & in the end that's what did for him. He lost interest in recording, because most of the songs & albums were crap. All over the place & he didn't care how they went out. Such a sad end for a great singer.
     
  6. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Countless great releases to look forward to. :)
     
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  7. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Oh I do not think I'll have much trouble counting them.
     
  8. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    To each his own: to my ears, this first 70s album we’ll encounter features at least four, and arguably six, of the cornerstone songs in his entire body of work.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I will be able to count the songs, even though there are a lot of them.
    I know that to some degree Elvis' star did certainly wane, but I get a lot of pleasure from an awful lot of these songs and albums
     
  10. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    I love Elvis’s 50s and 60s work, but spend by far the most time listening to his 70s music. Whether that makes his 70s work better, I don’t know, but I do enjoy it.
     
  11. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    When one takes time to listen to the 70s stuff, there’s a lot of great stuff.

    A lot.
     
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  12. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    There are some nice recordings from the 70s but they are no majority. They are more like nuggets that you've got to look for. And they get harder to find as the decade goes by.
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I would totally agree. I ventured into the seventies a little apprehensive, but I like a lot more than I thought I would. I love a lot of it, and there is little I dislike.
     
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  14. Hooperfan

    Hooperfan Your friendly neighborhood candy store owner

    Location:
    New York
    There are some 70s recordings I love that others will scoff at I'm sure, but that's my taste I guess.

    Love Me, Love the Life I Lead anyone? :hide:
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I get the feeling that you and I and perhaps @Spencer R and @RSteven may need to stand together for support during the seventies :)
     
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  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Here's the interesting thing to me.
    I grew up loving the fifties stuff that I knew, and when the fifties collection came out, I bought it without a hesitation .... And I thought it was great.
    When the sixties box came out ... I ummmed and ahhhed and I got it, and I thought it was fantastic, because I had heard all my life that after the fifties Elvis was rubbish ... that couldn't be further from the truth. The real sixties stuff, and even some of the soundtrack stuff, I actually prefer to the fifties stuff (which I still think is fantastic by the way)

    When the seventies box came out, all I did was look at it .... and walk away.
    When I decided to get the album collection a month or so before I started this thread, I was pretty sure I would love the fifties and sixties albums, and with very few exceptions I do love the fifties and sixties stuff. The box sets prior were great, but at the end of the day I am an album guy, and they weren't getting spins because of that.

    In a way I forced myself to give the seventies stuff a try by starting this thread, because except for the 5 or 6 huge singles I was familiar with, all I had heard was Aloha ....
    So it was with some trepidation that I stepped into the seventies .... but it was fear over absolutely nothing. There are some fantastic songs and performances, and there wasn't really any album that made me cringe. Sure there are some slightly weaker albums ... and none of the albums will knock From Elvis In Memphis off my favourite Elvis album perch .... but in reality, few other performers ever have made an album I like as much as From Elvis In Memphis, so it would be silly to grade his later albums against that masterpiece.
    I completely understand that most of us would have preferred the Vegas scene to have been a short term thing.
    I think almost all of us wish that someone other than Parker was steering the ship through the seventies.
    I reckon even those of us that love this seventies stuff feel Elvis didn't necessarily reach the potential he had in the seventies.....
    I'm sure all of us wish that he hadn't died, so young, in such an unnecessary way, and been somewhat humiliated by the media regarding it ....

    I suppose most of you have been listening to this stuff for years and have well solidified opinions on it, and that is fine. I reckon we need to listen to this stuff and re-evaluate it. Even if you reckon you have heard it a million times, try and listen to it as we go, with no preconceived notion of your opinion, as I will also. We all know there will be strings and horns and backing singers and all the rest of it, but when we do the supplementary thread on the sessions and outtakes we can evaluate and/or reevaluate those stripped back versions, dropped takes, alternate masters etc ...
    For these dubbed masters, lets try and approach them with fresh ears and see if we can't get to the heart of Elvis in the seventies.
     
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  17. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Amen, Brother! I think @czeskleba has pretty eclectic taste as well and also appreciates the country music genre that dominated a great deal of Elvis's 70's recordings. I look forward to a hearing his take on these recordings as well. And @DirkM's tastes are as interesting and unpredictable as anybody on this fine thread. We have a stellar group of Elvis experts that are not afraid to praise or criticize Elvis's music when they review it.
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2019
  18. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    The Seventies box - the one you didn’t get - does a pretty good job of sorting out the wheat from the chaff, with probably the highest percentage of metaphorical wheat to chaff of any other Seventies collection or album. Especially CD3 (Studio Highlights 1970-71) and CD5 (The Elvis Presley Show).

    As you may have gathered, I think I’m going to enjoy this thread. Thanks for starting it!
     
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  19. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    When I first really got into Elvis, I gravitated towards the 70s material the most, for a variety of reasons. Nowadays I instinctively reach for the early 60s records whenever I feel like listening to Elvis, but I still love the 70s stuff (from Nashville to Graceland), and it's still the Elvis material that resonates the most with me on an emotional level. Sure, you have to wade through some terrible songs and some lackluster performances, but that's no different from the rest of Elvis' career. For the most part, it's an incredibly rewarding body of work to listen to, and it has an emotional range that can match any other collection of recorded popular music.
     
  20. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    The 70s box has its shortcomings, but as a neophyte Elvis listener, it got me hooked, and I still think that it's one of the finest Elvis boxsets out there (only Platinum and the 50s set are more thrilling to hear). Granted, my personal Elvis-in-the-70s playlist looks very different, but I'll never forget the impact that Walk A Mile In My Shoes had on me. In a way, the fact that it was very incomplete (and open about being so) made me want to dig deeper into Elvis' work. When I first got the 50s set, I thought I was set to go for that decade (heh). But the 70s box held out the promise of so much wonderful work that wasn't collected on it, and I wasn't disappointed when I finally got to hear the missing tracks and live albums (let alone the outtakes!).
     
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  21. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I hope you're around when we discuss the Fool album, because I fear I'll be in a distinct minority on that one!
     
  22. CBackley

    CBackley Chairman of the Bored

    Lots of good stuff coming up. I’m a recent convert to Elvis, mostly within the last year or so. But I love some of his 70’s material. On Stage. That’s the Way It Is. Elvis Country. Three classics right there! There’s some good stuff on other albums too.
     
  23. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    The 70s box has many unique mixes that I prefer over the original mixes. Oh the 70s will start out very good in my view. But then......
     
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  24. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Elvis became my favorite recording artist during the 1970's, more specifically, the first full fledged studio album by Elvis that I ever bought was his very fine Today album in 1975, but my love for Elvis did not supersede my infatuation with Charlie Rich until 1976, with From Elvis Presley Boulevard and Moody Blue in 1977. Despite the imperfections many fans find in those two last studio albums, Elvis's vocals touched me in a very special way. I had never heard any pop singer or country singer for that matter, sing with the kind of power, range and emotion that Elvis put behind his voice on songs like Hurt, Danny Boy and Unchained Melody. Elvis's voice just touched me the way no other singer ever had previously, besides the late great Charlie Rich.
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2019
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  25. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    What really kicked off my Elvis obsession was the Complete 50s Masters box set and the first two Essential Elvis CDs that featured 50s outtakes. I guess those were released in the late 80s/early 90s. For a while there, while I was obsessed with the 50s material, I bought into the “Elvis died when he joined the Army” narrative. Then the 60s box came out, and I was floored by how good it was. Then I slowly saw past the clichés about the 70s period, and, to be honest, the On Stage and That’s The Way It Is era is probably my single favorite Elvis period, and I love the 70s material through the 1974 live shows and the Elvis Today album in 1975.
     
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