Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

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

  1. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    The problem for me is that the original stereo mixes are MIA in complete form except for There Goes My Everything. The songs were remixed for the 70s box and BMG/Sony have used those mixes since then.
     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I find it takes the air from the songs. The songs don't get to finish or start with any space. I understand sound effects linking songs, and it makes me wonder if he was listening to some Pink Floyd or something, and thought "hey, what if ...?" but it doesn't work for me.
     
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  3. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I like the way you phrase that Mark, "I find it takes the air from the songs." Yes indeed, I think songs sometimes need a little space or air to help them breath a little. I think that is why I oftened listened to a lot of the songs from Elvis Country on the 70's box set. They sound rather nice when standing on their own with a little space between them.
     
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  4. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Just like with the '68 TV Special, and Aloha, I had this album way before I saw the video footage. I would play these and imagine what was going on sight wise. This is another fantastic album in a long line that Elvis was putting out from late 1968 to 1973 (I'm including those quirky Camdens because they all have gems despite the musical weeds to be found in them). Just like the other live albums that I mentioned, once I saw the video footage, it was better than I could have imagined (and I imagined it was great).
     
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  5. minkahed

    minkahed Forum Resident

    That artwork is quite attractive. Much better than it's U.S. Counterpart.
     
  6. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    I was always skeptical of that claim.
     
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  7. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    I know some consider this LP one of the great ones in the Elvis Presley catalogue, but I think it is generally overrated by its enthusiasts. Jarvis did his best to emulate the blueprint and results from American Sound with respect to the studio cuts, but he didn’t reach that apex. He didn’t have studio, the band, the material, or the same skill level to pull it off.

    As a Nashville replica, it is more than competent, and there are certainly some noteworthy recordings. Indeed, there are some great vocal performances and there is some fine material, but to these ears it is lower quality than what came before just a year earlier.
     
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  8. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I'm afraid that TTWII, despite containing three or four of my very favourite Elvis performances, doesn't really hang together as an album for me. I don't blame the live/studio hybrid idea, which isn't inherently bad. It's just that, overall, the sequencing seems to really let the best songs down and puts some of the weaker tracks in prominent positions. The songs sound much better either in isolation, or on the 70s box, imo.

    Also, I've always wished that they'd released a proper soundtrack to the film, complete with rehearsals and all. It could make for a very interesting FTD release.
     
  9. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I absolutely hated the song linking on Elvis Country when I first heard it, but I've come to enjoy it as part of the album. What really annoys me is that it makes it extremely difficult to put the songs on mixtapes. I've used the 70s box versions in the past, but I often prefer the original album mixes, especially on Tomorrow Never Comes.
     
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  10. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I was going to wait on chiming in about Elvis Country until we got there but while we're here, I have come to expect the song snippets in between the tracks but I've never embraced them. If Elvis did in fact want those snippets in between each track, I can only imagine that he felt the songs were too slow or depressing or something and thought the whole thing needed a pick me up. I enjoy the album and if they wanted something between each track, why not put some studio banter and playing around sorta like the Let It Be album by The Beatles.
     
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  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I Just Can't Help Believin'
    Written By :
    Cynthia Weil & Barry Mann

    Recorded :
    Live Recording, "That's The Way It Is", International Hotel, Las Vegas, August 10-13, 1970: August 11, 1970

    I really like the way this song works. I think the live arrangement is great. I am going to post two versions, because I am honestly not sure which is the album version, or if one of these is merely edited.
    Anyhow this is a smooth blue eyes soul kind of song and it really does work for me. In the first verse you hear Elvis have a a bit of a half laugh, and I think that may well be in relation to the bit of a joke he told just prior to starting. You can tell Elvis is in the prime of his performing experience here. His ability to sell the song is at a peak, and his ability to relax and have fun is also in prime mode.
    I like the horns and strings, I like the backing vocals, and Elvis is right on the money "Sing the song baby ...."

     
  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
    Written By :
    Clive Westlake & Ben Weisman

    Recorded :

    RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 4, 1970. take 9

    I love this. I really don't know what folks like and dislike here, and I am just going to say how I see it.
    This is a smooth country/pop ballad. I really like the melody, and Elvis appears to have total vocal control here, knowing when to power on and when to slide in that vibrato. The song has a live feel although it is the studio version.
    We have a solid bass come in with some nice guitar adding a touch of colour. The backing vocalists have a gentle melodic ooo going on. Toward the first chorus we get a string flourish, and they build on this in the next verse. The backing vocalists also grow somewhat in the second verse.
    We move into a key change and the atmosphere builds again.
    Great song and great performance.

     
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  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    August 12 dinner show version - I love Elvis' humorous self deprecating intros

     
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  15. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Each of your Just Can't Help Believin' are the same performance. But the first one is the master and notice the difference in the audience response. It is more robust on the master thanks to Jarvis' overdubbing it. I prefer the unvarnished version in the next post.
     
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  16. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Elvis' version of I Just Can't Help Believin' is fantastic. It is a perfect song for him. Nothing wrong with Twenty Days And Twenty Night either. I think the TTWII LP was a very modern sounding album back in the day and the summer of 1970 is where we reach Elvis' peak and the final stage (pun) of the comeback.
     
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  17. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    I Just Can’t Help Believin’ kicks off the album with a masterpiece, in my opinion. Beautiful song, beautiful melody, beautiful arrangement with the electric piano, strings, and horns. My favorite song from this album/movie is probably You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, but, where You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling flirts with the bombastic, I Just Can’t Help Believin’ stays restrained and low key throughout.
     
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  18. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I Just Can't Help Believin' starts off well, with that mysterious and haunting intro, but the chuckle on "a trace of misty morning" completely takes me out of the song and ruins the mood. I wish they'd chosen another version, or at least edited out that moment. I'm also not a fan of the harmony vocals (one of the many things I love about the big TTWII box is the way it's mixed, placing the focus on Elvis' voice). In any case, I do love the "this time the girl is gonna stay" climax, and the pause/build-up before the punch line ("...for more than just a day") is just sublime. It's a flawed masterpiece, imo.

    Not sure why, but Twenty Days and Twenty Nights always makes me think of Goin' Home ("I left my home up in the hills"). Either way, it's one of my least-favourite 70s cuts, and I often end up skipping it when it comes on. Musically, it never really goes anywhere for me, and I think it's particularly poorly positioned as track #2, completely killing whatever momentum I Just Can't Help Believin' sets up. At least on the 70s box it comes off as a quiet opener, almost like a rehearsal, before Disc 3 bursts into life with I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago.
     
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  19. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Elvis is definitely in splendid voice on the whole That's The Way It Is album, and you are spot on here; this whole album is very modern and contemporary for its time. It has also held up extremely well over the years as its critical statue has actually grown over the years. At the time, I do not think modern rock critics had a lot of love for the shimmering sparkle of some of these type of country-pop arrangements, but just listening to some of Bruce Springsteen's wonderful new album, Western Skies, makes you realize how beautiful and gorgeous this material can be when you have the right musicians and the right arrangers working with strong material.

    I cannot really say it better than Spencer just did about how I feel about both songs, but especially the former. I have always thought Frank Sinatra was singularly unique with his phrasing skills as a vocalist, but I think it was B.B. King who said that Elvis's interpretive skills and phrasing were "every bit as good or as unique as Sinatra's" or something very close to that when praising Elvis as a singer. I could not agree more with the blues legend, and Elvis shows of that skill in spades on his superior version of I Just Can't Stop Believin', when he modulates the word rhythm with the actually meaning of the word. Just a fantastic vocal all around.
     
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  20. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    I JUST CAN'T HELP BELIEVIN' is of course one of the tracks that really stands out on "That's the way it is": a nice Pop song that Elvis elevates through a fantastic Soulful arrangement. His vocals combined with the Sweets' blend effortlessly. The interplay between them is also fascinating. The whole thing is tasteful and wonderfully performed by the band and the orchestra. Funny that the only one messing up a little bit is Elvis himself, but I believe that it also is part of the charm of a live performance. On this one, it surely is.

    TWENTY DAYS AND TWENTY NIGHTS - great vocals on an average Country number. I do not remember the last time I listened to it (probably back in 1992, when "The lost performances" was released on video tape.)
     
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  21. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I Just Can't Help Believin' is a fine performance by Elvis, but it's also kind of sad because Elvis copies the arrangement on BJ Thomas' record pretty much exactly, and that arrangement was created by Chips Moman and the Memphis Boys at American Studios. In a better world Elvis would have recorded the song at American and had the hit with it himself, rather than chasing after Thomas' version. But he let himself be manipulated into not working with Moman again, and as Marty Lacker said this decision hurt Elvis more than it hurt Moman. Elvis knew he wanted the American Sound, but he was too stubborn and as a result had to get it via sloppy seconds.
     
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Doing this thread has brought forward some amazing revelations, but the biggest revelation for me is the amount of missed opportunities, bungled managerial decisions and record company actions and decisions.
    When you consider Elvis is one of the biggest selling artists in history, and most people respect one part or another of his recorded work, imagine how enormous he would have been if
    - They had promoted Elvis is Back, and released a single at the time. Add that comment to the other sixties studio albums.
    - They hadn't cut the movie budget to nothing and the soundtracks in the mid sixties were recorded properly
    - Parker hadn't run off any decent songwriters that annoyed him or whatever the case was
    - Parker hadn't Run off Chips Moman
    - Elvis hadn't incapacitated himself.

    It is beyond imagining that he managed to remain popular and sell a lot of music in spite of so many silly things building up to try and cripple his career.
     
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  23. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I actually do not hear it the same way as you do. I can see where you might say that Elvis did not reinvent the wheel when it came to his splendid version of I Just Can't Help Believin' as Elvis sticks pretty close to the melody and overall pace of B.J. Thomas's fine version, but I think Elvis's vocals and his unique phrasing and rhythm for the song make his version something special to behold. To me personally, B.J. Thomas, a very fine singer, makes I Just Can't Help Believin' sound like a very adequate and likable MOR styled song, while Elvis, with the great TCB band and some stellar horns during the instrumental break of the song, make it something special and unique. Maybe it is just the very unique sound and splendor of Elvis's buttery voice that makes his version stand out to me.
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2019
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  24. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Twenty Days and Twenty Nights is one of those pretty good songs that is elevated by Elvis' performance. As a song, the thing I like best about it is the lyrics. It's kind of the flipside of songs like Inherit The Wind that glamorize irresponsibility and fear of commitment. Instead, we get a mature perspective from a guy who probably thought he had "the north wind flowing in his veins" but in just 20 days has realized that he f&&ked up terribly by leaving his wife. It's nice to hear Elvis tackle a mature romantic theme like this. Surprisingly, the song was cowritten by Ben Weisman, who churned out a few dozen Elvis songs, some good (Crawfish, Don't Leave Me Now, Fame and Fortune) and some not so good (Rock a Hula Baby, Easy Come Easy Go).
     
  25. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Well, I don't think anyone here is going to argue that Elvis wasn't a better singer than BJ Thomas, certainly not me. I agree that Elvis sings it better and as a result I do like his recording much better. My point is just that he copied the arrangement on the Thomas record exactly and that is sad because of the circumstances behind it. He clearly wanted the American sound but couldn't get it firsthhand anymore. It's like a guy who breaks up with his girlfriend and then winds up dating a woman who looks just like her and spends all his time talking about his ex. Elvis put himself in the position where he couldn't have the American guys creating arrangements directly for him anymore, and that's sad. It's also kind of analogous to how in the 60s he was reduced to covering Leiber and Stoller songs recorded by other artists, rather than having them write songs for him directly.
     
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