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

    Love Letters
    Recorded: RCA Studio B, Nashville, June 7, 1970. take 5

    I actually like this version of the song. Certainly the 1966 version is more than likely better, but I like this song and this version has its own special qualities.
    In 66 we have a more gentle vocal, that is a little more smooth, and it hasn't got the Felton overdubs.
    This version is definitely using Elvis' seventies vocal, but I like Elvis' seventies vocal, so I'm not perturbed by it.
    Although there are a couple of tracks on this album where Felton's overdubs are bordering on unbearable, I actually don't dislike what he did with this one.



     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    When I'm Over you
    Written By :
    Shirl Milete

    Recorded :
    RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 7, 1970. take 1

    We start up here with a nice bit of country guitar. This song to me, would have worked a little better if Felton had stayed his hand from the overdubs. It isn't too bad at the start, and then by about halfway through it sounds like Jarvis got everybody he could find in Nashville that could sing and put them in the mix.
    I think that the strings are ok, but somewhat unnecessary and end up having more of a smothering effect, than an enhancing effect.
    I generally don't have much trouble with the overdubs, but on this song, they tend to be in the way.
    The vocal is good, but to my ears, is hampered by the wall of singers.

     
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  3. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    WHEN I'M OVER YOU is my personal EP "guilty pleasure": the rhythm is nice and Elvis singing is just... nice too. It's also the last time our man was singing backed up by The Jords. For all that, WIOY has been something of a musical caprice for the last 35 years.

    [​IMG]
    Me listening to WIOY about 24 seconds ago, next to my EP bookshelf.
     
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  4. When I’m Over You wouldn’t be out of place on Back In Memphis. Agree that the orchestration is a bit heavy handed, but it is what it is. A decent track.

    Love Letters would be OK if the previous recording didn’t exist, but I just can’t appreciate this version knowing of the IMO far superior earlier version.
     
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  5. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Undubbed and complete. Available on the Elvis Country FTD.

     
  6. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Pretty much my thoughts exactly. It's not a particular standout, but it's enjoyable to hear and makes for an effective setup to the rest of side 1.

    When I'm Over You is probably my favourite master on the album (not necessarily my favourite song or performance, but my favourite as a final, finished record). I love the way the song starts off relatively understated, with that lovely guitar riff and the string fills, and then builds to a frantic volume, with Elvis, the orchestra, and the backing singers all fighting for our attention. It's chaotic, and it perfectly fits the tone of the song. The tension between the sweetness of the strings and the raw passion in Elvis' voice is wonderful.

    The alternate mixes (Our Memories Of Elvis, Elvis Country FTD, TTWII Special Edition) are nice to have, but the undubbed versions sound a bit empty, and the TTWII SE mix doesn't have quite the same overblown magic of the original master. I'm not saying they're bad; I enjoy hearing them almost as much as I enjoy hearing the final version. They're just missing that final bit of studio magic.
     
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  7. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    There are a few songs that would have been at home on Elvis Country. When I'm Over You is one of them. Not bad. MANY of Elvis' recordings have been hampered by the background vocals in his entire career. Elvis loved having backup vocals WAY TOO MUCH.

    The undubbed version is MUCH better.
     
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  8. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Does the FTD version of Love Letters have undubbed versions? Would you or anyone that owns it, recommend it?
     
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  9. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    In general, I agree with you. The number of Elvis recordings that suffer from backing vocals is greater than the number that were enhanced by them, imo (the difference is even more stark if you take live performances into account). When I'm Over You falls into the latter camp for me...but I'll be singing a different tune once we get to the next song on the album!
     
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  10. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Yes, it does, although you have to turn to the Elvis Country FTD to get the undubbed versions of When I'm Over You and the title track, and some other undubbed masters aren't available anywhere on FTD (as far as I know; someone please correct me if I'm wrong). LLFE is one of my favourite Classic Album FTDs, but then, I already like the album. At the very least, it makes for a very different listening experience, due to the extensive overdubbing/editing on the album proper.

    Another nice thing about the FTD is that you get the masters/outtakes of Sylvia, The Sound Of Your Cry, and Rags To Riches, all of which I think should have been on the album.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
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  11. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Both @mark winstanley and @Shawn pretty much capture everything I would want to say about Elvis's second stab at Love Letters, and I do think When I'm Over You would indeed fit well on Back In Memphis. I have no problem with Elvis's 70's voice for the most part, in fact, I find his rich baritone and amazing vibrato quite attractive. It isn't superior to his angelic voice of the 60's, but it was inevitable that it was going to head that way eventually as I have said before. What I am having an issue with on most of these cuts from the Love Letters album, besides some of the substandard material, is arranger Don Tweedy's orchestrations. He was a well regarded arranger in his time, having done the swelling string arrangement on Bobby Goldsborro's blockbuster hit of 1968, Honey. If you like strings, you can almost drown in them on that record. Tweedy also did the far more delicate and nuanced vocal arrangement for The Browns huge country-pop standard, The Three Bells, so he is an arranger of some skill and talent. I just do not really care for a fair amount of the string and horn arrangements he did for Elvis during these June sessions. He has a far more dated orchestral sound to my ears, and he also liked to emphasize flutes and clarinets a little more than some of Elvis's other arrangers that I actually prefer, like Bergen White and Cam Mullins.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
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  12. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Seems that I read way back in the 1950s albums thread here that Elvis purposely left the guitar solo in "Too Much" where Scotty Moore gets a little lost but finds his way back. Didn't Scotty Moore want to redo that part but Elvis said it was basically good to go as is? As great as the 1966 version was of "Love Letters", I can't imagine what he heard in it that he thought needed improvement. Another stab at the vocals of "Hey Jude" seems more logical than a redo of "Love Letters" IMO.
     
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  13. When In Rome

    When In Rome It's far from being all over...

    Location:
    UK
    From 'A Life in Music' by Ernst Jorgenson: 'The night ended with a rerecording of “Love Letters” prompted by pianist David Briggs’s desire to improve on his performance on the original 1966 master. David may have felt better about his new performance, but Elvis wasn’t into it, and the new version lacked all the understated charm of the first.'

    If this had remained unreleased and left in the vaults it would probably have made a rather interesting curio when it eventually surfaced but to base a contemporary album around this somewhat lacklustre performance is almost laughable.
    The whole Love Letters album has always felt disjointed to me and it's not one I return to much at all...
    The spell was broken now, the magic was disappearing in a lot of ways...
     
  14. JLGB

    JLGB Senior Member

    Location:
    D.R.
    It does have overdubs. The original 1966 version was sparse. Produced by Felton as well in the middle of the "How Great Thou Art" sessions. I like them both.
    Now that we are deep in the Felton era LOL....I think the heavy overdubs was Elvis's doing. All one has to do is listen to the 70's concerts. The huge orchestra (plus a dozen or so backup singers), was Elvis's sole idea. So (IMO), Elvis liked the same thing on record, for the most part.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
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  15. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I agree that the quality of his work was much more uneven after these sessions. I also agree that Love Letters was a song that didn't need revisited or the revised version spotlighted. The rest of the material is just lower tier leftovers from sessions that have been cherry picked. I approach the album that way and I'm not disappointed. The only other alternative was to not release the material and we all know that wasn't going to happen. Songs like When I'm Over You, Only Believe, and Heart Of Rome really shine here. I think we all got a little spoiled from the previous run of great new previous albums from FEIM to TTWII to Country.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
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  16. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I know a lot of fans must have felt the same way, and yet Elvis would win over a new devotee (Your's truly) based on his last three studio albums he recorded in his life, Today, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, and Moody Blue, all of which were recorded during the mid 70's. I guess there was still some magic left in the tank to a few of us.
     
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  17. When In Rome

    When In Rome It's far from being all over...

    Location:
    UK
    I'm not saying it was all over, admittedly I wasn't even around until 1972 but looking back it just feels like something was changing and not for the better. I can still find merit (can we say that around these parts? :D ) in every single one of the albums to follow* but I just feel consistency was not the strongest feature...

    * 'Having Fun On Stage With Elvis' notwithstanding!
     
  18. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Very well put, my friend. I could not say it any better than you just did.
     
  19. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I'm getting ahead of the thread by posting this, but Happy Fourth of July everyone! (Even if you're not in the US).

     
  20. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Happy Independence Day!
     
  21. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I know that the traditional view of late-60s/70s Elvis is that of a steady decline, but for me, there's no real "decline," at least when it comes to his studio work. There were occasional dips in quality, mainly during the Stax sessions, but even those produced some genuine gems and some enjoyable fluff (so not very different from the rest of Elvis' career). As far as the Graceland sessions go, I'll put them up against 95% of his output in terms of sheer emotion.
     
  22. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    This post just makes my day (year really) and I feel exactly the same way. Elvis's vast album catalogue was always subject to some inconsistency over the years, even his highly recorded Sun and early RCA Victor period that is so revered had some lesser moments to my ears. There is hardly an album or phase in his long recording career where I cannot find some scattered gems among the weaker albums. You and others like @SKATTERBRANE helped me to completely reevaluate Elvis's soundtrack period, which I too easily dismissed previously as not worth exploring in any detail. I find the conventional viewpoint on Elvis and his music is not one I usually really agree with except for the almost universal critical acclaim of Elvis Is Back or From Elvis In Memphis, and even those splendid albums were basically under-appreciated at the time of their actual release. The early Sun material, which is just fantastic to my ears, was basically canonized by rock critics for many years, almost to the detriment of everything Elvis accomplished later with his very eclectic catalogue.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
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  23. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    We're talking about Elvis: as a vocalist and musician, the man was a genius. So there would always be something good to find in his recording sessions. I'VE GOT A THING ABOUT YOU BABY is one of my favorite singles and it was still done in July 1973, at one of the worst studio sessions ever. The point is between 71 and 76, the highlights were increasingly less often just as his voice and mind were deteriorating.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2019
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  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    If I Were You
    Written By :
    Gerald Nelson

    Recorded :
    RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 8, 1970. take 9

    I really like this song. Here the overdubs work really well and add depth and texture to the song. I really like the little piano motif used at the end of the lines early on, and also the guitar lines and lead break are excellent. I find Elvis' vocal to be perfect for the song. For me this song could have easily been on Country.

     
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  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Got My Mojo Working - Keep Your Hands Off It
    Written By :
    Preston Foster

    Recorded :

    RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 5, 1970. take 1

    This track starts a little abruptly, but frankly the vigor with which it's performed is too good to find any fault in this song. We have a locomotive rhythm, the band is tight and pumping, Elvis is loose and hitting the vocal hard, with some of his best vocals of this period. Again, here the overdubs work in terms of adding to the locomotion of the song.
    Top stuff.

     
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