Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

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

  1. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Just wanted to add while we're on Moody Blue that regardless of other's opinions It's Easy For You remains one of my top 30 favorite Elvis songs.
     
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  2. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I also have some doubt if Elvis selected the demos of new material ahead of the cancelled session. In the case of the Graceland sessions, many of the downbeat songs were covers, so it makes sense to guess that Elvis played a role in their selection by letting Jarvis and company know ahead of time that he wanted to cover those songs. But in the case of new songs, he might not have heard many of the demos until the actual session. It would be interesting to know how many demos were proposed for the Graceland sessions and if any were rejected.

    We know that to his credit, Jarvis did try to get Elvis to record uptempo numbers (with mixed results) and I view the cancelled session as another instance of this. Jarvis likely thought an upbeat and commercial song like "Moody Blue" could lead to greater chart success, and the cancelled session would have tried a similar approach. The one song from that session that Elvis definitely knew beforehand and probably requested was "Rainy Night in Georgia," which he sang a line from in On Tour.
     
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  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea the Rainy Night In Georgia thing is a little frustrating. I only know Brook Benton's version, and I think it is great, but it would have been nice to hear a focused Elvis version.
    As for all the other stuff, I am one that would have to say "Who Knows?". It seems the further we get into the seventies the more erratic Elvis, PArker and RCA seemed to get. I actually do feel sorry for Felton in this regard ... must have been hard to deal with all those massive power struggles
     
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  4. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    It's Easy For You is certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but just like you, I find it to be one of my very favorite songs that Elvis ever recorded. Yeah, for sure Elvis recording an MOR ballad by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice would raise some eyebrows among some of the Elvis faithful, but the song was actually written for Elvis by the legendary songwriters, which is rare in and of itself. It also pretty accurately reflects some of what Elvis was going through at the time. I know we will get to the actual review of the song later, and I do have some minor issues with the production on the song (the cheesy synthesizer drives me nuts as conductor Bergen White should have been called in to write a real string and horn chart for the arrangement), but the basic rhythm arrangement by the TCB band was spot on as usual and Elvis delivered a pretty decent and heartfelt vocal overall.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2019
  5. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Jarvis played his own role in the power struggle, allowing himself to become Elvis’ staff producer with financial incentives to deliver masters to RCA and bring in songs from publishing channels. In that sense he was different than RCA or management; he had his own self-serving agenda. That said, it became increasingly difficult to work with Elvis in the studio and he was unable to connect with Elvis in a way that he could inspire and motivate the artist. The money was probably too good to walk away from.
     
  6. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    If Elvis had lived into the 80s and beyond, I suspect his path would have mirrored that of Johnny Cash. I don’t know if RCA ever would have dropped Elvis, as Columbia dropped Cash, but I suspect that 80s Elvis albums would have made Moody Blue seem like Elvis Is Back. Perhaps there would have been similar redemption at the end of the story in the 90s and 2000s, as Cash found with Rick Rubin.
     
  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    All round, a different producer would have served everything much better, but that needed to happen much earlier than 1976.
    But you are almost certainly right. Felton put himself in a treacherous position and it is hard to foresee how else it could have gone. Elvis may have been many things, and although towards the end he may have been oblivious, I don't think he was stupid. I reckon he would have realised Felton's game, and also realised he was in a position to use it to his personal advantage ... even if that was at odds with his career's advantage.
     
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  8. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    We can "what if" until the cows come home. The fact is, our hero let himself, and all of us who love him, down in the most awful of ways. He bad decisioned himself to death. Literally.

    It's sad. It sucks. But unfortunately it is also the truth. God knows I love E like he was a cross between my big brother and my Daddy. But facts are facts, man.
     
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  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I was merely talking about the situation at hand there and then.

    It is really hard to imagine where Elvis would have gone in the eighties had he lived.
    I tend to agree with your guestimations presented earlier, that for Elvis to live into the eighties he would have had to walked away.
    If he hadn't walked away he was going to die sooner or later, that is just the sad fact.
    If he had lived longer all sorts of things would have been possible .... a 1979 disco song lol

    Ideally if he had walked away and got himself sorted out. Given Parker, Jarvis, the Memphis Mafia and RCA the flick, cleaned himself up, gotten healthy..... perhaps in the mid to late eighties he would have perhaps shopped himself around. It's hard to believe that someone wouldn't have at least given him a three record deal. Just the money from an international comeback tour would have been enough to spark interest, irregardless of what he recorded.
    If he was thinking of recording something contemporary ... the mid eighties would have had him somewhere in the Springsteen, Cougar Mellancamp zone I would think, rural country rock of some description ... perhaps Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton Zone if we lean slightly more pop ... perhaps the Hank Williams Jnr, Garth Brooks zone ... it's hard to tell ... I don't see him moving into The Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet region.
    Alhough unlikely it would have been nice to see him move in the Springsteen Mellancamp direction, they had the balance of ballads, rockers and mild country feel that would have suited a fit and healthy Elvis....
    but it's all just speculation really.
     
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  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    spot on
     
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  11. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    According to Marty Lacker (in the Memphis Mafia book) Jarvis went over to the Sheraton and played demos for Elvis, so you are probably right that he had not heard at least some of those songs prior to the scheduled session. At the same time though, I do not think dissatisfaction with the material is what kept him from recording, since Billy Smith is clear that Elvis had made up his mind he that he was not going to record before he even drove to Nashville, and that his motivation (bizarre as it seems) was to get back at RCA and the Colonel.

    Anyway, if dissatisfaction with the material was a problem, he likely would have just gone to the session and recorded Rainy Night and refused to do anything else, or said he wanted to do Feelings instead or something. If it was simply a case of Elvis not liking the material then certainly Jarvis and RCA would have asked him what he did want to record and bent over backwards to accommodate him, as desperate as they were to get him to record anything at that point. Marty also mentions that they made one last attempt to record him in March of 1977, setting up the mobile studio at the racquetball court in Graceland, but Elvis once again played the sore throat card and refused to record anything.
     
  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Speaking of material. I wonder why he never tried some Leonard Cohen. I could see Elvis doing a great Suzanne, Bird On a Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat, Take this Longing ..... I guess it was publishing rights or something. Certainly the melancholy would have suited him, and I'm sure if he could have been bothered to arrange the songs they would have sparkled with his delivery.
     
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  13. Brian Mc

    Brian Mc Member

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I just wanna mention that Tanya Tucker recorded a really good version of "By Day By Day" that, to my ears, could have fit well for Elvis:

     
  14. Check out Tony Joe White’s version:

     
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  15. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Conway Twitty and Sam Moore did a pretty great version in 1993. It also features the fine lead guitar work of Reggie Young and some stellar organ from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers alumnus, Benmont Tench.

    [​IMG]
    5:19NOW PLAYING

    WATCH LATER
    Conway Twitty ft. Sam Moore - Rainy Night In Georgia (Official Video)
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2019
  16. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Very cool. She's arranged it in a way that's reminiscent of A Little Less Conversation (something that wasn't present on the original demo). Tanya was/is a huge Elvis fan.
     
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  17. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    All true but why do you think that his?
     
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  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Sadly Elvis had a myriad of internal issues ... his mind was kept busy with being a rock star, a soldier, a rock star and a movie star, getting back to the top and then a plateau ... where the only thing he could find that he seemed to think calmed the internal issues ended up killing him.
    That's my take
     
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  19. Jaap74

    Jaap74 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    My girlfriend gave me some of her family vinyl and this was in it, so yep, was big in Australia from the looks of it.......
     
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  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It's funny but I seem to remember Elvis always being pretty big in oz
     
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  21. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    Elvis' gold car did a shopping center tour of Australia. There were lines around the block.
     
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  22. Jaap74

    Jaap74 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Born in 1974 my earliest music memories are my parents dinner parties and BBQ's where they would play Abba and Elvis. The only Elvis LP they had was 'Welcome to My World' so of course that is one of my favourite albums of his. To my mum he is, and always will be, The King..... And to me too :cheers:
     
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  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    ABBA Arrival was huge in Perth, at least.
     
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  24. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Yeah I like to submit one of my favorite Rainy Night versions:
     
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  25. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Well said Mark! As much as I came to have an affection for FEPB, I'm glad this was released before Elvis died. There's always been an unusual kind of funk surrounding the death of Elvis. With the publishing of ELVIS, WHAT HAPPENED?, the CBS television special, and the later revealed autopsy results that showed the incredible amounts of prescription drugs in Elvis' body when he died, FEPB may have been just too much for a finale. Moody Blue is a very good Elvis album IMO. It's fitting that his first and last albums were cobbled together from random material but they work well. His first was made up of Sun and RCA recordings and his last was studio and live recordings. I can remember that Way Down was getting lots of radio play on the country station that my folks usually listened to while driving. I saw the album in the store in early August 1977, and bought it probably a week before Elvis died. At the time I was disappointed with FEPB so I was a little squeamish when I paid some saved birthday gift money for this. It had Way Down and Moody Blue so at least I knew that I liked those. I get it home and then see the cool blue vinyl. Ok, now you're making my day Elvis! Normally,I would play an album a couple of times and make a tape to keep my LP as clean as possible. I bet I played this 10 or 15 times before it came on the news about Elvis passing. Back then I remember being blown away by Unchained Melody although it never did much for me otherwise (that includes the Righteous Brothers version). I also really liked the uptempo stuff on the album. After Elvis died, I probably played this album another 30 times that summer. Lots of other people played his old records but I played this exclusively for a long time before playing some of his older stuff again. Besides Unchained Melody, I took a special liking to Pledging My Love. Both are still on my Elvis favorites list.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2019
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