Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Oct 7, 2018.

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  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I don't hate them, but they sure ain't top10
     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm up for it, and i reckon you are :)
     
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  3. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I'm definitely down with covering the posthumous albums! There were quite a few interesting releases in the 80s, most of which are still worth picking up if only for the unique edits and mixes...not to mention the silver and gold boxes, the Essential Elvis series, etc. And then we'll get to the FTD era!

    (Does anyone else feel spoiled being an Elvis fan?)
     
  4. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Well there are a few accidently released alternate takes in the 1980s albums, two different alternate takes of Anything That's Part Of You for one. This does not include the intentional alternate takes of course.
     
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  5. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I really think this period was vastly underrated, both while Elvis was still alive and for many years thereafter. Now, don't get me wrong, there is also some real dross mixed in their periodically as well. Even Elvis producer Ernst Jorgensen said that the Sony Music team was shocked by how well the compilation of Elvis's last two studio albums, Way Down In The Jungle Room, sold when it came out a couple of years ago. This material has aged pretty well to my ears, and the TCB band, along with some of those Muscle Shoals musicians, provided some stellar back up during those years.
     
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  6. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I was just thinking about that yesterday. I know all of us have certain ideas about what should or should not have been released over the years or what the priorities should have been by Sony Legacy or FTD, but in reality, we must be the most spoiled group of music fans ever, when you consider the number of deluxe box set releases as well as all the FTD and live album releases over the years. And how about all the books, especially the ones that have accompanied the FTD deluxe box sets? If fact, it is often very hard to keep up with them all, without having to mortgage the house in order to buy them.
     
  7. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    There were a few howlers recorded in the 70s, just like during every other Elvis era, but in general, I'd say that those years contained his richest, most moving work. I'm listening to the 1971 piano recordings right now, and I'm just as stunned by their emotion and freshness as I was when I first heard them.
     
  8. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I view the post June 1970 and the post summer 1970 Las Vegas material such a let down after the 1968-1970 era. But I see EXCEPTIONs to this throughout the 1971-1977 period. But even the best from that period does not match the high standard set in 1968-1970.
     
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  9. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I don't think I'll ever have a complete FTD collection; even discounting the books (which I have limited interest in), I came onto the FTD train a bit late to be able to pick up certain titles without shelling out obscene amounts of money. In a way, this was a good thing for me, as it suppressed my inherent completist instinct! I didn't have to feel guilty about passing on something like The Last Movies (though I'll certainly pick up a copy if I find one for a discounted price...my rational side only has so much input when it comes to music collecting).
     
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  10. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I love those piano recordings as well and wish he done a whole album like that with just his own piano or maybe David Briggs or Glen Hardin accompanying him, like on his fantastic version of Danny Boy from Elvis Presley Boulevard. I think that penultimate studio album of Elvis's has some of his most moving and personal recordings he ever made, but I recognize too that its not everybody's cup of tea.
     
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  11. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I don't know enough about music to say how good Elvis was on piano (or guitar, for that matter), but I treasure virtually every recording we have of him accompanying himself solo on those instruments. The various home recordings are stunningly beautiful and intimate, and Elvis' instrumental parts perfectly complement his voice. He even has an immediately recognizable style (moreso on guitar than piano), which makes them even more special.

    I'm with you on From EP Boulevard being one of his greatest albums. It's not one I listen to on a daily basis (for obvious reasons!), but man...when I'm in a bad way, it's just about the perfect thing to listen to.
     
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  12. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Only the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan have a comparable wealth of archival releases.
     
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  13. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I have to agree with you that as far as musicality, looks, charisma and recording material this is the ultimate Elvis Presley at the absolute peak of his total powers as an interpretive singer and all around entertainer. I have always said peak Elvis to my ears is Elvis Is Back and the early sixties classic recordings, including the great gospel albums, 68-70 with the Comeback Special and the stupendous Memphis recordings, and the live recordings in Vegas and MSG from 1969 to maybe 1972. But you hit the nail on the head about the high standard of 1968-1970 being impossible to match. Nevertheless, like you I find many redeeming cuts and singles that demonstrate a great vocalist at work during the later 70's period. I really dig some of the mid 70's albums as well.
     
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  14. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I'm also a huge fan of the Who, and it's always frustrating... inconsistent sound, errors/poor choices in compilations and mixes, general disorganization in the catalog... and worst of all, they are sitting on several brilliant live shows which they could and should release but do not. By contrast, as Elvis fans we have all his lifetime material released in excellent sound, a wealth of outtakes, a wealth of live shows from all eras, and everything compiled in logical and enjoyable ways. We are indeed spoiled.
     
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  15. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    To my ears, Elvis had three separate and equal peaks: 1956-57, 1960-62, and 1968-70. For all the times he wasted his talent, in those three separate eras, he was as good as any musician ever.
     
  16. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Well maybe Mark, who is a musician, or one of our other Elvis experts can answer that question better than me, but I know a lot of people have said that Elvis was actually a little more talented at the piano than he was at the guitar and of course he played by ear. I also know that although his guitar playing was limited in some respects, everybody from Johnny Cash to many music critics thought he was a pretty decent rhythm guitar player. Certainly Elvis really surprised a lot of people when he swapped guitars with Scotty Moore and played lead for the rest of the night during the 68 sessions. I understand that his playing might not have been complicated, but they were down and dirty so to speak and the playing matched the way he was singing. In fact, some said that Scotty himself, obviously a much more talented player, might not have been able to play lead with the way Elvis was now singing these songs or it would have sounded too smooth to match his bluesy voice.
     
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  17. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I think he was a competent at both the piano and guitar. Much like many southern back porch at a family gathering type musicians were, my late father included.
     
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    @SKATTERBRANE has got it right there. I like hearing Elvis play, but in reality he is competent, not necessarily accomplished on his instruments.
    but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear him play. That competence merged well with his singing, its somewhat like an album where the sum is greater than its parts.
     
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  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    What Every Woman Lives For
    Written By :
    Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman

    Recorded :

    Radio Recorders, Hollywood, May 12-15, 1965 : May 14, 1965. take 8

    I guess in this day and age this song would be lyrically frowned on, even though as a generalisation the content carries a certain amount of truth.
    This is a pretty decent song. It is a slow bluesish ballad and comes over well.

     
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  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  21. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    What Every Woman Lives For is certainly sexist, but it doesn't bother me as much as, say, Woman Without Love, because at least What Every Woman Lives For leaves open the possibility that "What every man lives for is to give his love to a woman." It also helps that it has a very pretty tune, and I think that Elvis delivers his best vocal of the album here.

    My comments about Petunia more or less apply to Look Out Broadway; it's great if you like these sorts of cheesy show tunes with overwrought wordplay (as I do), but it's obviously not for everyone. I really like the "class with a capital K" part, and I don't know why.
     
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  22. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    These days they say gender is a social construct. I say that modern concepts of gender is a socialist construct. Up until recently we have experienced a natural construct. What Every Woman Lives For (and what every man lives for) in this song is what had been going on for 200,000 years. So yeah, I like the song I am not ashamed to say so. I will not apologize for it.

    For some reason I get "This video not available" on these last two. Yeah, Look Out Broadway is another song I cannot bear from this LP.
     
  23. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I really like What Every Woman Lives For as well and I have been around strong, independent women all my life, my own mother and my Aunt being two prime examples,, the latter of whom really was the matriarch of our family and our leader in many ways. I won't apologize either for liking this song or Woman Without Love, which of course comes much later in the Elvis catalogue. I always find it a little peculiar when we try to judge our new found enlightenment against the values and expectations about generations that grew up in completely different times. Without getting on a rant here, I can just see how some of our values and social constructs may be looked at with skepticism or even mocked many years from now. I guess thats why I like @SKATTERBRANE's post so much. It makes me want to hang out with him sometime and buy him a drink.
     
  24. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Hey! I actually lived in Brooking OR for a few months back in 1990. Beautiful place. I would hike along the beach (as cold as it was) and then walk across the highway and hike in the redwoods for a few hours all in one day! I worked in Crescent City, CA, and I would buy fruit in Crescent City to pack my lunches. And then when I drove from Brookings to Crescent City in the morning the border patrol would confiscate the very fruit I bought in Crescent City only the day before.
     
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  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I do agree with these sentiments ... My Mum was a welder for a while, but that was through necessity, not choice, and it's still sometimes hard to believe, although at the time I was very proud of her.
    I can only dance around these topics, because my posts would get taken down lol
     
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