Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Wow, it is a frigging small world. We hate that worthless checkpoint as my gal has to pass through it every weekday on her way to work. They just wave her through, but it is a total waste of money if you ask me. Funny enough, I have three daughters who now live in Mesa, Arizona. I haven't been to Tucson since I was a kid, but I remember my parents really loved the town. I just spent about a week in Mesa last May to visit the kids and grandkids and we plan to go there in November when one of my daughters graduates from her medical training, so maybe I can buy you the drink then. How far is Tuscon from Mesa?

 

Mine as well.

 

Probably about 1.5 hours to Tucson from Mesa, could be longer depending on the actual destinations in each city.

 

Oh wow that is close. Okay, if your in the vicinity I want you to join as too. I am buying too. I think you two guys would be a blast to talk to and I do not know anybody on this great forum that knows more about Elvis than you two. Well, our ladies might get bored as hell, but the three of us would have a great time.

 

Give me a shout out if and when you are in the area.

 

I've been listening to F & J as "homework" for the thread. I've had the Double Features CD for several years and have probably played it more times than it deserves to be. It's lower rung Elvis, but I can't help but enjoy it when I play it now and then.

The comment about Petunia's two lips made me think of Frank Sinatra's American Beauty Rose in which the tulips/two lips double meaning is also used.

I can see Chesay as being a good song to play at a drinking party. I hadn't thought of that before, not that I have a lot of occasion for it.
What does Chesay mean? I can't find a definition.
I guess it's like RSteven said about Kismet. It's a bad start to a song if you have to look up the definition of the title.

 

Isn't it Chea(e)sy

 

Will do.

 

I find the sexism in "What Every Woman Lives For" off-putting. I found it off-putting when I first heard the song as a college student in the 80s. I bet there were people who found it off-putting in 1965. I don't think it's a matter of misunderstanding the song by viewing it through a modern lens, or of failing to acknowledge its context (eg the misplaced modern criticism of Baby It's Cold Outside). It's simply a downright sexist song, and sexism was more socially acceptable back then. I am glad this has changed in the intervening 50-some years. Musically, it's not bad, which is enough to make it stand out as one of the better tracks on the record. So (if I'm understanding the division of labor correctly) good job Mort, while Doc you go sit in the corner.

 

I really do like the song What Every Woman Lives For the more I listen to it, despite it being a little out of step with the times. I really like that subtle, but almost jazzy styled piano by Larry Muhoberac as well. At first I thought it sounded like Floyd Crammer, but when I checked the session credits, I was surprised to see Larry's name. Of course we all know that Larry would be Elvis's first piano player when Elvis put together his great TCB band for his return to live performing in Las Vegas in 1969. James Burton had sought out Glen Hardin, but I believe he had another commitment, so Larry was the next choice in line. Both are splendid musicians and I really like his piano work on this song. He and Glen had a slightly different style of piano playing as @PacificOceanBlue and I discussed on another thread recently, but I really like them both for different reasons. I always think of the great quote in Peter Guralnick's book about how Elvis was harder on both piano players and drummers than any other musicians. Here is the great quote in Guralnick's book:

"Musically the demands he made on them were both greater and less than than what they had come to expect from session work. Elvis was hard on drummers, Carrigan quickly discovered, just as Briggs knew that he was hard on piano players, because he required so much intensity and unrelenting physical play. Everything, they soon realized, came down to feel."

Norbett Putman, the great Muscle Shoals' bass player that would work along side those two great musicians quoted above, would go on to describe in the next paragraph what he learned from Elvis that helped to make him a future record producer himself:

"As a player, I just wanted the rhythm section to be flawless and have a great feel. But once I became a producer, I started to understand what a great artist has to do to try to express through his voice the emotion of his message. And of all the artists I ever knew, Presley was the absolute best at that."

 

What Every Woman Lives For - One of the better tracks on the album, although that's a bit of faint praise. And it might also have the worst recorded vocal on the LP too - it seems to distort in several places. As does the piano. Ouch. Regarding the lyrics, I felt that they were terribly dated when I got an original pressing of the LP in the late 1980's.

Look Out Broadway - This might just qualify for my 'Worst 5 Elvis Songs' list. And what happened to Ray Walker's voice on this one, was he suffering from laryngitis?

 

I feel exactly the same way as both of your posts. I do not understand why or how Elvis's voice is recorded so badly. It sounds extremely tinny and metallic to put it mildly. There is a complete absence of warmth and a flatness to the vocals that really stand out in a bad way. And what was the deal with the sound of the bass singer? Was that really Ray Walker on there?

 

Well at least Walker is better than Eileen Wilson (singing voice for Donna Douglas' character). I wonder if Donna Douglas' singing voice would have been that much worse than Eileen Douglas anyway.

 

I was surprised to learn it was Ray, but it's noted in several places including Keith Flynn's site.

 

What's making you guys think it doesn't sound like Ray Walker? I think it sounds very similar to his vocals on "Who Needs Money" and "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad."

 

I don't have a problem with the song "What Every Woman Lives For". Love is the most important thing in the world and I'd take it as a compliment if someone said I needed it, as it would be a better world if everyone lived for love. The song is done towards a woman's angle, but at the end he hopes that man is him, essentially admitting that he's the same. To me, it's just another variation of songs like "When a Man Needs a Woman" by The Beach Boys "a man needs a woman like a woman needs a man". Love, it's a beautiful thing. I just don't see a problem in stating that people need each other. (yeah, I can see an issue with the line about "women can't live alone", but not a big deal)

In their original mix, I'd put Harum Scarum and Frankie and Johnny at the bottom of the pile since they are truly unlistenable to me, but when the remixes are considered, then, for me, after re-listening to some of these soundtracks, that honor would probably go to the next album Paradise, Hawaiian Style. I'm in the minority on that view, which is okay. I had mentioned Double Trouble earlier in the thread, but after revisiting those songs, I've changed my mind (at least as individual songs), even though his dreadful take on "Old MacDonald" on that soundtrack is beyond terrible and is what I think of when I think of that soundtrack. Anyway, don't mean to get ahead of myself and I can't wait to get past these bottom of the barrel years.

 

It’s a case of us trying to block those songs out of our memory and forgetting they’re there.

 

I watched Speedway about ten years ago, but I just re-watched the clip of "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad" on youtube. I'd totally forgotten that although Ray sang the duet with Elvis on the record version, they had Bill Bixby overdub new vocals for the film version. It's really odd how inconsistent they were in dealing with duets in Elvis films, as far as the discrepancy between record and film versions. Sometimes they had Elvis sing a duet in the film but do all the vocals by himself on the record ("Spring Fever", "Yoga is as Yoga Does"). Sometimes they used the duet version on the record ("Who Needs Money", "There Ain't Nothing Like a Song"). And in the odd case of "He's Your Uncle" they have Elvis singing with one duet partner on the record version, and a completely different one in the film. Weird.

 

And sometimes they just left out that other person’s vocals entirely and there’s a big gap, like in Almost Always True. Strange indeed.

 

And Mexico. Or Mex E Ko Ho

 

Not to belabor the point, but the song is not stating that people need each other, it's stating only that women need men. It's suggesting that the purpose of a woman's life is to be with a man. And it does not say (or in any way imply) that the reverse is true. The song reflects a common sexist attitude of the time, which viewed women negatively if they chose not to marry, but did not judge men by the same standard.

 

As I said before, I'm convinced they put that version of Mexico on the LP by mistake, since Elvis did record a version where he sang all the lyrics.

 

Worth a listen, Viva Elvis:

 

Suspicious minds is the best from Viva Elvis:

 

At the moment we're on Frankie and Johnny. We will get to this stuff, but it will be a little while yet