Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

RCA Victor once again comes through with a completely unoriginal picture sleeve.

 

Not the best hairstyle, almost looks like "bed- head" Elvis. Almost as sloppy as his '76 concert hair

 

A few more that are far too similar, issued in too short a time span:





All the while, other bands in the US are putting out fairly creative/interesting picture sleeves.

 

This is cited as a home recording, but it's probably a rehearsal. Elvis sings to the pre-recorded track.

 

And of course much of the 70s albums (& singles) feature a stage shot, so it's hard to differentiate one from another

 

There are a few photos with Elvis on the "Frankie & Johnny" set having him looked a lot closer to the time in '66. I wouldn't say it brings him in the time period, but better than pics on the sleeves and/or album covers.
I'd post them, but still trying to figure out how to attach images.

 

Him that sounds like the exact same backing as used in the master. And it may be a studio vocal feed before it is mixed for the master.

 

You should be able to just copy and paste if it's on a website. If it is your picture, you need to download it onto a host site (photobucket or whatever )

 

Thanks!

Doesn't put Elvis in the '66 time period, but better than some of the pics on the sleeves and/or album covers...

 

I think the book inside the FTD Frankie And Johnny CD as the original cover picture before they superimposed the Girl Happy head on it.

 

I slightly disagree. The more or less comtemporary greatest single of all time had a picture sleeve that could have been designed by the RCA art department.

The Penny Lane and She’s A Rainbow picture sleeves did feature artier pictures of the artists, but they were still pictures of the artists. I believe that every single David Bowie album ever released features a portrait of David Bowie on the cover. That sort of makes sense for a handsome iconic solo artist such as David Bowie or Elvis Presley. The problem with these mid-60s Elvis picture sleeves isn’t so much that they’re pictures of Elvis, it’s that they’re bad pictures of Elvis, or that Elvis has gotten a little bloated and chosen to sport a ridiculous haircut that doesn’t lend itself to having a good picture taken.

 

I get the impression there were several periods in Elvis' career where he was so fed up he didn't care.
In the early days he was a snappy dresser and always had his hair set. In the early sixties he was a snappy dresser and his hair was immaculate ... by the time the studios got through with hassling him out about sideburns and weight and all the rest of that Hollywood guff, I get the impression he just gave it up and said this is what I look like, too bad.
Even to the point of the monster burns in the seventies essentially being an "up yours" to the controllers over most of the sixties.

Of course this is just my speculation.....

and did Elvis suffer from depression?
One of the first things to go when depression sets in, is the what do I look like thing, because in depression there is no vanity (from appearance perspective)

 

Parker's idea to superimposed the "Girl Happy" head on the "Frankie and Johnny" album cover...

 

My point was more that they are all so incredibly similar. Elvis from the shoulder (from the same few photo sessions) up in front of a blank background, with text in the exact same positions. Salt in the wound was that bands were at least starting to think of having more interesting images like:


or

or


Elvis deserved better. If not from outright respect at least as RCA Victor's primary cash cow.

 

On the Paradise Hawaiian Style LP cover, there's a Fun In Acapulco pic on the front but more recent pictures on the back.

And in a few years, the From Elvis In Memphis album featured a June '68 picture on the front but oddly enough a 1963 Viva Las Vegas picture on the back!

 

Or my fave from 1966:

 

This would have put Back In Memphis into the stratosphere of great Elvis albums. What if you had added Kentucky Rain as well? Your additional songs turn a very good album into a fantastic one.

 

You both describe my exact feelings about this song. A really nice song and a great vocal by Elvis, with somewhat dated production values. I even like Millie Kirkham's gorgeous soprano obligato behind Elvis's voice, if I am using that term correctly. Millie was quite the vocal legend in Nashville circles and her prominence on records in Music City was so important that Elvis could only talk her into a few live performances over the years, including just the first week of filming for Elvis Thats The Way It Is in 1970. One of her most famous backing vocals, besides the one on Elvis's version of Blue Christmas, is the one she did on George Jones' classic number one country song, He Stopped Loving Her Today. Check it out, if you like very sad country music songs, as her backing solo sounds heavenly.

 

I believe Mama Liked The Roses was part of an early tracklisting considered for From Elvis In Memphis. The two Memphis albums could have been strengthened by the addition of some of the material that was reserved for singles, but, like Hey Jude, Suspicious Minds works better as a stand-alone single, I think. It would almost overpower its surrounding album tracks.

 

Of the eight secular, non-Christmas songs recorded at the May/June 1966 HGTA sessions, Indescribably Blue and Fools Fall in Love are the final two that were released in Elvis' lifetime (the eighth song "Beyond the Reef" was left on the shelf until 1980 I believe). Here we have another two great performances. "Indescribably Blue" is a wonderful, wistful ballad given a sublime performance by Elvis, and is probably the best original (ie non-cover) song he'd had a crack at since "It Hurts Me." And here's a weird trivia fact I came across: "Indescribably Blue" was written by Darrell Glenn, who was both the original artist to record "Crying in the Chapel" and the son of its songwriter, Artie Glenn. So these two songs together mark the only instance in which a father and son each wrote songs that were recorded by Elvis.

The b-side is yet another Leiber/Stoller cover... Elvis probably covered more Leiber/Stoller songs in the 60s than any other songwriter, which of course is sad because they'd have been happy to write original songs for him if not for the Colonel's financial shenanigans. Elvis does a nice version of this Drifters hit. Again, the thing that separates it is the enthusiasm in the performance.

 

You guys are getting ahead of the chronology here. I'll just say there are several different ways I think they could have made Back in Memphis a much better album, but I'll leave the specifics to when we reach 1969.

 

Hoyt Axton wrote Never Been to Spain while his mother wrote Heartbreak Hotel for Elvis.

 

Yep, I know. They weren't a father and son, though. I was gonna mention that, but I figured someone else would.

 

Speaking of bizarre photoshopped picture sleeves....