Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

It is no accident that Elvis Presley won his only three competitive Grammy awards for his work in gospel music. While in some ways it seems patently ridiculous that Elvis only won three of those competitive Grammys over his lifetime, we all know that the Grammy voters were late to the game in recognizing the contributions of rock 'n' roll to popular music. Also, given the fact of how great his love was for gospel music and his passionate and total commitment to these songs, it seems only right that if Elvis was to earn only three Grammy awards over the years, he would have been more than a little proud that they were for his contributions to that genre of music.

I worship all three of his gospel albums and if you asked me to pick just one to keep over the others, I would be hard pressed to pick one. His Hand In Mine has the sheer beauty of his younger beri-tenor voice and it was a truly sweet sounding instrument. I love How Great Thou Art as well as Elvis was once again going back to his roots and the music that turned him on the most. I agree with @Shawn that it was recorded beautifully and it is one of the most sonically pleasing to the ears albums that Elvis ever recorded. The title track shows Elvis's vocal range and ability to emulate all the voice ranges that you might find in an entire gospel quartet, but all in one body with Elvis's great vocal range. Elvis sings Stand By Me, which I believe he struggled with a little at first during the early takes IIRC, with the same tenderness and passion that he sings on In The Ghetto. Elvis author Pete Guralnick referred to Elvis's magnificent singing on In The Ghetto as "translucent eloquence" and I think that could describe his vocal effort on Stand By Me as well. I am also with @PepiJean about the greatness of Where Could I Go But To The Lord. You can describe this album in one word really; masterpiece.

 

Although I think it might be sourced from a bootleg?

 

How Great Thou Art is an excellent album, but since we're in the overview stage of discussion I will point out one thing I really dislike about it: it is sequenced terribly, using the same boring and lazy "hey, let's put the slow songs on one side and the fast songs on the other" approach that detracted from Something for Everybody. As I noted when we were discussing the latter album, this approach results in a stilted listening experience, and I can't think of any album by anyone on which the approach works well.

As I said yesterday, listening by session is the way to go with Elvis, particularly with this album. Here is the list of songs in the order they were recorded at the sessions (minus the secular songs of course):
Run On
How Great Thou Art
Stand By Me
Where No One Stands Alone
So High
Farther Along

By And By
In The Garden
Somebody Bigger Than You And I
Without Him
If The Lord Wasn't Walking By My Side
Where Could I Go But To The Lord?

Now isn't that isn't a much better balanced sequence, with a more natural sense of flow and dynamics? Even the side openings and closings work well, and you wind up with my favorite track as the album closer.

 

I heard that as well. Who knows what happened to the original tapes.

Thank goodness these guys came along when they did....



HOW I SPENT FOUR DAYS IN THE RCA VAULTS AND LIVED! By GER RIJFF...
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/rijff_nyvaults.html

 

Not sure, I didn't purchase it.

 

A great album, but not as great as His Hand In Mine, imo.

The 12 songs from 1966 was remixed on the Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances from 1994, but due to noise reduction and other forms of processing, it's probably the worst these songs have ever sounded.

The mono mix was released on cd in Germany in 1988, in the "Flash Series". It's the only disc in the series that differs from the regular cds at the time so the mono mix was probably used by mistake.

 

The amount of clueless sequencing makes me wonder if they just jagged it on the albums where it works lol

 

I have a 1979 pressing of How Great Thou Art that I bought new in the 80s. I am just now starting to listen to vinyl again.
Since you have experience with multiple pressings of HGTA, do earlier pressings of this and other Elvis albums sound better than later ones?

 

The original Dynagroove pressing sounds warmer than the US pressings from the mid 70s. I think the original is a tube cut and the later ones are solid state. I think both sound very good but I actually prefer the 70s pressing because it sounds more detailed.

 

Agree with ClausH, although I tend to prefer the earlier pressings for that slightly 'warmer' sound. A lot of the sound quality pressing variations really depend on the title in question, but as a general rule the earlier ones tend to sound better, at least to my ears. A fantastic site that helps make sense of the variations is:

elvisrecords.com | The Elvis Presley Record Research Database

Also, don't be thrown off by the reputation of Dynaflex LPs from the early 1970's - these can sound quite good. Titles like Now, 'Fool', Raised On Rock, etc.

 

Yeah, I think Raised On Rock sounds great if you can find a quiet pressing.

 

I've always wondered about this one. It shares the same catalog # as the 1991 Europe release, so does that one have the mono mix too? Or is it only in the 1988 series? Likewise, is it an accidental fold down done in the mastering process of the CD, or did they use the LP album mono tape? And does anyone care but me

 

I have never heard the mono mix on lp but to me, it doesn't sound any different than stereo mix. The only difference is that it is mono. I don't think it's an accidental fold-down. The mix is slightly more distorted than the old stereo cd.

 

For those keeping track, the title track "How Great Thou Art" was remixed in 1978 by Joan Deary and Dick Bogert for the He Walks Beside Me compilation.

 

I've heard from fans that met Joan, she was a very nice person, but doubt she was involved with the actual remixing. They also said, she either didn't know, or wanted to say what was in the vaults.

 

Joan had some knowledge of what was in the vaults. But the archives were not particularly well organized, so there were limitations.

 

Agreed. “HGTA” was a quality project and finally a non-soundtrack project Elvis was willing to sink his teeth into and see to fruition during the lost years. But I agree, “HHIM” was hard to top.

 

Yep, vocally, musically and sonically, "His Hand in Mine" is a better record IMO.

 

How Great Thou Art
Written By :
Stuart K. Hine

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, May 25-29, 1966: May 25, 1966. take 4

This song has a huge history (How Great Thou Art - Wikipedia ) and seems to be virtually a go to song. When I used to do this in church, I did it as a country/rock swing, and folks would say "oh you like Elvis" .... Funnily enough I had never heard any of Elvis' gospel music, and the version I do is nothing like this, so that is humourous to me ... anyhow.
This is a really good arrangement built for maximum emotional impact and carried off with aplomb. This vocal is great and from the versions I have heard on the seventies soundboards, he pretty much always nailed this song.
We start off slowly, in virtually freetime and as we move to when Christ shall come , the Jordanaires take the vocal and Elvis comes in and the song develops more of a beat. To my ears an unusual arrangement, but extremely effective.
A great song, sung excellently by a great singer.

 

In The Garden
Written By :
Charles Austin Miles

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, May 25-29, 1966: May 27, 1966. take 3

Written by C. Austen Miles in 1912, this is another beautiful song of faith that is again in a slower tempo, but there is an intensity about these songs.
I would never have guessed this was called in the garden, I always thought it was "And He Walks With Me".
Just another beautiful song, presented really well.

 

I like the sound quality from The Album Collection.

 

Joan's initials are on quite a few tapes, including numerous soundboards. She was more involved than what some fans think or are led to believe.

 

I certainly wasn't disappointed

 

The Album Collection also includes a 300 page hardcover book. I'll try and scan pages 114-117 for How Great Thou Art and post.

 

I still haven't even pulled the book out lol