Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

The momentum starting with "Big Boss Man" then "Guitar Man/Hi Heel Sneakers" certainly paid off for "U.S. Male! No doubt, Elvis was on a roll.

Like on posted earlier, I didn't have to call into Radio Stations requesting to play U.S. Male, because they were playing it around the clock! Why U.S.Male didn't make it into the top ten is a mystery to me, with peaking only at 28 US (BB).

 

It's really heartbreaking reading about the session that gave us GUITAR MAN and BIG BOSS MAN and how the band was cooking for awhile until Parker stepped in and tried to hit up Jerry Reed for the publishing on GM. Then it all went to hell.

 

Regarding Gold Records Vol 5, RCA was planning to release an album in '70, but decided on the box set
LPM-6401 Elvis: Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Vol 1.

 

The stereos that were hardest to find for me back in the day were Elvis Is Back first pressing with yellow sticker on front cover and Roustabout with the Silver RCA Victor logo on top. (The subsequent White RCA Victor logo was very easy to find for both of these titles). Other than the 50s LPs I never even wanted his mono LPs but I did buy the Silver RCA Victor logo "Mono" Roustabout, the White RCA Victor logo "Monaural" version was a easier to find too. When I bought Gold Records Vol 4, I could have easily bought the mono, but why would I when I could have stereo? (not a mono fan) In fact I was very disappointed when TV Special only came out in mono (except for the Gospel and Road production numbers). Of course I had no idea the sit down and stand up concerts were recorded with the NBC camera mics and only in mono back then.

 

Are you aware the song title is a pun? "Don't tamper with the US Mail" was a slogan used by our postal service at the time.

 

Actually, no.
I figured there was some postal cross reference going on there

 

Regarding Stay Away... I think it wasn't so much they were realizing soundtracks were doing damage, as it was that they had no immediate place to release other tracks, since the EP format had died, and Stay Away Joe didn't have enough songs for an album. The irony of course is that several of the songs on Stay Away Joe were a significant improvement over standard soundtrack fare. This was the first time Elvis had mixed soundtrack and non-soundtrack recording at the same session since the fifties. Stay Away is a decent song and performance.

 

Stay Away and its alternate, Goin' Home were both pretty decent songs.

 

Stay Away (slow version) take 2. It's available on the Stay Away, Joe FTD.

 

This pre-Comeback period is so great and sadly has slipped through the cracks for a lot of casual Elvis fans. Most think the actual comeback special was the moment he broke the chains of his mid-60's malaise. Most are unaware that he had an album's worth of killer material leading up to it. It was just packaged in a terrible, haphazard fashion.

 

EP's were indeed dead in the US by the time STAY AWAY, JOE came out, so how and why in the holy hell did the US EP's get orange label reissues?

 

"Stay Away" is an example of a B-side being better than the A. "U.S. Male" is fun but it's more of a novelty track in my opinion.

I think the outtakes of these songs are very interesting. Elvis is really in a strange mood...very distracted and full of foul language. It's amazing he got usable takes of the songs he was recording.

 

Catching up:
GUITAR MAN / HI-HEEL SNEAKERS
Great combination of Rock, C&W and Blues. When was the last time Elvis release such a strong pairing? His Latest Flame / Little Sister maybe? Anyway, the King was getting back on track and, for me, the joyous B-Side was the one that I prefered, specially the longest version on the "Essential 60's Masters" set. Just infectious and bluesy: everything I like in an Elvis record.

"Elvis' Golden Records volume 4"
Nice LP but my least favorite from the 4. Too many years of difference between the oldest track and the newest: 8 years, IIRC, is way too much and it gives the sensation you're listening to different performers. Still the album was a 100% more interesting than any of the latest soundtrack albums.

US MALE / STAY AWAY
Another wonderful single again based on Country and Blues. I love both sides for different reasons: US MALE gave me the sensation that Elvis was creating Rap back in 1968. I learned later that that genre was called "talking Blues" but still... I really love STAY AWAY: like the lyrics of this track, the song made / makes me dream about those american landscapes and reminds me old western movies. What a surprise when I discovered a couple years ago the scenery at the begining of the film "Stay Away, Joe": these are the images I had in my head since the first time I listened to the song!

 

Yeah, he was in a very strange mood during that session in January 1968. This can also be heard during Too Much Monkey Business.

 

I believe it was huge frustration but instead of sending everybody to hell, he started swearing and fooling around to the extreme.

 

Sigh. "The Prisoner's Song". Not a finer moment.

 

Yes, especially the Elvis Sails EP - who was wanting this one in 1969?

 

Elvis Gold Records Vol 4 was the first record by any artist that I bought with my own money. I got The Great Performances as a christmas gift before that, though, and most importantly, I listened to Elvis in Person at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada that my parents had and that got me interested in the artist in the first place. I cannot say that Gold Records Vol 4 made that big impression, but I thought it was nice to listen to (Loving You, that I also got around that time, had too many slow songs). In this record the exact opposite of the slow side/fast side is employed and at least that made it easier for me to chew it. While Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello is my favorite track since many years, I think What I'd Say made the biggest impression at that time, since I even nicked the bass riff for a song in my "rock band" that I had with two friends in secondary school (we had a keyboard and occasionally a drum set). Sadly, I moved on from Elvis shortly after that (to Beatles and Beach Boys), but I kept listening to the records I had for at least a few years.

 

I don't think I can add much to what has already been said about US Male, Hi-Heel Sneakers and Stay Away, other than I really enjoy all of them. To my ears, Elvis' voice in late 1967 / early 1968 could do no wrong, and we're lucky that he was getting decent material to make use of it. Regarding the strange mood he was in during some of these sessions - I chalk it up to the presence of Jerry Reed. A fellow southerner, a fellow 'star' (as opposed to one of Elvis' lackeys), a bit of a jokester, and from what I've heard one who used quite a bit of flavorful curse words on occasion Maybe Elvis was trying to connect with him, or illustrating he was still a southerner at heart, who knows.

Regarding Gold Records Vol. 4, this is another one I have a sentimental connection to. It seems like only yesterday I remember riding my bike to the local library and seeing it there and checking it out. Loved it, so I saved up allowances so I could get a copy. I'm guessing this was around 1975? Anyway, while there are some questionable omissions, the album flows perfectly. Like others here, it still gets played regularly at home. And this is one where I quite like the album cover / artwork!

 

The only other thing I can say about Gold Records Volume 4 is that I wonder why they didn't release it a year earlier? It could have been a nice musical oasis after fans had crossed a soundtrack LP filled desert in '65 through '66 with the exception of HGTA.

 

Good question. Maybe they wanted Love Letters to age a bit before putting it on a comp?

 

Looks like I will not be able to do tomorrow's post. My internet is down.
I can't really do the posts on my phone.
Monday shouldn't be a problem.
Apologies

 

The EPs stayed in print until 1968-1969. Around the same time they went out of print so did these LPs and the whole mono catalog:

Elvis' Christmas Album (LPM-LSP 1951)
It Happened At The World's Fair
Harum Scarum
Frankie And Johnny
Spinout
Double Trouble
Clambake

I owned all the EPs at one time in one version or another. I had a lot of orange label ones. As for the material from the 50s, it seemed to me that the EPs sounded better than the same material on LP.

 

Man I remember when I noticed in the inner sleeve catalog when those LPs were no longer included. I was SHOCKED. I was also glad I had already bought those LPs. Before 1969 was through I was all caught up on the LP catalog. (Thank you family for the great Christmas presents that helped me along, especially my mom and grandma).

 

So is "All I Needed Was the Rain."