Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Baby What You Want Me To Do (reprise)
I think this is the right one here ... This is a bit of fun and probably one of the most memorable non-musical moments of the show.

 

That's Alright
It was very logical to play this track on the special, as this was really where it all started. It was remarkably close to the original and Elvis still had the acoustic guitar.

 

Blue Christmas
An early favourite ... obviously the girls in the crowd loved it too with all the squeaking.

 

One Night
At this stage of the sit down performance Elvis was on a roll and this is great.

 

Tiger Man

 

Tryin To Get To You
Another Early favourite.

 

"Some Velvet Morning" with Lee. But it's more a fantastic song because of the contrast between their voices.

 

It’s a real stretch to say that Elvis presented himself like Barry Manilow.

Elvis wasn’t the only performer in the early 70s wearing jumpsuits. As to your suggestions of what he “should have done” on stage, I might as well ask why The Rolling Stones didn’t tour in 1972 in tuxedos backed by a string quartet and perform a “classical” mini-set of As Tears Go By, Ruby Tuesday, and She’s A Rainbow. We can have our fantasies of what an artist should have done, or accept and enjoy what they actually did.

 

I'm not a fan of the "jumpsuit", but seventies fashion was pretty awful all round lol ... it sure wasn't just Elvis

 

Not that the people who hate the jumpsuit look will care, but Jagger, Elvis, and other animated frontmen who wore jumpsuits in the 70s did so because of the freedom of movement they allowed and so they wouldn’t split their pants onstage as much as they did for the fashion statement. Pete Townshend wore his trademark white boiler suit onesie for similar reasons.

 

Interesting .... I wouldn't have been able to .... I even hate having sleeves on stage lol
I would have preferred to wear shorts and a tshirt, but I wore jeans and a tshirt. I never found them restrictive

 

That to me is the core of Elvis Presley.

 

One Night and Tryin' To Get To You were the best of the sit down performances for me. (Even though Tryin' was not on the original broadcast). I also liked Are You Lonesome Tonight. Here he emulates the early 60s softer falsetto that I don't think he ever did since on this song.

 

It's tough for me to break out individual performances of the sit-down shows as I tend to look at those two performances as single acts. I'd probably give the same response on each of them - 'best of the best', or something to that effect. Elvis could do no wrong here in my eyes, except for the bizarre performance of Memories immediately after the sets.

 

I am pretty much right with you on your stellar choices. I guess I would add Baby What You Want Me To Do and Lawdy Miss Clawdy. It is hard for me to pick out a single favorite or two as I just dig them all. Elvis was so invested in the performances. Did any man ever look better singing than Elvis did on this show. Some of us can look kind of strange when we are singing or grunting, but that boy looked so damn handsome.

 

I cannot even imagine Elvis trying to do his karate moves and kicks in a traditional suit or tuxedo during Suspicious Minds or Polk Salad Annie. Elvis's early stage attire (the modified karate outfits) got quite a bit of attention in the early days of Las Vegas as it was seen as such a contrast with the traditional tuxedo's that all the other male performers wore on stage. Elvis realized that he was still spitting his pants with some of these outfits, so costume designer Bill Belew came up with the jumpsuit idea, using the same material for the outfits that ice skaters used, which was both durable and yet stretched quite a bit.

I really like the jumpsuits, especially the early ones, and as Spencer implied, it was amazing how many artists tried to copy that look over the years, some pretty unsuccessfully. I personally think he should have changed styles later as he was moving a lot less on stage and a new more conventional suit look might have been cool to see on Elvis again as he aged.

 

1968 versions of ONE NIGHT, TIGER MAN and BABY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO are the epitome of Rhythm & Roll: Elvis is there unbeatable, simply second to none.
Even TRYING TO GET TO YOU - that already was a Sun classic since 1956 - is plain amazing in that "unplugged" context.
It is raw, powerful but also refined and sexy. Timeless music.

About Jumpsuits: really not a fan except for those tastefull dark 1969 costumes. With those ones, Elvis was displaying a real elegance. As early as 1970, there comes the extravaganza with tones of fake jewellery. The exception would be those nice suits that he wore for the Astrodome concerts, but that's it for me.

 

The two performances of AYLT? are my favourite moments from the sit-down shows. They might not be as raw as One Night or Tryin' To Get To You, but they have a magical blend of tenderness and toughness that I absolutely love. Despite the joking around, there's something really special about them.

 

Agreed! If Elvis didn't have that wonderful voice and couldn't sing a note, he could have still been a top tier male model. Elvis had the look and could pull off things like mutton chop sideburns, capes, and blinged out jumpsuits. I've seen other performers and album covers from that time and wonder what were they thinking. I see Elvis impersonators all of the time that should never be in a jumpsuit. If one has even the smallest hint of a belly ( I certainly do ) that jumpsuit that you think will make you an Adonis will instantly transform you into a sparkling Ralph Kramden. I had a friend in high school that said he only knew of two guys that could pull off mutton chop sideburns and a cape. They were Jack the Ripper and Elvis. Lol

 

Earlier I said that I don't think a special that was 100% sit-down would have worked as well. At the same time, it's surprising how little of the sit down stuff made it into the original special and album. That's All Right didn't make it, and neither did this amazing version of Tryin' To Get To You... both of them sat on the shelf until their release on Legendary Performer records in the 70s. Obviously they couldn't include everything, and we're lucky to have it all now.

 

Don't forget the caped lawyer from Seinfeld:



Just illustrating your point

 

I reckon the edit they did for tv was good ...
The sit down shows thankfully were released later, and i tend to think that of themselves, they work better as the sit down shows...

The beautiful thing these days, is the option to watch the show as it was, and or all the elements recorded for it....

 

As is probably no surprise to anybody that has been following this thread, I am in total agreement with you here as well. I do have to reiterate the point that I made earlier, and that is the fact that most of the initial critical praise of the 68 Special actually centered around the stand-up portion, and emphasized how Elvis had reinvented those songs with the great brass arrangements from Billy Goldenberg as well as the phenomenal backing of the Wrecking Crew band. Only many years later did critics and fans alike start to really concentrate and appreciate the sit-down sessions and as you so wisely noted, a great deal of those splendid performances were not even used in the original special.

 

Sorry to get back onto EIC, but "My Way" was the first posthumously released single

 

We talked about it before, but there was a brief moment in 1972 where Elvis wore a white two piece suit (he usually removed the suit jacket pretty quick) and a colorful blouse. It’s still a look probably only Elvis could have pulled off, but I love it.