Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

I much prefer those to the jumpsuits ... in the seventies you kind of expected Elvis to be dressed a little over the top.
I think it was somewhat a reaction to the Hollywood taming and rules they applied to him.

 

Yeah, I kinda think what would he have worn instead? Jeans? A suit/sport jacket? A fringe jacket? Those original Nudie jump suits are pretty cool in my book.

 

This is my favorite of the production numbers. I really wish he'd done an entire gospel album with the approach of these tracks... energetic and rocking. The version of Where Could I Go But To The Lord here bests the HGTA album version.

I have to say also, it's pretty funny that now that we've finally reached one of the very pinnacles of Elvis' career (after slogging through the awful movie soundtracks) the discussion on this thread has tangented into critiquing his 70s setlist and clothing. I guess to some degree there's more to say about bad or uneven work than there is about work that's inarguably great.

 

Absolutely! Can't tell you how much of a struggle it was writing about the American Studios material a couple of years back compared to, say, a soundtrack or the 1971 sessions.

 

Near perfection. Stellar performances, some of the finest rock and roll ever performed. Elvis was in tremendous and virtuoso form. Fortunately Steve Binder had the foresight to take the magic out of the dressing room jam sessions and properly capture it.

 

Well as it has already been stated, the understated karate styled jumpsuits of 1969 were pretty cool. It is not a jumpsuit per se'. It is the outlandish and garish ones that came and stayed.

 

Agreed. I think those songs--"One Night" and 'Tryin' to Get To You" are the heart of the Special, the moments where Elvis went deeper into his music than before or since. The level of passion and commitment is not only unrivaled but breathtaking. If you want someone to understand just what Elvis was all about, show them those performances (and if they still don't get it, throw them out!). "One Night" and 'Tryin' to Get To You" exemplify more than any other performances how at-home Elvis was in his music, how he sings with no self-consciousness, just the unalloyed vitality of a handsome god singing his heart out. How many other people can you describe that way? How many other singers could sing with such authority and such heart?

Elvis himself recognized something special about those songs. Though none of his later performances of them match the '68 versions, he didn't throw them away, unlike his big 50s hits. Maybe the memory of '68 was at work.

 

Very well stated. And these performances make me just imagine the at-home/hotel room songs that he sang in those informal settings, and how many amazing tunes were done over the course of his life which (obviously) were never put on tape. I'm so very envious of those who were there.

 

What is even more amazing to me is that after taking such a deep dive into the 60's movie soundtracks thanks to this thread, I do not consider those soundtrack recordings so awful now. If you had asked me before to rate Elvis's overall soundtrack recordings during his career, I probably would have given them extremely low marks, and it is still my least favorite era of his recordings overall, but there are a lot more hidden gems than I expected and the general quality of the soundtracks are not as dire as I once thought they were.

 

I have yet to see the special in its entirety so I can't comment on the visual. But I what I hear here is a man thoroughly enjoying this experience. My impression is Elvis feels rejuvenated. He's performing live again for people (in a studio setting) and getting their immediate reactions. He's singing songs, telling stories, and cracking jokes. There's very little rushing through the 50s material as he would do in upcoming years. And in the closing number, he gives his all into what I consider one of the best songs he ever recorded. I would go so far as to say that Elvis may have returned home in 1960 from the army, but this is the moment ELVIS truly came back.

 

I do wonder how different the Special would have been if Elvis had appeared live between 1962 and 1967. Part of the Special's thrill was that Elvis had been emotionally starved and pent up by the denial of a live audience, so his performance had a unique hunger to it. Would that have been missing if he'd performed live in the years beforehand? If so, the Special's loss might have been our gain neverthless. Elvis's 1961 Hawaii concert was a magnificent performance from his prime--just imagine a few more concerts like that, each recorded (and maybe even filmed) for posterity!

 

Same here about production numbers: the gospel segment is the best one. All three pieces are great and well performed (i still prefer 1966 WCIGBTTL though) and the visuals were awesome too. I love all this red used in the clip (red and white, rock and gospel, devil and angels.) Great stuff.

 

I agree and I'm glad that Binder had the understanding of Elvis to make that segment. One cannot present Elvis as whole and leave out his love of gospel music and its influence on him. Some of his best recorded work was gospel. It is the biggest gripe I had with the movie This Is Elvis. If all you had ever saw was that movie, you wouldn't know if Elvis gave two flips about gospel music. Binder wasn't even a fan but he understood what a crucial part of the story that gospel music played in Elvis' musical journey (rant over). It's very noticeable how Elvis always gave more when performing gospel music. I've always wondered what a concert of only gospel music would have been like. I'm sure Elvis would have been very agreeable for such a project and would have given some moving performances to rival anything else he'd ever accomplished.

 

I'm surprised that it hasn't been mentioned in comments about expanded videos of the sit down shows but another gem is his performance of When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again. I really enjoyed that one as well as the others mentioned because I'm so partial to the 1950's version.

 

We Will Be Getting to the Expanded versions

 

Memories

Written By :
Billy Strange & Scott Mac Davis

Recorded :
Western Recorders, Hollywood, June 20-23, 1968 : June 24, 1968

Single by Elvis Presley
from the album Elvis
B-side "Charro"
Released 1969
Recorded June 24, 1968 at Western Recorders, Burbank, California[1]
Label RCA Victor
Songwriter(s) Billy Strange, Mac Davis[2][3][4]

It was written by Billy Strange and Mac Davis specially for Presley to perform on Elvis, his comeback TV special that would air on NBC on December 3, 1968. Later Mac Davis recalled to Billboard: "They had asked for a song about looking back over the years, and oddly enough, I had to write it in one night. I stayed up all night at Billy Strange's house in Los Angeles. He had a little office set up in his garage. I wrote it right there."[3]

Released in the United States in 1969 as a B-side to "Charro", the title song from the movie Charro!,[5] "Memories" reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of April 12, 1969.[6][7]

The song is also included on the album Elvis, the soundtrack album for the NBC TV special at which it was first performed.[2] For the TV show itself the song was recorded live, but the album features a studio version recorded on June 24.[1]
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I like this song, but it isn't necessarily a favourite. It is done well and serves a purpose. I think the way it fitted into the special was a little awkward ....
Having said that though, where would you put it. It is somewhat out of place, but not ... We have the intensity of the guys sitting around jamming essentially and then Elvis moves to the side of the stage to sing this mellow reflective ballad. Of course the band had just been sharing Memories, and the song is about that, so it fits well in that regard.
Like I say I don't dislike the song, but it always seemed like a come down after the sit down session .... but of course I came to all this long after the fact, so that may well tarnish my view of it.

 

I am assuming that this is the single version, but this one is a little confusing to me. I was never sure if Elvis sang this live at the special or if it was an effective mime. Bearing that in mind,
I then wasn't sure if the single was the same as the NBC version but without the audience ... I know you guys can tell me

 

It is oddly located here and the single came out in Feb. 69, but it was the b-side to Memories, so here we go.

Charro

Written By :
Scott Mac Davis & Billy Strange

Recorded :
Samuel Goldwyn Studio, Hollywood, October 15, 1968 & November 25, 1968: October 15, 1968 & November 25, 1968

"Charro" is a song first recorded by Elvis Presley as part of the soundtrack for his 1969 motion picture Charro!, a western directed by Charles Marquis Warren.[1] It was its title song and the only song that played in it,[2][3][4] as it was Presley's first film where he didn't sing.[5]
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This is actually a pretty cool song. It has a drama about it, and Elvis puts across a very effective vocal. Interestingly Memories charted (35) but Charro did nothing at all. I wonder if that was the public speaking "hey we like this concert stuff, give the movie songs up mate"
I like this track and as annoying as the mix and match styling of the record comapny was, it does fit in nicely with the Almost In Love Camden release.

 

Nothingville/Guitar Man/Let Yourself Go/Gtr Man/Big Boss Man/Gtr Man/Little Egypt/Trouble/ Gtr Man
This is the meat and potatoes of the production number, and unfortunately they decided to edit it for the special, thankfully we have the complete section now.
I really enjoy this and I think aside from the extended dance section this is great.
I have always loved the Nothingville track, it just has a great feel and I consider it among my favourites here. Guitar Man works as a perfect segue and it is nice how the final section is done on the stand up stage, giving it a sense of flow from the doco movie styling, to the realisation on the stage.
As stated earlier by many, Let Yourself Go it fantastic here and really blows the doors out.
I like Big Boss Man here, but I don't find it to be revelatory.
Little Egypt has always been a song I love, and then we get the BookEnd version of Trouble.

This whole thing was well thought out and well put together. If Elvis' management and record company had been as thoughtful with Elvis career and albums as binder and the crew were with this special, things would look very different .... and who actually could possibly know what that would mean now, everything happens for a reason, and all things work for good for those who love God .....

 

It Hurts Me
This was edited out, but works well, and really could have been left in, unless time was an issue.
It came in originally after Big Boss Man.

 

The single version was mono but without the audience overdubs. A shorter stereo mix was released on the This Is Elvis lp.

 

If I Can Dream
We already did this track as the lead single from the special, but it is magnificent and needs to make another appearance.

 

Cheers Mate

 

I really can't stand Memories. It's dull, it's sappy, and the lyrics are trying too hard. "Of holding hands and red bouquets/And twilight trimmed in purple haze/And laughing eyes and simple ways/And quiet nights and gentle days with you"...in a way, it irritates me almost as much as Confidence. Conversely, Charro is a song that I always enjoy listening to. It's not on the level of, say, Edge Of Reality, but it has a nice quasi-epic feel about it.

It Hurts Me completely loses the delicacy and beauty of the original. Elvis' vocal is unconvincing to me; his all-out vocal approach just doesn't work here, and the arrangement doesn't help matters (the strings are distracting rather than emotional). I probably dislike it even more than Memories, because at least Elvis sings Memories well

The Nothingville medley has some decent bits, but Let Yourself Go is by far the best part for me. The edit on the 4-CD box is perfection.

 

While I love this version's vocals, I remember my friend and I cracking up the first time we saw this - here's Elvis singing a song about being 'hurt' while he karate chops a bunch of thugs coming at him. Some of those moves are so over the top, I'm guessing they were choreographed by a couple of 10 year old wrestling fans.