Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

I prefer WIDE mixes, but certain instruments need to be near center. Others can be even outboard of the speakers. Yes 12 Greatest Hits is the one with the mixes I am talking about. I just does not make sense that the entire drum kit is all panned all the way left or right.

 

I think Back In Memphis FTD is a must have as well. I almost forgot about it having the entire Suspicious Minds sessions on it. I am going to have to pull that baby out again. I guess I am just use to those vintage mixes on FEIM, and I love the strength and quality of the songs and production on it, to say nothin of Elvis's great singing throughout it. I also like From Elvis At American Sound as well, which sort of completes the trio of the American Sound recordings in splendid fashion for me. FTD really did a great job on those three releases in my opinion. They look rather pretty as well.

 

So far as stereo mixes go, i like a well used stereo field ... i don't mind an ever so slightly off centre kick and snare, if the mix is going for a real sounding kit sitting in front of you. I don't mind an off centre vocal if it is for a reason ... generally in the centre is preferable...
Having said all that, in the sixties a ton of albums had what are, to my ears, terrible out of balance mixes. I accept them for what they are, but i would prefer normal more modern remixes, in spite of purists suggesting it is some form of sacrilege

 

Have you heard The Memphis Record?

Elvis Presley - The Memphis Record

 

I have seen it around, but no I don't have it yet. The talk has made it seem interesting though

 

I'll Hold You In My Heart (Til I Can Hold You In My Arms)
Written By :
Eddy Arnold, Tommy Dilback & Howard Horton

Recorded :
American Studios, Memphis, January 13-16 and 20-23, 1969: January 23, 1969. take 1

What can I say about this track..... Well this is probably one of my favourite Elvis vocals for a starter.
Apparently this was a huge hit for Eddy Arnold, but that is someone I am not familiar with.
This track has an unusual beginning with what sounds like a couple of false starts, unless they were going for that effect. Elvis plays the piano on here and the whole song has a nice feel.
The song is fairly simple in reality, but the thing that sells this for me is that magnificent vocal. There is no doubting the passion of the person singing it. It has a hint of desperation that reaches out past the simple chord pattern and repeated lyrics. It ends up being almost like a prayer in its intensity.
I am guessing there wasn't much in the way of overdubs on this one that I can hear, and again that reflects the thoughtfulness of the production team. They weren't looking to smother anything. they just wanted to present the songs in the best light possible. As I say, there are some folks that aren't fond of the overdubs, but they did a fantastic job on all these tracks with their choices.

 

There are parts of I'll Hold You In My Heart that I really like ("All the stars up in the sky/You know they know..."), and I appreciate the spontaneity, but the final result is just a bit too stark for me to really get into it. More than that, Elvis stays in one gear throughout the song, which means that his vocal approach loses some of its effect partway through (compare it to Only The Strong Survive, where the chorus is particularly effective because the verses build up to it). I'm also not a fan of the actual tone of his voice; it's a bit too thick and monochromatic, imo.

 

I really like the performance of I'll Hold You In My Heart. It is very soulful and he wrings out every last drop of emotion from the song by this repetitive approach. What I DON'T like is the heavy reverb and distance in the recording of the vocal. It is like he is in the next room. It almost sounds like an amateur recording.

 

Hell, that is ANOTHER highlight from those 69 sessions in Memphis. It is a straight C&W song that starts out in a call-and-response Gospelish way before turning almost into a full Blues performance. I love everything in it: the jam feel, the soulful passionate vocals and the way those few lyrics lose sense and make Elvis' voice becoming just one more musical instrument. It's magic (or something very close to it.)
Again, this is the Man blending several genres into one single place effortlessly. Genius.

 

I love this track, one of my favorite cuts from the Memphis album. Elvis makes is sound so effortless. Instant perfection yanked out of thin air.

 

That's exactly how I hear it. The words become redundant. The guys is just standing naked in a field screaming his heart out (Figuratively)

 

This one is probably in my personal Top 3 favorite Elvis vocal. The first time I heard it I got chills down my spine. In a way, it reminds me of his performance on Trying To Get To You in the 68 Special in that you think he's already giving it his all, then it goes in to overdrive.

 

Like some form of hypnotic catharsis ....
In light of @RSteven 's comments regarding thinking of his Mother during Only The Strong .. the unbelievably moving vocal here could quite possibly have a similar point of reference

 

Plus I am not sure (well I actually firmly believe) that Elvis could not have replicated it live or in a different studio setting. A little bit like BABY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO from the tv special: Elvis was unable to recreate the magic in Vegas a year later. I'LL HOLD YOU IN MY ARMS was another lightning in a bottle, a spur of the moment.

 

I'll Hold You In My Heart is also a track I can imagine is something like Elvis played while sitting alone at the piano at 3 AM in Graceland.

 

Just a brilliant post and I do not think I can really add anything to it, so I will just quote Elvis author Peter Guralnick once again from Careless Love:

For the next number he sat down at the piano and launched into an impassioned version of Eddy Arnold's "I'll Hold You In My Heart even before the four-track safety tape was rolling. It was strictly an off-the-cuff affair, one ragged take in which the band at one point indicates its intention to conclude while Elvis just keeps on going with all the gospel fervor of McPhatter or Hamilton (Two of Elvis's biggest singing idols). There was nothing for Chips to do, and he had no interest in contributing to such an amateurish endeavor---but there is something magical about the moment that only the most inspired singing can bring about, as Elvis loses himself in the music, words no longer lend themselves to literal translation, and singer and listener both are left emotionally wrung out by the time the song finally limps to en end.

 

The song is probably the best example of Elvis going through a song and repeating the same verse or line over and over and squeezing out as much juice out of the song as possible. Right in front of our ears, it becomes his personal ear worm for the moment. With each repeat he is going back inside the song to find one more angle, one more crevice that he hasn't explored yet. A twinge in his voice, an extra bend of a note, a different inflection on a word or syllable...by gum he will find it. He did that throughout the comeback special with "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do' by constantly coming back to it. This song is another example of him appearing to enjoy the moment too much to let go until he was completely done with it.

 

Elvis even grunts, moans and throws in a hand clap right between his piano playing, if I am hearing it correctly.

 

I can’t really add much to this and the other great comments on this song. Elvis doing what he does best. Leaving in the false starts does strike me as pretty unusual for the era. Elvis and Sam Phillips had played with this idea as far back as Milk Cow Blues Boogie, but, off the top of my head, Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream and the White Album version of Revolution 1 are the only sixties rock songs I can think of that let the listener eavesdrop on the session like that. This highlights an important connection between Elvis and Dylan, I think: for both men, feel and being in the moment trumps the normal rules of recording.

 

Excellent point. This is a case where every time he repeats the chorus he brings something different to it emotionally, almost like jazz. What a fantastic track. After Any Day Now, it's the best thing from these sessions.

 

Um, the very next song on side one is better.

 

This paragraph illustrates everything that is good and bad about Guralnick. Astute, thoughtful analysis of the music, coupled with unnecessary and unfounded mind reading of one of the people involved (Moman).

 

Fixed it for you.

 

Eddy Arnold was one of the top country stars of the 40s and 50s, and in the 60s he successfully re-invented himself as a countrypolitan crooner and had even more success.

Elvis covered at least six songs made famous by Arnold (It's a Sin, You Don't Know Me, Just Call Me Lonesome, I'll Hold You in My Heart, I Really Don't Want to Know, Make the World Go Away). I think that's probably Elvis' record for most covers of a single artist. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone he covered more than Arnold. And all of them are excellent... Arnold's work seemed to fit Elvis really well.

The other notable connection they had is that Arnold was the first major artist managed by Colonel Tom Parker, from 1945-53. Arnold wisely fired Parker, so their paths diverged there.

 

Excellent point Jason, and I am glad you brought that up. I kept looking back at that comment that Guralnick made about the performance being "amateurish" from Chip Moman's perspective and wondering to myself, how does he know that was how Chips viewed the take? Maybe the producer thought it was a pretty interesting song in its raw state and wisely chose not to mess with it. I did not want to take the quote out of context, but it did bother me a little bit having to include it in the citation.