Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Oct 7, 2018.

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  1. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    While I don't think it is a particularly elite track in the Elvis canon, Power of My Love is a respectable performance from Elvis, a good recording, and somewhat of a formulaic 1969-era pop song. If I were to try to piece together my ideal American Sound LP, I probably would omit it. But as I stated earlier in this discussion, trying to create a perfect track-listing for From Elvis In Memphis is very challenging, so it is better to leave the sequencing alone and enjoy this outstanding album for what it is.
     
  2. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    No, you are misunderstanding how public domain works. If a recording becomes public domain, that doesn't mean the owners of the master tapes are legally compelled to let anyone use their tapes. They still own the physical tapes as property. For example, all of Elvis' 50s releases are public domain in the EU and Britain. Anyone can make a needle drop of old records and release that on CD, or make a digital copy of a prior CD release. But they can't force Sony to turn over the master tapes for them to use.

    If Sony doesn't release the unreleased 1969 shows this year they will become public domain. That means if they were then ever released in the future (after this year) they would not be copyright protected, and anyone could copy the CDs are reissue them. If they are released this year they will be under copyright.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2019
  3. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I like Power Of My Love too. And I am very happy it replaced Mama Like The Roses.
     
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  4. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Power Of Love is a killer song. A high point of the album.
     
  5. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    I’ve never cared for Power Of My Love. Perhaps the knowledge that it was a “movie song” that snuck into these sessions has unfairly colored my perception of it. If they were going to include some late movie material on From Elvis In Memphis, I would have preferred for Rubberneckin’ or Clean Up Your Own Backyard to make the cut.

    As for Power Of My Love itself, it’s another example of Elvis taking a generic or average song and elevating it through the power of his Elvisness, but it’s probably my least favorite track on From Elvis In Memphis.
     
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  6. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Wow, you have me almost completely dumbstruck. Just when we both thought we had each other's musical tastes figured out somewhat, you and I throw each other some curveballs. You end up speaking up for Mama Liked The Roses (A song I like a lot, but not nearly enough to want to put it on this album), and I end up absolutely digging Power Of My Love ( A song you describe as a "formulaic 1969-era pop song.") :confused:

    I really think Power Of My Love is anything but formulaic, with its very edgy double entendres in the lyrics and a rather atypical hybrid soul/blues production as well as the addition of those magnificent Memphis Horns. It also sounds like something Aretha Franklin might have enjoyed taking a crack at when she was still alive.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2019
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  7. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    They cranked out a lot of songs, some good, some mediocre, some awful. If nothing else, they wrote "Devil in Disguise," which I would rank as one of the top twenty songs of Elvis' underrated 1960-63 period. "Power of My Love" is also a decent song, though it's largely the performance/arrangement of Elvis and band that elevates it.
     
  8. Swedish viking

    Swedish viking Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Hi everybody, I'm a new member here on this forum and I love Elvis Presleys music. I have spent five hours going through this thread and I think its great! Heard Elvis for the first time in 1980 when I was five and it was Such A Night and I´ve been a fan since then. I bought this album when I was thirteen and I was blown away!! This song is one of many highlights from this period,
     
  9. Libertine1967

    Libertine1967 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    London
    That’s interesting. The thought of Aretha in the late 60’s/early 70’s recording Power of my love or many of these American Sound songs. I think they would have just added more great recordings to her legend. The thought of prime Aretha recording this material demonstrates the massive improvement in the quality of songs that were being offered to Elvis in early 1969!
     
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  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Welcome Aboard Mate.
    Feel free to join in and tell us your thoughts on any of the stuff we're talking about.
    :righton:
     
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  11. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    A movie version of "Power Of My Love" would have had a much quicker tempo with lots of tambourine and Elvis just kinda of half singing it with all head voice and nothing coming from the chest.
     
  12. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Welcome aboard one of the greatest threads ever. Well, one of our very fine Elvis experts on this splendid forum (@czeskleba) sites Such A Night as possibly Elvis's greatest performance ever, and I cannot disagree with his choice on that matter. So you are obviously a person a superior music taste, if that is the song that turned you on to Elvis. Please chime in whenever you feel like it as we love hearing from new fans on this thread.
     
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  13. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Well, I am not sure if I would define my remarks as speaking up for Mama Liked The Roses. As I previously stated, I think the song fit into the country/R&B/soul/pop hybrid theme of From Elvis In Memphis, and was the sort of sentimental song Elvis was attracted to. I also suspect Moman believed in the song's merit, in addition to having a financial interest in it. That said, I don't think it was among the best of what the sessions had to offer, and I certainly would never have added it to the album's sequencing.

    I don't have a problem with Power of My Love and it certainly added a jolt to the album, but I don't think it is among the best of what Elvis had to offer, and I also think there are superior songs and recordings from the sessions.
     
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  14. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I do get where you are coming from and I really do think Elvis gives a great vocal on Mama Liked The Roses. It is great fun to speculate on what we all would have done with the rest of the great material from the American Sound sessions, if we had been in charge. I also agree with your previous post that it is probably best just to enjoy the great album as it is given that hindsight really is 20/20. To me personally, it is about as close to perfection as Elvis got on a whole studio album, besides his stellar Elvis Is Back! album.
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Gentle On My Mind
    Written By :
    John Hartford

    Recorded :

    American Studios, Memphis, January 13-16 and 20-23, 1969: January 15, 1969. no take information

    This is a track that a lot of folks have done, the most famous version probably being Glen Campbell, who did do a very good version.
    I am not familiar with all the versions, but I do really like this version.
    The track starts with a nice guitar and organ and as the vocal comes in we have what sounds to me like a D6 clavinet playing the very cool rhythm bass on here. In fact of all the things I like about this song that is what always stands out to me, as it gives the song quite a unique feel, and I really love the feel that they got on this track.
    This track is a gentle builder and I find that it generally works really well all through. It seems this is a song that many would drop and replace, but for me this is another really nice piece that helps the flow of the overall album.
    I guess in some ways this song doesn't go anywhere, there is no big crescendo, or hugely dynamic big vocal or whatever, but I think that is one of the reasons it works so well from an album perspective. It has this really cool feel, that doesn't fall into drudgery or overly sentimental syrup, it bounces along with some really nice instrumentation and it develops a really cool groove that Elvis sings fairly straight over the top of, but also and more importantly very effectively. Another winner for me.

     
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  16. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    Recorded in 1968 and released in January 1969, Gentle On My Mind made it to No.2 in the UK charts in April 1969. Not by Glen Campbell, however (whose version had never been released as a single in the UK), but by Elvis’ hero Dean Martin.

    It’s a surprisingly good version (and the first one I ever heard):

     
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  17. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Power Of My Love is tough, sassy, and sexy. I love it. It's particularly effective as the opener to side 2, where that opening burst of sound makes for an arresting introduction.

    Conversely, I really don't like Gentle On My Mind. It plods along, and Elvis sounds disinterested. Actually, the only version of the song that I really like is this one by John Hartford (there's a longer, uptempo alternate that I don't care for at all):

     
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  18. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I never cared for the song much having heard the Hartford, Campbell and Dean Martin versions. But Elvis version blew me away. All the other versions are dispassionate and divorced of the content the lyrics lend themselves to. Elvis actually brings home the feeling of love for the person the song is about. And it reveals not only the narrator's appreciation for the character, but the loneliness that is felt as he wanders the world. His memory of being with her is what gets him through. And the knowledge that he is welcome anytime he comes around gives him a sense of home and shelter. Those words are merely sung by other artists (even the writer of the song). But those words are felt when Elvis sings them. It is a bittersweet song. No one else has a bittersweet tone with in other than Elvis.

    But of all the other versions, Hartford's is best, it betters Campbells version.
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I agree with this completely
     
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  20. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    Brilliant post, SKATTERBRANE. I could not have written a better way of describing, how I feel about Elvis' Gentle On My Mind.

    No surprise it was one of the tracks chosen for FEIM. Elvis felt the lyrics and none of the other versions comes close imo. No one can touch that kind of greatness.
     
  21. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Basically there isn't a weak track on FEIM. Heck, it is almost as good as Harum Scarum. :tiphat:
     
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  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    hahahaha
     
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  23. Libertine1967

    Libertine1967 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    London
    Gentle on my mind is song that I remember really well as a 4 year old. It might be my earliest musical memory. I’ve realised now it would have been the Dean Martin version that was on the radio in England whilst my mother was doing housework.

    The thing about Elvis singing all these songs, and what I really admire about his best work, is that despite the fact that he wasn’t the songwriter, you really feel that he is telling HIS story.

    There’s passion in the voice, but not in an over the top unnecessary way. Too many singers sound like they are reading the lyrics and have no idea what the words are about and are then celebrated for throwing in a few cliched vocal histrionics. Elvis, when engaged was so much better than the rest.
     
  24. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Thanks Mark for identifying that unique keyboard instrument that was on this record. I have always wondered exactly what that was and I really dig the sound of it as well.

    What a truly outstanding description of how I feel about Elvis's definitive version of this warhorse of a song. I am a country music lover from about 1973, until about the the turn of the century, when it all seemed to go south for country music, so I count the 60' snd 70's period as my favorite era of the genre, but Glen Campbell's version of Gentle On My Mind just never did anything for me. It seemed liked he was rushing though the song at a breakneck speed, so I could never appreciate the rather stellar lyrics of the song. @SKATTERBRANE just nails all the reasons why Elvis's version is the definitive one of this chestnut.

    Oh, a special shoutout to @NumberEight for posting Dean Martin's splendid version, who achieves greatness here by doing almost the opposite of what Presley does with the song, but he does it so effortlessly and with such casual aplomb that you cannot help but to enjoy Dino's lightweight take as well.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2019
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I wouldn't sign an affidavit but I am pretty sure it is a d6. Made famous by Stevie Wonder during the seventies.
     
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