Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

I thought I read in Guralnik's book that Elvis actually did visit a Maharishi. Maybe not the Maharishi, but he looked into the eastern spirituality thing?

 

I've always liked the studio version of "My Way" It needs work to be sure but I like the song without all the bombast of the live versions.

 

The Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel medley is a major guilty pleasure of mine (well, except that I don't feel guilty about it!). I just enjoy the combination/arrangement so much that I'll listen to virtually any version of it. My favourite performance is the one from the afternoon MSG show. This is one instance where I think the PFAP mix isn't as good as the original mix, though it's probably a case of remaining partial to the version that you initially fell in love with (also, the Afternoon In The Garden mix is much better than the original MSG mix to begin with, imo).

As rushed as the "oldies" section is, Elvis actually does sound pretty committed (spurred on by the circumstances, perhaps?). It's the most consistently engaging part of the album for me.

 

As I said in the post you quoted, Elvis did dabble in Eastern spirituality, to which he was exposed by his hairdresser, not by an actual Eastern guru. But my main point was that, unlike George Harrison and others, Elvis never dabbled in Eastern music, but remained loyal to the gospel tradition he grew up in.

 

No doubt, but one has to keep in mind that there were a few rock critics around at the time that thought Elvis was over with after he walked out of Sun Records for RCA Victor. Nevertheless, Elvis's MSG concerts were given stellar reviews overall.

 

In Mystery Train Greil Marcus writes:

His resurrection assured, Elvis settled into a public state of grace; in Bob Dylan’s words, his only sin was his lifelessness. He played New York City for the first time (not counting TV shows) in 1972; reviews were ecstatic (jaded rock critics went mad for El’s version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”), and the marketing even better, with Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden (RCA) in the stores a week after the concerts. Twenty songs were crammed onto the vinyl, “American Trilogy” among them, but clearly a good part of the magic must have come from the fans, and they took most of it home with them.

One of those jaded rock critics was Marcus's friend Robert Christgau, whose essay I quoted earlier in this thread. It's good to know there was actually some variety in the critics' responses, but the reviews from the major publications (especially the New York Times) marked an overall success.

 

It was a huge success without any doubt. But it also marked for me the end of most of my interest for Elvis' concerts. I just did not like what he was becoming. The movie "Elvis On Tour" was something of an eye-opener: the wild, crazy and funny man was getting way too serious, too detached from reality too. Moreover, with such an amazing back-catalogue, I often wonder why the hell was he recording a new album live in the Garden with, again, PROUD MARY / POLK SALAD ANNIE (both already on "On Stage"), YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN' / YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME (already on "That's the Way it is"), I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU ("In Person"), etc.
My take is that the fans deserved something more personal and more risqué than his typical Las Vegas act. A wasted oportunity IMO. I know i'm not being very popular as the MSG album remains for many a fan favorite but, in my case, the New York performance (plus the hawaiian one shortly after) were more of a conclusion. And if I want to get the excitement of listening to the GENIUS of the Elvis Presley live experience, I go back to the sit-down shows plus the highlights of the first 2 seasons in Vegas.
Note: "Mystery Train" must be my all-times favorite book about rock music. The chapter dedicated to Elvis ("Presleyade") is plain brilliant. Marcus' comments on Elvis discography are also very interesting and, most of the time, spot-on.

 

I completely understand how you feel about it.
I enjoy what we have, because that is what it is, but especially the live albums (and so many of them, 5 live albums from 69-74 ... I love live albums, but for one a year for five years, you have to mix it up a bit) are somewhat disappointing in light of what could have been on them.
Like i say, I enjoy them, but the frustrating possibilities .... wow.
I think frustration is just part of being an Elvis fan to be honest

 

I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Elvis' career after 1955 is a long succession of what-ifs.

 

At what point did Elvis play Bridge Over Troubled Water at MSG?

 

During the first show, not in the LP (from the third performance, the day after.)

 

If you can't tell by my avatar, I'm a big Buck Owens fan. In 1966, Buck Owens played the famous Carnegie Hall in NYC by invitation. The concert was a great success from audience response and from critics. This was just 6 years before Elvis would play MSG. Playing in NYC for Buck Owens and Elvis is an enlightening gage to see just how much popular culture had shifted from the late 1950s to the 1960s and 70s. When Elvis first hit the national spotlight, his music was controversial but was also considered the stuff of poorly educated folks as was country music. Definitely not considered a legitimate art form by the avant-garde crowd in NYC. By the mid sixties, the taboo had slowly melted away and there developed an appreciation for other music that was just as legitimate as jazz or classical. I find it telling that Buck Owens got an invitation to play Carnegie Hall with his twangy, honky tonk flavor and they passed over the heavy strings Nashville sound of that time. My only criticism of Elvis' performance at MSG was that some songs seemed rushed. I know now that this was to fill just one LP time wise.

 

Impossible Dream
I'm not completely sure I really think much of this song, but it is one of those iconic singers songs. As someone who likes to hear a singer push it, and a band get a bit over the top, I can appreciate this version of the song, but if it wasn't here, I wouldn't be phased.

 

Hound Dog( + introductions)
I enjoy the blues funk start here and like the feel the band give it. The track kicks into the high paced git her done version, and it is entertaining, I just wish Elvis had sung the second verse in his live versions.

 

Suspicious Minds
This is a good version of the song, but I think you can start to hear Elvis tiring of the song to some degree. He puts some great vocals in, but he is already starting to make fun of it.

 

For The Good Times
This track is a nice change of pace and Elvis kind of rejoins the party. Probably, in some ways, a highlight for me.

 

I'm so far out of touch that I'd never heard (or even heard of) The Impossible Dream until I heard the 70s box. The 1972 "master" is majestic perfection. The MSG performance doesn't have the same magic for me, even discounting the bum note at the end.

I sort of like this arrangement/performance of Hound Dog. It can't touch Berle/Little Rock/Hayride/etc., but it has a certain charm of its own.

Suspicious Minds works much better with the visuals (i.e., the amateur footage of the afternoon show as seen on Prince From Another Planet). Elvis just looks magnetic on the video. On the record, it's a few steps down from the TTWII performances.

 

I’ve been listening to the new Live 1969 box and “Suspicious Minds” was majestic during that run - I think a few weeks before the single was actually released.

By 1972, the “shove it up your nose” jokes and a general air of goofing around on the song drag it down a lot.

 

To me, the February 1972 The Impossible Dream isn't better than the one at MSG. Both are good. I think the MSG version is a little more passionate and exciting. Compare the "Oh this is my quest" at about 47 seconds in. At the end of the song, I'm not sure I hear a bum note. There may be a little vocal crack at the end of the word "reach." I hear Elvis hitting two notes on the word "star" at the end, the first a little higher, which to me adds excitement.

I like the Hound Dog arrangement, glad he came up with it. My small criticism is similar to what I said about Devil in Disguise. When Elvis starts the faster part of HD, I want him to hit it harder and tear into it like he did at the start of the 1969 versions.

I've listened to this album a lot and have got a lot of enjoyment from this version of Suspicious Minds over the years.
I know it's sped up compared to previous versions and I won't claim it's better than Aug '69 or Aug '70 versions. But there's something I really like about the groove of it, the rhythm. I enjoy hearing all the elements as they come together and contribute their parts. Elvis, the Stamps, the Sweets, the horns, the intense drumming, guitar, piano. Even the audience screams at 2:45 add to the excitement. Maybe I can't explain why well, but this version is just a great listen to me. I know the excellent drumming is an important factor. The crescendos with all the musicians and singers contributing their parts back and forth is to me, glorious and fun to hear.

 

Yes indeed, I really thought Elvis's MSG version of The Impossible Dream was terrific, until I heard the earlier Las Vegas "master" version, which is definitely superior to my ears. Getting back to sound issues for a second, there is just no way a 10,000 or 20,000 seat concrete arena is ever going to stand up to the pristine sound that you can get in a Las Vegas showroom. The arrangement by Elvis and his band does not very in any appreciable degree, except for a slightly faster tempo perhaps, but the overall sonic beauty of Elvis's voice and the powerful sound of the orchestra is much better heard on the Las Vegas version. Something else you will notice to when we get to the Aloha show, even if you prefer Elvis's more aggressive TCB band at MSG or you prefer his earlier vocals, the overall sound on Aloha is miles ahead of the MSG concert. There are probably several factors contributing to this being the case; Firstly, one again, the size of the actual venues is substantial. I believe the H-I-C Arena seated just over 5,000 concert goers, MSG about 20,000. That is a huge difference to a sound engineer. Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, the Aloha show was a record setting worldwide broadcast that was going to be the most expensive special in television history, so NBC and RCA had a whole lot at stake in getting it right. When you listen to Frank Sinatra's MSG special recorded for regular television less than a year later, you cannot believe the inferior sound that Sinatra got compared to Elvis. Even Sinatra fans have speculated about the quality of the sound difference between the two artists. Were Elvis's sound people more invested in getting it right for the Aloha show than Sinatra's, who were working with an artist just coming back from a short lived retirement and was not at the top of his game yet?

 

Ah, just a great post and I agree with every word of it. James Burton's great guitar licks and Ronnie Tutt's stupendous drumming are both worth the price of admission alone.

 

Pure gold...

 

I love 70’s Elvis era, too.

 

Damn, I missed this thread, so many pages already, where are we... 1972 or later?

 

Feel free to run through them. We aren't going anywhere in a hurry.

The Fifties Easy Reference guide
Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread *

1959 - Feb 10 1964 - Reference guide -
Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

April 1964 - Sept 1967
Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

October 1967 - December 1969
Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

The Seventies thread
Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

We will be running through the posthumous releases in the next thread.