Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

I first heard this one on the 70's box. That is still my favorite version. I love this song. The melody and lyrics were tailor made for Elvis, and it does indeed invoke memories of his 50's ballads. Wish he did a whole album like this.

 

I hear the beauty and simplicity of Elvis's solo piano version on It's Still Here exactly as Mark, Dirk and Shawn do. Just a gorgeous vocal all around, and I do believe that much like on his stupendous version of I'll Hold You In My Heart, Elvis must have sung and played this on piano at Graceland more than a few times as Shawn suggested in his fine post.

 

It's almost inconceivable that this was recorded just over half a year after TTWII. He sounds like another person.

 

Yes, for me the bright line between 1970 and 1971 is the "before and after" as it comes to Elvis' voice and performances.

 

His pharmaceutical abuse steadily increased during that period and it impacted his vocals. That isn’t to say he didn’t deliver some great vocal work, he did, but the deterioration was evident.

 

Even on his worst days he could sing better than I can.

 

Yes indeed, I would love to have Elvis's voice even on his worst days, if only for a song or two, just so I could sing Bridge Over Troubled Water or Unchained Melody, without making the audience stampede out the door.

 

Is Elvis after 1970 the genuinely saddest sounding pop singer ever?

 

Absolutely not. However compared to his former self he becomes only the 2nd best pop/rock/blues/country singer ever.

 

I am with @SKATTERBRANE on this all the way. Although Elvis was certainly drawn to his fair share of sad songs in the latter stages of his career, he also had many moments of making joyful music after 1970, whether it was at MSG in 1972, where he seemed to have a ball on stage or in Memphis in 1974, where his homecoming concert brought out a very jovial sounding performer. He also sounded energetic and upbeat on many studio cuts and singles that brought out his playful side during the mid 70's on songs like Promised Land, T-R-O-U-B-L-E, I Can Help or even Way Down, from his very last studio session. Most country singers that were popular during these times recorded their fair share of sad songs and since Elvis was aiming primarily for the country audience in the latter part of his career, it was no surprise that the vast majority of his material might seem a tad on the sad side.

 

I get you but I'm not talking material. Just the sound of his voice.....

 

It's an interesting discussion question. I'd put Elvis on the list of "most genuinely saddest sounding" singers without qualification. He could pull it off it from the very beginning (Blue Moon, anyone?) to the very end (Unchained Melody? Shivers). But I think Billie Holiday sounded even sadder, even more tortured, and Dylan has delivered plenty of truly sad, genuine, devastating vocals that gut me more than Elvis does (Red River Shore, just to start with one). Heck, even Tim Hardin tends to strike me as sounding sadder than Elvis did even at his (Elvis') lowest point. Townes Van Zandt always sounded genuinely defeated. I could go on...

But when it comes to actually expressing the heart of a song, or conveying a more multilayered, more complicated feeling than mere "sadness," or simply delivering a shattering vocal that I want to listen to over and over again, no one apart from Dylan comes even remotely close to Elvis.

 

I miss interpreted the intent. I did not know that Sgt Pepper meant singer of sad songs in an effectively sad way. I thought he meant that in the 70s his singing was a sad comparison to what came before.

 

I guess I'm going to kind of be a dissenting opinion, but these three Elvis at the piano recordings have always kind of left me cold. I know a lot of people really like them, but they seem better in concept than execution to me. People have been comparing "It's Still Here" to "I'll Hold You in My Heart" and to me that comparison just makes me sad. There's such a difference in Elvis' voice in just those two years. One of the things that makes "I'll Hold You in My Heart" so brilliant is the sense of dynamics throughout... even though Elvis is singing the same lyrics over and over, he is able to create a sense of tension, build up, and climax even as he repeats the same verses. That just isn't there to the same degree on "It's Still Here." And as much as I like his piano, I think the songs would benefit from some other subtle instrumentation, like what's on "I'll Hold You in My Heart."

Did some cursory research, and unless I'm missing something, "It's Still Here" was not a cover but an original that Ivory Joe submitted to Elvis. Then he later covered it himself, and oddly enough his version is country. Contrary to what it says on the video, this version is from 1974:

 

Definitely valid points, and points I would imagine few will argue with. So many of the secular, non-holiday themed songs from the 1971 sessions were either poorly executed or terribly arranged, and there lies some of the real appeal of the piano recordings because Elvis gave it his all and was not encumbered by disinterest, inability, and substandard production. They were far from his best work, yet there is something organic, real, and even vulnerable about the recordings. It is quite revealing to hear the diminished vocal state he was in during the 1971 sessions, especially considering just two years prior, he was at the pinnacle of his vocal powers.

 

I guess it depends how many pop singers you've heard lol

 

I interpreted that the same way as you lol

 

It's Impossible
Written By :
Sid Wayne & Armando Manzanero

Recorded :
Live Recording, Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, February 14-17, 1972 : February 16, 1972 Midnight Show


To be honest this is the kind of song that is generally not in my wheelhouse at all. For some reason I have just never been into the whole seventies cabaret singer scene.
It ends up being a song I enjoy on here. This ends up being a very tender delivery. Even though this track is the odd sock out here, being live, it actually sounds good enough to stand up with the studio cuts.
For me a surprisingly good song, in this context.

 

(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me
Written By :
Gordon Lightfoot

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, March 15-16, 1971 : March 15, 1971. take 12

This is another Gordon Lightfoot song, and again I find this Elvis version is quite satisfactory. I like the acoustic guitar styling here, and the playing is excellent. Also the harmonica is used sparingly but effectively.
These tracks aren't in my top ten Elvis tracks, but I find them very satisfying anyhow.
Sure this album isn't going to knock From Elvis In Memphis, or Elvis Is Back out of my favourites, but I still find this to be an enjoyable album.

 

Sorry guys! I didn't mean it in the modern derogative use of the word 'sad' but its literal meaning.
Of course there are and have been endless numbers of sad singers out there but what strikes me about Elvis post '70 is how often he sounds like he just didn't like singing anymore. It's a lack of aggressiveness and power - other singers use to express sadness or anger - that sets him apart and often doesn't work as entertainment anymore but is kind of uncomfortable and unsettling.

 

It's cool.
I tend to agree that Elvis in his later years had a melancholy that seeped into most of his work. I think he was filled with regrets about a lot of things. He was probably fighting within himself over the addiction issues, because that is what tends to happen. His health was terribly poor, and that effects the mindset.
It is a very sad thing, and Elvis, being good at expressing himself pretty honestly captured that in his vocals. I don't have a problen with Elvis' world weary vocals, because to me, they are honest, he was world weary.

 

For me, those last two are particular highlights of the album and, indeed, Presley's 70s output.

For Loving Me is from the last session where he was in truly outstanding voice and sounded.....young. When he returned to Nashville two months later, his voice had lost that ease and lightness audible on this playful cut. It was something rarely heard in the later years, although ironically it's there on his lovely reading of It's Impossible.

 

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. I didn't like It's Impossible when I heard it on the 70s box, and I still don't really like it in isolation, but it somehow works wonderfully after It's Still Here.

For Lovin' Me is a delightful little track. The arrangement has a breezy feel about it that complements the devil-may-care attitude of the lyrics, and Elvis delivers a great vocal that perfectly captures the nuances of the song. His timing on "I've had a hundred just like you, but don't be blue...I'll have a thousand 'fore I'm through" is particularly wonderful.

 

It really would've been interesting had Elvis not died on the 16th. Supposedly he was going to address the issue on the next tour. What would he say? Would he call it lies?Would it have mattered? Was he too far gone? Certainly the press would have been watching him much closer than before. There would have been a lot of pressure to clean up.

 

It's Impossible is such a MOR song, such a "pre-rock" style song, but I really like Elvis' version from early 1972 Vegas. I like just about all his masters from that season. For Lovin' Me is very good. That short session yielded some pretty decent performances and the background singers are just the right touch. Not only that but the sound is clean and breezy.