Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

As much as I love the Sun material, sometimes the Sun sets on EP Blvd.

 

Glad to hear it. I was thinking how I don't really have anything more to say about the Sun stuff.

 

Cool.

 

Cheer up, you'll have another crack at it when we get to the 1987 Sun Sessions album.

 

Boulevard and Moody Blue are not only two of my favorite 1970s albums but are two of my favorites from his whole album catalog. There are 5 Elvis studio albums from the 1970s that I kept returning to in album form. The rest were broken up to make mix tapes.
In chronological order:
1. That's The Way It Is (Soundtrack but I still think of it as a mostly studio album)
2. Elvis Country
3. Promised Land
4. From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
5. Moody Blue (some live cuts but I still consider it a studio album)
To this day when I hear them on shuffle from my phone, I'm still a little disappointed that the sequencing is different.

 

I've got to say that I LOVE that album cover! As much as Elvis was phenomenal in the Sun years, Scotty and Bill and later DJ were exceptional too! They also set the standard of how rock and roll should sound! Their wonderful work can't be emphasized enough.

 

Thanks @Dave112 !
And you are so right about Scotty and Bill.

 

Power is out again ... I'll do my best to keep us moving

 

From Elvis Presley Blvd Memphis Tennessee

Hurt
Never Again *****
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain ******
Danny Boy ****
Last Farewell *
For The Heart
Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall *
Solitaire **
Love Coming Down *****
I'll Never Fall In Love Again ***
* Recorded: Graceland, Memphis, February 2, 1976
** Recorded: Graceland, Memphis, February 3, 1976
*** Recorded: Graceland, Memphis, February 4, 1976
**** Recorded: Graceland, Memphis, February 5, 1976
***** Recorded: Graceland, Memphis, February 6, 1976
****** Recorded: Graceland, Memphis, February 7, 1976



Apparently this is a somewhat controversial album. It isn't to me, I think it is very good.
Apparently Elvis was so against making an album, they had to bring the studio to him. Well, from the opening explosion of passion, it sounds like that gave him a bit of a buzz.
Perhaps as I go song by song I will find something negative to say about this album, but merely upon listening to it as an album. I like it.

I'm sure we are going to have, many and varied opinions, so give us your take on this album.

Cheers
Mark

 

Sorry that's messy, the phone is really awkward

 

What I'll primarily say, having been to Graceland, is that the Jungle Room may not be the best recording room ever, but the vibe would have had to have been great. Until Elvis ran out of steam, of course.

 

It is an interesting room... at least it isn't too cavernous, so damping shouldn't have been too hard

 

The shag carpet on the ceiling probably did wonders for reflections

 

I wonder if he was sat in that big chair lol

 

I seem to recall the guide mentioning that the raised area was used as a stage...

 

With most major recording artists today, having a home recording studio is almost a given. It's funny how that was a novelty back then. Given Elvis' growing reluctance to go to an offsite studio, I'm surprised that they hadn't already set one up at Graceland and in his Vegas suite "in case" he was feeling good and wanted to record a song or two.

 

I'll be the first to concede that Elvis is far from his technical "best" on FEPB (in fact, he sounds roughest on what's probably my favourite track), and yet the album contains so much emotion that I'd rank it amongst his best albums. There's a resigned majesty to the music that is absolutely devastating. It helps that the album has a unified sound, and it's actually sequenced quite well.

 

Yes. Too bad Elvis wasn't interested in the recording process as Buddy Holly was. Those New York apartment tapes sound better than his studio recordings.

 

'From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis Tennessee' (for me) goes from excellent* to tolerable** to maudlin crud*** to downright poor****. Quite an achievement for a mere ten (count 'em) songs.
* Hurt, For the Heart, Danny Boy, Blue eyes...
** The Last Farewell, Solitaire
*** Never Again, Love Coming Down, Bitter they are...
**** I'll Never Fall in Love Again.
Just an opinion, of course...

 

I do not recall why or exactly when I bought this LP. It may have been that I saw him in concert for the 2nd time in April of 1977. I do remember buying Moody Blue shortly after, and for sure before his death. If you recall I had not bought an Elvis record since 1972 which was Elvis Now. I had heard a few Elvis LPs of my friend's younger brother, those being Fool, and Raised On Rock and one or two others from that era. Upon listening I was satisfied I had made the right choice abandoning Elvis' recent output as I concentrated on buying a LOT of LPs of other artists.

I do know I bought it well before his death and that I was curious what Elvis was up to since 1972. I had not even seen On Tour. In fact I did not see that until its theatrical re-release in 2010, the ONLY Elvis movie I had not seen by 1972. I do not think I thought it was another On Stage performance, but I took it at its word--that it was recorded live at his house. Well, since it had overdubs, it does not qualify as a live recording does it?

But, I found I did not mind it. I thought it better than the few albums my friend's brother had a few years earlier. And there were a handful of songs/performances I quite liked, Hurt and Danny Boy being the standouts for me. The seed was planted for me to acquire all the LPs I had between Elvis Now and EP Boulevard, as I COULD live with having a collection that was only complete up to a point. But I COULD'NT live with a collection that had a huge hole in it. The impetus for me to complete my collection was reinforced by the event of Aug 16, 1977.

 

The biggest problem with this album is not the songs, but Elvis' vocals on so many of the songs is pretty bad. The sound quality is not all that great either. And then there is those damned overdubs partially meant to cover up Elvis less than great vocal work.

 

It is not like Elvis starts out strong with Hurt and then runs out of steam! He recorded Hurt on the third night. I understand there are a LOT of X-rated outtakes for Hurt as well. He beat that song to death wallowing in self-pity.

 

There are certainly issues with this album, but I'm in the camp that - overall - it's pretty good. I'll revisit it as we go song-by-song and perhaps my opinion will change (it's been a while since I've listed to the album proper) but right off the bat there's several songs I give good marks to. Also, my opinion of this material went up when FTD started releasing outtakes of this material, and there's a multi-CD b**t series that came out several years ago that gave a much clearer picture of the session strengths.

I will say that this album has an inherent sadness to it, so I only listed to it when I'm in the mood for that.

 

Definitely feels like a "concept" album in the sense that all the songs seem to deal with love and loss