Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

Of course the overdubs are different between the single and the album, mostly because they are two different performances. But I would LOVE to hear the album version without overdubs. As far as I know it was never made available on a "regular" RCA/BMG/Sony release without overdubs. (It may be on an FTD) I am aware Elvis did not sing on the final note on the album version. The Nelson overdub was not needed at all. But the overdubs DO mask many other weaknesses in his voice on either performance. The Single performance overdubs mask a LOT of problems. But the version with significantly less overdubs on The Great Performances allows one to hear Elvis, warts and all, and I much prefer it to the single overdubbed version.

And I loathe when additional audience reaction is dubbed in too. I am not a fan of artifice.

 

Either version of Unchained Melody needed not much more than Elvis and the piano, maybe a little bass and percussion, but that's all. The less we hear of The Stamps and/or Voice the better.

 

What I do not understand about the inclusion of Let Me Be There is it counters the criteria used to what songs and why were to be on the Moody Blue album. It was supposed to be a mix of live and studio Elvis never recorded before. So, they could not FIND a song Elvis never recorded before (although it turns out there were a few to choose from). So rather than use a good live performance of a song Elvis HAD recorded before, they chose an actual recording that was already on an in print album!!! WTF? They could have even dug up a DIFFERENT performance of Let Me Be There if they were hell bent on using two lightweight and poppy ONJ songs.

I do not know if it would have been off limits because these were pre 1973 recordings, but another chance to use the studio version of For The Good Times is squandered. And hey, they had that tepid studio version of My Way too.

And the best live performance of You'll Never Walk Alone would have bookended Unchained quite nicely on the LP.

 

The Moody Blue overdubbed version is from Ann Arbor, MI 4/24/1977. Undubbed is on Spring Tours 1977 FTD and Moody Blue FTD.

The single version is from Rapid City, SD 6/21/1977. Undubbed is on The Great Performances.

 

Thank you.

 

To elaborate, it's an unflattering picture, and maybe the intent was to minimize that by making it as small as possible. i spin this one occasionally, mostly for his versions of "He'll Have to Go," and "She Thinks I Still Care," both great songs.

RECORD EXEC: Boy, that's an unflattering photograph.

OTHER RECORD EXEC: Yeah, we'd better find another one.

RECORD EXEC: Nah, just make it as small as possible.

 

I hear you and respect your opinion.. Since it wasn't a live album per-se, I gave it a free pass. Not that I noticed the 1970 overdubs (when I first heard them in 1976 ex. "The wonder Of You") either. But it needed (IMO), to be cleaned up for the album, especially as an album opener.

 

Yep, I think too that the 1973 buyout had something to do with it.

 

Speaking of the Moody Blue FTD, it has one of the most interesting and enjoyable "alternate album" sections on any FTD, imo. You get undubbed versions of the new live tracks, the April 25th My Way in place of Let Me Be There, the best version of She Thinks I Still Care, etc. I do think they should have moved takes 1/2A of She Thinks I Still Care to disc 2 so that there would have been room for the single version of Unchained Melody as well, but I guess they're saving that one should they ever release an Elvis In Concert FTD.

 

Wow, sometimes you capture exactly what I would want to say so perfectly, it almost makes it redundant for me to post anything. Well. I will give it a shot anyways from a personal standpoint.

I returned to America from the Paris Air Show in France in July of 1977 and found Way Down being played all over the radio. As terrific as Moody Blue was to my ears, Way Down almost sounded like 50's rock 'n' roll Elvis. Okay, maybe not the voice per se, but the sexiness and groove was just fantastic. I remember a few fans complaining that Elvis was "too rock" sounding on this record. I thought that complaint was just a hoot and I absolutely loved that he was back to making a little country and rock 'n' roll record. I was actually surprised that it made it to number one on the country chart the week Elvis died as it really had very little country in it at all, but the songwriter of the song, Layng Martin Jr. was a country songwriter and best known for Billy Crash Craddock's crossover hit single, Rub It In. Here is a quote by the songwriter himself regarding the creation of the song from the book, Writing For The King, which I recommend highly:

I had grown up idolizing Elvis, I even had a disc I cut when I was a teenager of me imitating him. I had sent him lots and lots of songs. I often write songs in Elvis's style because that's what's in my blood. I didn't write "Way Down" specifically for him, I just wrote it because I felt it. I love excitement-oriented songs - "Hound Dog" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" were powerful early influences of mine. And then of course the whole boy, girl sexuality thing seems like what rock and roll is all about. I guess I was hoping "Way Down" had some of that.

 

It would have been a notably different album if Elvis had done that January 1977 Creative Workshop session. He'd only managed to complete four songs at the second Jungle Room session, so at Creative Workshop they had six more on the docket, which (assuming the Moody Blue/She Thinks I Still Care was put on the upcoming album) would have given them enough songs to complete the album and have two songs to hold back for a future single (as seemed to be the recent pattern).

The songs slated for recording were:
1. That's What You Do To Me: written by Johnny MacRae and Bob Morrison
2. Energy: also written by Bob Morrison
3. Rainy Night in Georgia: the Tony Joe White classic
4. By Day By Day: written by Dennis Linde
5. Let Me On: written by Layng Martine Jr.
6. Yes I Do: written by Alan Rush

According to Alan Rush, backing tracks with scratch vocals by "one of Elvis' background singers" were recorded for five of the six tracks (all but Rainy Night). As we all know, Elvis drove to Nashville and checked into a local Sheraton, but he refused to show up at the studio. Billy Smith says "Before we ever went over there, Elvis said to me, “I’m not going to do it. If I have to, I’ll say I’m losing my voice.” Well, that’s what he done. He was getting back at Colonel and RCA."

One thing that's interesting is that there are so many new songs here. The previous two albums had been heavy with covers, but four of the above songs had not been previously recorded by anyone, and of course that was also true of Way Down. So the resulting album would have had less covers than any recent Elvis album. My guess is that "That's What You Do To Me" would have been the song held back for a future single. It wound up being a top-ten country hit for Charly McClain in 1978, and it's a decent bit of country-pop that Elvis could easily have hit with:

 

Let Me On is reminiscent of T-R-O-U-B-L-E and appropriately enough, Jerry Lee Lewis recorded it in 1979.

 

Energy is a downright awful song lyrically in my opinion, so I shed no tears about Elvis not doing it. Tommy Roe had recorded it in 1976, in a version produced by none other than Felton Jarvis.


To my knowledge, By Day By Day and Yes I Do were not ever recorded and released by anyone.

 

His lack of interest in recording goes back further, to at least 1973 when on the eve of the first Stax sessions he told Marty Lacker he "didn't give a sh!t" about the sessions and was only doing them due to pressure from the Colonel. It's hard not to conclude that drugs were a big part of the reason for his lack of interest, so you're right that he probably would have regained interest in recording if he'd lived, since any realistic scenario for him living would also require him to clean up and get sober.

 

There's a cool CD out there called A Cold Night In Nashville that has demos of the songs that Elvis was scheduled to record, as well as some other tracks of interest. Dennis Linde's version of By Day By Day is my favourite track on the album.

 

Those songs were PERFECT for '77 Elvis.

 

And I agree, from a technical standpoint the overdubs on Unchained on Moody Blue are well executed. I just do not think they were needed.

 

Heck I never took drugs, but there were plenty of times I did not want to do my job either. Including today, I have to trim some shrubbery.

 

Just to keep you all in the loop.
It looks like we have our likely suspects ready for the posthumous threads.
Thank you very much to @DirkM @SKATTERBRANE and @ClausH for their gracious and very helpful input ...
We will have 66 compilations in the 1977-1998 thread, and at this stage 35 compilations, plus the ftd's in the 1999 - ___ thread.

 

Oh man, that Day By Day song has a great groove, with a little R & B thrown in for good measure. Elvis could have sure done something with that one, if he was in the mood to record. What a darn shame he did not get to those songs in Nashville. I cannot even imagine what he could have done with Rainy Night In Georgia, if he was physically and emotionally in a good place to record.

 

I usually come down strongly on Skatter's side as far as mucking with overdubbing on a live track is concerned, but in this particular case, I do find the overdubs to be in quite good taste and add just the right amount of texture to the original recording. Here is what Robert Matthew-Walker had to say about the performance and the overdubbing in his book, Heartbreak Hotel, The Life And Music Of Elvis Presley:

"Unchained Melody" is remarkable. The live recording featured Presley accompanying himself on the piano. For an album release, the idea to overdub a better backing track was right. In the live performance, Presley was carried away and his singing takes on a freedom not heard on disc for many years. The additions are in keeping with the spirit of the performance. This is an outstanding example of Presley in his last years, and thanks are due to those who brought about this realization of what at first might have seemed poor material.

 

As someone who really loves Elvis's Moody Blue album quite a bit and has lived with it and listened to it since it first came out in 1977, I have noticed that there is a noticeable difference in the sonics of the Graceland sessions between February of 1976 and October of 1976. I know some of this is no doubt due to Elvis's diminishing vocal capabilities, which to my ears on these two separate Graceland sessions, lost a little power and fullness between this fairly short time interval. Yet in some ways, it comes back on several cuts for Elvis In Concert, particularly on Hurt, My Way and How Great Thou Art, but I still notice that even the sonics on the instrumental components of the October session have less warmth to them and also have what I call a colder, metallic sound to them. The one song from the October sessions where both the sound and Elvis's vocals sound powerful and better recorded is Pledging My Love, which is simply outstanding to my ears.

I know Ernst Jørgensen bragged about engineer Mike Moran bringing in a new set of speakers and a better microphone for the October session, but I wish they had used what they had on the February sessions, because to my ears those sessions sounded better sonically, both instrumentally and vocally. I am looking for our sound experts that I have relied on in the past for theses sonic issues, like @PacificOceanBlue, @czeskleba, @ClausH, @SKATTERBRANE, @DirkM or anybody else to tell me if they hear a noticeable difference or if I am totally off the mark here.

 

That's the big "if" of course. Rainy Night would have been a perfect song for Elvis, and at his best he could have made it a classic for the ages. Whether he could have risen to the occasion at that point is uncertain. He did with Hurt and I really like the outtake version of She Thinks I Still Care, but on the flipside his takes on He'll Have to Go and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain are really disappointing to me, given the greatness of the material he was working with.

I like By Day By Day also. Without wishing to reignite the whole "state of mind" debate, it really is interesting that almost all the songs slated for recording are uptempo. Coupled with Way Down, we would have ended up with an album of almost no ballads or slow songs, which would be unprecedented at this point in his career. It's surprising that Elvis signed off on doing this material, which he presumably did. I know it's been speculated that lack of desire to do uptempo songs might be a reason he no showed the session, but there's nothing in Billy Smith's account to suggest that was a factor. And it stands to reason that if he had a problem with the material he would have objected at the song selection stage, or else gone to the session and recorded other songs like Feelings instead of what was planned. Moody Blue would have been quite a different album if this session had gone down.

 

Do we even know for certain if Elvis was presented with any of the demos for the session ahead of time, before he even got to the studio? I cannot recall ever reading about that happening on any recording season ahead of time, but maybe my memory is hazy on the subject. I guess it happened earlier in his career on occasion, but my memory is not clear on the matter.