So what is wrong with this? Why the need to do overdubs? I think by this point Failtone's overdubs are nothing more than territorial pissing.
It is a bit entertaining and it usually puts a smile on my face whenever I listen to it. I went to see The Diamonds in the early 1980's at a small nightclub in Southern California as I was a huge fan of early rock 'n' roll from listening to all my father's 45's that he brought home from his Mighty 690 radio station, and they were dynamic and entertaining in person. However, when I went home and looked their names up many years later, I don't think their was a single member of the group that was in the original lineup, so I guess I saw The Fake Diamonds, so to speak. Yeah, Elvis's version of the Jim Reeves classic is near and dear to my heart, especially this week, as Real Gone Music is releasing Jim Reeves iconic Twelve Songs Of Christmas album with bonus tracks in a freshly remastered CD version by Vic Anesini next week on November 8th, and of course Vic is well known around these threads for his stellar work on Elvis's iconic catalogue for so many years. I was graced with the opportunity to write the liner notes for the project as well and I got a chance to talk about Elvis recording several of Jim Reeves most iconic hits, including Welcome To My World and He'll Have To Go, in the liner notes. Interesting fact that Elvis also had one of the great answer songs from this time period among his personal 45's collection at Graceland as well with Jeanne Black's He'll Have To Stay. Elvis's version of He'll Have To Go has grown on me a great deal over the years, but I am still partial to Jim Reeves original iconic version. 2:43NOW PLAYING WATCH LATER Jeanne Black - He'll Have To Stay (Answer to Jim Reeves' He'll Have To
Elvis' take on He'll Have to Go is not bad but it's also not great, and that in itself makes me kind of sad, because it's such a great song that it's hard not to fantasize about what he might have done with it in 1969 or 1970. I can imagine a slightly more energetic arrangement a la I'll Hold You in My Heart, with a full-throated, powerful vocal. It's a sad reminder that Elvis' days of taking someone else's classic song and making it his own are mostly behind him. It's like a base hit off a pitch that should have been an easy home run.
Yeah, I think both Vic Anesini and even Jean-Marc Juilland's FTD remaster, improved the sonics from the original configurations. Thanks for commenting on the "tinny sound" on He'll Have To Go as I am quite surprised that you and I appear to be the only one to notice or at least comment on that specific sound issue with some of the February Jungle Room session songs.
Is it just me or does it sound like Elvis adds a T at one point when he sings..."turn the jukebox way down lowwwww...t" on He'll Have To Go?
I may have missed it ... If I think about it, I'll check later ... unless someone pops in, in the meantime
I have no problem with Elvis recording this as an album cut, but why oh why was it done live? As short as his concerts were and he does this one? I guess he liked it, though.
I'm not sure why Felton picked this, but he was clutching at straws as to what to put on the album that was short of songs, because Elvis wouldn't record.
It was unreleased, available, and fit the quasi country music theme that had become so prevalent with Elvis’ studio work. Still, Elvis’ arrangement and live rendition were pretty terrible.
Little Darlin' making it onto a mainstream recording is a disgrace pure and simple. An FTD for sure, but not a regular album. I remember when Elvis died they were playing the MB album over the loudspeakers in some Walmart type store and I was in there when Little Darlin came on and I felt bad for Elvis that people who were non fans would hear this and think that's all he had at the end.
Ultimately it's his own fault, because he'd signed a contract to produce two albums a year and was receiving guaranteed money as a result, but he wasn't honoring that contract. Obviously his judgment was impaired by his addiction, and his personality was such that he was not able to stand up to his own management and say "no" about things he didn't want to do, so he opted for passive aggressive stunts like refusing to record. Certainly a more enlightened and competent manager would have worked to solve the problems rather than ignoring them and trying to act like they didn't exist. At this point, Elvis didn't care about the quality of his work and no one else involved did either, sadly.
No, what I mean is what exactly did the overdubs improve on? The untouched recording was sufficient no matter how one views the song and performance itself.
Yeah, I should have made a comment about how much I like the "Slinky intro" on He'll Have to Go as well as James Burton's great guitar work and especially his fine solo in the middle of the song. On the intro to the song, you know for sure Elvis is into a song when he hums, grunts or adds some non-verbal inflections.
If "Little Darlin" was meant to be taken seriously, then it failed big time. But Elvis described it live as a song that did not mean a thing and compared it to "Hound Dog". When I first heard it I thought it was a bit of lightweight fun on the album. I had no idea it was to be taken any other way.
Moody Blue is an enigma; an album of scraps cobbled together in desperation that ended up becoming a massive hit due to the passing of its star. Really it ought to have served as an intervention; "Elvis, look at this **** we're going to have to put out, you really want your name on this?"
There is a click, pop or non-verbal vocalization by Elvis on the last refrain of the video that Mark posted. I am not listening with headphones though, and I am not sure if the same noise is there on the actual CD.
Elvis "Do I have to go record more stuff if it doesn't?" "Well, ...yes." Elvis "Just put it out, man, put it out."
I believe it's always been there. I played it recently and was confused by that strange sound, but I remember feeling that way years ago as well
One thing I think is odd about the "Moody Blue" album is that most of the studio tracks are on Side B. It would seem more logical to have flipped the sides and have the album open with "Way Down." And maybe also move "He'll Have to Go" to the end of Side A and have the second side open with "Moody Blue" to be followed by the live tracks.
Cohesiveness and RCA's presentation of an Elvis album didn't always see eye to eye... That said, MOODY BLUE flows better than NOW or FOOL
IIRC, Failtone was recording portions of shows on the Spring 1977 tour, trying to capture songs that hadn't been recorded/released. There wasn't much to pick from. "Unchained Melody", "Little Darlin'", and "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" were about it for unique material.
Quoted for emphasis. Nicely stated. It is a very uneven album, and the sentimental value some fans have with the album along with its inflated sales due to the timing of his death shouldn’t stop listeners from acknowledging how deeply flawed the album is.