Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

It is one of my highlights as well and not just from this splendid album, but from his entire catalogue. Yes indeed, Elvis adding a hint of gospel to the mix really puts his stamp on it.

This was a truly inspired choice as well.

If I am hearing it correctly, arranger Bergen White starts to bring the horns in rather subtly during the start of the second verse, and then by the third verse the dynamic build-up of the whole production is in play and the rhythm section and the brass are both more progressive and prominent. Just a terrific job by Elvis, his stellar TCB band, and the very unheralded, but brilliant Nashville arranger, Bergen White. I will have much more to say about Mr. White later, when we get to one of my all time favorite Elvis albums, Elvis That's The Way It Is, which will be coming up very soon in this fine thread.

 

I am in total agreement here as well. I would actually place the On Stage album easily in my top ten list of Elvis albums ever. @PepiJean's Top 3 Elvis 70's albums list is hard to dispute as well. Stellar choices all around, especially the often underrated or overlooked He touched Me gospel album.

 

Elvis's performance of Let It Be Me really is terrific is it not? I like the term you use here, "masterclass" as it truly describes the effort that went into the stellar arrangement by pianist Glen Hardin and the passionate, but not overdone vocal by Elvis as well. There are no vocal histrionics or overdone singing here, but just an amazingly delicate piece of singing, and you can tell Elvis's full commitment to the song with his vocal ad libs along the way, "Oh, oh; Oh yeah; Tell me; Play it, James; Take it home."

 

I grew up listening to country radio in the late 60s/early 70s, and two of my favorite songs were Freddy Weller's country cover of Games People Play, and Lynn Anderson's Rose Garden. So I was a Joe South fan without knowing it. A great songwriter. Walk a Mile in My Shoes is definitely the best track on this album. I don't have much more to say than that.

 

Agree that Let It Be Me is a masterclass in interpretive singing, and to illustrate that point, listen to Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell’s version. I think Bobbie Gentry is a genius, and have all the respect in the world for Glen Campbell, but, while there’s nothing really wrong with their take on the song, Elvis’s delivery of it soars by comparison. I wish I had the musical knowledge to explain why Elvis’s take on this song is so good, but, once again, he demonstrates his uncanny ability to get to the Platonic ideal of a melody line and a lyric. Listening to this song on Spotify holding my phone up to my ear while I write this post, I get goose bumps, even though I’ve heard this song many, many times before. When he launches into “each time we meet, love / I find complete love / without your sweet love / what would life be?” it’s shattering. No one ever spun out a melody line better than Elvis, no one ever lived, breathed, and sold a lyric better than he did, and the call and response between Elvis and the Sweets answering each phrase in the above section with their “oo-wee-ooh-ooh-ooh” backing vocal ... wow. Again, the Sweet Inspirations were the not-so-secret weapon of this period, just as it was a stroke of genius to add the Jordanaires to the mix in the 50s and early 60s, it was a stroke of genius to add the Sweet Inspirations to the mix during this period. I have many other favorite Elvis songs, from When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again to Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues, but Let It Be Me is my number one favorite Elvis song, and perhaps my favorite three minutes of music by anyone. I was alive when Elvis recorded this, but I was a very small child. My number one musical fantasy would be to go back in time and see him live in Vegas on a good night in 1970. Even through speakers or a TV screen, the musicality and charisma he possessed in 1970 is astonishing. I can only imagine what it was like to see it in person. The closest experience I’ve ever had to what I imagine seeing 1970 Elvis must have been like was a Prince concert that left my jaw on the floor.

 

You and I share the same musical fantasy. I am thinking that the closing night show in February 1970 might have been the ultimate one to see. The majority of critical reviews for his entire gig during this month were just stupendous, with Los Angeles times critic Robert Hilburn (also well known for some very critical reviews of some of Elvis later 70's concerts) calling Elvis' performance "a flawless demonstration of ...vocal ability and showmanship," and Frank Lieberman of the Herald-Examiner declaring "the new decade will belong to him." Here is Elvis biographer Peter Guaralnick's stupendous description of the closing night show in February:

The final night was like the breakup of camp. The midnight show went on until 3:00 A.M. and ended with Elvis at the piano singing "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy" and "Blueberry Hill," comedian Sammy Shore running around the stage blowing his trumpet, and Priscilla standing in line in a backless culotte dress to receive a long kiss during "Love Me Tender." (I think I know that girl," Elvis remarked.) New sound problems had cropped up in the big room over the last week, and Colonel had threatened the hotel that if they were not straightened out, Elvis would not go on. Evidently they were, and Elvis gave what everyone agreed was one of his finest performances. Sometimes, he confided to the audience, he wished he could just go out there and do his show in the relaxed manner of Dean Martin, but he knew that if he didn't " 'get it on,' folks would just say , 'Why he can't move no more.' " So he got it on. Toward the end of the evening he introduced the Colonel and said, "He's not just my manager, but I love him very much." As the curtain came down, reported chronicler and devoted fan Sue Wiegert, "Sammy Shore ran out and started kissing Elvis' feet, which cracked up both Elvis and the crowd!"

 

Yea, I would have almost been two lol
I would even have loved to be at the That's The Way It Is show(s) .... I held off getting that for song long, because it was seventies, and because it had documentary type footage in it ... When I finally got that bluray, probably three of four months ago, it floored me. I even enjoyed the rehearsal footage, and I didn't expect to. It now ranks among my favourite bluray concerts, and I have a few. I hope one day, they clean up all the footage and mixes and just release the whole show, or at least edit together all the songs from a show, from the places where they filmed. To have actually been there would have been life changing for me I reckon.

 

Yeah, not too much more to add for me either - it’s a toss up whether Polk Salad Annie or Walk A Mile In My Shoes is my favorite off this LP. But as far as ‘message’ songs go, I find Walk A Mile In My Shoes - especially with the Men With Broken Hearts intro - far more effective than Memories or In The Ghetto. Not to knock the brilliant performances in either of those two fine tracks at all, but Walk A Mile resonates a lot more with me personally.

 

I've Lost You

Single by Elvis Presley
from the album That's the Way It Is
B-side "The Next Step Is Love"
Released July 1970
Format 45 RPM
Genre Soft rock
Length 3:31
Label RCA Victor
Songwriter(s) Ken Howard
Alan Blaikley

"I've Lost You" is a song written by Alan Blaikley and Ken Howard (under the pen name 'Steve Barlby') for Iain Matthews. It was originally recorded in 1969 and released on Matthews' first solo album after leaving Fairport Convention: Matthews' Southern Comfort.

"I've Lost You" was covered by Elvis Presley. It was released in July 1970, debuted at #85 on the Hot 100 on 1 August 1970, and reached #32 on 29 August – 5 September 1970.[1] On the Cash Box chart, however, it reached as high as number 18.[2] It also charted at number five on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song became a gold record.

As a newly released single, Presley included it in his setlist during his third Las Vegas season (August/September 1970) and the version from 12 August Dinner Show was included in the MGM movie Elvis: That's the Way It Is.[1]

In Canada, "I've Lost You" was a Top 10 hit. It peaked at number 10, and spent two weeks in that position.[3]

The song might be seen as reflecting the state of Elvis' marriage to Priscilla at the time it was recorded (4th June, 1970 [4]). [5]
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Again these two songs are on the That's The Way It Is album, that is surprisingly a few releases away. I wonder if this is the earliest release of a single from an Elvis album. It is also interesting that there are two different singles covers and one is an advert for the Camden best of/collection about to be released.
Anyhow, we will go through these songs properly when we get to the album.

 

Plus tax

 

Worldwide Fifty Gold Award Hits vol 1



(US) RCA LPM 6401
Released: August 1970

Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Vol. 1 is a compilation box set by American singer and musician Elvis Presley. The four-album set was released in August, 1970, as his 38th album. The set peaked at number 45 on the Billboard 200 and at number 25 on the country chart.[1] It was certified Gold on February 13, 1973, Platinum on March 27, 1992 and 2x Platinum on June 17, 1992 by the Recording Industry Association of America.[2] Of the 51 tracks featured, four make their album debut in this collection: "Viva Las Vegas", "Suspicious Minds", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "Kentucky Rain".

Side 1
Heartbreak Hotel
I Was The One
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
Don't Be Cruel
Hound Dog
Love Me Tender
Side 2
Any Way You Want Me (That's How It Will Be)
Too Much
Playing For Keeps
All Shook Up
That's When Your Heartaches Begin
Loving You
Side 3
Teddy Bear
Jailhouse Rock
Treat Me Nice
I Beg Of You
Don't
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
Hard Headed Woman
Side 4
I Got Stung
Fool Such As I
Big Hunk O' Love
Stuck On You
Mess Of Blues
It's Now Or Never
Side 5
I Gotta Know
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Surrender
I Feel So Bad
Little Sister
Can't Help Falling In Love
Side 6
Rock-A-Hula Baby
Anything That's Part Of You
Good Luck Charm
She's Not You
Return To Sender
Where Do You Come From
One Broken Heart For Sale
Side 7
Devil In Disguise
Bossa Nova Baby
Kissin' Cousins
Viva Las Vegas
Ain't That Loving You Baby
Wooden Heart
Side 8
Crying In The Chapel
If I Can Dream
In The Ghetto
Suspicious Minds
Don't Cry Daddy
Kentucky Rain
Excerpts From "Elvis Sails" Interview

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The first time I saw this collection was when we started doing this thread, so I know very little about it. It surprised me to see that anyone would release a four disc set back in 1970, perhaps it was commonplace but it seems unusual to me. It also seems unusual to me that it would come out on the Camden label, but there again, it seems much more logical for something like this to be on a wide distribution, lower price label, than some of the other albums.
With this being a collection of songs that had, for the most part been on album and single already, there is somewhat a feeling that most who wanted the songs would probably have already had them.
I guess for some folks it would have been an opportunity to just get one big collection of Elvis songs on one album and be done.

Anyway, I can't see the point of going through all the songs again, but I would be extremely interested to hear from folks that were around at the time about how this was received. Was there interest? Was it presented well? Was it a surprise to suddenly have this, it would seem to me to be, huge four disc album set?
Are there different versions of songs?
Please let us know all the information and experiences you guys have regarding this album.

Cheers,
Mark

 

I got it when it was released. It came with a booklet and a portrait photo album which had only been available at his "live’ concerts. My pen pal sent me another copy a month later so I could raffle it off as a prize in an Elvis film show I had organised as RCA had not released it in the UK ~ it did not come out here until Nov 1070 The purchase of raffle tickets went very well. I think it was probably received by the more serious collector than the casual fan, but in 1970, Elvis was on a high.

It’s all in mono and the sound is good although some fans here were disappointed that tracks recorded in stereo were not in stereo and returned their copies. Now some fans are asking for FTD to re-release it in its original mono format along with Volume 2 ~ The Other Sides under their Classic Album series. Whether Ernst will or will not is unknown.

 

I had this many years ago, probably in the 1970s. It was always my favorite Elvis collection because of the sheer AVALANCHE of great tunes on it. You really cant lose with this collection.

 

I bought the CD version on import from my local HMV store (Trafford Centre, Manchester) in May 2001. A bit pricy at £29.99. Still have it. The sleeve notes say that CD 2 is stereo but six tracks are mono.

 

I've just seen your Beatles Woodstock set list Mark. What do you reckon Elvis set would be?

 

Well What I would want, and what it would be would probably be two completely different things lol ... I did do this somewhere, but I don't remember where

I guess the band would have been
James Burton - Lead Guitar
Ronnie Tutt - Drums
John Wilkinson - Rhythm Guitar
Jerry Scheff - Bass
Larry Muhoberac - Keyboards
Sweet Inspirations - b vox
maybe Augmented by the Blood Sweat and Tears horn section (because they were there)

I'll go with songs I would have liked, I think the event may have triggered a different mindset towards the set list (but maybe not)

Power Of My Love
A Little Less Conversation
Rubberneckin'
Devil In Disguise
Such a Night
Reconsider Baby
Any Day Now
If I Can Dream
How Great Though Art
Guitar Man
50's medley - Hound Dog/All Shook Up/That's Alright
One Night
Stranger In My Own Hometown
Polk Salad Annie
Suspicious Minds

Encore
Elvis comes out with Jimi Hendrix, just the two of them
Angel
Wind Cries Mary

Whole band comes out
Without Love

I don't know, something like that. I'm a bit tired this morning

 

Actually, this was what I posted earlier in the thread
Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

 

He played Long Beach in 1976... 2 performances on April 25. This is how he appeared. I can imagine being shocked, especially if one wasn't really familiar with his current appearance, and thinking they were getting "Aloha" or something similar as far as physical appearance.

 

I believe this is the first US picture sleeve without Elvis’ picture on it. The image of the sleeve with Elvis’ pic in your post IIRC is from Germany.

 

This wasn’t on Camden but the standard RCA label.

LPM-6401 Elvis: Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Volume 1 | elvisrecords.com

 

Apologies, I thought it was Camden

 

There are a number of interesting oddities on 50 Worldwide Gold Award Hits (or at least the CD version; I'm not sure if any of this applies to the original release). I'm going off of memory/notes I took a while ago, so please correct me if I'm mistaken about anything or if I've omitted something:

Where Do You Come From?, Return To Sender, One Broken Heart For Sale, (You're The Devil) In Disguise, Viva Las Vegas, If I Can Dream, and Don't Cry Daddy are all in mono.

Little Sister and Kentucky Rain are the 80s remixes.

Anything That's Part Of You is take 9.

Suspicious Minds is the stereo mix without the false fade (thanks to @czeskleba for pointing this out on the 60s thread).

 

Re: I've Lost You, I never thought much about it one way or another until I heard the live version (I think it sounds best on the 2-CD Viva Las Vegas set). Now that was a killer performance!

 

I don’t have anything profound to say about I’ve Lost You and The Next Step Is Love other than that I like them both a lot. A continuation of the big ballad or even power ballad style of The Wonder Of You and Let It Be Me, with even more “Vegas” orchestrations and arrangements, which I don’t have a problem with at all. Like “Memories” from the Comeback Special, there are some very period lyrics here: “we’ve walked barefoot through the misty meadows in the rain,” “we’ve yet to taste the icing on the cake we’ve been baking with the past,” etc. But I love it. I’m a huge fan of the Carpenters and other well-crafted AM pop of this period, and these two songs fit right in with that vibe. The strings, piccolo trumpet (recalling its use in “Penny Lane”), and tasteful wah wah guitar on The Next Step Is Love produce a great musical bed for Elvis to sing over. According to Wikipedia, I’ve Lost You got to #5 on the Adult Contemporary chart, #8 on Cashbox, and #32 on Billboard, yet it, and The Next Step Is Love, are pretty much forgotten by the masses today who might recognize Polk Salad Annie or Burning Love or Always On Mind. Both songs are kind of secret treasures in Elvis’s vast catalog, at least to me.

 

"Worldwide 50 Gold Awards Hits" (volume 1)
1989. I went to London for 2 weeks with my classroom. All of us were spread over several homes in the London nearby. I stayed for 14 days in the house of a single lady who had an amazing collection of LPs spanning from 1958 to the "bORN IN THE usa" album. She only had one (very worn out) Elvis' release and it was Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Vol. 1: she told me that most of her favorite tracks were on it. She knew there was a second volume but she told me that she had not been given the opportunity to get it. I wonder if she ever did afterwards.
Anyway, Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Vol. 1 is my favorite Greatest hits collection.

I'VE LOST YOU / THE NEXT STEP IS LOVE
Not a big fan of this particular single. Maybe it was time back then to release a more upbeat number after a string of ballads. Anyway, none of those two recordings are among my favorite and they reflect pretty well the forthcoming LP "That's the Way it is": white, clean, Country / Pop songs. A disappointment in my case.