Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

@kreen - have you heard this version?
elvis presley live in vegas closing night 3 / 9 / 1973 #9

 

You're entitled to enjoy anything you want, but I must say it is very surprising to see anyone declare that out of ALL the footage there is on Elvis, that the June 21, 1977 footage of Unchained Melody is at the top of anyone's pile.

 

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the concert, but can we get back to the albums?
If you really want to talk about the dvd and its possibilities, you can start a thread. I may even do a dvd thread, after we've been through the posthumous releases in the next two threads, but I don't want to get hung up on one contentious issue, that isn't going to resolve here, and that this thread isn't particularly about,
Cheers

 

It makes me cry, but probably for the wrong reasons ....

 

Would have been interesting if the late December 1976 concerts were filmed instead.

 

Well, there might be a parallel if there was footage of Hemingway typing away, grossly overweight, stoned, struggling to piece a coherent sentence together, struggling to execute, looking terrible, and sweating profusely. But there isn’t because you are talking about a hypothetical writing, and EIC represents a train wreck performance by an entertainer.

Hopefully this topic comes to an end soon. It is disappointing to see a solid thread get hijacked by EIC enthusiasts.

 

This thread is about Elvis albums and singles, not movies and live concert videos - EIC was released as an album and is still legally available as a cd, so let's just stick to the music as released and forget discussing the visuals. I think that Mark's mention of a later thread discussing Elvis visuals - movies, concert films, tv performances etc - is actually a great idea and the EIC TV Special can be discussed then there.

 

The 1956 Stage Show and Sullivan footage changed the world; the ‘68 Burbank footage contains some of the greatest rock and roll ever laid down on tape and relaunched Elvis’ career; the 1970 and 1972 concert footage presents a focused, committed, accomplished performer; and Aloha presents a pinnacle achievement. Oh well, to each his own.

 

For anybody wanting to talk about the dvd/bluray possibilities I have posted a thread and a poll.

Here is the link Should Elvis In Concert - 1977 be released on dvd/bluray?

I will consider any more posts about this to be thread crapping and report them accordingly

Cheers
Mark

 

Oh man, I have this book and CD, and I have never played it. I live in Oregon too and frequently stay at the Benson Hotel where Elvis stayed that night of the concert. I try to stay there just because it has a great lounge and restaurant attached to it, and I actually had no idea that Elvis had ever stayed there, until I got that FTD book. I also did not realize that there was any live version of Elvis singing How Great Thou Art this early in the decade. Wow, I cannot even imagine how beautiful it would sound, if it had been recorded properly by his label. I had it in my hot little hands and did not even realize it. Thanks for posting this, Matthew.

 

Yes. Releasing all the concert footage for TTWII and both all the footage on BluRay and the music on CD for EIC would definitely take priority over anything that has to do with EIC.

 

The 1966 studio recording of HGTA has never been topped by anyone, including Elvis.

 

There’s a grey market 8 mm reconstruction of the December 31, 1976 Pittsburgh show that features major glimpses of the talent and charisma that Elvis could still summon even at that late date.

 

Well, they would have been a marginal improvement over EIC, but probably not by much. December 1976 was a short, inspired tour after a largely atrocious year of touring, but Elvis was still far from his greatness. His overall demeanor would have been an improvement and like in 1977, he would have displayed some zest on some of the bigger numbers/ballads, but many of the same issues from EIC were evident even in December 1976. If EIC had been taped in December 1976, odds are that it would still be commercially unreleased.

 

Elvis's New Years Eve FTD is a highly revered show among Elvis fans, both for its diversified setlist as well as the fact that it features some of Elvis most powerful and dramatic vocals from the last year of his life. Unfortunately, it is an amateur audience recording and not a soundboard, so its overall sound quality is meager to say the least. If this show had been recorded or filmed professionally, it might have gone a long way to change some of the conventional views on Elvis's later 70's reputation as a live performer.

 

My first live album was EIC. Over the years I acquired his earlier live albums almost in perfect reverse order. There are several songs from EIC that I liked better on earlier recordings after I heard them but never HGTA. It's like What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong or You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker. There's lots of vocalists that could technically sing these songs prettier but not better. You may hear Elvis bellowing and shouting but I hear him giving all he has with whatever vocal capabilities he has left to draw from. To me, the beauty of the EIC version of HGTA isn't that he sings it technically great with full control. It's that he sings it with a more crude but emotional commitment that bests earlier versions.

 

My Way
The sad irony of those opening lines ... "And now the end is near ..."
This is another track that, even though Elvis suggests he is reading the words because he can't remember them, that Elvis is fully committed to. For the most part the vocal is very good. I think the phrasing is also spot, and when you consider the state he was in, that in itself is quite remarkable.

 

That's exactly how it comes across to me.

 

Can't Help Falling In Love
With all the kissing of ladies this song always seemed to be just thrown out there when just listening to it.
Here Elvis starts off with a very gentle vocal that sounds very good, and as the song goes on he sings less and less, which is really not that unusual.
This is about as good as this song ever sounded live. I always found the live version of this to be pretty much disposable in every way. I sometimes wonder if he needed to find another ending track, or if the kissing routine was always going to make the last track very disposable.

 

Closing Riff/Special Message From Elvis' Father
Yes we have THAT riff again, and the we get Vernon making a final statement.
I can see this being a good way to end the album, but when it is kind of sitting in the middle of the album, it seems out of place,

 

I Got A Woman/ Amen
To be honest when everyone spoke of this combo, I had no idea what they were talking about .... well prior to getting some FTD concerts.
We get quite a bright and chirpy Amen section and the we get the "swooping" interruption. Elvis does some clowning around, and then we get JD's doing his "how low can Joe go" vocal.

 

My RCA Albums Collection box has just arrived (and I'll now avoid the temptation to open it before Christmas), and although I understand the logic, I do think it's a shame that they didn't include EIC as the Elvis story isn't really finished until this album. I think I'll have to buy the cd separately, although I'll miss the reproduction gatefold cover! I'm very pleased that this part of the thread is finishing with EIC and it's associated single as it seems like the right place to end before moving onto other posthumous releases.

 

Elvis talks
Here you can hear Elvis mocking his own show, in a lighthearted, typically Elvis manner.

 

Love Me
I can only find this video version, apologies.
Elvis plays around a bit, has a glass of water, and then does another somewhat sad rendition of this classic fifties song.
In many regards, much of what is wrong with this album aurally, is just the same things that somewhat spoiled many of his seventies live shows. Playing songs that seemed to hold little interest.

 

It was meant to be 60 at 60 with albums released during his lifetime at RCA although they could have jettisoned one of the rarities discs in favour of EIC if they removed the "released during his lifetime" approach. The EIC album never really worked for me back in 1977 when I originally bought it. It was just another show with setists not much different to others that had been released ~ maybe that’s why NBC passed on the idea. And all of those fans comments interspersed between tracks completely ruined any flow of a show ~ much better for them to be prior to the show or having recorded reactions after the show. Never really liked the over the top performances on some of the tracks, but by this time, Elvis was really just on autopilot as he had been for several years. The last time I played this album would have been around November ‘77 shortly after it came out.