Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

Thank you SKATTERBRANE! I wouldn't bite on FTD concerts from the mid 70's but these are the some of his finest live performances.

 

Something I've noticed across Elvis' career is that whenever there was a change in musicians, he seemed inspired/invigorated. Examples include when DJ was added, when Hank Garland and Floyd Cramer joined the sessions, the Jerry Reed material, the jump to Memphis for the '69 sessions and then the change-up in the 1970 musicians. It could even be extended to when there was a new producer, like when Felton came on for the How Great Though Art sessions, or Billy Strange for Live A Little material. I could almost infer Elvis wanted to up his game to the new guys.

Regardless, Elvis was invigorated for the 1970 material and it comes through in flying colors on this album and in film during the rehearsals.

 

It is going to replace all of the 1969 concert releases issued by FTD (although the Anesini mixes will be worth holding onto).

 

I spent the morning watching That’s The Way It Is for the umpteenth time. The rehearsal footage is fascinating. The rehearsals for Bridge Over Troubled Water and Words show what a powerful musical mind Elvis had and demonstrate how he was the producer/arranger/conductor of the enormous TCB Band that had assembled. You catch glimpses of the downfall to come: when he turns Mary In The Morning? into a joke during dress rehearsal because he’d rather kid around with the Memphis Mafia, the way Love Me Tender devolves into a kissing session with its vampiric interaction between fans and star, the “blow it up your nose” ad libs already creeping into Suspicious Minds. However, when you’re at a peak like this, there is nowhere to go but down. The Little Sister/Get Back rehearsal, Just Pretend, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin, and, not in the re-cut movie, I Just Can’t Help Believin’, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Something are as good as music gets.

 

That LITTLE SISTER / GET BACK rehearsal / jam is really something special.
It could last another 5 minutes and I still would not complain at all.

 

Yeah, the rehearsal footage in Culver City? with Elvis in the paisley shirt, playing rhythm guitar, and dancing while seated his chair is special.

 

Absolutely. It's a wonderful jam session.
Too bad, a small portion is still missing (the "Jojo lost his ass" line is on the CD but nowhere in the video.)

 

It doesn't get any better than this in my book:

 

Wish they would have put out "The Lost Performances" on DVD. The July 29 rehearsal is great fun.

 

Elvis did return to the song in 1975--a good live version is on the first disc of the Holiday Season in Vegas FTD.

 

This is another one of my favorites on the album. A nice, contemporary-sounding soul track from the unlikely source of Winfield Scott. Scott of course was the writer of Tweedlee Dee, a song Elvis covered live throughout 1955, and he also co-wrote Return to Sender and most of the other Otis Blackwell tracks from the first half of the 60s. Prior to this, his most recent Elvis contribution was Long Legged (With The Short Dress On), but here he comes back with something that's quite different from his previous material.

 

Just Pretend is Elvis doing his thing perfectly in his element. If the lyrics were removed, I could see this being a gospel song musically. I can't quite say why, but I've always liked Stranger In The Crowd. It's not a groundbreaking song by Elvis but I always enjoy hearing it.

 

A DVD re-issue of The Lost Performances would be welcomed, only SD mind but still leaps and bounds better than the awful video outtakes included on the That's The Way It Is - Special Edition DVD. The sound mix is pretty nice too.

 

Except he gets the words wrong when singing about the time of day. And Tutt is too busy compared to Carrigan on the studio version, IMO.

 

Artists of Elvis's calibre tend to get bored quickly,I think. They need challenges for inspiration and that probably gets harder and harder the older and more popular one becomes. With Elvis I often get the feeling of showing 'THIS is what I'm capable of' and then very quickly losing interest in it once he'd done it. That the Aloha concert - arguably the biggest event after his Las Vegas Comeback - wasn't able to elevate him above a rather mediocre performance was a sign that things were seriously wrong. BUT: the fact that whole 1968-70 period of regaining inspiration and success happened in the first place borders on miracle.

 

The Next Step Is Love
Written By :
Paul Evans & Paul Parnes

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 7, 1970. take 11

Another extremely enjoyable song.
Beautiful melody. Such a nice easygoing track. We have a cruisey beat and more really nice arrangements.
The song seems to start really quickly, it is just right there, but I think it suits the song and the flow of the album.
This track probably epitomises the Elvis MOR direction, but if this is where he is going, well that's fine with me.
There is somewhat of a tip of the hat to the Sgt Pepper era to me, with the horn arrangements.

 

Bridge Over Troubled Water
Written By :
Paul Simon

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 5, 1970. take 8

This magnificent Paul Simon song could be sung by almost any half decent singer and still be a good track. It is just one of those really brilliantly conceived songs that resonates. We have all needed bridges over certain situations in life, and this song speaks to that beautifully. Certainly the original by Simon and Garfunkel is a magnificent piece of recording, and really an essential track, and album, in any collection that has interest in music at the changing of the decade from the sixties to the seventies.
Elvis takes this song and turns it into one of his early seventies classics. One can almost feel Elvis is living this situation, but he is the one who needs someone to be his bridge.
The changes in the arrangement are fairly subtle, but the execution is not really that subtle ... that isn't an insult.
The intro is slightly more aggressive than the S&G version, but we must remember that the producer made Art sing the first verse a thousand times before he was happy with how gentle it was. Elvis isn't overly concerned about that. Elvis is reaching for the lyrical depth of the song.
We start with the piano and vocal, we have some horns gently floating in the background in the first verse. On the last note of that verse the strings caress our ears with sweetness, we notice the band has come in, again in subtlety.
Meanwhile as this is going on, Elvis is reaching deep inside himself to project the heart of the song, and he is doing it in a sublime manor.
We build to somewhat of a fake crescendo at the end of the second verse/chorus.
The final verse starts with a certain subtlety, but quickly explodes into a full blooded cry.
Magnificent piece of work.

 

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER

I know we're talking about a fan favorite and that Elvis put some extra work on it (including some nice harmonies) but, for me, the Master take on Pop classic BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER is still a little bit overdone to my ears. It's the typical case of "less would have been so much more, Elvis". That may be the reason why I litterally fell in love with take #1, first published on the "Nashville Marathon" FTD. With all its imperfections (cracking voice and all), that one is perfect for me: just EP and the A-Team rhythm band giving it all.

Take #1

 

Take 1 of Bridge is enough reason to get TTWII Deluxe box set.

 

While I thoroughly appreciate the version of Bridge on TTWII, my favorite version from Elvis is the one he sings during the On Tour film.

 

Do you recall which of the 4 concerts that was taken from? I ask because a couple of those concert have been released on CD (though not of the greatest sound quality).

 

Yes the mix is solid. My DVD-R copy dubbed from the VHS still delivers. Sadly the opportunity for a reissue has passed. I wonder why it never got a proper release..

 

I think it was the Hampton Roads evening show on April 9, 1972?

 

I don't care for The Next Step Is Love at all. The melody is dull, and Elvis sounds like he's sleepwalking through it. Along with Life, it's my least-favourite song from the Nashville Marathon.

Bridge Over Troubled Water is a song that I've always appreciated in the abstract, but neither S&G's lifeless original or the Aretha remake ever did it for me. Elvis' versions, though, are stunning, and capture the emotions in the song better than anyone else ever did. As fine as the studio versions are, my go-to is the live version from Platinum, which is a serious contender for my all-time favourite Elvis performance:

 

Greensboro, NC, April 14, 1972

Elvis Sings 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'

Ronnie Tutt's drumming ...