Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, May 26, 2019.

  1. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    LITTLE CABIN HOME ON THE HILL
    16 years after BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY, Elvis went back to Bill Monroe repertoire, in a more traditional way (pure Bluegrass style) this time for sure, but still full of verve and panache. The laughters at the beginning of the recording give that loose, jam feel. Elvis' singing is relaxed, effortless and takes you back to a different time when music and the rest of the world were different. The first take - issued on "Essential Elvis volume 4" some 20+ years ago - alerady shows that everything - the feel, the arrangement - had fallen into place from the first second.

    WHOLE LOTTA SHALIN' GOIN' ON
    What was the imspiration on this one for Elvis: 1955 Big Maybellene's R&B record or Jerry Lee's Rock'n'roll classic cover? No idea at all because Elvis transformed the tune into something totally different. The intro with the pounding bass line is great and the whole thing has something of an - almost - aggressive Rock feeling. It's a little bit out of place in the "Country" context of the album but it still works. Somehow.
     
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  2. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Little Cabin On The Hill almost has a throwaway feel about it, but that's part of its charm. After the drama and intensity of Tomorrow Never Comes, it's nice to dial things back a bit with a song like this.

    Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On is an interesting experiment that doesn't fully work, imo. Elvis seems to be trying too hard at times, and the boomy sound of the track doesn't quite fit the song. The JLL version is still the only version that I really like.
     
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  3. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Roy Hall's (aka Sunny David) version. He claims to be the co-writer and is so credited on Elvis Country. I think it has a Bill Haley swing to it.
     
  4. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Complete version with horns overdub.
     
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  5. Absolutely love Little Cabin On The Hill, a highlight of a (very) strong album. It's one of those that sounds effortless when performed by Elvis and Co. Like a breeze. I could listen to this every day.

    And Whole Lotta Shakin' sounds almost demonic! Ferocious, everyone firing on all cylinders.
     
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  6. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I pretty much felt exactly the same way as Dirk did about Elvis's rather frenetic vocal on Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On for many years. I usually skipped that song as I thought there was simply no standing up to Jerry Lee Lewis's piano driven blockbuster. It just sounded like Elvis was trying too hard to make a hard rock song out of it and he seemed to take the "roll" right out of the melody. I was surprised when I played it recently and found Elvis's take a little more interesting than I did in my youth, but then Claus finds this hidden gem with Bergen White's Muscle Shoals sounding horns on it, and it is now got a little Memphis soul to it that I never heard before. It matches the funky and dynamic horns that Began White arranged on Faded Love and I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water, two of my favorite tracks on the whole album. According to Keith Flynn's site, Elvis requested that the horns be taken off the master for the album, which proves two things about Elvis as his own main music producer. Firstly, Elvis was not so in love with strings and horns being on every song that he was not afraid to speak up and have them removed when he thought they were not necessary, and secondly; Elvis was not always right about these decisions and in this particular case, I think the horns actually added something quite dynamic to the mix. I know not every one will agree with this latter opinion, but that is the whole fun of this great forum.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2019
  7. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Yes indeed, it is a true delight and the way that the band falls right back into Elvis's lead after the scattered laughter is a sheer delight. Once again, it shows that Elvis was comfortable and well adapt at singing in almost any style or genre of country music.
     
  8. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    He sang this one right before recording Little Cabin Home On The Hill.

     
  9. ZippyPippy

    ZippyPippy Forum Resident

    Ah, for the days of common sense being allowed to overrule $$$- driven agendas
     
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  10. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    Should have been on the album.
     
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  11. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Elvis's version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" is brilliant--instead of trying to compete with Jerry Lee Lewis's classic, he sidesteps into a very different direction. The rolling piano is tossed out and replaced by an inexorable, ruthless bass line that could shake years after the dancers have died from exhaustion. The drums are jittery and like everything else on this record--including Elvis's vocal--hyper-caffeinated and aggressive. In a way, this is a punk revision of rock'n'roll, and whoever devised the sharp-edges of this arrangement deserves a medal.
    Far from trying too hard, Elvis's vocal is at first stylized and amused, but gradually, as the song takes hold of him, it too goes into a frenzy. His final repetition of the title only gets to the first word, turning "whole" into an unearthly howl of impending violence, the sound of a man being possessed by demons and enjoying every second of it. This recording demonstrates how radically Elvis could transform a song and add something new and startling. Jerry Lee's "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" was buoyant and relaxing in its assurance--he was inviting you to a great dance party in the barn. Elvis's version is threatening, eerie and malevolent--an invitation to a knife fight.
     
  12. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    Right on, brother. I always thought Elvis' version was a great combination of groovy and mean.

    Too bad he got so enamored with downers shortly after. Elvis on speed was a magnificent performer.
     
  13. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    It's sad to say, but Johnny Cash was similar case. He made some great records in the early 60s when speed was his drug of choice, but his work nosedived in the late 70s when he got heavily into downers and painkillers.
     
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  14. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    Dilaudid gave Elvis that shakey vibrato that started in '71.

    Elvis was worn out after the whirlwind of '69-'70. He needed a six month vacation. But, we know that the ringmaster kept cracking that whip and his "boy" kept going. Regardless the price. Combine that with his deteriorating relationship with 'Cilla and it's no wonder Elvis decided to "escape".
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2019
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  15. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    The two-shows-a-night obligation undoubtedly contributed to that and his eventual boredom with Vegas. On tour the occasional performance of afternoon and evening shows can maximize ticket sales for limited engagements, but an exclusive engagement at a casino is a different matter. I find it hard to believe that Parker couldn't have struck an almost equally good deal for only one performance a night. But again Elvis went along with Parker's actual deal, though he grew to hate performing for an audience that was eating dinner. The idea of eating a full meal while watching Elvis Presley perform seems very strange to me. That might have been normal for staid nightclub acts, but it made no sense for other performers.
     
  16. MRamble

    MRamble Forum Resident

    Great summary.

    A favorite moment on this track I didn't notice until somewhat recently happens towards the end of the song when Elvis does an impressive vocal run that would make Robert Plant proud. Anyone else notice that?
     
  17. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    That had to be infuriating.
     
  18. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I agree with you about the strangeness of Parker not being able to anticipate the possibility of negotiating for a contract that demands a single night performance schedule, but it just was not done like that in those days. Whether you were Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand or Dean Martin, you were expected by sheer Vegas tradition to do two shows a night, but certainly Parker could have broken ground with a new tradition, but single night performance residencies would not be take place in Las Vegas for about another two decades after Elvis died.

    As far as "eating a full meal while watching Elvis Presley perform" is concerned, this is not the way it actually went down. As someone who actually went to a few dinner shows back in the heyday of Las Vegas entertainment, I can say it went a little differently in reality. I actually saw Charlie Rich's closing night dinner show at the Las Vegas Hilton in August of 1975, and Elvis was to open the showroom the following night in a show I was suppose to attend as well. The dinner was served long before the show got underway and pretty much everything was cleared from the table except for cocktails, by the time the show actually started. The cocktails actually made the crowd a little more lively, but it was great to have a nice steak & lobster dinner with a concert by Elvis, or Charlie Rich in my case, for a price that was not much greater than you might spend these days on a gourmet dinner in Las Vegas today. In fact, the actual price of an Elvis dinner show would be significantly less than a current gourmet meal in a high end Las Vegas restaurant, even with inflation figured into the mix.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2019
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  19. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    As late as 1974, George Harrison was still doing two shows a night on more than half the dates on his tour that year. The Rolling Stones did two shows a night on many dates on their 1972 tour. It was still a fairly common practice in the early 70s even outside of Las Vegas.
     
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  20. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Well, I'm glad to hear that people weren't pigging out while Elvis was performing. I got that impression from Elvis occasionally complaining about the noises from the audience, including clinking glasses. I guess those must have been the cocktails. But it is evident that Elvis preferred the midnight shows and gave better performances during them.

    As for doing two shows a night, as I mentioned earlier, on tour the occasional performance of afternoon and evening shows can maximize ticket sales for limited engagements, but an exclusive engagement at a casino is a very different matter. It's much easier to get bored by always doing two shows a night at the same venue for weeks/months in a row than by sometimes doing two shows a day at regularly changing venues.
     
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  21. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I always preferred booking the midnight shows myself, even after Las Vegas went cheap and stopped offering the full dinner shows, and replaced them with an early cocktail show. The performers always seemed to save their best performance for the later show, knowing it was the last one of the night, and the crowd would be even more hyper by the midnight performance as well.
     
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  22. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    That seems natural. Gotta keep fuel in the tank.
     
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  23. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I liked it before but those horns sound great! I've never heard this before. Thanks for sharing it. Is this available on the FTD CD?
     
  24. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    It's on the FTD "Elvis Country" classic albums serie. A must have.
     
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  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Funny How Time Slips Away
    Written By :
    Willie Nelson

    Recorded :

    RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 4-9, 1970: June 7, 1970. Take 1

    This track is wonderful. Taking the form of a country blues, we cruise along with Elvis phrasing this beautifully.
    Nice to hear Elvis doing a Willie Nelson song, and really nailing it. We have a fairly extended guitar lead break on a resonator guitar and it adds to the tone beautifully.
    This is sort of where I could imagine
    Elvis going in his later days, and if this is a good example, then that would have been a great thing.
    There's some really nice piano on here too.


     

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