Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

Wow, tough crowd today I like all the piano ballads, including both of Ivory Joe Hunter's, but since you pinned me down, I guess I would switch out I Will Be True for It's Still Here. My larger point is that I do think there were enough pretty good songs from both albums to make one fairly decent album.

 

I love Fool and wouldn't change a thing about it, but count me in as someone who's listened to Elvis Now (almost certainly) less than any other Elvis album. Nothing about it works for me. It could have been a much better album if they'd swapped in some of Elvis' recent non-LP single sides (I'm Leavin', Rags To Riches, etc.) for some of the weaker tracks.

 

And thats a damn shame cuz both these albums have some decent music on them, just poorly mixed, mastered, arranged in sequence titles and poor artwork !!!

 

I've always maintained that as far as Elvis' 70's studio LP'S are concerned, I like at least half of all them.

RCA in this instance, could have at least come up with a better title for the 1973 "Elvis" Lp (affectionately known as "Fool"), and if I had to choose between the two albums, I go for the "Fool" Lp, for the sole purpose of the song "For Lovin' Me", the Elvis at the piano songs, "It's Impossible" and the Dylan track.

"Elvis Now" has its moments, but the only really decent track on there, in my honest opinion, is "Early Mornin' Rain", witch would have fitted beautifully on the 'Fool" album.

 

PacificOceanBlue helped clear up an age old mystery for me of the crazy placement of Burning Love on a Camden LP with weak old soundtrack material ( more $$$$$ for the Col.). I figure the same held true for the Camden Separate Ways LP too. I've always wondered why they didn't place Rags To Riches, Separate Ways, I'm Leavin', Always On My Mind, Burning Love, It's A Matter Of Time, etc. into these albums and leave Hey Jude on the shelf. Both albums would have benefited from the singles material. Now I know why they didn't do that. As it is, I have a soft spot for the Fool LP. It wasn't available for a long time after its initial release but my uncle had a copy and he made a tape for me because I was a kid and every copy I found after his death was too expensive for me.

 

ELVIS SINGS THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF CHRISTMAS (LP)
(US) RCA LSP 4579
Released: September 1971


Released October 20, 1971
Recorded June 27, 1968, May 15, 1971 – May 16, 1971
Genre Christmas, pop, rock and roll
Length 35:06
Label RCA Records
Producer Felton Jarvis

Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas is the fifteenth studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in October 1971. It was his first Christmas album with new recordings since Elvis' Christmas Album(1957). The album's single, "Merry Christmas Baby" / "O Come All Ye Faithful", was later released in November 1971. This album was a top seller and topped the Billboard Holiday Albums Chart, and would have charted high on the Billboard 200 but from 1963 to 1973, holiday albums were not allowed to chart. It did not have the commercial appeal of Elvis' first Christmas album but over the years, it has become a perennial favorite. It was certified Gold on November 4, 1977, Platinum on December 1, 1977, 2x Platinum on May 20, 1988 and 3x Platinum on July 15, 1999 by the RIAA.[6]

Several of the songs on the album were published by Elvis Presley's publishing company, such as "Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees", "I'll Be Home on Christmas Day", "If I Get Home on Christmas Day", and "On a Snowy Christmas Night". Presley is accompanied on most of the songs by The Imperials Quartet.

On later pressings, a second recording of the song "Blue Christmas", which was recorded on June 27, 1968, was added to the track listing. This version had been previously released on the 1968 album, Elvis.

• Elvis Presley – lead vocals
• David Briggs – piano
• James Burton – lead guitar
• Kenneth Buttrey – drums (tracks A1-A5, B1)
• Jerry Carrigan – drums (tracks A6, B2-B5)
• Joe Esposito – possible guitar
• Gene Estes – marimba (tracks A3, B3, B5)[11]
• Eddie Hinton – overdubbed lead guitar on "Merry Christmas Baby"[12]
• Charlie Hodge – rhythm guitar
• Millie Kirkham – backing vocals (tracks A2-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5)[13]
• Larrie Londin – additional drums (track B1), additional percussion (A1, A3, B3)
• Charlie McCoy – harmonica (tracks A1-B5), organ (A6, B2-B5), percussion (A6, B2-B5)
• Farrell Morris – bells (track B5), additional percussion (B5)
• Norbert Putnam – bass
• Tommy Shepard – trombone (tracks A3, B3, B5)
• Chip Young – rhythm guitar

The Imperials

• Terry Blackwood – backing vocals (tracks A1-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5)
• Joe Moscheo – backing vocals (tracks A1-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5)
• Jimmie Murray – backing vocals(tracks A1-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5)
• Armond Morales – backing vocals(tracks A1-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5)
• Greg Gordon – backing vocals (tracks A1-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5)

Production and Arrangements

• Felton Jarvis – producer
• Al Pachucki – basic track(s) recording engineer (tracks A1-B5), overdubs recording engineer (organ on A1, background vocals on A2-A3, A5-A6, B2-B3, B5, guitar on B4, bell & percussion on B5)
• Glen Spreen – brass arrangements (tracks A1, A5, B1-B2), string arrangements (A1, A3, A5-B3, B5), organ played by (tracks A1-A5, B1), organ overdubs (A1)
• Sidney Sharp – string contractor (tracks A1, A3, A5-B3, B5), brass contractor (A1, A5, B1-B2)
• Mickey Crofford – instrumental overdubs recording engineer (tracks A3, A6-B1, B3, B5)

Side one
1. "O Come, All Ye Faithful" Traditional; arranged by Elvis Presley May 16, 1971[7] 2:49
2. "The First Noel" Traditional; arranged by Elvis Presley May 16, 1971 2:11
3. "On a Snowy Christmas Night" Stanley J. Gelber May 16, 1971 2:50
4. "Winter Wonderland" Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith May 16, 1971 2:20
5. "The Wonderful World of Christmas" Charles Tobias, Al Frisch May 16, 1971 1:59
6. "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)" J. A. Balthrop May 15, 1971[8] 2:43
Side two
1. "I'll Be Home on Christmas Day" Michael Jarrett May 16, 1971 3:50
2. "If I Get Home On Christmas Day" Tony Macaulay May 15, 1971 2:54
3. "Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees" Glen Spreen, Red West May 15, 1971 2:14
4. "Merry Christmas Baby" Lou Baxter, Johnny Moore May 15, 1971 5:45
5. "Silver Bells" Jay Livingston, Ray Evans May 15, 1971 2:03
6. "Blue Christmas" (reissue pressings only) Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson June 27, 1968[9][10] 2:34
--------------------------------------------------------

To be honest I am not sure I have even listened to this album yet. As I have stated previously I am not really a fan of Christmas songs, and tend not to listen to them much, although I will admit to enjoying Elvis' first Christmas album.
So this is completely new to me, although I should have gotten around to listening to it in the ten months or so that I have had it.
So at this stage my input is quite useless.
What I can say is there is a discrepancy in release dates between the two sites I have been cross referencing for the info, to try and keep it accurate.
Sept 1971
Oct 20 1971
I find it bizarre that this album is triple platinum, to me that suggests that From Elvis In Memphis, Elvis Is Back and several others should be ten times platinum................

Based on that, please let us know what you think of this album.
Give us all the in and outs, and anything that crosses your mind we might need to know.

Cheers,
Mark

 

It's a great Christmas album! Seems that I recall that this album was also sold on TV in the very late 1970s or early 80s. My copies are old ones because I didn't know that Blue Christmas from 1968 was added to reissue pressings.

 

Elvis had a Xmas tree put into the studio so that he could feel the Xmas mood in May 71. It’s an okay albums with some songs better than others. I always felt his voice sounded quite nasally on some songs. Songs I dont like that much are The First Noel and The Wonderful World of Christmas. Winter Wonderland s okay, but I find Burton’s guitar playing a bit annoying and the "I Got A Woman’ style ending doesn’t really suit the song. Never liked the front cover. It sold well because people in the US seem to like Xmas albums and of course going Gold and then Platinum was off the back of what happened in August 77 ~ sales numbers wasn’t really through the merit of the recordings. It doesn’t come close to his first Christmas album ~ maybe he should have recorded one when he did If Everyday Was Like Christmas.

 

Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas

Does anyone know which reissue they're referring to that has Blue Christmas added to it? The LP was reissued in 1976 but it's not on that version. I'm not aware of it being added to any pressings of this LP, but maybe I've missed it?

Regardless, I'm a fan of this album and it gets heavy rotation around the Christmas holidays at our house. I enjoy the over-dramatized Oh Come, All Ye Faithful and It Won't Seem Like Christmas Without You is my favorite on here. I appreciate that Elvis moved to some contemporary material like this.

Now the cover art, ughh the RCA Art Department strikes again. Someone above mentioned it looks like a cheap Camden-type release with this artwork and I agree. The most embarrasing aspect is the two 'ornaments' in the botoom corners where they super-imposed Elvis' head on the snow man and Santa Claus. Of course, it was these exact two images that RCA used for the picture sleeve of the 45 from this LP:





Images courtesy of www.elvisrecords.com.

 

I usually can't stand Christmas music, so it took a while for me to come around to Elvis' Christmas recordings (though I've always loved Holly Leaves & Christmas Trees). I've never actually heard this album in its original sequence (I have the FTD, but it remains unplayed for some reason...), but I enjoy most/all of the songs when I hear them on the If Every Day Was Like Christmas comp.

 

It was a bonus track on the first cd release from 1988.
Elvis* - Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas

The German cd from the 90s contained If Every Day Was Like Christmas and the remake of I'll Be Home On Christmas Day as bonus tracks as well as the longer version of Merry Christmas Baby that first appeared on the Reconsider Baby album from 1984.
Elvis* - Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas

The FTD should have included the complete undubbed version of Merry Christmas Baby. However they used the version created for the Memories Of Christmas album by mistake. That mistake has never been corrected and the complete version remains unreleased.

 

Despite being a huge seller, you can't really compare this Christmas album with the beautiful and original 1957 output. The 50's one was full of energy, panache and joy. This one is more reflexive, even somber with some flashes of greatness on three or four of tracks. It reminds me the case of Elvis' first two Gospel LPs: the first one had a lot of verve and enthusiasme while the second one was more serious with less playfulness. The main issue for me is the voice: it's fine on MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY or HOLLY LEAVES AND CHRISTMAS TREES but it suffers on most of the other tunes. Even very shaky at times. All in all, both albums seem to have been recorded by two different artists, which is a little bit off in my point of view.

 

Ah OK, I thought Wiki was referring to the LP. Thank you. I'll edit the entry to clarify.

 

Felton Jarvis placed Christmas tree along with gift wrapped boxes, lights etc.. Elvis wasn't in the mood for those recordings. It came out pretty good, considering. I enjoy the album very much.

 

So are we skipping over the It's Only Love/Sound Of Your Cry single and the I Got Lucky LP?

Or is this just another release date error on the source you are using?

 

Some of Elvis finest post-1970 vocals are on this Christmas LP.

 

according to the info I have
Christmas - early Sept
Single - late sept
I Got Lucky - Oct

 

I think you should shuck your source, this isn't the first time they were wrong. Unless their release dates pertain to a country other than the USA.

It's Only Love Sept 1971
I Got Lucky October 1971
WWOC October 1971

So only the Christmas LP is erroneous on your source as it comes to the release order of these three. If you look at your 60 CD collection I Got Lucky is disc 44 and WWOC is disc 45.

 

Intermixed with some of his worst. Very uneven. In fact this was the first LP where I wondered what in the hell was going on with Elvis' voice. On some tracks he sounded 60 years old to me.

This is the LP that got me wondering about Elvis and along with Love Letters started the seed of my giving up on buying Elvis records.

 

The book in The Album Collection states that I Got Lucky was released in October 1971, Wonderful World of Christmas in September 1971 and the single was released on September 21, 1971.

 

Indeed. There seemed to be a big change in his voice around this time. Didn’t notice it so much on Love Letters, but then I thought it was the overall album that was a letdown from TTWII and Country.

 

Then the book is in conflict with the sequencing of the discs in the box. And A Life In Music also agrees with my information. Let me check the authority and I will report back.

 

Interesting to see that the release schedule was so haphazard that some people are having trouble keeping it straight. Btw, that's not a dig at Mark. He's going by the info he comes across. I think he's doing a wonderful job of moving us along at a comfortable pace.

As far as The Wonderful World of Christmas LP goes, I didn't have too much of a problem with it, and I'm not much of a fan of Christmas music. 25+ years retail work and hearing Christmas music 40 hours a week for a month kinda takes the enjoyment away. Could the album be better? Probably, but I've heard worse renditions of these songs.

 

Elvis Records dot com on WWOC:
LSP-4579 Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas
Modified: June 8, 2014
Release: RCA Victor LSP-4579 Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas (LP)
Artist: Elvis Presley
Release Date: 10/20/1971

 

It's Only Love / The Sound of your Cry
Modified: November 29, 2012
Release: RCA Victor 48-1017 It's Only Love / The Sound of your Cry (45)
Artist: Elvis Presley
Release Date: 9/21/1971