Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

Oh come on! Where's your Christmas cheer? I could totally see Elvis as Santa with a sneer,high collar sequined Santa suit, and an open Cadillac sleigh. You would hear a soulful Ho-Ho-Ho only slightly drowned out by his traveling companion Charlie Hodge laughing obligingly with him. "The guy that helps me hand out gifts...his name is Charlie Hodge!" Elvis quips if anyone spys them delivering the gifts. The Elvis intro and exit theme would play as he came into the home from the chimney and as he left the home. Beside the cookie plate with cookies now gone is a note that reads "Santa has left the building!".

 

I’d rather a mash-up of the U.K. Separate Ways cover with Elvis and Godzilla stomping on cars. Maybe with Rodan and Mothra flying in the background.

 

Oh, we got the John Klein A Christmas Sound Spectacular released last year before Christmas, and I believe both the Real Gone Music site and Amazon are now restocked with copies, but it was a thrill when Gordon Anderson told me our initial supply had sold out several weeks before Christmas in 2018. The highest rated review on Amazon called it "The greatest Christmas album ever." It is the only album that I am aware of in music history that a major label guaranteed with a money-back banner that was wrapped around the vinyl in 1959. John Klein was a brilliant arranger, pianist and carillonneur and the particular carillon he played on this instrumental album was the largest one in the world as it played almost 1500 perfectly tuned bronze bells at his command. On top of this majestic instrument was a full orchestra with some of the finest New York based studio musicians in the country. It is a one of a kind album to say the least.

I too love to compare the various versions of Christmas standards with so many great and iconic artists. As you so well say, what other genre is there where "it's possible to compare 20+ versions of the same song by different artists in a playlist?" I never tire of figuring out who did the greatest version of O Holy Night for instance; Johnny Mathis or Nat King Cole? Maybe even Mario Lanza? How about the greatest version of Sleigh Ride? Is it Jack Jones or Mathis once again? It never gets old for me and the music is just heartwarming to say the least.

 

I love it! Karate chops right to the head for ole Godzilla. You've gotta have President Nixon there ready to congratulate "Giant E" when he finishes kicking some nuclear-mutant monster butt. Maybe then, Elvis can sing a song or two after a helicopter hoists a giant microphone up onto the top of a radio tower......

 

Sorry for straying from Elvis' great second Christmas LP but have you considered Cher's very memorable version of O Holy Night? I was lucky enough to find a Christmas compilation CD a few years ago with an alternate version of this from the Sonny & Cher show.

 

I prefer Jewel's version.

 

Cher is a very underrated singer in my opinion. She may not have a huge vocal range, but she has some very powerful chops. Billboard Magazine did a profile on her back catalogue a couple of years ago and mentioned how her greatest songs from the early 70's are highly underestimated. Songs like Half Breed, Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves and Dark Lady were ahead of their time in many ways, according to the article in Billboard. I do not care for a lot of her later dance music, but that early stuff has held up very well to my ears.

My greatest memory of Cher and her version of O Holy Night is the yearly traditional Christmas episode of David Lettermen, whereby Dave would have Jay Thomas tell his Lone Ranger story and he would start the whole shenanigans by having Paul Shaffer do his imitation of Cher singing O Holy Night on her and Sonny's iconic television show from the 70's. Paul would always begin the imitation by setting the stage with a vivid description that included something about Cher's hands being placed in a muff, which of course would produce spontaneous laughter from Dave and the crowd. The episode's highlight was always Darlene Love's iconic version of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Darlene is better known to us Elvis fans for her stellar vocal background singing on the Elvis 68 Comeback Special of course.


2:25NOW PLAYING

 

Jewel is a phenomenally talented singer. I remember watching her sing the The Star-Spangled Banner at one of the Super Bowl games and being shocked about her range and vocal ability. I thought she was just some current pop/folk singer that the younger kids were raving about. I got the chance to see her in a casino concert with just an acoustic show a few years later. It was just her and another guitarist, and I am a guy who usually likes a big band, but she was just fantastic. She sang everything from country to opera. I do love her very first Christmas album as well.

 

Ok, in order to reclaim continuity and chronological order, we'll get back to Christmas after these two releases.


It's Only Love **

(US) RCA 48-1017
Released: September 21, 1971



"It's Only Love" was covered two and a half years after BJ Thomas's original release by Elvis Presley in the fall of 1971 and released as a single, with "The Sound Of Your Cry" on the B-side.[3] In the United States, "It's Only Love" reached number 51 on Billboard Hot 100for the week of November 6, 1971.[4] It is also charted on the Billboard Easy Listening chart.[5]

In 1980 it was in some countries released as a single with "Beyond the Reef" on the B-side. In the UK Singles Chart the single charted as "It's Only Love / Beyond the Reef" (double-A-sided), peaking at number 3 on the week of August 30, 1980.[6]

Also the song "It's Only Love" was included in the 1980 box set Elvis Aron Presley (on the record 8 titled "Lost Singles").[7]
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This has a really cool intro, we have a thumping intro, with a steady country groove, dressed up with that early seventies soul sound that Elvis had seemed to make part of his signature sound for a while, but possibly not for quite long enough. It really suited.
This song works really. I think this song works really well, and it somewhat surprises me that the original single didn't do better.

 

Sound Of Your Cry
The start of this sounds like it could almost be an ELO song ... I don't know why, but that is what came to mind first. This is one of Elvis big ballads and it has a nice key modulation at the start of the chorus. This is a pretty good song also, and even though the single didn't appear to do too well, it seems that these two songs were probably more worthy of being on the next proper Elvis album, rather than the unfinished, virtual practice run of Hey Jude. These types of decisions and the consistently bizarre choices for album covers, make one wonder if anyone in the Elvis camp had a clue at all of what they were doing.

 

It amazes me how we think alike sometimes. I well remember Paul's yearly recitation of "The Cher Christmas Story" on Letterman. That's why I was so stoked when I found Cher's version on CD several years ago. I also recall a Letterman Christmas special back in the 1980s where Dave and Ted Nugent sang their funny "duet" of The Christmas Song.

 

We'll run the album also, and if we have big discussion about these releases, then tomorrow we will sit back and start the Christmas songs on Wednesday. We'll see where we go with it.


I GOT LUCKY (LP)
(US) RCA Camden CAL 2533
Released: October 1971



Released October, 1971
Recorded July 2, 1961 - September 29, 1966
Genre Rock
Length 22:29
Label RCA Camden

I Got Lucky is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley. The album, released in October 1971 on the RCA Camden label, is a follow-up to the C'mon Everybody album as it features the remaining tracks from the soundtrack EPs (previously unissued on LP) of the same four films from the first compilation plus one non-movie/non-LP track.[1] It was certified Gold on January 6, 2004 and Platinum on September 15, 2011 by the RIAA.[2]

Side one
1. "I Got Lucky" (from Kid Galahad) Dolores Fuller, Ben Weismanand Fred Wise October 27, 1961 1:58
2. "What a Wonderful Life" (from Follow That Dream) Jerry Livingston and Sid Wayne July 2, 1961 2:29
3. "I Need Somebody to Lean On" (from Viva Las Vegas) Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman July 10, 1963 3:03
4. "Yoga Is as Yoga Does" (from Easy Come, Easy Go) Gerald Nelson, Fred Burch September 29, 1966 2:12
5. "Riding the Rainbow" (from Kid Galahad) Ben Weisman and Fred Wise October 26, 1961 1:41

Side two
1. "Fools Fall in Love" Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller May 28, 1966 2:07
2. "The Love Machine" (from Easy Come, Easy Go) Fred Burch, Gerald Nelson and Chuck Taylor September 29, 1966 2:51
3. "Home Is Where the Heart Is" (from Kid Galahad) Hal David, Sherman Edwardsand Donald Meyer October 26, 1961 1:53
4. "You Gotta Stop" (from Easy Come, Easy Go) Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye September 29, 1966 2:20
5. "If You Think I Don't Need You" (from Viva Las Vegas) Gary Joe Cooper and Red West July 9, 1963 2:04
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In the end this is the Sister/Brother release to C'mon Everybody. For the most part this is another good little collection of songs, although there are a couple of notable cringe songs, particularly Yoga is ... which I suppose is a bit of fun, but isn't really a class rock music, and really should have just remained buried on a soundtrack album, or EP, and left for collectors to hunt down.
I am not sure exactly how Elvis was seen in the general music world at this time, but having released a series of magnificent albums, it seems looking back that these albums, although nice for collectors, came out and really just threw everybody back into the soundtrack world, that essentially almost ended his career.
Even though I don't essentially dislike the soundtrack albums, the facts are the facts, folks had lost interest in all that, and these albums may have sold, but essentially merely add to the patchy reputation Elvis work was getting around this time.
Elvis Management really had no foresight whatsoever, and really seems dead set on damaging his musical credibility through over exposure, unnecessary and sadly often substandard releases. I guess thankfully, the average Elvis fan was able to wade through the substandard material to enjoy the great stuff that was amongst it.

 

I apologize for the side trips Mark. Back to regularly scheduled programming. I love this single. The maturity of Elvis' choices of material during this time is on full display here. I agree about adding these songs to the Elvis Now LP and leaving Hey Jude on the shelf.

 

This should all be a bit of fun. I'm not phased mate.
I enjoy having a laugh

 

It moved product I suppose but here they go again with a cover photo of Elvis in the 1970s for an album of mostly 1960's soundtrack material. With that said, this album is pretty good with the exception of Yoga Is (hey we all know it's gonna end up on a Camden release somewhere down the line). Just like C'mon Everybody, the sequencing works well for the most part. As a matter of fact, many of these songs seem strangely sequenced on their original EP releases due to my exposure to them on the Camden albums.

 

Here is the longer version of The Sound of Your Cry released on Elvis' Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 in 1981. The version has never been released on cd officially.


This was Elvis' last commercially released mono single. RCA would continue to release promo singles in mono up until 1975 and some of those are dedicated mixes.

Both songs were released on the German cd Rare Elvis in mono, along with other songs that were hard to find on cd or vinyl at the time. Elvis Presley - Rare Elvis

 

It's Only Love is decent, but it sounds more like album filler to me than A-side material. I much prefer The Sound Of Your Cry, which should have been on either LLFE. It's not a great number, but it's a very good one, and it has much more life than most of the cuts on side 2.

I Got Lucky is just about perfect for me. It pulls off the trick of making me enjoy songs that I wouldn't listen to in isolation (Yoga Is, Riding The Rainbow, The Love Machine) and making me appreciate the songs that I do like even more. It's one of those albums that I reach for when I can't decide what I want to listen to. I couldn't even hazard a guess at how many times I've listened to it (on repeat you can play the whole thing almost three times in an hour, and I've spent more than a few days playing it on repeat, so...).

 

Not a fan of the It's Only Love / Sound Of Your Cry single. I'm not sure what they saw in the A-side to think 'this is a great single, it's gonna be Top 10!'. Elvis' voice sounds a bit off-key in parts and seems to be straining to hit the correct note (like around the 22 - 26 second mark, but there are other examples too). I slightly prefer Sound Of Your Cry, and it's well-suited as a b-side. I like the melody of the chorus... although the rest of the song isn't particularly compelling.

I just don't see what the point of this single was. Not a commercial statement nor an artistic statement.

 

I Got Lucky is another decent Camden LP, and IMO makes for a nice, enjoyable listen. I'd argue the only 'weak' track is Yoga Is, and even that one I can listen to in a 60's kitch kind of way. But were the frequent Camden releases diluting Elvis in the market place? Absolutely yes. Far too much product, even with the new/original LPs and singles.

Worth noting about I Got Lucky is that when it was reissued in 1975 they changed the cover a bit:



I like the artwork of both covers, although obviously they don't correspoond at all with the contents. Still, it's notable that a Camden cover was better than some of the main-label Elvis covers from the early 70's.

 

Here is B.J. Thomas original. Produced by Chips Moman in 1969.

 

So often in this thread I’ve said, “this isn’t the greatest song in the abstract, but Elvis works his magic on it,” but, as with “I’m Leavin’,” I find “It’s Only Love” to be a very solid song in the 70s adult contemporary / pop vein that Elvis staked out on That’s The Way It Is.

The climbing horn riff leading into the chorus is brilliant, and one of the few instrumental moments in an Elvis song that I find more interesting than Elvis’s vocal. The overall bass line and groove of the song is killer, this is a really good track. By his standards, Elvis’s vocal is a little ragged, but, as usual, he finds the feeling in the lyric, culminating in the final “I took my heart and my pride / and just threw it aside.”

On musical merit, this should have been a top five or even a number one hit.

 

Elvis' Greatest Hits LP from 1981 had an extended/unedited version of The Sound Of Your Cry, as did the UK LP The Sound Of Your Cry--which also included an extended version of It's Only Love.
Since Sing You Children was used on You'll Never Walk Alone LP. I Got Lucky had an open spot filled by Fools Fall In Love. (still leaving Come What May and High Heel Sneakers without an LP home).
Not much of a fan of It's Only Love, too poppy. But I do like The Sound Of Your Cry.

 

I cannot disagree with you on Elvis's voice on It's Only Love. I have almost always found Elvis's vocal pitch to be true and everybody from James Burton to songwriter Jerry Leiber have talked about what a great ear and fine vocal range Elvis had at his command, but I have to agree that he sounds nearly off-key in a few parts and he does seem to be struggling with the range of the song a tad. His voice just does not seem like its usually self to me, like it is not fully awake yet or the key was just a notch to high for him here, especially during the chorus of the song.

I cannot really disagree with this statement here either. While there are certainly flaws in Elvis's vocal performance, I still think the song itself and the overall production is pretty cool. This may be a rare case where the instrumental arrangement is better than Elvis's vocal effort, which is what you are really saying here in your rather spot on post.

 

I prefer The Sound Of Your Cry as well. Elvis's vocal effort is very good here and the overall production and orchestral arrangement is pretty good as well. Songwriter Florence Kaye, who was one of the three members of the team of Giant, Baum and Kaye, said that Elvis talked to the team by phone and she was surprised by how emotional he was about the song. She is quoted in the book, Writing For The King, as saying, "That was the last song he recorded of ours. I think it was pretty much emotionally what he was going through with Priscilla."

 

Diggin' way back for this, y'all, but thought I'd pick out some highlights of the ground covered since I last bored everyone in this thread

I think you've done for me here what Elvis Radio on XM was doing a while back; presenting an Elvis song I've never heard before.

A perfect little country gem with those vocal swoops that Elvis excelled at. Amazing stuff.

This is one that I first heard on XM and it kinda blew my mind. The arrangement is, uh, something else, but I enjoy the lyrics and concept, for sure.

Outstanding arrangement here; I'm not sold on the song but Elvis makes it work, as he so often did. The intro might be better than the rest of the song.

Absolutely does not work at the faster tempo. Ouch.

Another country-rock piece of magic. There's still some gold in them thar hills.