Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

"An Evening Prayer" is imperishably lovely and reminds me of his informal stab at "The Lord's Prayer," recorded two days earlier:



The phrasing shows the influence of Mahalia Jackson.

 

An Evening Prayer is an absolute vocal masterpiece from Elvis. He makes every word count, so much that this is one of those songs for which random lines occasionally pop into my head and make me want to dig out the album and give it a listen. On the whole it's probably my favourite performance on HTM (although the album's single greatest moment comes near the end, imo).

Lead Me, Guide Me is a decent track that works amazingly well within the context of the album. Somehow it's the perfect follow-up to the intensity of An Evening Prayer.

 

Oh by golly, what a great choice of words you use there to describe the timeless beauty and indestructible nature of Elvis's version on An Evening Prayer; "Imperishably," I like that description a lot. I love the way that you connect it with his rougher, but simply breathtaking run through of The Lords Prayer, and yes indeed, Elvis surely must have been strongly influenced by the great vocal power and passion that Mahalia Jackson put behind her gospel singing. The first time I heard Elvis's outtake of The Lord's Prayer, which was only about five or six years ago I believe, I actually felt a chill run up and down my spine. Just when I thought I knew everything that man could do with his voice, he takes me some place new with his range and power. Wow.

 

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I like/ love at least 1/2 of the Lp.

 

I am waiting for Hits From His Movies Vol 1.

 

Just pure perfection.

 

I'm sorry I know you probably meant otherwise but this post made my night, just made me burst out laughing ... "a fugitive ..." LMAO

 

I have to admire the different viewpoints on this wonderful song. I also like the interpretation that the singer is looking for his dog. I never considered that as a possibility but the narrative works fine within the lyrics.

 

That's my favorite interpretation now. "Don't know why you'd run, what you're running to, or from"... that sure sounds like my dog.

 

There Is No God But God
Written By :
Bill Kenny

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 8-11, 1971: June 9, 1971. take 5

This is like a country pop song, and it is quite a nice bouncy little song, but it doesn't do much for me to be honest.

 

Thing Called Love
Written By :
Jerry Hubbard

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, May 15-21, 1971: May 19, 1971. take 9

This track seems also to lean towards being some kind of early sixties pop song, or something along those lines. It has a quirky sound and feel to it. I kind of like this song. It has a certain charm in spite of its somewhat flippant styling.

 

There Is No God But God. Well, besides having one of the most awkward song titles in the Elvis catalog, it's not a bad song. But nothing special to this little ditty. A Thing Called Love is also just, well, odd. Not a gospel song IMO by any stretch, and a weird melody and lyrics. Not a good fit for this LP, too bad time wasn't spent on something else.

 

A Thing Called Love is pure cheese, but I've loved it ever since I heard the rehearsal version on Today, Tomorrow, & Forever. I actually think that it works quite well on the album, but that might just be because I'm partial to it.

The TT&F version:

 

I'm also a fan of Jerry Reed's original:

 

I'm assuming it is a vague reference to 1 Corinthians 13 - 13:And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
It is a very tenuous link, but the only one I can imagine would be relevant
It has a somewhat soundtrack song feel about it

 

I picture The Muppets doing it, especially with those 'pop-up' backing vocals.

 

There Is No God But God and A Thing Called Love begin the softer country-pop side of the B side on the original album, He Touched Me. I think, compared to some to the passion and range that Elvis demonstrates on the previous songs on the album, these two songs may seem a little lightweight, but I think the sequencing and choice of material is pretty clever here as these two songs give the listener a little emotional relief, before we get to two of the best and most revealing performances that close out the album, I, John and Reach Out To Jesus. There Is No God But God may have an awkward sounding title, but it moves along nicely melodically and has a nice bounce to it as Mark points out. I like A Thing Called Love a tad more for all the various reasons that Dirk mentions in his post. The vocal arrangement is a kick in the pants and I love the unison vocal between Elvis and bass singer Armond Morales. It actually was a pretty complicated vocal background arrangement as Elvis archive producer Ernst Jorgensen points out in his fine book, A Life In Music. Elvis would also demonstrate some fine humor during the take as well, which is highlighted in his book with the following quote:

The next take of "A Thing Called Love" collapsed, and Felton as always deflected blame from Elvis onto the the newcomer, Joe Moscheo. But Elvis, ever gracious when he was in good spirits, just changed the opening line of the song from "Six foot six, he stood on the ground" to "Three foot four..." and dedicated the song to Charlie Hodge."

 

I really like A Thing Called Love, but as we discussed earlier it's not a gospel song. It fits okay on a gospel album, but it still puzzles me that they didn't hold back the decent rendition of Put Your Hand in the Hand that they also had in the can, and use it instead.

Unfortunately for Elvis, Johnny Cash recorded the song around the same time he did. Cash's version was released before Elvis', and wound up hitting #2 on the country charts. When Elvis released his version a few months later, it looked like he was covering Cash's hit, even though he'd actually recorded the song before Cash had released it. I slightly prefer Cash's version:


There is No God But God reminds me of a pretty good movie song. Singalong melody, simple lyrics, catchy. It's easy to imagine Elvis singing it to a group of children on the beach or in an aircraft carrier or wherever the hypothetical movie might have been set. A decent performance of a song that's not bad but no masterpiece.

 

"There is No God But God" (the first line of the Shahada by the way--just imagine Elvis singing that!) is very dull in a Sunday School sort of way. I like "A Thing Called Love"--lots of pop sugar and perhaps the most unusual and intricate vocal arrangement on any Elvis recording, with Elvis perpetually shadowed by the bass and sublimated into the classic quartet sound. The gospel connection is the ensemble vocal arrangement, how the voices are stacked and layered.

 

Before we move on tomorrow to the last two songs on He Touched Me, and once again let me just say that those two upcoming songs feature two of my favorites performances from the album, I just want to point everyone who admires Elvis Presley's gospel music in the least to Charlie Rich's fantastic gospel album from 1976, Silver Linings. All Music Guide writer Thom Jurek called Silver Linings one of the ten greatest gospel albums in country music history that combines elements of jazz, pop, blues and country into the mix. Once again, I think of the writer Joe Hagan from Oxford American, who once rather brilliantly referred to Charlie Rich as "The missing link between Elvis and Ray Charles." Nowhere is this more evident than in Rich's stupendous version of Old Time Religion, whereby he segues into another Elvis favorite, Oh Happy Days. Rich is also accompanied by several musicians and background singers who worked directly with Elvis on many sessions, including The Jordanires and The Holladays; the latter of whom did the back-up vocals on In The Ghetto as well as Kentucky Rain; and more than likely, but not so well documented, rhythm players Jerry Carrigan, Billy Sanford, Norbert Putman and Bob Moore. The fantastic piano player is no doubt Hargus "Pig" Robbins, who openly admits to stealing many of his licks from Floyd Cramer and probably Rich himself, if you were to pin him down on it.

 

Great definition of CR.

 

Bought my first Charlie Rich album today. The Quad mix for Behind Closed Doors, and another album. Looking forward to it.

 

Sorry to be off-topic, but did you get the quad mix on vinyl or CD?

 

sacd
duttonvocalion.co.uk store: Charlie Rich - Behind Closed Doors & Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High) [SACD Hybrid Multi-channel] | New releases - Popular | CDLK4630 |

 

I tried unsuccessfully to petition Real Gone Music to remaster and reissue Rich's Behind Closed Doors album as a twofer CD with his CMA Album Of The Year follow-up, Very Special Love Songs, but I had just gotten approval of the John Klein A Christmas Sound Spectacular release, and since I had no track record with them at this point, I think that RGM was reluctant to issue it at the time. As I previously mentioned, the John Klein twofer CD sold out before Christmas, so in hindsight, I think I could have convinced RGM President Gordon Anderson to release the twofer CD eventually, if Dutton Vocalion had not beaten us to the punch. Well, I actually proposed the idea about two years ago, but you never know how long these releases were in the planning stages.

Behind Closed Doors is one of my top five favorite albums of all time. Its glistening country-pop production may not be for everybody, but Rich and his beautiful songwriting wife, Margaret Ann, wrote some gorgeous songs that defy placing them in any distinct genre or musical style. The album runs the gamut from smokey lounge music to gentle countrypolitan. You Never Really Wanted Me just defies easy categorization, and if I have it right here, it was actually written by his son, Alan, now better known as Charlie Rich Jr. My copy of the SACD from Dutton Vocalion should be here any day.

Charlie Rich ~ You Never Really Wanted Me - YouTube