I agree entirely. The atmospherics and storyline are greatly enhanced by the sound of the piano crashing along with the strings and horns. Elvis's wet and mysterious adventure is driven by those glorious orchestral flourishes. In this case a lot of imagery is lost without the orchestra, and the stellar background vocalists add something quite special as well.
I disagree with Dirk a lot, but this is one case where I am totally on the same page. This is a fantastic performance. It's informal and off-the-cuff, but despite the fact they are just messing around, Elvis is giving it 100% as though he's going for a finished take. His vocal is strong and full of emotion. This is better than a lot of stuff that did get released. It contrasts with Hey Jude, where they did have an arrangement worked out but Elvis wasn't trying and gave a sub-par performance. It amazes me they released HJ and left this on the shelf.
I just got an e-mail from one of the Elvis shops I order from that contains this interesting tidbit: Elvis lived 15,561 days. On March 23rd, 2020, we reached the point when Elvis had been gone the same number of days. That's exactly 42 years, 7 months and 8 days. So from March 24 on, he has been gone longer than he was with us. I remember when Elvis died. I was 9 years old. It’s kind of hard to believe that between then and now was all of the life Elvis got to live. He packed a lot into those 42 years.
I'm Yours take 1 undubbed Here is Elvis with that voice, sweeter than treacle. I am not a fan of the wurlitzer organ, but it isn't too prominent in the mix.
(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame This is just a great track. This version does actually sound a little different, but I would have to listen to them side to side to say exactly why, and how.
That's Some one You Never Forget take 1 Again we get Elvis in full peak vocal ability. This may not be a favourite song, but one must acknowledge what a good vocal it is.
Surrender take 1 When I first got the sixties box, this was one of the songs that had a vague ringing in the back of my mind that I knew it. It is an excellent song. Elvis really did explore a lot of South American rhythms and style during the sixties.
It's Now Or Never undubbed master I guess this gets put in the classic pile of tracks these days.... Although I clearly hear that there are less instruments here, the song doesn't at all sound like it is missing anything to my ears.
Witchcraft/ Love Me Tender From the Frank Sinatra show, when Elvis just got back from the army. I always thought this was very cool... I also figured Frank may have been a little perturbed that every time Elvis sang, as the crowd just exploded in screaming lol
I had quite the nasty shock when I heard the undubbed version of It's Now Or Never. Where was the piano part that I loved so much, the tiny element that tied it all together? It sounds somewhat empty without it, imo. Did they always intend to overdub the piano, or did that idea come about later?
You need look no further than Surrender and Now Or Never to see why some people said Elvis was dead. No self respecting rocker would listen to that Italian opera stuff. Elvis was now aiming to be a generic pop singer or the colonel was. Great records but far from anything from the fifties. You have three separate careers, pre-army, 60-68, and the Singer special to the end.
Agreed. The Elvis the Rocker thing has been blown out of proportion to a large degree. He certainly did do rock songs, but his bread and butter was always ballads. I Want You I Need You I Love You Anyway You Want Me That's When Your Heartaches Begin My Happiness Loving You Love Me the list goes on and on. I guess to some degree folks heard what they wanted to in the sixties. Elvis is Back had plenty of rockers and blues
I agree. He wanted to be Dean Martin IMO. He was crossing black and white alright- Dean and the Ink Spots- when he went in to record the record "for his Mama". He was fooling around when he caught the riff. He knew R&B he just didn't think anyone wanted to hear that from him. JMO
Yes, many people have a narrow view of music. I know every note of these songs but they turned off many of his original fans. Took me years to care about his 70s stuff. I was listening to other stuff at the time.
Perhaps the 60s and 70s material turned off some original fans. They also clearly gained him new fans. Whether or not one approves of the 70s material and the Vegas residencies, in 2020 that era is keeping Elvis’s memory alive with the general public far more than the purist 50s rock portion of his catalog is. How many people right now are paying attention to Buddy Holly or Chuck Berry? If Elvis had died in 1960, or had lived but stuck with his 50s sound and image for the rest of his life, he would be nowhere near as popular today as he is.
Not a fan of Elvis' voice being so hidden amongst the other voices. I agree. Back then RnR was still kid's music. Elvis would've "aged out" of it had he tried to stay straight RnR. I know Chuck Berry and others were older but Elvis was also a teen idol and the kids want someone closer to their age. Nobody could forsee the days of the Stones playing sold out RnR concerts in their 70's and people of all ages attending. Even Elvis said in interviews there was no way of knowing if RnR would last. Going into the movies and becoming a more mature performer was a great move early on, it just should've been abandoned sooner or demanded better scripts and higher budgets.
Oh Wow, Spencer really challenges the conventional view of how Elvis remained relevant as in artist across three separate decades. He did so by not becoming stagnant as a recording artist and also reinventing his sound from time to time. Oh sure, the soundtrack period almost ate him alive, but he still recorded some remarkable music even during most of that period. If Elvis had stayed with his original Sun Records or early RCA rock 'n' roll sound indefinitely, he would have eventually became a nostalgia act on the road, more or less like Chuck Berry or Fats Domino, simply confined to playing the small lounge or nightclub circuit and becoming totally irrelevant as a contemporary and viable recording artist.
And don't forget gospel. While Elvis could rock out like few others, I think he could have been quite happy to sing only gospel and ballads. He seemed to take an extra care in his arrangements on those.
There's piano on the undubbed version and only one piano player on the session (Floyd Cramer): Elvis Presley Recording Sessions It's definitely empty without those fills; the restraint in the rhythm piano part tells me it was intended to be the first of two parts, but that's just a theory. Edit: listening to a couple alternate takes on Youtube, that section is *empty*, no background vocals, no mandolin, just Elvis and the rhythm section. They were clearly leaving space for an overdub.
Well, Hey Jude was ultimately released because, 1) Felton Jarvis was desperate for recordings circa 1971, and 2) it was one of the most famous songs in the world in the early 1970's and the fact that Elvis recorded it made it marketable, even though Elvis did not record a focused, completed take. This is one recording that should have stayed in the vaults, unearthed 20+ years later for the 60's box set as an archival rarity.