October 2016 The Wonder Of You, Elvis With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - 88985 37822 2 Label: Sony Music – 88985378222, RCA – 88985378222, Legacy – 88985378222 Format: CD, Album, Stereo Country: Europe Released: 2016 Genre: Rock, Pop, Stage & Screen Style: Rock & Roll, Ballad 1 A Big Hunk O' Love 2:22 2 I've Got A Thing About You Baby 2:35 3 Suspicious Minds 3:45 4 Don't 3:10 5 I Just Can't Help Believin' 4:35 6 Just Pretend 4:06 7 Love Letters 2:55 8 Amazing Grace 3:47 9 Starting Today 3:11 10 Kentucky Rain 4:03 11 Memories 3:15 12 Let It Be Me 3:26 13 Always On My Mind 3:39 14 The Wonder Of You 2:31 ------------------------------------------------------ To be honest, so far none of these kinds of releases have particularly interested me. I guess they are fine, but for me there seems to be little consideration for the songs. There seems to be something trite and empty about them. I don't have a problem with people doing recreations or changes, remixes, or even taking a vocal track and putting it to a different backing ... but generally they seem to end up sounding a bit cheesy, and just don't really hit the spot for me. From my perspective it seems more like an exercise in "see what I can do" rather than a heartfelt attempt to reimagine the songs.... and for me, at the end of the day, it is always about the songs. A Big Hunk Of Love We start with a nice little string arrangement, that is somewhat reminiscent of a movie score arrangement. When the song kicks in it is ok, and I can hear why some would like it, but for me it just misses the mark..... It kind of sounds like ELO do Elvis in some regards, and that's fine, but I guess I just like the originals too much for this to break through. (by the way, I do like ELO..... doing ELO songs)
I Got A Thing About You Baby To me, this sounds somewhat robotic and unnatural, and that's inexcusable for a supposed orchestral arrangement.
Suspicious Minds This starts off nicely, with a nice legato intro, that leads nicely into the iconic guitar pattern. The rest of iot sounds pretty decent.
Don't On the surface this seems like an ideal song for this type of rearrangement. To me, for this arrangement to be successful, they should have concentrated on a good string arrangement and left the choir-like backing off. this track has a great vocal, and a well arranged orchestral adaptation may well have been wonderful, but the non-orchestral parts of this overload any orchestral input anyway..... Lack of imagination and poor execution of this for me.
The Wonder Of You I think the use of Kate Moss in the video for this (nothing against Kate) sums up what I think of this release..... a cynical exercise in exploitation for money, with little regard for the music, or at least no real effort to create something special, just time to create something.
We also have Elvis* With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – The Wonder Of You Label: Sony Music – 88985362242, RCA – 88985362242, Legacy – 88985362242 Format: CD, Album Country: Europe Released: 2016 Genre: Rock, Pop, Stage & Screen Style: Rock & Roll, Ballad This has an extra track, which is Just Pretend as a duet with Helene Fischer 1 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra A Big Hunk O' Love 2:22 2 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra I've Got A Thing About You Baby 2:35 3 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Suspicious Minds 3:45 4 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Don't 3:10 5 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra I Just Can't Help Believin' 4:35 6 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Just Pretend 4:06 7 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Love Letters 2:55 8 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Amazing Grace 3:47 9 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Starting Today 3:11 10 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Kentucky Rain 4:03 11 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Memories 3:15 12 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Let It Be Me 3:26 13 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Always On My Mind 3:39 14 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Wonder Of You 2:31 Bonus Track 15 –Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Just PretendFeaturing – Helene Fischer 4:05
Then we also got this as well in December 2016 Elvis* With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – The Wonder Of You Label: Sony Music – 88985371882, RCA – 88985371882, Legacy – 88985371882 Format: Box Set, Album, Deluxe Edition 2 × Vinyl, LP, Gatefold CD Country: Europe Released: 02 Dec 2016 Genre: Rock, Pop, Classical, Stage & Screen Style: Rock & Roll, Ballad, Classical Vinyl Album A1 A Big Hunk O' Love A2 I've Got A Thing About You Baby A3 Suspicious Minds A4 Don't A5 I Just Can't Help Believin' B1 Just Pretend B2 Love Letters B3 Amazing Grace B4 Starting Today C1 Kentucky Rain C2 Memories C3 Let It Be Me C4 Always On My Mind D1 The Wonder Of You D2 You Don't Have To Say You Love Me D3 You Gave Me A Mountain D4 Just PretendFeaturing – Helene Fischer CD CD-1 A Big Hunk O' Love 2:22 CD-2 I've Got A Thing About You Baby 2:35 CD-3 Suspicious Minds 3:45 CD-4 Don't 3:10 CD-5 I Just Can't Help Believin' 4:35 CD-6 Just Pretend 4:06 CD-7 Love Letters 2:55 CD-8 Amazing Grace 3:47 CD-9 Starting Today 3:11 CD-10 Kentucky Rain 4:03 CD-11 Memories 3:15 CD-12 Let It Be Me 3:26 CD-13 Always On My Mind 3:39 CD-14 The Wonder Of You 2:31 Bonus Tracks CD-15 You Don't Have To Say You Love Me 2:34 CD-16 You Gave Me A Mountain 3:15 CD-17 Just Pretend 4:05
Which is the first time I have heard of her, but I presume she is big in parts of Europe and it was done to boost sales there!
Best thing to come out of these albums. It's rearranged, it sounds fresh, the Elvis-on-bass sample from You're So Square is nicely rejigged as an intro - again. It feels more like a remixed Elvis track than an orchestra showcase, which is how many of these tracks turn out.
The arranger and producer chosen for these projects can be a critical component of their artistic success, if one is willing to even give them a chance. I too am generally against these type of projects as a general rule, but I am willing to give them a listen on a case by case basis. I really like Chris Walden's arrangement of Always On My Mind, which to my ears, follows the almost equally good reimagined score from the This Is Elvis version. Mr. Walden is an amazing musician with a stellar background as an arranger for the likes of Michael Bublé, Ray Charles, Paul McCartney, Adele, Herb Alpert, Barbara Streisand, and Carrie Underwood, among dozens and dozens of other legendary artists. The other factor that I notice with these newer productions is that I seldom like the newer rhythm arrangements. Elvis's original rhythm sections were so gifted and they were almost impossible to improve upon. Even on Always On My Mind, I miss the fine drumming of Ronnie Tutt on that song as well. The new producers wisely kept some of Dennis Linde's critical overdubbed guitar parts from Elvis's original version of Burning Love, but quite often the new rhythm arrangements are kind of boring, especially whenever you compare them to the original studio band players, be it the American Sound players, the Nashville Cats, or Elvis's great TCB band.
This is my gripe for sure. Certainly by the late 60's you have an original rhythm section track that is already perfect as is. The orchestra was always an overdub anyway, just put the RPO over top of the original recordings and boom, you're done. Either do something new ("Thing About You Baby" or "Fever") or supplement the original recordings; not some half-ass mixture of the two.
Anyone with young kids in the UK probably knows the son of Just Pretend's co-writer, Guy Fletcher........star of Mr Tumble, Justin's House and about a million other children's shows on CBeebies.
I bought this last saturday, for a good price, great albums, and really nice bonus tracks. Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley / Elvis
Yes, it is a very good combo. I would rather buy his debut album several times over than to buy a 1976 soundboard or a post-mortem overdub project!
Has "The Alternate Aloha" been mentioned on this thread? It was on this day in 1973 Elvis performed the "rehearsal" concert. To my ears, it beats the actual satellite concert of 14-1-1973. The full concert did not see the light of day until 1988 but R.C.A did feature "Steamroller Blues" on "Greatest Hits Volume 1" album and U.K. "The Sound of your Cry". Then there was a official video of it which came out in 1996 by Lightyear entertainment but only the U.S. market.
Yep, I'm pretty sure all of those have been covered, and definitely the 1988 Alternate Aloha album. If you go back a page or two you'll find a useful guide that Mark posts every week that allows you to navigate to a particular part of these Elvis threads.
Funny you post this, I was just watching several of his Elvis reaction videos, as well as those from others. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea but I’m enjoying them immensely. Particularly from those who have never heard the songs before. Here’s a few (but there’s many more): https://youtu.be/S_XJco3fb48 https://youtu.be/0ecnNGYWXKE https://youtu.be/0fexte35ov0
Thanks. Say which concert of the two you liked more? 12 January 1973 or Satellite show 14 January 1973? Maybe Mark can start up a poll.
The Fifties Easy Reference guide 1959 - Feb 10 1964 - Reference guide April 1964 - Sept 1967 October 1967 - December 1969 January 1970 - March 1974 May 1974 - October 1977 Feb 1978 - Sept 1997 Oct 1997 - Dec 1999 Jan 2000 - Aug 2008 Aug 2008 - Oct 2013 @ClausH 's Elvis album thread from 2007 + Part II + Revisited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oct 2013 - On Stage Season Closing Night Nov 2013 The Nations Favourite Elvis Songs Dec 2013 From Elvis At American Sound Memory Revival Come Out Come Out It's My Way/This Time/ Can't Stop Loving You Dec 2013 Moody Blue Unchained Melody undubbed master She Think I Still Care take 2 Moody Blue take 1 It's Easy For You take 1 Way Down take 2 Jan 2014 Something For The Girls Jan 2014 The Perfect Soundtrack Collection Jan 2014 The Fifties Feb 2014 The Sixties Feb 2014 The Seventies Mar 2014 Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis Help Me Suspicious Minds An American Trilogy Mar 2014 Destination USA disc two Mar 2014 Elvis (56) Rip It Up take 15 Old Shep take 5 Don't Be Cruel live Paralysed May 2014 Love Me Tender 7" extended June 2014 Bossa Nova Baby - Ultimate Elvis Party Album June 2014 Elvis Sings .... June 2014 Return To Vegas June 2014 From Memphis To Nashville '61 August 2014 That's The Way It Is deluxe edition Sept 2014 Elvis For Everyone 7" extended Sept 2014 Best Of British - RCA years 57-58 Nov 2014 Elvis In Florida April 75 Dec 2014 Elvis' Christmas Album 7"extended Peace In The valley take 1 It's No Secret What God Can Do Dec 2014 Flaming Star 7" extended Flaming Star take 2 Black Star Summer Kisses Winter Tears 1,2 Jan 2015 Elvis at the O2 Mar 2014 This Is Elvis 7" extended Mar 2015 Rock Around The Bloch book/cd Pearl Harbour Concert 61 May 2015 King Creole 7"extended King Creole 1st version - 3 Crawfish 7 Lover Doll 7 As Long As I Have You 8 Steadfast Loyal and True undubbed Don't Ask Me Why 12 Trouble 5 June 2015 Change Of Habit book/cd June 2015 Elvis Golden Records vol1 7"extended That's WhenYour Heartaches Begin 1 Blueberry Hill 2 Have I Told You Lately .. 2 I Beg Of You 1 Aug 2015 Today legacy Fairytale undubbed Green Green Grass Of Home undubbed I Can Help undubbed And I Love You So undubbed Susan When She Tried undubbed Aug 2015 Elvis Forever Sept 2015 Best Of British 59/60 Oct 2015 Elvis In West Texas Oct 2015 Live A Little Love a Little 7"extended A Little Less Conversation 6-10 Edge Of Reality 3 Oct 2015 If I Can Dream - Philharmonic Orchestra Burning Love It's Now Or Never Bridge Over Troubled Water If I Can Dream Fever Dec 2015 Elvis Golden Records vol 3 It's Now Or Never 1 - undubbed Fame And Fortune 1 Little Sister 6 Surrender 1 I Feel So Bad 1 His Latest Flame 6 She's Not You 1 Dec 2015 Elvis In Alabama - The Last Double Date Afternoon Show Evening show Mar 2016 RCA Album Collection Mar 2016 How RCA Brought Elvis To Europe Mar 2016 The West Coast Tour 1976 disc 2 May 2016 NBC TV Special Trouble/Guitar Man 6,7 It Hurts Me 4 Let Yourself Go 1 Guitar Man's Evil 5,7 May 2016 Las Vegas 1975 May 2016 King Creole Mono Monitor Mixes May 2016 Speedway 7"extended Let Yourself Go June 2016 Taking Care Of Business In A Flash August 2016 Way Down In The Jungle Room legacy Hurt 3 The Last Farewell 2 She Thinks I Still Care 10 Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain 4 Pledging My Love 2
