Received my copy yesterday, just opened it this morning. Nice looking package for the most part but for the life of me, I’ll never understand the mentality of package designers who think cramming CDs into super tight slots is a good thing! No way would that folder survive with repeated use; thankfully I had an empty “fat boy” jewel box where the discs will now live.
Elvis sang what he wanted, thats why he was Elvis. He liked the new stuff a lot more than the old stuff. He didnt really write the old stuff.
Like the idea that the Hank Snow song embodies, Elvis often moved on from established material into uncharted territory. One man's stagnation was Elvis' idea of freshness and vitality. Elvis also returned to comforting and crowd pleasing numbers that satisfied his own idea of a good show. He knew what his band could perform well and capitalized on it.
Felton Jarvis ran the sessions as Elvis and he, preferred and wanted. The old fashion way. The 1969 sessions will not be able to be released the way these were., in my opinion. Too much overdubbing (including individual instruments), repairs, and punch-ins. Ernst released all the undubbed masters warts and all, because they were finished for the most part with exceptions of the end note (for this set) with "cuss me", later fixed to "kiss me". I haven't checked thoroughly, but off the top of my head there are multiple Masters in the 1969 sessions that were vocally repaired, fixed, re-recorded. So in these there isn't a, or one, "master take" per- se. And one take could not be used in a set as such. "Wearing That Loved On look", "Any Day Now", come to mind where Elvis was in particular bad voice due to a cold etc.. There's more.
For releases like these I don't mind having the comped/repaired final lead vocal in there, if it's necessary. It's really more about the new mix and the stripped down sound.
Yes. They would not be untampered master takes for a quite a few, I think. On the other hand songs as "In The Ghetto", could be in competition to their master releases. The song works great with just the guitar.
Listened to the whole thing on Spotify before I decided to order the CD box set. It sounds really good. The idea to remove the goop - strings, horns, choruses - happens to work. Maybe someone figured the potential market hated goop of any kind. This release feeds off his schlock power, and it validates the audience. For fans only, of course. I'm one.
I don’t think Elvis would’ve continued to work with Feltone or allow the bombast of his productions if he didn’t like them. There were plenty of occasions when Elvis was against a certain song being released and he seemed to let Feltone man the ship. At the beginning probably due to support of the sound and later most likely to indifference.
I understand your point and agree, too. But those Memphis sessions are unique as far as the benefits of overdubbing go. The overdubbed Memphis sessions are probably the only sessions that sounded better, or equal, to the undubbed version. I definitely don’t feel the same about the Nashville sessions and think they work well either way, with the undubbed versions up by a hair or two.
To me, Darkness and, to a certain extent, The River, sound very much like Bruce was listening to, and, in his spirit and delivery, was influenced by, the rawness and desperation and energy of punk bands such as The Clash. Darkness is a great '70s rock album, but in my book, at least at times, it's also pretty close in spirit to a great punk rock album. For a long time, it has amused me that Joe Strummer, back in the '70s, was dismissive (and derisive) of Springsteen, because Joe and Bruce, in the '70s, were both rockers with a love for classic R & B and soul music, and they both had working-class sympathies and an anti-establishment edginess-- even as at least some of these attributes were closer to being parts of their respective artistic personas than literal parts of their pre-recording career backgrounds. I think that Joe may have had at least one working-class job at one point, but I don't think Bruce ever did.
As far as I know, in his entire recording career, Elvis only actually recorded one song that he, himself, had written. Elvis was an incredible singer, performer, and charismatic personality, but he was not really a songwriter, and there is nothing wrong with that fact. Sinatra was not a songwriter either, and no one ever criticizes him for it, though, very unfairly, Elvis does get criticism for not writing the songs that he recorded. The false, and very unfair, charge that far too many people make regarding Elvis, a charge which both deeply saddens and angers me, is that he. supposedly, "stole Black peoples' music," which is a complete fabrication, based on misinformation. Elvis had the utmost love and respect for Black Gospel, blues, rock, and soul artists. He grew up, spending what very litttle money he had, as a child and young man, buying and collecting their records, because he loved them so very muxh, and he often enthusiastically spoke of his love for these artists and recordings in interviews, and he had personal friendships with some of these great artists-- as well as, obviously, inviting the Sweet Inspirations to be memebers of his live touring band, and his opening act, from '69 to '77! Back to songwriting though: I think that Elvis was given partial songwriting credit on a few other songs, but he only actually wrote "That's Someone You'll Never Forget" (with Red West). He was not a songwriter, but along with Sinatra (tied with Sinatra, to me-- I love them both so much), I believe that Elvis is the greatest male singer of popular music, ever, period.
I've now listened to the first two discs, and it's an interesting listening experience. As others have said, your mind often inserts the missing overdubs. Some songs really benefit being stripped back, like Patch it Up (some nasty guitar work now evident!), but others really miss the overdubs, particularly The Next Step Is Love. The overall sound is great.
I know. That's why I wrote my earlier comment in reply to you. You had written that Elvis "didn't really write the old stuff." That was kind of a confusing statement though, because Elvis didn't write his older or his newer material. He didn't write any of the songs that he recorded, period, old or new, with the exception of "That's Someone You'll Never Forget," which he co-wrote with Red West. Whereas some people seem to think that Elvis "stole Black peoples' music," what they don't understand is that simply recording a cover version of a song is not "stealing" it at all, as long as the original songwriters are given credit, as Elvis did, legally speaking. Black artists can cover White artists' songs, such as Whitney Houston with Dolly Parton's original "I Will Always Love You,"and I have never heard of a Black artist being accused "stealing" a White artist's song. I continually hear the charge of Elvis "stealing" the songs of Black artists though, and that charge is both inaccurate and hypocritical.
Many of those black songwriters at the time loved Elvis because his success brought them success and vice versa. If Elvis covered one of their songs they usually made quite a lot of money from royalities, plus Elvis covering one of their songs was good for their careers because it often led to greater demand for their services as writers.
Yes the weaponising of art and culture is unfortunate and we risk ending up with a less vibrant arts community, with fewer exchanges of ideas as artists feel less free to experiment for fear of causing offence, or being accused of 'stealing'. An example of the same thing in my neck of the woods: an artist friend of mine was accused of stealing Polynesian art motifs at an exhibition he gave recently. He very patiently pointed out that the motif concerned came from nature and that the ancient Greeks used the same motif in their art. Love this release. Thanks for the playlist Art. Just saved it to my account
Yes, Elvis did a great amount to bring more and more visibility, and many more listeners, to all kinds of great music made by great Black artists! There are classic Gospel, blues, rock, and soul recordings that I know and love by Black artists, that I might have never heard, if not for Elvis recording great cover versions of those songs and, in the process, bringing my attention to the great, original artists and their recordings! Elvis broadened and deepened the music collections of so many listeners, and even more importantly, he helped to open and broaden peoples' minds and hearts. Not only was Elvis absolutely not a supposed "White racist who stole Black peoples music," he actually does not get nearly the credit that he should for the great cause of racial and cultural harmony and exchange and friendship, simply by being a poor White kid in the Southern region of the U.S.A. who grew up loving all kinds of music, drawing no racial or cultural boundaries , and then, going on to become a world-famous singer and performer who brought his sincere and deep love of all of that amazing music and culture to the world-- so much of it originating from great Black artists, as he repeatedly, vocally, happily, told the world in his interviews.
