The Definitive Elvis Presley Song Selection
This represents my attempt to invest the sprawling nature of Elvis’ catalogue with some overall shape and internal coherence. The fans, of course, can take Elvis whole. I am interested in the faint of heart, those who know a little Elvis and are intrigued to know more, but are shy of making purchases of questionable taste. The overriding concern to keep pumping out product backfired massively on Elvis when he was alive. The volume of Elvis albums is nothing short of ridiculous and self-negating. People, in the main, will congregate around the hits, sticking to the familiar. Which is a shame. Because as an artist, Elvis Presley had remarkable depth and range. There are countless classics and gems waiting to be discovered.
The photograph is a collage of my collection of Elvis albums. I’ve been collecting Elvis albums since my mother bought me my first one in 1973. The album was ‘Separate Ways’ and was full of sad and sentimental songs. It was not an obvious album for a seven year old to enjoy, but I was hooked on the voice. I’ve been listening to and obsessing over Elvis ever since, spending the rest of the seventies saving my pennies and forever planning which was the next Elvis album to buy, listening endlessly to the ones I had. My birthday and Christmas presents were obvious, gifts from family members from their holidays too – another Elvis album would always be much appreciated and gratefully received.
But it was more than obvious that this endless pursuit was motivated by more than a love of the music. Collecting is addictive, but the addiction was about more than the music. Most of all it was painfully obvious to me even at a young age that the music of Elvis Presley was very poorly packaged and re-presented. I lost count of how many times I was having to duplicate tracks in order to obtain tracks I didn’t have. That was bad enough when it was ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ but when the song was ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’ it was too much. There has always been way too many Elvis albums. The management clearly thought the music as mere ‘product’ and no more, the fans being merely consumers, Elvis addicts, suckers whose pockets were to be endlessly emptied. So it was apparent that the last thing the marketing strategy involved was actually satisfying demand. The Elvis market had to be kept in a constant state of dissatisfaction and disappointment. Elvis fans would stay loyal. But, I thought, what of non-Elvis music fans or casual fans? Such people could not but be put-off by buying Elvis albums on which ‘Tomorrow is a Long Time’ rubbed shoulders with ‘Beach Shack,’ ‘Guitar Man’ with ‘Old MacDonald.’ The approach to the Elvis albums could have been designed to put all but diehard Elvis fans off Elvis. Which is precisely what happened. The Elvis albums did not properly present Elvis’ music, damaging his reputation by giving the impression of a little quality being spread thinly over a vast quantity. Elvis’ output was vast but, as I hope to show, he delivered high quality in high quantity to an extent that is without parallel. That’s a bold claim to make, but I am confident that I can defend it. To those who remain unpersuaded by the very high regard I have of Elvis Presley and ask me, sceptically, how good Elvis was, I simply say that he achieved all that I lay out below whilst realizing no more than fifty or sixty percent of his potential as the result of working within the destructive constraints of a crooked, parasitic, visionless, dumb, incompetent, cheap, nasty, exploitative management. (And that’s putting it mildly. I could elaborate, but won’t, because nothing can be done about it now, and those involved deserve nothing less than oblivion).
I propose to take Elvis year by year and issue a coherent album of material that is mindful to quality control. I have excluded film soundtracks, even the good ones like ‘Loving You’ and ‘King Creole,’ for a couple of reasons. In the first place, the films and their soundtracks utterly swallowed Elvis’ public image and critical reputation in a negative and destructive fashion. In the second place, there are some very good songs in the films which can stand on their own merits and can be emancipated from identification with the films to be placed in an album of good material. The negative qualities of the films can be seen, for instance, in the fate of ‘Clean up your own backyard.’ It’s a classic contemporary piece of country soul from 1969. Released in between ‘Suspicious Minds’ and ‘In the Ghetto’, it should have been as big as those chart wise. In fact, it bombed. And it bombed because of its association with Elvis’ new film, the single being used for promotion. Elvis’ films were poison by 1969, and that poison infected his career at the time and has blighted the reputation of him and his music ever since. I’m not going to discard all of the music from the films, however, since some of the songs from this source are not only Elvis classics, but classics as such. Plenty of them are also decent tunes that merit a continued listen. I have excluded ‘Golden Records,’ too, by restoring the stand-alone hits to the albums of material recorded at the same time. I have excluded Elvis’ Gospel and Christmas albums, since they are coherent in themselves. The problem here is that many people are not interested in such albums and so will ignore them. So I have taken a few tracks from these and placed them to give a flavour of Elvis’ range and roundedness as an artist. I have excluded the many live concert albums, again taking tracks from them to bolster albums, once more giving a true sense of Elvis’ rounded career. Elvis Presley was a stellar singles, album, and live artist. We can split him up and sell him in pieces, with the result that the good stuff can be surrounded by lesser material, and the non-Elvis audience can simply dip-in for a taster and then depart never to return. I have chosen to present him whole, but at his best. I have tried to be as selective as I could in order to keep albums down to between 12-16 tracks, aiming at a nice even 14. That has meant discarding some choice material, such as ‘I’m Counting on You.’ As time went on, it became difficult to do this because a lot of Elvis material is of a consistent standard, making it less easy to choose between songs. The seventies choices in particular are bloated. For instance, ‘I will be true,’ ‘It’s still here,’ and ‘I’ll take you home again Kathleen,’ are all heart-wrenchingly beautiful, but are very similar. Being selective, one track should be enough. I couldn’t separate them. I need to revisit the 1970s selections and make some tough calls.
I consider it is a hugely significant point that taking a selective approach to the Elvis catalogue has still yielded over four hundred tracks. Not all of these are of the same high standard, and contain some simple tunes and ballads that discerning critics will see as disposable. But no one did catchy and simple, sad and sentimental, better than Elvis, and such tracks are as definitive of Elvis as are the stellar hits. And my selection doesn’t, scandalously, include ‘How Great thou Art’ from 1966, a Grammy award winner if you please. I simply couldn’t make it fit.
So here are my selections, with a little rationale.
That's All Right
Blue Moon Of Kentucky
Good Rockin' Tonight
I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
Milkcow Blues Boogie
You're A Heartbreaker
Baby Let's Play House
I'm Left You're Right She's Gone
Mystery Train
I Forgot To Remember To Forget
Blue Moon
I’ll Never Let you go
Just Because
Tryin’ to get to you
Anything from Sun is treated as gold. Not merely the fans but musicologists want to hear it all. Comprehensive Sun collections are available, complete with demos, incomplete recordings, and alternatives. Although culturally and historically important, the complete collection makes for an inconsistent and tiring experience. I’ve selected the best, to distill the essence of the Sun sides. That makes for a concise and coherent fourteen tracks, a very solid and substantial document which expresses all the potential of Elvis’ original synthesis of country/blues/gospel with a distinctive pop sensibility. Critics who write of the folk roots of Elvis’ music can err on the side of a musical purism that significantly underrates the truly revolutionary quality of Elvis’ musical synthesis. Elvis was unashamedly ‘pop.’ He was aiming to aiming for wide appeal. His achievement was to forge his influences into a popular form that both excited and educated the public, bringing ‘folk’ music into the pop mainstream and making the new form available to all.
Heartbreak Hotel
I Was The One
I Got A Woman
Blue Suede Shoes
One-Sided Love Affair
Money Honey
I’m Counting on You
I Want You I Need You I Love You
My Baby Left Me
Shake Rattle And Roll
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
Any Way You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)
Love Me Tender
First in Line
Rock’n’Roll II
Rip It Up
Hound Dog
Don't Be Cruel
Love Me
When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
Long Tall Sally
Paralyzed
So Glad You're Mine
Ready Teddy
Anyplace Is Paradise
How's The World Treating You
How Do You Think I Feel
Playing for Keeps
Too Much
I’ve gone for the original division of the first RCA recordings of 1956 into two volumes. I’ve added the hit singles with which Elvis conquered America and omitted the Sun sides that were added to the original releases. Fourteen tracks.
Elvis ‘57
Mean Woman Blues
Teddy Bear
I Want To Be Free
Baby I Don't Care
Loving You
Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do
Party
All Shook Up
Jailhouse Rock
Treat Me Nice
I Need You So
Is It So Strange
That's When Your Heartaches Begin
One Night of Sin
Don't Leave Me Now
When It Rains, It Really Pours
Santa Claus is Back in Town
Blue Christmas
Young And Beautiful
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
Peace in the Valley
Take My Hand Precious Lord
Blueberry Hill
True Love
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
It Is No Secret
The whole point of exercising a high standard of quality control is to ensure that the very best material is able to punch its weight, and not have its edge blunted by decent, but lesser, material. The overall impact is reduced. The original selection here amounts to twenty six tracks, which is at least ten tracks too many. The problem lies in adding the ‘Loving You’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’ material together, both of which are packed with classics, with the added ballads and blues material linking with similar themes in both films. Then there is the gospel and Christmas material. That should stand alone, of course (and it is essential). But it links in here with the blues. Frankly, Elvis was a hugely productive artist. I could do two things here: 1) Split the material into two, with one album of film material and another of the blues and ballads, adding the gospel and Christmas tracks. Or cut ten tracks to stick to the original idea of releasing Elvis’ material from the connection with the films. Staying lean seems a good idea until you get into the problem of axing ten. Which ten? ‘That’s when your heartaches begin,’ maybe, as a bit on the maudlin side, ‘Blueberry Hill’ as a little too stiff, with little swing or lift, ‘True Love’ as earnest, but out of step with the blues theme, and – scandalously – ‘I Want to be Free,’ for no other reason that it had to be either this one or ‘Don’t Leave Me Now,’ which was on both ‘Loving You’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’ in different versions. And then the gospel and the Christmas songs, which remain to this day the biggest selling, that is, the most popular gospel EP and Christmas album in history. You see how tricky it is with Elvis.
I’m just loathe to divide because the non-film material does so wonderfully complement and enhance the film material, which itself is excellent. I would try to avoid a split between the Elvis of the Leiber and Stoller films and the rest of his output at this time. It could be done on the lines indicated above, except that it doesn’t quite capture the Elvis of 1957.
‘Loving You’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’ are both coherent and consistent in their own terms. The material from the recording sessions designed to produce stand-alone hit singles also fits. Elvis’ synthesis of blues/country/gospel/rock/pop was expanding in geometric proportion, adding older pop as he moved the music into a newer pop sensibility. There is a tendency to dismiss the music from the films, but ‘Mean Woman Blues’ became an instant rock’n’roll classic, recorded also by elite artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison. The same goes for several of the other tracks on both film soundtracks here. Then there is the brilliant ballad singing on ‘Is it so strange’ and ‘True Love,’ as well as great raw blues performances on ‘One Night of Sin’ and ‘When It Rains, It Really Pours’ and a hugely sophisticated blues performance of Ivory Joe Hunter’s ‘I Need you So.’ In all honesty, I can’t dissect and divide the material. I have excluded ‘Lonesome Cowboy,’ which is a hauntingly beautiful Western ballad. And much as I don’t think Elvis’ version of ‘Blueberry Hill’ comes within touching distance of Fats Domino or Louis Armstrong, it’s actually not half bad and fits very nicely here.
I’m very interested in the way that Elvis bridges the sacred and the profane. What on Earth is this Christmas blues about? And how can ‘Peace in the Valley’ go alongside ‘One Night of Sin’? Actually, very easily. ‘Peace in the Valley’ was written by the Reverend Thomas A. Dorsey, a holy man by day but Georgia Tom by night, a blues singer with the accent on the blue. Elvis put night and day together, the sacred and the profane. We can split things up and put them into nice, clearly defined, boxes. Hits here, films there, albums for what is left, concerts at night, gospel on Sunday, Christmas to come. With Elvis it is all one and needs to be shown as such. And the fact is that I cannot unpack this material; it makes more sense together – as it made sense to Elvis as he recorded it all together.
After giving this much thought, finding it impossible to either cut or divide, I’ve come to the conclusion that the difficulty in imposing coherence upon Elvis’ catalogue is in large part due to the fact that Elvis’ genuine multiplicity in music, in terms of his taste, his ambitions, and his abilities, transgresses all attempts at cohesion. If the volume of Elvis material is excessive, overwhelming to outsides, part of this is down to the way Elvis’ musicality exceeds simple boundaries. His musical vision is expansive and embraces multiplicities. This vast document of twenty two tracks is actually the definitive Elvis, demonstrating the extent to which he was blessed with a talent that exceeded normal parameters. By a quick calculation, the twenty two songs here amount to about forty four minutes of music. That’s a decent length, certainly by modern standards. The only problem is that the whole point of this music is to be short and punchy, these songs hit quickly for maximum impact. Too many punches dull the impact. I give up. But if you must, then remove ‘That’s when you’re Heartaches begin,’ the sublime ‘Take My Hand Precious Lord,’ the fine ‘Blueberry Hill,’ and the endearingly tender ‘True Love.’ Also the gospel and the Christmas songs. That leaves us with eighteen tracks. Remember, my aim is not to be comprehensive nor to satisfy the fans, but to present Elvis’ music in such a way as would appeal to discerning music fans. That involves some fine music having to be cut. The obvious solution, of course, is to put the Loving You/Jailhouse Rock soundtracks together on the one, with the studio, gospel and Christmas material on the other. I am loathe to do it, because I am determined to release the music from the films. Plus, the concentration of material in this way could lead to a duplication of sound, totally undercutting the sheer variety of Elvis’ scope. So I have divided the material equally to give two albums along the same lines – hits, films, blues, ballads, gospel and Christmas. In other words, rhythm and ballads, the sacred and the profane as one and the same. If you were to sum up Elvis, you couldn’t do any better.
Elvis ’57 The Holy and the Profane I
Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do
Treat Me Nice
All Shook Up
Is It So Strange
I Need You So
Mean Woman Blues
Teddy Bear
Don't Leave Me Now
When It Rains, It Really Pours
Young And Beautiful
True Love
Peace in the Valley
Blueberry Hill
It Is No Secret
Fourteen tracks, a nice size and shape.
Elvis ’57 The Holy and the Profane II
Baby I Don't Care
Jailhouse Rock
Santa Claus is Back in Town
Lonesome Cowboy
Loving You
Party
One Night of Sin
Blue Christmas
That's When Your Heartaches Begin
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
Hot Dog
I Want To Be Free
Take My Hand Precious Lord
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Fourteen tracks.
Elvis Gold ‘58
Doncha' Think It's Time
Ain’t that Lovin’ you Baby
Hard Headed Woman
King Creole
Don't
One Night
A Fool Such as I
Crawfish
I Need Your Love Tonight
A Big Hunk o’Love
Trouble
I Beg of You
Don’t Ask me Why
My Wish Came True
Danny
I Got Stung
Wear My Ring around your Neck
Tell Me Why
Ain’t that Lovin’ you Baby
As Long As I Have You
Young Dreams
Dixieland Rock
New Orleans
Your Cheatin’ Heart
All the hit singles plus the King Creole soundtrack plus ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ (unreleased at the time) makes for twenty four tracks. In defence, I can point to the fact that the soundtrack albums were of extremely short duration, hence the need to add a second side of material to ‘Loving You.’ ‘King Creole’ lasted a mere twenty one minutes. So adding the best of King Creole to the Gold records with the bonus of ‘You’re Cheatin’ Heart’ makes for another forty five minutes. I think the music would have more impact at a length of thirty five minutes, so we could lose four tracks and improve quality and impact. I’d suggest dropping, ‘Young Dreams,’ ‘New Orleans,’ ‘Dixieland Rock,’ (these being covered by the other King Creole material here) and ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart. That leaves us with eighteen tracks, which is fine. Eighteen would be possible by cutting the joyous ‘Danny’ and either of the very refined ‘My Wish Came True’ (submitted to Elvis by Ivory Joe Hunter) or ‘Tell Me Why’ (which became a hit years later in the middle of Beatlemania). You see how high Elvis’ standards are.
Elvis is Back 1960
It's Now Or Never
Fame and Fortune
Make Me Know It
Mess Of Blues
Fever
Stuck On You
Girl Of My Best Friend
I Will Be Home Again
Such A Night
Like A Baby
Soldier Boy
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Wooden Heart
I Gotta Know
Dirty, Dirty Feeling
Pocketful Of Rainbows
Thrill Of Your Love
It Feels So Right
Reconsider Baby
Doin' The Best I Can
Elvis was so good in 1960, showing his incredible stylistic range. Twenty tracks are too many. I could just about omit ‘Wooden Heart,’ despite its irresistible Germanic charms, then another one, maybe ‘Dirty Dirty Feeling’ as a Leiber and Stoller throwback that Elvis has clearly transcended. Both songs, of course, are wonderful and most other artists would have loved to have had them in their repertoire. And ‘Wooden Heart’ was a worldwide smash.
Elvis for Everybody 1961
I'm Comin' Home
Put The Blame On Me
There's Always Me
Surrender
In Your Arms
Sentimental Me
His Latest Flame
Little Sister
Starting Today
I Feel So Bad
Gently
Give Me The Right
I Want You With Me
Judy
A nice fourteen, attained by finally abandoning the film songs to stand on their own. The impossibilities of holding different aspects of Elvis’ career together have, at times, to be admitted. Adding the hit singles to the ‘Something for Everybody’ makes for a strong album. The problem with adding film material now is that the songs become much of a muchness and to that extent interchangeable. So I have created a second album of 1961 material.
Flaming Star 1961
Flaming Star
Summer Kisses, Winter Tears
Wild In The Country
Follow That Dream
Can't Help Falling In Love
Lonely Man
Angel
I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell
What A Wonderful Life
Blue Hawaii
No More
In My Way
Forget Me Never
Hawaiian Wedding Song
Fourteen songs, four hit singles, and the perennial Elvis classic ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love,’ with which Elvis would close his concerts in the 1970s. The Beatles on the way up would perform ‘Wild in the Country’ in their act, whilst Bruce Springsteen has recorded his own version of ‘Follow that Dream.’ There are big ballads, simple ballads and delicate ballads alike here, all of which Elvis could perform with aplomb. And just a couple of jolly tunes. It’s the ‘lesser’ Elvis, but shows a side of his talent which worthy of exposure.
Pot Luck 1962
Kiss Me Quick
Good Luck Charm
Anything That's Part Of You
Gonna Get Back Home Somehow
Suspicion
Steppin' Out Of Line
I Met Her Today
She's Not You
Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello
Fountain Of Love
Something Blue
Easy Question
Night Rider
I'm Yours
That's Someone You Never Forget
Fifteen tracks, sublime ballads, rhythmic materials, hits and gold records. Elvis was king of the whole wide world at this stage in history.
King of the World 1962
King Of The Whole Wide World
Return To Sender
Home Is Where The Heart Is
I Got Lucky
A Whistling Tune
One Broken Heart For Sale
They Remind Me Too Much Of You
I'm Falling in Love Tonight
I Don't Wanna Be Tied
Girls! Girls! Girls!
Where Do You Come From
We'll Be Together
Riding The Rainbow
I don’t know about ‘King of the Whole Wide World’ or ‘Riding the Rainbow’ but Elvis was a global star riding high by 1962. The music isn’t breaking ground, Elvis is consolidating and starting the process of repetition. ‘Return to Sender’ is wonderful, ‘One Broken Heart for Sale’ is … ‘Return to Return to Sender.’ The problems come when standards get diluted in being repeated until all that is left is a stale formula, with Elvis as a puppet working for the machine. This material is fine, just a notch down in quality. I can bear pleasant and innocuous given the sheer quality and range of Elvis’ voice at this stage. And ‘They Remind Me Too Much of You’ remains one of Elvis’ finest ballads. The discerning music fan will see only a couple of standouts here and pass on by. I put it here to make the point that the real secret of Elvis’ success lies in the way he could redeem the most insubstantial of material and strike a very human chord with the expressive power of his voice. Songs of joy, songs of sorrow, Elvis covered the full range of the human emotional experience, in sunshine and in shadow. And it is worth noting that the song ‘Where Do You Come From’ has been cited by Francoise Hardy as an influence on her own approach as a singer-songwriter, as exemplified most obviously on her ‘Dans le Monde Entier’ which, as ‘All Over the World’ became a smash hit in the UK in 1965. A not inconsiderable point for a keen Francoise fan such as I. The woman has good ears and judgement, identifying one of those Elvis songs frequently overlooked.
The Long Lonely Highway 1964
Long Lonely Highway
Slowly But Surely
Witchcraft
It Hurts Me
Love Me Tonight
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers
Bossa Nova Baby
Memphis Tennessee
Devil In Disguise
Please Don't Drag That String Around
Blue River
Ask Me
Western Union
What Now, What Next, Where To
You’ll Be Gone
Here, I have rescued ‘Bossa Nova Baby’ from the soundtrack and added it to the RCA ‘Lost Album’ concept. It gives the album another hit single and gold record. To cut this set down to a nice even fourteen we could lose the intriguing ‘You’ll be Gone,’ co-written by Elvis, and in keeping with his Latin tastes, but something of an anomaly in this company as a rewrite of ‘Begin the Beguine.’ Or we could maybe lose ‘Western Union’ instead as another return to ‘Return to Sender.’ Both are perfectly fine, I’m just looking for a concise statement that showcases Elvis at his best rather than drowns the man in his own excess. ‘Western Union’ fits perfectly in the context of this album. There’s no point being dogmatic about it. Fifteen is fine.
Puppet on a String 1964
C'mon Everybody
Night Life
Kissin' Cousins
Little Egypt
Tender Feeling
Puppet On A String
Viva Las Vegas
If You Think I Don't Need You
I Need Somebody To Lean On
Do Not Disturb
What'd I Say
Today, Tomorrow and Forever
Kissin’ Cousins
There’s Gold in the Mountains
Once is Enough
It’s a Wonderful World
I’ve gone for the title ‘Puppet’ to indicate the problem blighting Elvis’ career in the way he was having to grind out films and soundtracks instead of focusing on the music. There are still gems to be found, mind. ‘Viva Las Vegas’ bombed as a single when it was released but it has rightly gone down as an Elvis classic and still receives a lot of radio airplay. ‘C’mon Everybody’ is a rocker ripe for recovery. Elvis by this stage had become an exquisite ballad singer, whether simple (‘Puppet on a String’) or sophisticated (‘I Need Somebody to Lean On’) or gentle (‘Tender Feeling,’ a return to ‘Love Me Tender’ as a reworking of an old folk tune, and every bit as good). To reduce this album to twelve selections we can cut ‘There’s Gold in the Mountains,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful World,’ and the ‘Kissin’ Cousins’ opener, (not the single version). They are ephemeral, I suppose, a little transitory pleasure, which is how the films were designed. I put them here because they exemplify the nature of the Elvis soundtrack material – they are appealing and undemanding, and Elvis makes them, the slightest of songs, irresistible. Like sugar and capitalism, such material is irresistible, addictive, and bad for your health.
Tomorrow is a Long Time
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Where Could I Go But To The Lord
Down In The Alley
Run On
Frankie And Johnny
Love Letters
Beginner's Luck
Somebody Bigger Than You And I
Indescribably Blue
Fools Fall In Love
Easy Come, Easy Go
All That I Am
I'll Remember You
Stand By Me
Where No One Stands Alone
Please Don't Stop Loving Me
Come What May
There’s a lot going on here. Elvis recorded the Bob Dylan classic ‘Tomorrow is a Long Time,’ the raucous blues shouter ‘Down in the Alley’ and the ballad ‘I’ll Remember You’ at the ‘How Great Thou Art’ gospel sessions in 1966. I note that the RCA release ‘Tomorrow is a Long Time’ merged the secular tracks with the ‘Guitar Man’ material from 1967-68. I see these two sessions as distinct. I can see RCA’s reasoning in establishing the connections between folk, blues, and country. But that sounds too much like making the material comprehensible to those with more conventional tastes. As I argued earlier with respect to integrating the ‘Peace in the Valley’ EP with the blues sides of the same sessions, there is no division between the sacred and the profane in the musical persona of Elvis Presley, and I think we should take him as he is. So I’ve gone for the integration of folk, blues, and gospel here, alongside ballads, pop and rock’n’roll. I’ve blended the film songs so seamlessly in that they would be difficult to identify. I did consider dropping the ballad ‘All That I Am’ to make an even sixteen tracks, but it complements ‘I’ll Remember You’ wonderfully well.
Guitar Man 1967-68
Guitar Man
Spinout
Let Yourself Go
Too Much Monkey Business
All I Needed Was The Rain
Big Boss Man
You Don't Know Me
You'll Never Walk Alone
Stay Away
Just Call Me Lonesome
Hi-Heel Sneakers
U.S. Male
Singing Tree
We Call on Him
There’s a strong country/blues/rock theme to the material, in both the up-tempo songs and the ballads. ‘You Don’t Know Me’ is an Eddy Arnold song that Ray Charles had covered very well indeed whilst the version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ shows the influence of one of Elvis’ favourite R&B singers Roy Hamilton. Elvis would later meet Roy Hamilton at the American Sound sessions of 1969, and the material here shows that Elvis was more than ready, able, and willing to do in 1967 what he did in 1969. For ‘Just Call Me Lonesome’ here just read ‘It Keeps Right on a-Hurtin’ from ‘Elvis in Memphis’ in 1969. It’s an indication of the Elvis we could and should have had all the time. Changes were a-comin’ in Elvis’ career, and not before time.
Change of Habit 1969
If I Can Dream
Change of Habit
A Little Less Conversation
Clean up your own Backyard
Wonderful World
Sing You Children
Almost In Love
Let’s Forget about the Stars
Let’s be Friends
Almost
Charro
Edge Of Reality
Let Us Pray
Mine
Goin' Home
Memories
Elvis is Back! Well, almost back. Having launched his ‘comeback’ with the ’68 TV Special, (from which comes ‘If I Can Dream’ and it’s statement of a New World Coming in more ways than the one, and ‘Memories,’ which seems to register the eagerness to move by paying fitting tribute to the past), Elvis showed clear signs of a change of habit and direction. He was ‘goin’ home.’ His time manacled to the films was nearly at an end, the last ones making for an interesting bunch, boasting songs that have finally caught up with the times. I have always been intrigued by the song ‘Charro,’ feeling that it possessed something of an outside potential to be an unlikely smash hit. The orchestration for the song, and for the film which went by the same name, was supplied by Hugo Montenegro who, at the very same time he was working for Elvis was enjoying a number one smash with Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I always thought some of these last films and their songs showed possibilities that were missed at the time. The public were tired of Elvis films, they were of another time, as though the sixties had never happened. My eyes were always on ‘Clean Up Your own Backyard’ as an undiscovered classic. Come the 2000’s and it was ‘A Little Less Conversation’ that was rediscovered and became a global number one smash hit. It could have been any of these, ‘Change of Habit,’ ‘Edge of Reality,’ ‘Almost in Love.’ And although ‘Let’s Be Friends’ is not hit potential, it’s one of Elvis’ most endearing, and enduring, performances. There are signs of real maturity here. Admittedly, I cut ‘Have a Happy’ from the list to make for an even sixteen, although I will confess to have a soft spot for it (OK, ephemeral film song for children, I know … it’s just that it does lift the sagging spirits somewhat).
Elvis in Memphis 1969
Wearin’ that loved on look
Only the Strong Survive
Long Black Limousine
I’m Movin’ On
Stranger in my own home town
Power of my love
Suspicious Minds
Inherit the wind
Gentle on my mind
True love travels on a gravel road
Any Day Now
In the Ghetto
Kentucky Rain
You’ll think of me
And the grass won’t pay no mind
I’ll Hold you in my Heart
Don’t Cry Daddy
Without Love
The American Sound material is so strong and substantial that it strikes me as an abomination to split it into two, or split it at all. That was what was done at the time, for understandable reasons, yielding one immense album, hit singles, and a lesser album paired with a concert album. Incredibly, the ‘immense’ album lacked immense material like ‘Suspicious Minds,’ ‘Kentucky Rain,’ ‘Stranger in my own Home Town’ and others. I want the big hitters in one place joining the choice cuts of the two Memphis albums to make one emphatic statement. Yes, I could and should have two albums of twelve sides in each, keeping the original ‘Elvis in Memphis’ whilst adding ‘Suspicious Minds,’ ‘Kentucky Rain,’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ as well as ‘I’ll Be There’ and ‘If I’m a fool for loving you,’ and ‘My little friend’ to the second ‘Back in Memphis’ album in place of the lesser tracks. But I wanted all the strength of the Sound sessions in one place to make the one categorical – and canonical – statement as to what Elvis was about. Eighteen tracks, each one a powerhouse, together, Elvis redeeming every one of the immense promises made in the Sunrise days.
These are the tracks I have left out of this stellar eighteen, and which could all be added:
Who am I?
I’ll be there
If I’m a fool for loving you
My little friend
Rubberneckin
Do You Know Who I Am?
The Fair is moving on
Mama Liked the Roses
Come to think of it, add another two here and we have a nice little album. The material is too good to lose.
Since I can hear critics complaining, I shall put in place a Plan B which combines the original ‘Elvis in Memphis’ album of twelve tracks with a reworked ‘Back in Memphis.’
From Elvis in Memphis
Wearin’ that loved on look
Only the Strong Survive
I’ll Hold you in my Heart
Long Black Limousine
It keeps right on a hurtin
I’m Movin’ On
I’ll be there
My little friend
Power of my love
Gentle on my mind
After loving you
True love travels on a gravel road
Any Day Now
In the Ghetto
Two additions ‘I’ll be there’ and ‘My little friend’ to make fourteen.
Elvis Back in Memphis
Stranger in my own home town
Rubberneckin
Inherit the wind
Suspicious Minds
If I’m a fool for loving you
Kentucky Rain
Who am I?
Don’t Cry Daddy
And the grass won’t pay no mind
Do You Know who I am?
A Little Bit of Green
The Fair is moving on
You’ll think of me
Without Love
Mama Liked the Roses
Fifteen tracks with ‘This is the Story’ and ‘From a Jack to a King’ from the original ‘Back in Memphis’ set still unused. In truth, the material is so strong that it is overwhelming in large quantity, so the division into two is appropriate. That said, I do think that ‘Do You Know who I am?,’ ‘A Little Bit of Green,’ and ‘The Fair is moving on,’ although very worthy and earnest, are much of a muchness and that just one selection from these would maximize impact. Very many would cut ‘Mama Liked the Roses’ completely as over-sentimental. I think it shows a side of Elvis which is important. Many may be inclined to identify it as a fatal weakness in Elvis’ makeup. I say the sentimental side is an integral part of his makeup, defining the emotional appeal of his music. I think it is important to show that that side is very much in evidence in the critically acclaimed American Sound Sessions. It’s fifteen tracks, but that could be cut to twelve by the removal of ‘Do You Know who I am?,’ ‘A Little Bit of Green,’ and ‘Mama Liked the Roses.’
That’s the Way it is 1970
I Just Can't Help Believin' (live)
Wonder Of You (live)
How The Web Was Woven
The Next Step Is Love
I've Lost You (live)
There Goes my Everything (live)
Make the World Go Away (live)
Patch it Up
Mary In The Morning
Just Pretend (live)
I’ll Never Know
Twenty Days and Twenty Nights (live)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (live)
Let It Be Me (live)
I’ve reworked the ‘On Stage’ and ‘That’s the Way it is’ albums of 1970. I felt that the southern-fried action of the ‘On Stage’ concert material was the dominant theme of that album, with certain other recordings on there diluting their impact. ‘That’s the Way’ was characterised by mature contemporary ballads. I think the combination of live and studio actually captures what Elvis was about in this period very well, and decided to take that approach to both albums. I’ve included live recordings of songs whose studio versions went onto the original ‘That’s the Way it is’ and ‘Elvis Country.’ It makes my version of ‘That’s the Way it is’ more of a live recording than the original, but that is no bad thing. Elvis is in commanding vocal form throughout the original ‘That’s the Way it is’ but, if that album has a flaw, then it lies in the false impression it gives through the losing the power and vitality of Elvis’ live performances as well as the sheer variety of material he was tackling. The original album was without doubt a triumph, but gives the impression that the edginess of the American Sound sessions had now given way to impeccable middle of the road mature pop sophistication. Elvis’ was certainly delivering the latter in the form of a flawless balladry, but he was doing more. ‘Very classy and very clean white pop,’ John Robertson argues in The Complete Guide to the Music of Elvis Presley, ‘but a definite retrograde step for Elvis.’ Robertson states that Elvis had put country and R&B on the backburner. That view is wrong and is based on seeing Elvis’ music through the way it was packaged and released. ‘That’s the Way it is’ focused on mature pop sophistication and, as such, delivers a perfect statement. The album is clean and classy, to be sure. But it can mislead the unwary by ignoring just how rich and lively the material of 1970 actually is. So I have injected it with some of Elvis’ live performances to show how vital and diverse Elvis was here in 1970, in commanding form.
That’s the Way Southern-Fried 1970
See See Rider (live)
Proud Mary (live)
Stranger In The Crowd
I’ve Lost You
Patch It Up (live)
Polk Salad Annie (live)
Love Letters
Just Pretend
Twenty Days and Twenty Nights
Walk A Mile In My Shoes (live)
Kentucky Rain (live)
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (live)
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
Release Me (live)
Little Sister/Get Back (live)
In the Ghetto (live)
Don’t Cry Daddy (live)
Suspicious Minds (live)
Bridge Over Troubled Water
I’ve taken some of the more soulful, folky and contemporary tracks from ‘That’s the Way it is’ and ‘Love Letters from Elvis’ and intermingled them ‘That’s the Way’ style with the blue-eyed soul recordings that defined the sound of the ‘On Stage’ album (songs by Credence, Joe South, Tony Joe White). I have removed tracks from ‘On Stage’ that detracted from the sound and sounded much too cabaret and have added live performances of Elvis’ big hits from the American Sound sessions the previous year, ‘Kentucky Rain,’ ‘In the Ghetto,’ ‘Suspicious Minds,’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy,’ all of which were and remain pertinent if we remain on the trail of the definitive Elvis. Forget the rock’n’roll medleys of his hits that he would throwaway in the seventies concerts, this is where Elvis is at. OK, at nineteen tracks, this is a weighty document, but I think it makes the point emphatically as to what Elvis was actually about. But those who want it leaner could just remove the live performances of the American Sound tracks, so long as they remember that Elvis did indeed perform them as he moved effortlessly into his new musical persona. Either of the two ‘That’s the Way’ sets I have put together here would testify to the immense musical achievement of Elvis Presley in 1970. The amazing fact is that Elvis was so prolific at this time that there is material left for another substantial album for 1970 (and even then there is material left over, good enough for single releases in 1971, remarkable).
Elvis Country 1970
Snowbird
When I'm Over You
Tomorrow Never Comes
Little Cabin On The Hill
I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
Faded Love
Funny How Time Slips Away
I Really Don't Want To Know
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
The Fool
There Goes My Everything
If I Were You
It's Your Baby, You Rock It
It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)
I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago
Make The World Go Away
Got My Mojo Working - Keep Your Hands Off Of It
The original ‘Elvis Country’ works well, with nothing out of place and nothing needing to be cut. Rather than cut material from that album, I have decided to add the full version of ‘I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago’ to it. Excerpts from this track linked the songs on the original, it makes senses to add the song, since its omission was always a needless irritation. I’ve also added tracks from ‘Love Letters’ which have a far greater claim to be country than many of the tracks on the original ‘Elvis Country.’ ‘When I'm Over You’ picks up seamlessly after ‘Snowbird,’ whilst the wonderful ‘If I Were You’ is an understated country classic from Elvis. In similarly understated manner is ‘It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing),’ Elvis in relaxed and easy form. With Elvis rocking it out with ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ on the original, there’s no reason not to conclude the set with the equally frenetic rocking take of the R&B classic ‘Got My Mojo Working - Keep Your Hands Off Of It.’ I grew up on this kind of stuff, he said in the jam that generated this. And that’s true Elvis Country, the country gospel blues, the combination of the holy and the profane. Those who think Elvis departed from his original Sun synthesis are wrong, he was doing a variation of the same thing his entire career, and he was merging it with pop from the first.
To those who consider seventeen tracks excessive I would simply point out that I am being selective, that many tracks have been cut, and that Elvis recorded all of this material in the one year. I am merely attempting to blend the material and ensure that the tracks complement one another and enhance the overall sound and feel. And to think we are still debating as to whether Elvis was actually any good … The only question that concerns me is just how good Elvis was. The evidence is that he was pretty good.
Elvis Now 1971
We Can Make The Morning
Early Mornin' Rain
It's Only Love
I’m Leavin’
Sound Of Your Cry
I'll Be Home On Christmas Day
Help Me Make It Through The Night
Until It's Time For You To Go
A Thing Called Love
Rags To Riches
Where Did They Go Lord
Put Your Hand In The Hand
Lead Me, Guide Me
Amazing Grace
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Heart Of Rome
Merry Christmas Baby
Only Believe
If I Get Home On Christmas Day
Life
And now we have trouble. Twenty tracks, which is six over the fourteen I have been aiming for throughout. Some of these are long songs too of three to four minutes, leading to album that is far too long and too sprawling. But I can’t help the fact that Elvis is just so multiple in his music identity. Over the years I have heard critic after critic all making claims as to what Elvis should and shouldn’t have been doing with his music. Elvis is also criticised for being far too conservative and uncreative in his material. He seems very varied to me, and the definitive Elvis is to be identified with a multiplicity of music rather than any one style or genre. The problem is that critics tend to pick their own favourite musical style to fit their own view as to what constitutes good musical taste; they see that Elvis had a gift for that one style and proceed to demand that he come to focus in that specialism. To such critics, I would simply cite the example of Sam Phillips, the record producer who is claimed to have discovered Elvis at Sun. Elvis liked ballads, Phillips didn’t. Phillips didn’t care for Elvis’ rendition of ‘Blue Moon,’ didn’t release it and sold it on to RCA as part of a job-lot with Elvis’ contract. Elvis’ version of ‘Blue Moon’ is eerie, uncanny, and classic, as definitely Elvis as anything. Sam Phillips couldn’t see it and couldn’t hear it. The fact is that Elvis’ musical vision embraced multiplicities and, in so doing, far, far exceeded the vision and taste of others. And I mean something else too. It wasn’t just about delivering impeccable renditions of songs from across the different genres, it was also about communicating, touching the human roots of music as an emotional experience. Elvis was plainly unconcerned about exhibiting impeccably good taste in music, earning the acclaim and respect of music critics. Critics can describe Elvis as tasteless as a result. Elvis was not tasteless. In fact, he had a rich and varied appreciation of music. When Elvis entered Sun as a teenager to make a demo acetate of ‘My Happiness’ and ‘That’s When your Heartaches Begin’ for a fee of $3.25 he was met by the Sun secretary Marion Keisker. "What kind of singer are you?" she asked him. "I sing all kinds," he replied. Searching for a little more clarity, she asked a further question, "Who do you sound like?" "I don't sound like nobody," was Elvis’ reply. Keisker was working as Sam Phillips’ assistant at the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records. She was the one who first heard and recorded Elvis, and spotted his potential. “Call this kid Elvis,” she told Phillips, “I’m telling you, Sam, he’s got something.”
Elvis was his own man and every man. And woman. He reached all folk, all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of music. Forget the title of ‘King,’ Elvis’ musical spirit was innately democratic. Elvis made his first impact as a singer singing ‘Old Shep,’ a sentimental old country song about a boy and his dog. That’s not a song that artists of any repute will regard as high quality material, but its material that resonates with ‘ordinary’ folk. Elvis had fine musical taste when it came to songs, and he had the vocal ability to tackle the most demanding of material (‘I’m Leavin’, ‘The Impossible Dream,’ ‘Where No One Stands Alone,’ ‘What Now My Love,’ ‘Kentucky Rain,’ lots and lots of examples) but he could sing the most ‘popular’ of songs with a sincerity that people of musical taste and refinement would consider alarming. And that democratic spirit on Elvis’ part gives him the clear edge in my book.
My point is that Elvis embraced and expressed a genuine and seemingly infinite multiplicity in music. I have throughout been attempting to bring consistency and coherence to the Elvis catalogue, seeking desperately to avoid excess. I think I have by and large succeeded, and that these oversized albums are actually perfectly scaled to the size of Elvis’ talent and musical achievement. That’s the true measure of the man as an artist. I simply can’t reduce these lists without doing severe damage to the coherence of the music. Elvis delivered quality in quantity, and brought coherence to a range of styles.
In this for 1971 list we have contemporary rhythmic ballads, folk music and folk-inflected ballads, big dramatic songs, sad melancholic songs, modern gospel, country gospel, powerhouse vocal performances, Christmas blues, message songs. And I’ve excluded the sacred songs from the Grammy winning ‘He Touched Me’ and the Christmas carols off he did the same year (demonstrating a high level of vocal sophistication on material boasting some very complicated arrangements). I can’t split the material up and put it into neat little boxes. It really is coherent in this form, once we scale up our musical prejudices to encompass the breadth and depths of Elvis’ vision.
But since this album lasts over one hour, and since the whole point of this exercise is to render Elvis’ bloated catalogue digestible to I think I should at least make the effort to cut it down. We could drop the religious theme, thereby cutting out the emotional soul of Elvis’ muse. The invitation to the religious dimension came from ‘Put Your Hand in the Hand’ on the original ‘Elvis Now.’ It does fit and it does make sense, so long as you have the vision to see what Elvis saw – that all the different kinds of music are interwoven to make for a rounded emotional experience). ‘Lead Me, Guide Me’ and ‘Amazing Grace’ are two of his best performances of the 1970s, but there it is – if you want to cut Elvis down to a size that limited musical visions can cope with, then they have to go. Whatever remains will not be Elvis in his true scope, though. I’d be sad to lose the heart-warming Christmas song ‘If I Get Home On Christmas Day,’ too. And then there is the single, the big-voiced ‘Heart of Rome,’ which I have here in keeping with the ‘Rags to Riches’ dramatics, and the well-intended ‘Life,’ a message song from Elvis that failed to make the big impression that was intended for it. I say hear it all together as one, as Elvis did.
Fool 1972
Burning Love
Never Been To Spain (live 1972)
Polk Salad Annie (live 1972)
Separate Ways
Fool
Where Do I Go from Here
It's Over (live 1972)
You Gave Me A Mountain (live 1972)
Always On My Mind
It's A Matter of Time
It's Impossible (live 1972)
Steamroller Blues (live 1972)
(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me
Love Me, Love The Life I Lead
I Will Be True
American Trilogy (live 1972)
The Impossible Dream (live 1972)
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (live 1973)
For the Good Times
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
It's Still Here
I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
Welcome to my World (live 1973)
I Can't Stop Loving You (live 1972)
What now my love (live 1973)
I'll Remember You (live 1973)
My Way
Twenty seven tracks is too much. It’s not too much for me. But it does somewhat defeat the whole object of presenting the vast output of Elvis Presley in comprehensible form. The approach I take here is to combine the rather lacklustre ‘Fool’ album of 1972 which somewhat diminished Elvis’ star with the stellar hit records and the equally stellar live performances that had Elvis’ reputation soaring high. The hits along with the Madison Square Gardens and Hawaii vis satellite live concerts had Elvis as a global colossus astride the planet. These were all separated at the time, of course, but it effectively leaves areas of Elvis’ music either falling into neglect or being unfairly dismissed or criticised. I can’t bring this material to order. This is how it really was with Elvis – an immense vision and talent spread across the dimensions, something that can only very inadequately be expressed in conventional musical categories, and which is positively poisoned, perverted and destroyed through commerce. That’s the real criticism of the 1971 sessions – the clear evidence that the music was being subordinated to marketing in the attempt to cover all commercial bases. Elvis sounds disinterested in too many places on the studio album ‘Fool,’ on the Christmas album – recorded in the heat of summer – and even on the gospel album. He was being relentlessly overworked for commercial reasons, as if the amazing output of 1969 and 1970 had been established as an industry norm that he was expected to reach on a yearly basis. Once more, management and marketing had kicked in and Elvis’ great creative burst was being perverted and destroyed in being bent to commerce. But when he is interested in these sessions, he is inspired, and the range of his multiplicity in music does come out. That leaves us with the huge problem – we can spread the inspired tracks across three fairly uninspired albums, as happened at the time, or concentrate them on the huge one, as I have done. Elvis punches his ample weight on my selection.
To render the material digestible we could just split it into two, studio recordings on one side, live recordings on the other, fourteen on each side. Problem solved, then? I just find that somewhat dissatisfying, in that there is a danger of concentrating material together that is of the same kind, losing variety and vitality. For instance, ‘Always on my Mind’ and ‘Separate Ways’ are both high quality ballads that belong in any list of Elvis’ best. But they are very similar. The same with respect to Elvis’ stripped down and beautifully bare renditions of the Ivory Joe Hunter songs ‘It’s Still Here’ and ‘I Will be True,’ and I’d throw ‘I’ll take you home again Kathleen’ here too. That’s five tracks and a hence nearly half an album of roughly the same kind of thing. Same with ‘Fool’ and ‘My Way.’ This is all good material, it’s just we need to break it up with other kinds of songs or a different approach. Hence my preference to inject the studio material with Elvis as a live performer. I shall concede that twenty seven tracks are too many, and so, adapting an idea from Solomon, I shall cut the material in half to deliver two albums that allow the music to punch its true weight. I think the approach is legitimate since it is well-nigh impossible to pick a best fourteen from the twenty eight – the material is of a consistent standard.
By common consent, the original ‘Fool’ album was dull. The problem was not that individual songs lacked merit but that, together, the effect was depressing. RCA’s intention at the time had been to fill the album with the Hawaiian songs taped after the Aloha from Hawaii concert in January 1973 as well as with what they titled ‘A Blues Jam,’ namely ‘Reconsider Baby’ from the Madison Square Garden show from June 1972. It didn’t happen, with RCA raiding the vaults for the leftovers from 1971 and including the three tracks of Elvis alone at the piano. The ‘Fool’ album didn’t work and didn’t allow the material contained on it to reveal its true qualities. The addition of the hit singles would certainly serve to lift the mood considerably – we are talking about heavyweight Elvis classics like ‘Always on my Mind, ‘Separate Ways,’ ‘Burning Love,’ and ‘An American Trilogy’ here, material of some real substance. But RCA’s idea, born of desperation, can be developed in a more ambitious way. So here is what I have done, then. Rather than add substantial material in an attempt to rescue a lost situation, I have retained the tracks from the ‘Fool’ album and broken them up with live material, dividing the material between two albums, interjecting material from the record-breaking Madison Square Garden and Hawaii concerts.
Here’s how I cut it, then:
Fool 1972
Burning Love
Never Been To Spain (live 72)
Steamroller Blues (live 73)
Separate Ways
It's Over (live 72)
Where Do I Go from Here
You Gave Me A Mountain (72)
It's A Matter of Time
Fool
I Will Be True
American Trilogy (live 72)
Welcome to my World (live 73)
I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
I'll Remember You (live 73)
Always on my Mind 1972
Always On My Mind
Polk Salad Annie (live 72)
(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me
I Can't Stop Loving You (live 72)
The Impossible Dream (live 72)
It's Impossible (live 72)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
What now my love (live 73)
For the Good Times
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (live 73)
Reconsider Baby (live 72)
Love Me, Love The Life I Lead
An American Trilogy (73)
It's Still Here
My Way
Good Times
Promised Land
Raised On Rock
Loving Arms
I Got A Feelin' In My Body
If That Isn't Love
I've Got A Thing About You Baby
I Miss You
For Ol' Times Sake
My Boy
If You Talk In Your Sleep
It's Midnight
Talk About The Good Times
Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues
You Asked Me To
Elvis did two sessions at Stax studios, the home of Memphis soul, in 1973. The first was something of a damp squib, with Elvis disinterested and disengaged. That resulted in a fairly dull album. The second session was much better and produced sufficient material for two albums. Both albums bombed, however. Which is a shame, because the material here amounts to a mature update of the country/blues/gospel sound of Sun and American Sound. There is sufficient material for one strong album containing the choice cuts, which is what I present above, and another album of material that, in places, veers into country easy listening, which is what I present below.
Stax Country Soul
Are You Sincere
For Ol' Times Sake
Find Out What's Happening
If You Don't Come Back
Just A Little Bit
Take Good Care Of Her
Girl Of Mine
Spanish Eyes
She Wears My Ring
There's A Honky Tonk Angel (Who Will Take Me Back In)
Help Me
Mr Songman
Love Song Of The Year
Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming
Thinking About You
The album has the rhythm and country/blues/gospel theme of the above, but adds the more middle of the road tracks from the worlds of country and easy listening. It’s a lesser version of the first offering, one that will be appreciated more by the fans.
Elvis Today
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
And I Love You So
Susan When She Tried
Woman Without Love
Shake A Hand
Why Me Lord? (live)
How Great Thou Art (live)
Pieces Of My Life
Fairytale
I Can Help
Let Me Be there (live)
My Baby Left me (live)
Bringin' It Back
Green, Green Grass Of Home
The Twelfth of Never
To the original ‘Elvis Today’ I have added live performances from the Memphis concert recording of 1974, including the show-stopping ‘Why Me Lord?’ and ‘How Great Thou Art,’ for which Elvis receiving the Grammy for best gospel performance. I have also added the version of ‘The Twelfth of Never’ which is a recording of Elvis in rehearsal in 1974 and simply the best version of that song ever bar none.
From Elvis Presley Boulevard
Hurt
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
The Last Farewell
For The Heart
Danny Boy
Love Coming Down
Solitaire
Way Down
Pledging My Love
Moody Blue
She Thinks I Still Care
It's Easy For You
He'll Have To Go
Unchained Melody
How Great Thou Art
The very last Elvis album ‘Moody Blue’ was a desperately sad affair. Elvis was so ill by this stage he would not leave his home in Graceland to record. Greedy for product, RCA just sent the mobile recording unit to Graceland to record anything Elvis was fit enough or interested enough to put down. The album ‘From Elvis Presley Boulevard’ in 1976 was full of songs telling anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear that it was all over and things weren’t going any further. ‘Moody Blue’ was padded with some dire and desperate material. It’s cheap and tawdry nature said everything about the way RCA had approached the music of Elvis Presley, so it was fitting and appropriate in that sense. But it was an insult to the memory of the man. It was testimony to Elvis’ ability that even this album contained some fine performances. I have selected these alongside the strength of the ‘Boulevard’ material, removing many of the ‘never again’ songs – you would have to be terminally deaf and soulless not to have got the message that Elvis was labouring by this stage of his life.
I’ve included ‘The Last Farewell.’ It’s a controversial choice. The song was well known in England as performed by its writer Roger Whittaker, a middle of the road family entertainer. The song was a staple of easy listening radio. It’s not a song anyone would have expected a rock’n’roll artist, or any kind of artist, to go anywhere near. Least of all an American artist, given the strong theme of English nostalgia, English eyes getting all misty at the sight of the English mist and all that. It was a song about an English soldier in the nineteenth century sailing home to England. Elvis played the song to one and all, and played it repeatedly, often twenty times in a row, but no one was persuaded. In fact they remained tone deaf to its charms. No one but Elvis saw the merits of ‘The Last Farewell,’ ‘I kind of like the song’ he would tell those who remained at a loss to understand the song’s appeal (which seemed to be everyone). So let’s go with the general consensus here and agree that the song is awful, saccharine, telling a story of no obvious relevance to anything, least of all rock music and America.
I don’t actually think there’s a mystery here at all, and the fact that there is should tell you just how alone Elvis was. It all seems very simple to me. ‘I just kind of like that song’ was all he could say to those who continued to shake their heads whenever he played the song to them. I think somewhere in Elvis’ mind, England turned into America, or merely stood for the whole world that Elvis bestrode as the ‘king.’ And he was contemplating the end of all things, including his own. Just check the songs and the song titles on the original ‘Boulevard’ album, which read like a cry for help that Elvis knew would not come, and deep down knew also that he would refuse in any case – he couldn’t help himself, was beyond reach and beyond help. He was saying farewell. There are lines in the song that stand out clearly:
I have no fear of death, it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell.
The end was coming in many ways. The book Elvis: What Happened was shortly to be published, making public the extent of Elvis’ drug addiction as well as other things. Not only was ‘the King’ not a deity after all, his life was surrounded with many sordid details that didn’t just cut the man down to size, but utterly reduced him to someone who was helpless as a human being. We now know the details of how incapable Elvis was. This end was going to be bitter, and Elvis seemed worried most of all that he would come to lose the respect, and most of all the love, of his adoring public. The clash between the larger-than-life public image and the sordid reality was so stark, so extreme, that the shock waves would reverberate for decades. And I’ll admit that I turned on Elvis too throughout the 1980s. One revelation followed another, each a hammer blow that shattered whatever remained of Elvis’ iconic status. At the same time, Elvis’ reputation got caught up in the vicious politics of the era, as the Reagan government started to roll back the civil rights and the social agenda of the 60s and 70s. Black America suffered, and Elvis was targeted as the grand larcenist, someone who had enriched himself and gorged his non-talent on black music. The farewell to Elvis could not have been more bitter.
Whenever Elvis identified with a song, he did so with full emotional involvement. He did so here with ‘The Last Farewell,’ investing particular words with an express personal meaning and significance. You’ll just have to trust me on this. I’ve been listening to Elvis my entire life, all of it. It is obvious when he is involved in a lyric, and it is should be possible to work out why. Elvis seemed to understand clearly how bitter this last farewell would be, with his weaknesses and failures about to be laid bare for all the world to see. Whether this was a farewell to an image, a reputation, a career, or to a life, we can only speculate. We know for certain that in his seventies concerts Elvis would frequently thank his audience for being ‘beautiful.’ In this review of Elvis’ triumphant return to live performance in 1969, Elvis is quoted as saying this: “You’ve been a beautiful audience, ladies and gentlemen, you’ve made it all worthwhile.” (Elvis Lights Up Las Vegas). He said the same thing at Madison Square Garden, evening show. I could multiply examples.
In ‘The Last Farewell’ he sings:
Though death and darkness gather all about me
I have no fear of death, it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell
For you are beautiful
And I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
People didn’t understand what the song’s appeal was, and Elvis couldn’t tell them. So he sang his songs, and that’s where he got through.
So I have included this awful song that absolutely no-one has a good word for. I’m not offering it as a great Elvis song. The version that was released buries Elvis under layers of strings, melodramatic percussion, and backing vocals, mistaking the lack of power in Elvis’ broken voice as a weakness to be hidden. I like the pure Elvis sound and recommend finding the stripped down version which focuses on Elvis’ unadorned vocal. It’s still not a great song. But it is a song that expresses perfectly the strange quality of Elvis Presley’s musicality. Remember that the first impact that Elvis made as a singer wasn’t singing blues or rock’n’roll or anything else he came to be celebrated for, it was for singing ‘Old Shep,’ a sad sack of a country song about a boy having to say goodbye to his dying dog. It’s a song we love to pour scorn on and ridicule and makes jokes about. Elvis never did. In fact he sang it over and again at school and later, as the budding king of rock’n’roll. Weird isn’t it? He seems never to have put down anyone’s music or any form of music, and seemed able to appreciate all kinds. And he had a genuine popular touch. He would put his name and his talent to material that many would judge to be considerably below an artist of his, and of any, calibre. Sometimes he did so for reasons of ‘business.’ Many fans are quick to excuse the bad Elvis songs in this way. His more perceptive critics make the point that Elvis himself often chose to record inferior material, and did so, they conclude, on account of his own poor taste. To them, he was a fairly talented singer who lacked the artistic sensibility required to develop and hone that talent, whatever its extent. And, as if to confirm the judgement of his critics, it is true that Elvis chose to sing ‘The Last Farewell,’ a song so appalling that only the truly tasteless would not merely sing it, but invest the performance with real emotional significance. Elvis brought a heart-felt commitment to the song, at a time when he was having to be dragged to record anything. So the critics are right and Elvis was tasteless? Or maybe Elvis was seeing something others were not seeing, just as he saw something in ‘Blue Moon’ that Sam Phillips, a musical visionary himself, couldn’t see.
We can debate the reasons for why Elvis stood out so much as he did as a singer. It wasn’t the technical ability, although he was a far more accomplished singer than critics were ever prepared to give him credit for, boasting a remarkable range. Listen to his gospel recordings alone and you will hear clear diction and intonation. Critics refer to him as slurring. Actually, his phrasing is perfect. When he needs to ‘slur’ – it is called gospel melisma, by the way – he can do it. But he can be formal too. But singers with impressive technical abilities are many. Elvis wasn’t a singer who impressed you, but a singer who moved you. And he could do it on the most unpromising of material, material so poor that no artist of any repute would go near it. Elvis’ ability was also his tragedy in that he had the ability to redeem the irredeemable, which is how those lousy film soundtracks took over his career. But that ability also reveals the secret of Elvis’ appeal. I’ve been searching for the definitive Elvis throughout, taking a selective approach to the material. With ‘The Last Farewell’ I have found the definitive Elvis. The song is not good, Elvis is not in good voice, the arrangements crush everything beneath their weight – and yet I’m sat here listening to it over and again, hypnotised by the refrain. Because it is, actually, very moving. I have read that you can judge the measure of the best generals not by their victories but in their defeats. Elvis was in retreat on all fronts towards the end. But here, on what is very unpromising material, he still manages to stir the soul.
In the end we may consider that music is sufficient reason, an end in itself and something that should never to be reduced to being a mere means to fame and fortune, feeding the ego instead of nourishing the soul. With someone blessed with as much musical talent as Elvis was, and who possessed such an ability to communicate with and appeal to so many to boot, the pathos of means and ends invited an egoism so overscale as to foster delusions of royalty and even divinity. That inflation of the image not only suffocated Elvis’ own personality within its hard shell it represented a betrayal of the innately democratic spirit of Elvis’ musicality. The potential for the corruption of Elvis’ musical abilities, and for the ultimate destruction of the man himself, given the extent to which his very identity was bound up with the music, was present in the very conscious and very deliberate rock and pop intent and ambition at the very start. Rock’n’roll was all about a Faustian pact between music and commerce. ‘Do you believe in rock and roll, can music save your mortal soul?’ asked Don McLean in American Pie. Elvis drew his emotional charge from gospel. He would appreciate the notion of music as possessing redemptive qualities. But note how he praises gospel music in this sense. He seems to have regarded rock as fun, a fad, entertainment. He entered Sun studios as a teenager singing ballads and his preference for ballads became evident in the 1970s. He makes for a very odd ‘King of Rock’n’Roll.’ That title doesn’t do Elvis any favours, casting the many sides of his musical identity into neglect. And rock’n’roll didn’t do him any favours either. ‘Maybe one day your name will be in lights …’ That was the rock’n’roll promise that Chuck Berry wrote of in Johnny B Goode, the attraction of fame and fortune that drew them all in. And there, purists with little time for those who sacrifice art for commerce, music for money, lies the inevitable corruption and demise. So Elvis had it coming? Before drawing a harsh moral concerning corruption, I’d just ask people to bear in mind the backgrounds of these pioneer rock and roll stars. I once heard Elvis’ first guitarist Scotty Moore being interviewed. It was the occasion of his tour of the UK, must have been 1999, when I saw him at the Neptune Theatre in Liverpool. British guitarist and early rock’n’roll star Joe Brown was asking Scotty Moore about his guitar style, how he got this sound or that sound, what pick he used and so on. Scotty Moore seemed non-plussed to find an answer. “All I know is that I was trying to stay out of the cotton patch.” Before giving us lectures on art, just remember the poverty and obscurity that Elvis rose from, and the meagre options in front of him outside of making a living banging his guitar as best he could. On balance, I think he did rather well.
I’ve been overworking lately, spending far too much time than is healthy reading and writing on heavy philosophical and sociological questions concerning meaning, morality, and modernity. I’ve written 200,000 words in three months on Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, the loss of the political and ethical commons as well as the physical commons. It brought me down with chest pains and nausea and had me on the brink of calling for an ambulance. I survived. I decided to take some time out and revisit my memories of Elvis. I dug out my old vinyl collection. I can remember buying these or receiving them as gifts. Elvis’ 40 Greatest Hits was my big present for Christmas 1974. Most of all, I remember loving the music. Fond memories of Elvis. I’ve been playing his music constantly. Those people who say Elvis was once great and then suffered a long decline before falling in the seventies are just plain lazy, or suffer from appreciating just one particular type of music. There’s good music to be had of all kinds from all periods in Elvis’ career. He’s never failed me. But in trying to present his music in such a way that non-fans could come to appreciate its quality, I came to realize just how great he truly was. I’m listening to songs I’ve always known in new light as they reveal new qualities.
He’s been good for the health this past week as Elvis, as he has been my entire life. And now, as I put the finishing touches to my guide to Elvis’ music, I read that Elvis is to be honoured by President Donald Trump with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honour. A statement from the Whitehouse reads:
"Elvis Presley defined American culture to billions of adoring fans around the world. Elvis fused gospel, country, and rhythm and blues to create a sound all his own, selling more than a billion records. Elvis also served nearly 2 years in the United States Army, humbly accepting the call to serve despite his fame. He later starred in 31 films, drew record-breaking audiences to his shows, sent television ratings soaring, and earned 14 GRAMMY Award nominations. He ultimately won 3 GRAMMY Awards for his gospel music. Elvis Presley remains an enduring American icon 4 decades after his death."
Elvis Presley to Be Honored With Trump's Presidential Medal of Freedom
Two years ago Barack Obama awarded the medal to Bruce Springsteen among others. Ask Springsteen about Elvis and he’ll tell you who his inspiration was all those years ago. I can speculate as to why Elvis, truly a man of the people, always seems to be overlooked when it comes to receiving the recognition he deserves as a liberator and integrator. He’s pop, he’s commerce, he’s a sellout, he’s vulgar, he’s racist, he’s a cultural appropriator, he’s .. what I say he is, a liberator and an integrator, and he boasts mass appeal. There’s something about his populism that some sneer at and look down upon. I don’t. And neither, it seems, does Donald Trump. Elvis deserves recognition for his achievement. I’ll put it concisely, in blending country, blues, and gospel and in investing them with a pop sensibility, Elvis Presley forged a new form of popular music that was without ethnic and cultural implication, making it available to one and all across the world, open the doors to those outside of ‘folk’ boundaries to try the sounds out for size and inviting them to make their own creative contributions. The days of segregation were over.
Elvis is only the third musician to receive the honour posthumously, following bandleader Meredith Willson and jazz great Count Basie during the Reagan administration. The entertainment industry doesn’t like Donald Trump much. But tonight I salute the President.