From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee - Elvis Presley

...the blockbuster 1969 release of From Elvis In Memphis, although he could still "pack em in" for the live shows.

By now The King could not even be bothered to turn up for recording sessions. Two new albums were needed for 1976 though, so therefore it was decided that the studio should be put into Gracelands itself, a somewhat unusual arrangement to say the least. Even then Elvis didn't always show up on time for the cuts. ...
...pain going into the songs from the man.

A truly towering vocal on the old Roy Hamilton standard "Hurt" kicks this album off. A musically simple A-G-C line runs underneath an impossibly melodramatic Elvis performance.

"Never Again", written by Jerry Chesnut, continues in much the same vein. "I hope, I never ever love, anyone this much again", sings The King as events move on from a stately ... more

I'm sure you are all aware of the state of Elvis by the mid 1970s. The fried peanut butter sandwiches, on the spot purchases of Cadillacs and thousand dollar jewellery, not to mention Priscilla leaving him.....all well documented, and especially in that extremely readable book by his aides Red West and Dave Hebler (Elvis; What Happened?) His recording output had fallen away in both quality and quantity since the blockbuster 1969 release of From Elvis In Memphis, although he could still "pack em in" for the live shows.

By now The King could not even be bothered to turn up for recording sessions. Two new albums were needed for 1976 though, so therefore it was decided that the studio should be put into Gracelands itself, a somewhat unusual arrangement to say the least. Even then Elvis didn't always show up on time for the cuts. Red West wrote in the above book that he filled in on the mike for more than one of the tracks on this album, leaving Elvis to lay on the vocal at a later date!! Though his honey-sweet vocals were gone by now, on this album for the most part The King draws on sheer emotion to see him through. He sings with a world weariness; the sound of a man who knows, the hurt, the joy, yet ultimately the pain. This is as fine an album as the man ever recorded, ironically probably not as he intended.

Does all this make you think this is a terrible album? By rights it should be, but even at this late stage and under the conditions Elvis still puts down a memorable performance and this is a wonderful album, full of great songs, expertly played as ever, with real feeling and pain going into the songs from the man.

A truly towering vocal on the old Roy Hamilton standard "Hurt" kicks this album off. A musically simple A-G-C line runs underneath an impossibly melodramatic Elvis performance.

"Never Again", written by Jerry Chesnut, continues in much the same vein. "I hope, I never ever love, anyone this much again", sings The King as events move on from a stately start to their skyscraper-size conclusion.

One of the very best late-period Elvis numbers "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain", a song made famous by Willie Nelson, really opens this album up for me. It's a mid-paced song with wistful lyrics. "When we kissed goodbye and parted, I knew we'd never meet again", sings Elvis and this was the song he played alone at the piano on that fateful day 16 August 1977. The unoffical Irish national anthem "Danny Boy" follows, with Elvis giving a simple rendering to this famous song over a simple piano and vocal accompaniment from his backing singers.

That old crusty Roger Whittaker had a hit in the UK in 1975 with "The Last Farewell", and Elvis brilliantly does his thing to this here. He goes way down low on the bit "and should I return safe home again, to England", very poignant considering he never got to come here, apart from a few minutes on that military plane of course. A simple, gorgeous and heartfelt tune.

The band get funky with the great "For The Heart", a song written by Dennis Linde. A nice bouncy feel-good number it is too. "Had a dream, about you baby, had a dream about me and you", goes the lyric, and you just know what The King has on his mind, and he's gonna get it too!

Things take a reverse turn with the sad "Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall" though. This is a slow minor key number with the backing singers, in the same style as the earlier Elvis hit "There Goes My Everything". With a line like "she told me lies, and she caught a train, and I caught a fever, walking home in the rain!!" it's one of those Country sort of tracks, very black humour and a play on words.

"Solitaire" the only game in town, the Neil Sedaka hit, is done here in the style of another towering Elvis vocal looking down on the proceedings. Legend has it that this one song took NINE hours to put to tape as Elvis frequently disappeared into the night dressed in his cop's uniform! Another losing game comes to an end.

Jerry Chesnut also wrote "Love Coming Down", and this is just a wonderful, meandering love song, with Elvis telling the tale of a man so busy going up in the world, he couldn't see love going down. The bit where he sings "can't you see how everything I've learned would just be wasted, if you leeeeaaave me" is enough to bring a tear to your eye. Things are wrapped up perfectly with "I'll Never Fall In Love", a song that was a hit for Mr Tom Jones himself in 1967. Elvis takes the tune and makes it his for the coda, with an impassioned performance.

This was Elvis' penultimate album and one of his very, very best. A colossal performance from the greatest entertainer in the history of popular music. (I think you can gather I rather like this album!!)

Easily picked up on Amazon for £10.99, but used copies are cheaper. You pay the money and take your choice. 

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