Moody Blue - Elvis Presley > Reviews > Way Down - on anyone's list of good records

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Completely unoriginal
Lyrics	Mediocre
Quality and consistency of tracks	Consistently bad
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Unmemorable
Value for Money

Advantages:	Way Down
Disadvantages:	all of the rest

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Let's get one thing straight. I love Elvis, particularly the records from 1968-1973.

My first Elvis review on Ciao. How do you go about it? Do you rate the music, or the man? If an album must constitute a snapshot of any artist at a particular stage of their career, then by October 1976, when the bulk of this album was recorded, Elvis must have been at rock bottom both personally and artistically. Therefore I think that satifies both criteria.

This is an awful album. The world's greatest and best-loved entertainer reduced to the level of churning out instantly forgettable country & western pap.

Factor in that there is a good backing band simply going through the motions, add four hapless live cover versions to the mix, and you have this album. Just about the only good thing I can think of, other than the hit Way Down, is that it's barely 35 minutes long.

The first four tracks are the live versions. Elvis does his version of "Unchained Melody", thankfully just over two minutes. "If You Love Me Let Me Go", a pleasant enough little tune, is followed by "Little Darling", an abortion of a cover of the 1957 Diamonds hit single, here turned into the sound of indifference. " Let Me Be There " completes a stanza of utterly pointless drivel, masquerading as The Elvis Live Show.

If you still have the will to live by now, we turn to the studio set, which is barely better. I mean how many times do you want me to say this is abysmal, hideous, dross? The jewel in this pile of unlistenable crap is "Way Down", a genuinely good single, a good old boogie with low low low vocals, deservedly his last No 1, well it was before some Dutch DJ came along anyway.

Still if you must carry on, we have He'll Have To Go, Pledging My Love, Moody Blue (another single from the album), and She Thinks I Still Care, all hideous country and western tunes with Elvis singing like he is reading the lyrics from a phone book . The last track, It's Easy For You, is a little better. But only a little.

If you must buy a late-period Elvis album, go for "From Memphis To Vegas" or "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee"; both have much better songs and more importantly, better singing. Avoid this album like the plague.