Happy to receive the Elvis Presley ‘From Elvis In Memphis’ album ahead of release, I made sure to make the first listening of the 2 discs an event worthy of the King.
I invited my listening companion out to the back garden, as the warm afternoon sun was just setting. We poured our drinks and sat back for an evening of classic music.
The tracklisting is conveniently on the back of the discs, however, I decided to refrain from studying the upcoming songs and instead, enjoyed the anticipation of what was to come, with each song.
I’m not the most educated of Elvis fans, which makes this album a treat – I was getting turned on to “new” Elvis songs that I hadn’t heard before, which I would have thought would be a task considering the amount of hit songs that he released such as “Jail House Rock”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Hound Dog” and many more. You won’t be finding those songs on this album though. To me, the tracks on ‘From Elvis In Memphis’ seem more obscure, and I would be interested to know exactly how popular these songs were when they were released and how the hard-core fans feel about them. He certainly had a great repertoire of songs.
“Wearin’ That Loved On Look” is a great choice for an opening track. With Elvis’ soulful voice along with the solid, groovy feel of the band and the busy backing vocals, you can’t help but move along to this funky number. The album continues to roll, moving from soul to blues, country, pop and not to forget, love songs.
Some tracks are more playful, like “Power Of My Love” and “Stranger In My Own Home Town” while others have more of a serious tone with visual storytelling, such as “Gentle On My Mind”, “True Love Travels On A Gravel Road” and “The Fair Is Moving On”.
“Any Day Now” was a pleasant surprise, as I’ve heard other versions before, but not Elvis’. His rendition makes me like the song even more. The familiar “In The Ghetto” and “Suspicious Minds” (bonus) are welcoming inclusions. Another surprise was hearing Elvis sing “Hey Jude”, which seemed a touching nod to the Beatles.
The last two songs before the 10 bonus tracks on the second disc – “You’ll Think Of Me” and “Without Love (There Is Nothing)” – slowed down the momentum, but it started to pick up again with the crescendo at the end of “Without Love (There Is Nothing)” and then the second round of bonus tracks kicked in, including “In The Ghetto”, “Suspicious Minds” and “Rubberneckin'”.
The passion in Elvis’ voice throughout ‘From Elvis In Memphis’ is inspiring. He could sing anything and these 2 discs prove it – to me, anyway. There is a lot of music to consume here, and these gems of songs should be given the royal treatment when listening.
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Press information:
‘From Elvis In Memphis’ celebrates the 40th Anniversary of American Studio Sessions
In January – February 1969, after 13 years of recording studio albums and movie soundtracks in Nashville and Hollywood, the time was right for Elvis Presley (1935-1977) to set foot once again in a Memphis studio. Those sessions at Chip Moman’s American Studios yielded a year-long string of ‘comeback’ hit singles: “In the Ghetto,” “Suspicious Minds,” “Don’t Cry Daddy” and “Kentucky Rain.”
‘From Elvis In Memphis’ : Legacy Edition collects that entire American Studios output, and then some.
For tracklisting and more information about the album, go to: ‘From Elvis In Memphis’ press
Elvis Official Sony Website
By: Jenny May – BandWeblogs.com
