Post by erik on Jan 6, 2024 18:25:50 GMT -5
In this inaugural entry of the Pop Music Album Spotlight, we will look at the epochal 1969 album From Elvis In Memphis from a music legend who would have turned 89 years old on January 8th--The King.
FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS (Elvis Presley; RCA; 1969)
Although he wasn’t exactly beached during the 1960’s by the Beatles and the British Invasion like so many of his fellow rock and roll originators, Elvis Presley was, by 1967, becoming dangerously obsolete in the eyes of the children of that decade. The films he was made to star in at the behest of his penny-wise, pound foolish manager “Colonel” Tom Parker were so depressingly routine and turgid; and so too were most of the songs from them, with a few exceptions (notably 1964’s “Viva Las Vegas”). But with the 1968 NBC-TV special, in which Elvis defied his manager (who wanted a Christmas-themed thing) and went back to his R&B/gospel roots, plus the huge hit “If I Can Dream” that came from it, the King was now starting to be taken seriously by people once again. He was galvanized in a way that he had not been in ages. It was just a matter of getting back into a studio and getting serious about recording as many great songs as possible, regardless of whether or not he or the Colonel had publishing rights to them.
But Elvis did something even more radical. Instead of going to either one of RCA’s home offices in Nashville or Los Angeles, and with the encouragement of his Memphis Mafia, he took up the challenge of recording with legendary producer Chips Moman’s studio crew at American Studios in Memphis, only seven miles from Graceland, in January and February 1969. Moman was a no-nonsense producer who had a significant track record, and he wasn’t about to take any garbage from anyone, no matter how big they thought they were, especially not the Colonel or his cronies. But the end result of working with Elvis one-on-one produced the most transcendent music of the King’s career, starting with the album From Elvis In Memphis.
With some very astute song choices on both his and Moman’s parts, including R&B-flavored versions of country music standards like “Gentle On My Mind” (written by John Hartford, and a hit for Glen Campbell in 1967), “Long Black Limousine”, and the 1950 Hank Snow classic “I’m Movin’ On”, along with straight-ahead R&B in the form of “Only The Strong Survive” (a hit for Jerry Butler), Elvis was on fire once more. It was clearly the most complete album he had done since his late 1950’s heyday, maybe of all time. But it was the final song on the original release that created the biggest stir. “In The Ghetto”, a stirring and powerful gospel protest ballad about a Negro boy growing up in poverty in Chicago who turns to a life of crime and ends up getting tragically killed in a vicious cycle, was penned by Mac Davis; and in Elvis’ version ended up being a massive hit, reaching #3 in June 1969, leading to From Elvis In Memphis hitting #13 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, making it his highest charting non-soundtrack album since 1960. Elvis’ career was thus back on track…up until August 16, 1977.
FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS (Elvis Presley; RCA; 1969)
Although he wasn’t exactly beached during the 1960’s by the Beatles and the British Invasion like so many of his fellow rock and roll originators, Elvis Presley was, by 1967, becoming dangerously obsolete in the eyes of the children of that decade. The films he was made to star in at the behest of his penny-wise, pound foolish manager “Colonel” Tom Parker were so depressingly routine and turgid; and so too were most of the songs from them, with a few exceptions (notably 1964’s “Viva Las Vegas”). But with the 1968 NBC-TV special, in which Elvis defied his manager (who wanted a Christmas-themed thing) and went back to his R&B/gospel roots, plus the huge hit “If I Can Dream” that came from it, the King was now starting to be taken seriously by people once again. He was galvanized in a way that he had not been in ages. It was just a matter of getting back into a studio and getting serious about recording as many great songs as possible, regardless of whether or not he or the Colonel had publishing rights to them.
But Elvis did something even more radical. Instead of going to either one of RCA’s home offices in Nashville or Los Angeles, and with the encouragement of his Memphis Mafia, he took up the challenge of recording with legendary producer Chips Moman’s studio crew at American Studios in Memphis, only seven miles from Graceland, in January and February 1969. Moman was a no-nonsense producer who had a significant track record, and he wasn’t about to take any garbage from anyone, no matter how big they thought they were, especially not the Colonel or his cronies. But the end result of working with Elvis one-on-one produced the most transcendent music of the King’s career, starting with the album From Elvis In Memphis.
With some very astute song choices on both his and Moman’s parts, including R&B-flavored versions of country music standards like “Gentle On My Mind” (written by John Hartford, and a hit for Glen Campbell in 1967), “Long Black Limousine”, and the 1950 Hank Snow classic “I’m Movin’ On”, along with straight-ahead R&B in the form of “Only The Strong Survive” (a hit for Jerry Butler), Elvis was on fire once more. It was clearly the most complete album he had done since his late 1950’s heyday, maybe of all time. But it was the final song on the original release that created the biggest stir. “In The Ghetto”, a stirring and powerful gospel protest ballad about a Negro boy growing up in poverty in Chicago who turns to a life of crime and ends up getting tragically killed in a vicious cycle, was penned by Mac Davis; and in Elvis’ version ended up being a massive hit, reaching #3 in June 1969, leading to From Elvis In Memphis hitting #13 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, making it his highest charting non-soundtrack album since 1960. Elvis’ career was thus back on track…up until August 16, 1977.
