Post by erik on Aug 21, 2021 12:16:44 GMT -5
This past August 16th marked the forty-fourth anniversary of the terribly early passing of Elvis; and in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight, we look at one of the King's lesser, but still worthy, hits of the early 1970's.
I’M LEAVIN’ (Elvis Presley; RCA; 1971)—Though it is extremely tempting to think that Elvis’ untimely demise, which happened forty-four years ago, on August 16, 1977, was the result of the singer’s admittedly terrible diet and his abuse of prescription pills, it isn’t quite the story. If Elvis’ history suggests anything, it is that Elvis was at his best when he was challenged to give more than he was supposedly capable of. This had been true of his 1968 NBC-TV special; the 1969 recordings at American Studios in his hometown of Memphis; and, initially, the first couple of engagements in Las Vegas. He’d get two more, in the four sold-out dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden in New York in June 1972, and the Aloha From Hawaii special of January 1973. Sadly, however, much like with the B-movie treadmill of the 1960’s, Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker always encouraged him, against what he knew to be his better judgment, to leave audiences hungering for more, one of the Colonel’s many misjudgments about his sole client. This created the same kind of lethargy Elvis felt during the previous decade; in fact, this situation was so bad that it was also causing his marriage to Priscilla, and his fatherly duties to his daughter Lisa Marie, to collapse, and it seemed to be reflected in some way in what kind of material he was recording during the early 1970’s. Much of that material was quite good, and no one could quibble with Elvis’ renditions. By the standards of what was on the radio during that time, however, it was going to be a challenge to get material like this an airing. During the spring of 1971, Elvis and his crew, along with producer Felton Jarvis, decamped at RCA’s Nashville studios for what they would hope would be a quality round of recordings that matched what had been done a year earlier in these same confines. One of the songs that caught Elvis’ fancy was the mid-tempo, but still quite somber ballad “I’m Leavin’”, written by Sonny Charles and Michael Jarrett. Given that his penchant for ballads was overtaking his equally significant penchant for rockers, the song was nevertheless as high quality as anything he had been doing since the NBC special. Absent the knowledge of what was actually going on with Elvis, however, “I’m Leavin’”, while it enjoyed a ten week run on the Hot 100, only enjoyed a two-week run on the Top 40, and stalled at #36 for the week ending August 21, 1971 (it did hit #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart). The 1971 Nashville sessions, however, would also yield Elvis’ second Christmas album Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas, which would be every bit the perennial holiday recording that his 1957 Christmas album had been.
I’M LEAVIN’ (Elvis Presley; RCA; 1971)—Though it is extremely tempting to think that Elvis’ untimely demise, which happened forty-four years ago, on August 16, 1977, was the result of the singer’s admittedly terrible diet and his abuse of prescription pills, it isn’t quite the story. If Elvis’ history suggests anything, it is that Elvis was at his best when he was challenged to give more than he was supposedly capable of. This had been true of his 1968 NBC-TV special; the 1969 recordings at American Studios in his hometown of Memphis; and, initially, the first couple of engagements in Las Vegas. He’d get two more, in the four sold-out dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden in New York in June 1972, and the Aloha From Hawaii special of January 1973. Sadly, however, much like with the B-movie treadmill of the 1960’s, Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker always encouraged him, against what he knew to be his better judgment, to leave audiences hungering for more, one of the Colonel’s many misjudgments about his sole client. This created the same kind of lethargy Elvis felt during the previous decade; in fact, this situation was so bad that it was also causing his marriage to Priscilla, and his fatherly duties to his daughter Lisa Marie, to collapse, and it seemed to be reflected in some way in what kind of material he was recording during the early 1970’s. Much of that material was quite good, and no one could quibble with Elvis’ renditions. By the standards of what was on the radio during that time, however, it was going to be a challenge to get material like this an airing. During the spring of 1971, Elvis and his crew, along with producer Felton Jarvis, decamped at RCA’s Nashville studios for what they would hope would be a quality round of recordings that matched what had been done a year earlier in these same confines. One of the songs that caught Elvis’ fancy was the mid-tempo, but still quite somber ballad “I’m Leavin’”, written by Sonny Charles and Michael Jarrett. Given that his penchant for ballads was overtaking his equally significant penchant for rockers, the song was nevertheless as high quality as anything he had been doing since the NBC special. Absent the knowledge of what was actually going on with Elvis, however, “I’m Leavin’”, while it enjoyed a ten week run on the Hot 100, only enjoyed a two-week run on the Top 40, and stalled at #36 for the week ending August 21, 1971 (it did hit #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart). The 1971 Nashville sessions, however, would also yield Elvis’ second Christmas album Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas, which would be every bit the perennial holiday recording that his 1957 Christmas album had been.