Читать книгу The Mojo Collection - Various Mojo Magazine - Страница 174

Record label: RCA

Produced: Lincoln ‘Chips’ Moman

Recorded: American Studios, Memphis; January–February 1969

Released: August 1969 (UK) May 1969 (US)

Chart peaks: 1 (UK) 13 (US)

Personnel: Elvis Presley (v, g, p); Reggie Young (g); Mike Leech (b); Gene Chrisman (d); Bobby Emmons (o); Tommy Cogbill (b); Bobby Wood (p); The Memphis Horns (brass); Ed Hollis (hm); Al Pachuki (e)

Track listing: Wearin’ That Loved On Look; Only The Strong Survive; I’ll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms); Long Black Limousine; It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin’; I’m Movin’ On; Power Of My Love; Gentle On My Mind; After Loving You; True Love Travels On A Gravel Road; Any Day Now; In The Ghetto (S)

Running time: 36.51

Current CD: RCA 07863679322 adds: The Fair Is Moving On; Suspicious Mind; You’ll Think Of Me; Don’t Cry Daddy; Kentucky Rain; Mama Like The Roses

Further listening: 5-CD boxed set, From Nashville To Memphis (2000); The ’68 Comeback Special – the entire TV show (1992); Elvis In Person (At The International Hotel) (1970); Suspicious Minds (1999) – the whole session plus outtakes

Further reading: Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley (Peter Guralnick, 1998); www.elvis.com

Download: iTunes; HMV Digital

Elvis’s output in the ’60s is unfairly maligned: whenever Presley was inspired, the results were phenomenal: Elvis Is Back!, the TV special, two religious albums – His Hand In Mine (1960) and How Great Thou Art (1967) – and a handful of great flop singles; but all anybody remembers are the movies. When the 34-year-old singer arrived at 827 Thomas Street, Memphis, he knew he was as good as washed-up. Chips Moman wanted the kudos of producing The King; Memphis Horn Wayne Jackson was fairly enthusiastic – ‘it wasn’t like doing Neil Diamond,’ he admitted; but others were more concerned about the lack of decent material – publishers no longer needed Presley to sing their songs and take a cut. After a heated fight over Suspicious Minds (never part of any album), which Moman owned, Presley broke rank – get the songs, to hell with the percentages. Then the sessions began.

From the hoarse, autobiographical howl – ‘I had to leave town for a little while’ – that opened Wearin’ That Loved On Look, it was obvious Elvis was for real. The band, the hottest in the States in ’69, fused gospel, soul and rock perfectly – though country was beyond their reach (particularly obvious on It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin’). In nine days, 20 tracks were completed; 14 more were recorded in February. Everybody knew the songs were the business, but would they sell? Deciding to keep the best track until they’d tested the water, RCA stuck out In The Ghetto. It was his first Top 10 hit since Crying In The Chapel; From Elvis In Memphis – ‘unequivocally the equal of anything he has ever done’, according to Rolling Stone – recorded a respectable 13 in the US charts, then Suspicious Minds propelled him back to the top, the first time he’d been there in America since Good Luck Charm.

By this time, he’d returned to live performance, at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. A live album was welded to a second selection from Memphis: the studio set is disappointing, but the Vegas disc is essential, especially a seven-minute run at Suspicious Minds. For two more years, Presley was on top of his game again, creating a mature brand of rock that crossed the generation gap.