As it Should have been! '74

[Raised on Rock]

1974

Singles

Promised Land / Just A Little Bit 01/74
Thinking About You / Good Times Charlie Got The Blues 04/74
If You Talk In Your Sleep / I Got A Feeling In My Body 07/74
Loving Arms/ You Asked Me To 10/74


Albums

Good Times 03/74 Not released; we dont need an album that charted as low as No.-90 as its highest place in the chart.

Raised On Rock 04/74 Same COver Art

Side A)

Raised On Rock
Muleskinner BLues/ FInd Out Whats Happening (Muleskineer Blues fragment added from the studio chat/singing on Essential Vol 5 )
Ive Got a Thing About You Baby
If You DOnt Come Back (Alt take on Essential Vol 5)
For Ol´ Times Sake

Side B)

Promised Land (The take released on Rhythm & COunrty Essential Elvis Vol 5 studio chat and singing included; as a single we release the complete master instead of the ultra short single version)
Just a Little Bit
Thinking About You (alt take on Essential Vol 5, the master with overdubbs will be the single)
Good Time Charlie Got the Blues (alt take on Essential Vol 5)
Three Corn Patches

Elvis; As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis 08/74 (Not Released; I know Im risking a lot here, but is to similar to the Aloha which was released just a year before)


Having Fun With Elvis On Stage 10/74 No, Not Released at all.

Elvis; Country Spirits from Memphis. 10/'74 The Photo from Kennys Page will be used as the cover and a B&W Photo of Memphis During the early 50's (see Elvis Platinium) as a back cover; the inside of the album will have the second picture, the and a photo of the outside of Stax Studios, with info of the musicians producer and all that. Plus the last photo could be included there as a poster or something like that as bonus. This would be better than the horrible presentation of Good TImes, and will keep some of the intented to achieve but failed concept of the original

Side A)

Take Good Care Of Her (Alt take on TOday TOmorrow and FOrever spliced with the master)
There´s A Honky Tonk Angel
Your Love Been a long Time COming
Help Me
Mr Song Man
If You Talk In Your Sleep

Side B)

Loving Arms (alt take on Essential Evis Vol 5 the overdubbed master will be released as a single)
If That Isnt Love
Girl Of Mine
You Asked Me To (Alt take on Essential Evis Vol 5 the overdubbed master will be released as a single)
Talk About The Good Times (Alt Take on Essential Elvis Vol 5)
How Great Thou Art: Live from Memphis Mis South Coliseum. This have to be released even if we didn´t release the whole album, so we dont lose the Grammy)

[Raised on Rock]

Dont Think Im leaving Live On Stage in Memphis out, Ill be released late '75 in a diferent version. It is just that by '74 three albums is to much, while in the other hand, '75 is a little bit weak, so we need to save the live album for next year.

Stuff Like Having Fun on stage didnt needed to exist at all. Im also putting more singles out, Thinkin About YOu was a great song, it shoudnt been released as a B side. SOme People think something wrong was happening with Elvis around mid 70's becuase he wasnt having anymore top 10 hits, that he wasnt doing any great records after '72, that false, there is great sutff here as you can see; it was something that had to do with fads, Elvis wasnt doing the fads; The ROlling Stones were having the same problem, the classic single: Its Only ROck and Roll released in the summer of '74 only reached No.- 17. ELvis Promised Land originaly released latter that year reached at 14. I guess simply the peoples taste was changing. Both songs could have been NO 1 back in '69.

[Lonniebealestreet]

No, an album of Elvis' not charting higher than #90 is not a good thing, but the material is not necessarily to blame.

I personally don't think Good Times should have been scrapped.

1 Take Good Care Of Her 2 Loving Arms 3 I've Got A Feelin' In My Body 4 If That Isn't Love 5 She Wears My Ring 6 I've Got A Thing About You Baby 7 My Boy 8 Spanish Eyes 9 Talk About The Good Times 10 Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues

The tracks in blue, I believe, are very strong. 2 and 10 are among the very best non-rockers from the period. 6 became a fan favorite which was a rare love song for the period, celebrating the happy side of love (along with 5). 3 was pure Elvis for its gospel-flavored R&B--or was it R&B-flavored gospel?--and 7 featured Elvis the modern-day balladeer singing an international hit. 9 was also something well-suited for Elvis, easily molded into either an R&B or country styling; basically easygoing southern rock written about a way of life with which Elvis could identify. As with the rest of these tracks, his being able to do that came through in the performance.

I think that's a pretty underrated album and the material itself should not have been questioned so much as the overall game plan, or lack thereof, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, I think these posts of yours are excellent, ROR. Definitely great food for thought.

[Raised on Rock]

I totally agree with you when you say the material is not to blame, actually is because the material is not to blame that Im doing this post. Good Times had great stuff on it, in fact, in my perspective, the whole Stax Sessions, both July and December, were totally underrated; some of the ones you mark in blue are some of my Elvis all time favourites, yet, the way those songs are joined together in Good Times is what I dont like that much, not that Im saying is a bad album, but for the non fan public, this album didn?t seem to get much atention, yet, as you say, is not the material to blame, it was the album concept to blame, starting with the cover, I mean, we all know there was much much better photos of Elvis that could have been used dam it!

Quote: basically easygoing southern rock written about a way of life with which Elvis could identify. Thats exactly what made me think for the title: Country spirits from Memphis, tying to keep the country stuff on one album and the country rock and pop on Raised On Rock. Trying: Loving Arms and Thinking About you as a A single, and I GOt a feeling In My BOdy as a B heavy weight to pull out If you DOnt COme Back.

But anyway, when I call this series of posts As it should have been, by no means Im saying: this is the absolute true; it is just my opinion, a point of view, just some ideas with the personal intention of getting some feedback, I can see now that Im not the only one that think RCA wasnt very smart when it was time to release Elvis recorded material; so actually what I want to know is how other Elvis fans think it should have been, meaning by that, how do you Elvis people think Elvis recorded material could have been released in a better smarter way.

Thanks a lot for your coments on these and the other post related Lonniebealestreet.

[Lonniebealestreet]

ROR, thanks for your reply. I was so focused on the idea of doing away with the Good Times album (being a personal favorite) that I seemed to forget the new way you proposed of presenting the material, which was indeed smarter.

[Jungleroom76]

1974

Singles

Promised Land / Just A Little Bit 01/74
Thinking About You / Good Times Charlie Got The Blues 04/74
If You Talk In Your Sleep / I Got A Feeling In My Body 07/74
Loving Arms/ You Asked Me To 10/74)

I LOVE THESE ROR!!! (y)

My thoughts on your 1974 ideas...

I'm not really sure about JUST A LITTLE BIT as a flipside for PROMISED LAND....there must be a better song that could be used instead, especially since you are saving IT'S MIDNIGHT for the flipside of MY BOY in early 1975!! ;) I just think JUST A LITTLE BIT is too weak of a song to be used as a flipside for such a strong single like PROMISED LAND! Just my opinion though... :hmm:

I DEFINITELY agree with your pairing of THINKIN' ABOUT YOU and GOOD TIME CHARLIE'S GOT THE BLUES, although maybe it would be more beneficial to make GOOD TIME CHARLIE the "A" side?

The last 2 singles you proposed for the year are just fine I think!!! (y)


Albums

Good Times 03/74 Not released; we dont need an album that charted as low as No.-90 as its highest place in the chart.

Interesting idea ROR...lots of good tracks on this album though, but maybe placed in a different context, they would chart better!! :hmm:


Raised On Rock 04/74 Same COver Art

Side A)

Raised On Rock
Muleskinner BLues/ FInd Out Whats Happening (Muleskineer Blues fragment added from the studio chat/singing on Essential Vol 5 )
Ive Got a Thing About You Baby
If You DOnt Come Back (Alt take on Essential Vol 5)
For Ol´ Times Sake

Side B)

Promised Land (The take released on Rhythm & COunrty Essential Elvis Vol 5 studio chat and singing included; as a single we release the complete master instead of the ultra short single version)
Just a Little Bit
Thinking About You (alt take on Essential Vol 5, the master with overdubbs will be the single)
Good Time Charlie Got the Blues (alt take on Essential Vol 5)
Three Corn Patches

In my opinion, I really thought the PROMISED LAND album was a pretty strong album from top to bottom and it appears that you have chosen to farm the songs from that album out onto other albums instead of releasing a PROMISED LAND album, which I'm not sure if I agree with. Since RAISED ON ROCK wasn't nearly as strong of an album as PROMISED LAND was, perhaps it would be better to release the PROMISED LAND album instead and farm out the RAISED ON ROCK tracks to other albums? :hmm:



Elvis; As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis 08/74 (Not Released; I know Im risking a lot here, but is to similar to the Aloha which was released just a year before)

Well, since I cheated and looked at your plan for 1975, I agree with your decision here ROR!!! ;)


Having Fun With Elvis On Stage 10/74 No, Not Released at all.

COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE ON THIS ROR!!! WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY ABYSMAL IDEA THIS WAS....I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS ALBUM WAS EVEN CONSIDERED, LET ALONE RELEASED!!!! :cursing:


Elvis; Country Spirits from Memphis. 10/'74 The Photo from Kennys Page will be used as the cover and a B&W Photo of Memphis During the early 50's (see Elvis Platinium) as a back cover; the inside of the album will have the second picture, the and a photo of the outside of Stax Studios, with info of the musicians producer and all that. Plus the last photo could be included there as a poster or something like that as bonus. This would be better than the horrible presentation of Good TImes, and will keep some of the intented to achieve but failed concept of the original

Side A)

Take Good Care Of Her (Alt take on TOday TOmorrow and FOrever spliced with the master)
There´s A Honky Tonk Angel
Your Love Been a long Time COming
Help Me
Mr Song Man
If You Talk In Your Sleep

Side B)

Loving Arms (alt take on Essential Evis Vol 5 the overdubbed master will be released as a single)
If That Isnt Love
Girl Of Mine
You Asked Me To (Alt take on Essential Evis Vol 5 the overdubbed master will be released as a single)
Talk About The Good Times (Alt Take on Essential Elvis Vol 5)
How Great Thou Art: Live from Memphis Mis South Coliseum. This have to be released even if we didn´t release the whole album, so we dont lose the Grammy)

Well, the concept of this album is a good one, but since I suggested above that releasing the PROMISED LAND album was a potentially better idea, the tracklisting for this one would have to be revamped. Maybe replacing the PROMISED LAND tracks with the leftover RAISED ON ROCK tracks here would work instead?? :hmm:

THANK YOU SO MUCH for these ROR....you have definitely put a lot of thought into these, and even though I personally didn't agree with all of your choices, they DEFINITELY make for great conversations!!!! :clap:

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK MY FRIEND!!!

TCB!
Mike

[Raised on Rock]

Thanks for your replys guys, this is fun.

About "Just a Little Bit", I just thought that a ROck & Roll number as Promised Land needed an R&B number as a B side instead of a Ballad; many Fans were askin Elvis for a R&B album around this time, so that another reason; yes Just a Little Bit wasnt ELvis greatest R&B performance, but is not a bad one at all, is a pretty cooled down number with great guitar Licks From James Burton, and the song itself is a classic r&B song recorded by many artists from Magic Sam to Led Zeppelin. THat one and FInd Out WHats Happening are some kind of underrated in my point of view.

I Choosed Thinking Aobut You as an A side becuase Good Times Charlie had already been recorded by other artist, while Thinkin about You was a brand new song recorded and released by Elvis.

SO, here is a New try, lest see what you think

Elvis; Country Spirits From Memphis. 08/74 A double LP being this the Follow Up to the double LP from '71 Rhitym And COuntry, both on the same theme: COuntry music and R&B music joined together as only Elvis could; the first one recorded in Nashville capital of country music, the second recorded at Memphis Stax studios, capital of R&B.

About Being Elvis only release for '74, that is not something to worry about, all the big names on ROck and Pop music where releasing only one Album Per Year so... it is a way to made fans hungy and increase sales haha...

So here it is:

Country Spirits From Memphis. 08/74

Side A)

Promised Land
Honky Tonk Angel
Your Love Is A Long TIme COming
Just A Little Bit
Ive GOt A Thing About YOu Baby
If YOu DOnt COMeback (Alt Take On Essential Elvis VOl 5)

Side B)
I GOt a Feeling In My BOdy (Alt Take On Essential Elvis VOl 5, master Take will be the single)
Muleskinner BLues/ FInd Out WHat s Happening
Raised On ROck
Good Times Charlie Got the Blues(Alt Take On Essential Elvis VOl 5)
Thinking About YOu(Alt Take On Essential Elvis VOl 5 master Take will be the single)
If You Talk On YOur Sleep

Side C)
Take Good Care Of Her (Alt take on TOday TOmorrow and FOrever spliced with the master)
For Ol Time Sake
Are You SInce (Alt take On Platinium)
Help Me
Mr SOng Man
Three COrn Patches

Side D)
Loving Arms
If That ISnt Love
You Asked Me To(Alt Take On Essential Elvis VOl 5 master take will be the single)
Talk About THe Good TImes(Alt Take On Essential Elvis VOl 5)
How Great THou Art (Live '74)
Promised Land.(The take released on Rhythm & COunrty Essential Elvis Vol 5 studio chat and singing included; as a single we release the complete master instead of the ultra short single version)

Ok there You GO, a Double Lp with best from Stax sessions, love it or hate it; with the right publicity and great art work, it could have enter the top 20 album chart I guess.

[Jungleroom76]

Interesting strategy backing a rock number like PROMISED LAND with an R & B tune like JUST A LITTLE BIT....maybe I was wrong and your idea would have worked!! :hmm:

I see your point with THINKIN' ABOUT YOU being the "A Side" because it wasn't a cover tune....definitely a good idea when you think about it that way!! (y)

I'm still not entirely sure about the album thing though...I'll have to give that one some more thought! ;)

THANKS AGAIN for all of your hard work on these posts ROR!!! They are definitely fun to read and to think about!! :)

TCB!
Mike