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This is an album review I pulled from an old post of mine.
Elvis Country/"I'm 10,000 Years Old" is surely considered among Elvis' best by most people who are familiar with it.
My copy is from one of the original pressings in January 1971 (there were three different originals, if I'm reading this Osbourne's guide right); it is flexible vinyl with an orange label. You do hear the occasional snap, crackle, and pop on my record--it's not bad though--but the cover is near mint.
This album has the distinction of being one of a select few from the seventies which does not feature a live action shot of Elvis on the front cover.
Another thing which sets it apart is that it was a somewhat rare "concept album" from Elvis, and one for which his participation was perhaps more in evidence than any other. It was his own idea to take the song "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" and fade segments of it in and out between the album's tracks. It makes for a unique listening experience, and seems to strengthen the already deep ties between the songs on this album. This song, which wasn't featured in its entirety until its release on Elvis Now (what a great teaser, because from the segments you can tell the song really rocks), was of course the inspiration for the album's subtitle.
This album really had some meat to it. It is a shame that follow-up albums fell short of the high standard this one set. Plenty of great music was yet to come (like most of my favorites), but in terms of great albums, there weren't many more quite like this one. Elvis is not really to blame for this, since he wasn't really behind that end of things. No, that's a cop-out. As the artist, he should have demanded more input in the entire process. But as we know, sometimes the finished product did not totally please Elvis, so that alone illustrates he wasn't involved in the way that he should have been, and that if he had been, things could have been a lot better. For one thing, tracks which were unfinished or basically unacceptable for release in his mind somehow ended up on records. That's hard to fathom...as is my capacity for digression. Sorry to go off on a negative tangent there.
Not all straight country, but with a strong country flavor throughout, this LP featured powerful and impassioned singing from Elvis, a man in perfect control of his voice. These were songs he obviously felt from the heart, songs which were deeply rooted in him...songs which do his legacy great justice to this day.
I love this great album and cd!!!!! Although i haven't got the cd yet, i believe i have heard all of the bonus tracks, which are superb also!!!!!
