Exactly how important an album is From Elvis In Memphis? Just consider the facts.

For much of the 1960s, the time that Elvis should have spent making great music as his day job and good movies on the side was instead spent, at the insistence of his manager Colonel Tom Parker (real name Andreas von Kujik, a Dutchman in this country illegally), on making some of the worst B-movie musicals in Hollywood history (CLAMBAKE, anyone?), and forced to do some of the lousiest songs as well (only a handful of those movie songs, notably "Can't Help Faaling In Love" from BLUE HAWAII, ever stood up to what the man did in the 1950s). His great potential as an actor was never realized, and his music career was almost driven into the ground on the basis of both the mediocrity of the songs he did for the films, and the British Invasion. But the success of the 1968 NBC "Comeback" Special, whose creation as a sort of resurrection of the "real" Elvis rather than the Colonel's cliched recipe was a collaboration between the King and director Steve Binder, had revitalized Elvis to go back home to Memphis to record for the first time since 1955. Thus, we got From Elvis In Memphis, the first of two albums culled from two 10-day marathon recording sessions that Elvis did under the aegis of producer Wayne "Chips" Moman in the winter of 1969 (the second was the late 1969 release Back In Memphis).

The tracks:

WEARIN' THAT LOVED ON LOOK
ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE
I'LL HOLD YOU IN MY HEART
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
THE FAIR IS MOVING ON
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
YOU'LL THINK OF ME
DON'T CRY DADDY
KENTUCKY RAIN
MAMA LIKED THE ROSES

As this track list shows, there's no "Queenie Wahine's Papaya" or "Ito Eats" here, just the kind of music--pop; R&B; gospel; blues; country--that Elvis and American pop music were all about. The King's voice takes on a sometimes rough but welcome quality on songs like "Wearin' That Loved On Look", and two Eddy Arnold classics ("I'll Hold You In My Heart"; "After Loving You'). Elvis' country roots are accentuated on "Gentle On My Mind" and the Hank Snow classic "I'm Movin' On"; while his more modern R&B side is shown on the Mort Shuman-penned "You'll Think Of Me." Equally important, and chillingly portentous of his downfall eight years later, is "Long Black Limousine", the tale of a superstar who returns home to her ex in a long, black limousine that sadly turns out to be a hearse.

And no mention of this album can be complete without those hits that re-established Elvis as a force. "In The Ghetto", a Mac Davis-penned social commentary ballad with a gospel feel, would reach #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1969, thus becoming the King's biggest hit since 1965's "Crying In The Chapel." A second Mac Davis composition, "Don't Cry Daddy", would hit #6 in January 1970; while "Kentucky Rain", written by future country/pop crossover star Eddie Rabbitt, would reach #16 in March 1970. And then, of course, there's that epic 4 1/2-minute white soul workout of "Suspicious Minds." Containing arguably Elvis' finest moment as a vocalist, this song would become the King's eighteenth #1 single in November 1969. Sadly, of course, it would be his last as well.

Elvis still had a lot left in him, if albums like 1971's Elvis Country, the '72 Madison Square Garden and '73 Aloha From Hawaii live albums are any indication. And had he just been allowed to be left with making great albums and touring on a moderate basis, it is not out of the realm of possibility to say that he would still be alive today. But he just couldn't escape the pull of the Colonel, who turned him into a Las Vegas lounge act and had him touring constantly throughout the 1970s when he wasn't in Sin City. Such a terrible routine, which made even less sense than those horrid 1960s films, combined with an even worse prescription drug addiction to erode Elvis, until that terrible hot day in August 1977, when he was found dead at his Graceland home.

But one must never forget that the King, when he was on his game, was a consumate artist and a craftsman par excellence; and his sales figures, amounting to close to two billion albums and singles combined, are figures that are unlikely to ever be broken by anyone. And if ever he had a true masterpiece of an album, this one, From Elvis In Memphis, would arguably have to be it. To listen to this album is to understand perhaps the greatest single figure in American popular music history.

EXCELLENT POST Erik!!! I love his concert Aloha from Hawaii too...... I have all of his concerts and the out takes of Elvis. My favorite era for Elvis is late 60's to mid 70's. Even on his last album, his hits were wonderful. Of course you can catch a lot of his videos on the no on .com and can read fantastic articles about thim on tcb-world.com

I will always be one of Elvis Presley's biggest fans - been to Graceland twice and although hearing his music since I was in my mother's uterus ~ his music is in my soul.........

Thank you for the awesome post!!!!!!

And it really ought to be about the man and his music, not the flashy costumes, or the latter-day bombast. Even in those last concerts, when he was dripping sweat so profusely and clearly looked like he was dying, Elvis gave everything he had in him and then some. The likes of him will clearly never be seen again, in my opinion.

I totally agree. If you check out clips from his last concert in June 77, he still gave it all even though he forgot the words to some songs, he gave it his all singing Hurt.......
I heard on channel 13 - Elvis 24/7 that when he made his return, he told Col. Parker that he was done singing silly bubblegum music.

I think his gospel music is/was awesome too!

In public, Elvis stood by the Colonel in a way that I don't think too many other artists (if any) stood by their managers. But in private, he really felt held back (would you believe the Colonel turned down an offer for Streisand's version of A STAR IS BORN?!).

With respect to his gospel recordings, I think the fans in general held very strong positive feelings about them, because he had such a natural feel for songs like "Peace In The Valley", "How Great Thou Art", and "Crying In The Chapel." It wasn't this ultra-pious, holy-roller type of thing; like his popular recordings, the gospel records were a combination of black and white influences.

And this leads to another aspect, an unfortunate distortion of history--that Elvis "stole" from the African-American community, a distortion made popular by ultra-revolutionary groups like the Black Panthers in the 1960s. Certainly there were a lot of white male singers in the 1950s (Pat Boone most prominent among them) who did "tone down" the impact of the R&B songs that they covered. But Elvis was never one of them; in fact, he consistently discussed how much of an impact the influences of R&B and gospel had on him. As "Soul Brother No. 1" James Brown said at the King's funeral in 1977: "Elvis taught White America how to get down."

yeah, i know that Elvis was offered the part of the Star is Born........ Kris Kristofferson was great but if Elvis had the opportunity to put himself into the movie and portray the character, it would have been awesome. Although a very sad story - and yes, I watched it when it originally came out and numerous times since then........ Kris did do a fantastic job.

Yes, when Elvis was at Sun Records in the beginning, the liked him because here was this "white boy" who could sing and sound like he was black.

Never heard the James Brown comment but I love it!!!!!

There's always something new I'm learning about Elvis or of course just over the years have forgotten and reminded again.......... lol

I have a lot of Elvis albums - video clips - movies......... lol

Have you started listening to the latter part of Elvis' career yet? I know at one point you had just started to listen to some. What are your favorite "years"?

Since his 1950s/early 1960s material is so well-known, I had started going into the high points of Elvis' career from later on, specifically from 1968 onwards.

Elvis had begun making some inroads back from B-Movie Purgatory in '68 with hits like "U.S. Male", "Guitar Man", and "A Little Less Conversation" (ironically, that song was from one of those B-movies [LIVE A LITTLE, LOVE A LITTLE]). The NBC comeback special, where he introduced "If I Can Dream" and "Memories" to name just two, really turned it around for him. Then of course came those Memphis sessions, the early times in Las Vegas, 1971's Elvis Country, 1972's As Recorded Live At Madison Square Garden, and 1973's Aloha, Live From Hawaii Via Satellite. Those, to me, were the best things Elvis did in that time frame, as are the following hits that he had: "Burning Love" (natch!); "If You Talk In Your Sleep"; "Promised Land"; "T-R-O-U-B-L-E"; "Hurt"; "Moody Blue"; and "Way Down" (which, sadly, was the last Top 40 hit the man had while he was still breathing).

The general consensus about Elvis, which I happen to subscribe to, is that when he was faced with an artistic challenge, he put everything he had into it and succeeded in every way, shape, or form. But after his divorce from Priscilla, no such artistic challenges arose again; and the routine of Vegas and virtual non-stop touring really began to tire him out in ways that led to his self destruction. What he needed was to take stock of his life and his career, and unfortunately he had a manager who wouldn't let him do that one little thing. That, to me, is the real tragedy with respect to Elvis.

I subscribe to several Elvis Presley sites - EPE's site (Elvis Presley Enterprises), TCB-World, and the sirrius channel 13 Elvis channel on the net...... No i'm not an Elvis fan.........

I was so fortunate to have met Elvis back in '73 although I didn't really grasp the concept of the whole "Elvis Presley" thing. My mother and father flew to Vegas several times to see him and any time he came around the Cincinnati area they would see him. So he was a "part" of our family.

I prefer his late 60's to his last album. I found his Moody Blue album at an antique shop for $5.00 - I got rid of mine before...... anyway, so now I own the blue album again..... I love Way Down, Moody Blue......

My father had a logo made up and trademarked - END in the form of Elvis' TCB - END stood for Elvis Never Dies........

I realize this is slightly off topic, but whenever I hear people talking about Elvis, I'm reminded of a conversation that I had with one of my friends, and she was saying how "I just can't go one night without listening to Elvis." I said, "yeah, there's a lot of people who still love the King." And she looked funny for a moment and then said, "Not Elvis Presley...Elvis Costello."

Elvis Costello ~

ummmmmmmmm no, not here - Elvis Presley all the way!!!