Besides what’s here, here is a list of Elvis albums I’ve got, in various formats, in completely random order:• Elvis Presley
• Elvis
• Elvis
• Lovin’ You
• Pot Luck With Elvis
• Blue Hawaii
• Girls! Girls! Girls!
• Girl Happy
• Elvis Is Back
• On Stage – February 1970
• Raised On Rock
• G.I. Blues
• Kissin’ Cousins
• Harum Scarum
• Elvis NBC TV Special
• Back In Memphis
• That’s The Way It Is
• Elvis Now
• Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite
• Elvis Country
• Love Letters From Elvis
• Good Times
• Today
• Moody Blue
• In Person At The International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden
• From Elvis In Memphis
• Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis
Elvis Presley:
• Don’t Cry Daddy – A song of recovery. Death is a really tough subject to treat seriously in pop music, but this is one of the best efforts. Still though, it’s a bit hokey. A top 10 hit in the winter of 1970.
• Rubbernecking – This was the B side of Don’t Cry Daddy, and as close as Elvis ever came to filler. The song reached number 69 in the winter of 1970.
• Kentucky Rain – From the winter / spring of 1970. A song of searching. There is a hopelessness to the quest that Elvis describes. Doesn’t stop him. The song was a majestic ending the Worldwide Gold Hit Awards collection. I was in Kentucky once, as an adolescent, but I don’t remember if it rained.
• My Little Friend – The B side of Kentucky rain. The story of an old love
• The Wonder Of You – Elvis takes a non-descript hit by Ray Peterson (the guy that did Tell
Laura I Love Her) and renders it into a majestic performance. This was from the album On Stage – February, 1970, an album that consisted entirely of covers. From the summer of 1970.• I’ve Lost You – One of Elvis’ saddest songs. This is from the late summer of 1970. The story is the slow disintegration of a marriage, and how talking is not so useful when “reason can’t stand in for feeling.”
• The Next Step Is Love – This contrasts nicely with the A side. A song about a growing romance, it was a hit at the same time as I’ve Lost You.
• You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – I remember when this song was a hit by Dusty Springfield, and I remember this remake by Elvis. I wouldn’t want to choose between them, but Elvis was definitely on a roll. This was a hit in the fall of 1970.
• Patch It Up – The A side of You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, but not the hit side. Well, it reached number 90. It rocks out a bit, but this song of reconciliation isn’t totally convincing. On the other hand, maybe that’s the point…
• There Goes My Everything – Jack Greene put this on the country charts; that was in 1967. And Engelbert Humperdinck put in on the pop charts. Elvis trumps them all, but the song is a bit weird. There goes my reason for living, ok I get that, though he’ll have to get over it. But there goes my only possession? No wonder she’s going. A hit at the beginning of 1971.
• I Really Don’t Want To Know - A hit for Les Paul & Mary Ford, for Ronnie Dove, for Tommy Edwards, etc. Again Elvis trumps them. The A Side of There Goes My Everything, this was also a hit in early 1971. Guitarist James Burton shines.
• Merry Christmas Baby – Charles Brown’s Christmas Blues. Dig it James! yells Elvis. Elvis proves that he never lost the R & B spirit that animated his Sun recordings. Released in the fall of 1971.
• Burning Love – Elvis rocks out for his biggest hit since 1969’s Suspicious Minds. This reached number 2 in the fall of ’72, and was all over the radio. The album it was on was called Burning Love And Hits From His Movies, Volume 2. Amazing.
• It’s A Matter Of Time – The B side of Burning Love is yet another superb ballad. Only Elvis could sing with resignation and self assurance, all at the same time, without sacrificing either one.
• Always On My Mind – Maybe I didn’t treat you, quite as good as I should have, sings Elvis, in this Willie Nelson song that could have been written for him, and who couldn’t sing those words, and mean them. Glen D. Hardin gets the kudos on this one. The B side of …
• Separate Ways – Yet another song of failed romance. There is resignation here, and there is incredible sadness. It’s too easy to view these songs as being about Elvis’ marriage. That’s undoubtedly part of it, but there is more going on here. One can not begin to imagine what it must have been to be Elvis Presley. This was a hit early in 1972.
• It’s Impossible – From Elvis, released in the summer of 1973, not to be confused with Elvis, released in the fall of 1956. Originally by Perry Como, and as good as Elvis is, I think I prefer Como.
• I Got A Thing About You Baby – From the winter of 1974, a short song, nice but the female choir is a bit overwhelming. Featured on the album Good Times.
• Promised Land – Elvis didn’t record so many songs by Chuck Berry (Too Much Monkey Business comes to mind). Here he his singing Berry’s tribute to California. He brings his own unique Elvis-in-the-70s style to it, and it works. It was a hit in the fall of 1974. The album Promised Land wasn’t released until January, 1975.
• Hurt – originally by Timi Yuro, and covered by Little Anthony & The Imperials and by The Manhattans, this is as dramatic as Elvis ever got, and it falls somewhere between melodrama and reality. From the spring of 1976. From From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee.
• Moody Blue – Elvis’ last hit during his lifetime. A hit early in 1977. From the Moody Blue album.
• Way Down – Not the John Prine song. Elvis’s first posthumous hit, from the fall of ’77. Considering the emotional impact of Elvis’ death, it’s surprising this wasn’t bigger than it was, only reaching number 18. And it’s not bad. From the Moody Blue album.
•
My Way – Seen, I guess, as fitting epitaph. Taken from the posthumous album Elvis In Concert, a hit of sorts in late 1977. He sings well enough, but he doesn’t make you forget Frank Sinatra.• An American Trilogy – Dixie, Battle Hymn Of The Republic, and All My Trials. A true show piece. Some version of this was a hit in was a hit in the spring of ’72. My version comes from This Is Elvis, released in 1981.
• Don’t Be Cruel – Live on Ed Sullivan, from This Is Elvis
• King Of The Whole Wide World – Out of sequence. This is not gospel, it’s about he who is happy with what he has. A hit in the fall of 1962. Appeared first on the EP Kid Galahad. Appeared on an LP in 1971 – C’mon Everybody.
• This Is Livin’ – From the same EP / LP.
• Raised On Rock – Elvis’ tribute to his muse doesn’t pull any punches. From the fall of ’73. From the album Raised On Rock.
• For Ol’ Times Sake – The B side of Raised On Rock, another song of romantic failure. From the same LP. This song just squeezed into the top 100 in the fall of 1973, and it makes a much better epitaph for Elvis’ career than My Way.
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