SOUND ADVICE BLOG
A website blog that provides insights on Elvis music, movies and shares ideas on different subject matters related to Elvis. An opportunity to share and explore different aspects of Elvis career as well as his present day Legacy.
Good Times (Side B)
Recorded in Stax Studio in December 1973 in Memphis, Elvis released tracks from this session on the album ‘Good Times’ released in 1974. The Sound Advice blog features insight on Side B of the album.
Good Times is Elvis’ twentieth studio album released on March 20, 1974. The album was constructed by the first pick of a session held at Stax Studios in Memphis in December 1973 and two songs, "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" and "Take Good Care of Her", which were left over from the session at Stax in July 1973. The album includes a collection of songs that vary in style and genre. Released the same day as the recording of Elvis: Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis was being made, the title was taken from the song "Talk About the Good Times". Many of the songs are covers of hits at the time, like "Spanish Eyes" and "She Wears My Ring".
Original copies of the LP with the sticker on the cover (stating the singles on the album) are very rare.
The album released two singles, both hits: "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" rose to #4 on the Country charts, #39 pop; "My Boy" hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts, as well as #14 Country and #20 Pop.
Got A Thing About You Baby was written and first recorded by Tony Joe White in 1972 as a single for his album ‘The Train I’m On’. He also recorded the popular 1969 song ‘Polk Salad Annie’ which Elvis performed in his life performances.
Elvis recorded the song on July 22, 1973 at Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and released the song as a single in January 11, 1974. Below is Tony Joe White performing his original recording along with Elvis’ first take and final master recording. You will notice that Take 1 has a faster tempo than that of the final settled on master recording of Take 15.
Claude François wrote and recorded "Parce-que Je T'Aime Mon Enfant" (Because I Love You, My Child) in 1970 which is the original melody to ‘My Boy’. Phillip Coulter and Bill Martin provided the first English words for a 1971 version that was released by Richard Harris. Both of those versions are below.
Elvis recorded My Boy on December 13, 1973 with the song being released as a single on January 3, 1975 which became his third Top 20 hit in a row. Elvis utilized the song in his live performance extensively throughout 1975. Below is a live version from August 31, 1973 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee as well as the album master recording.
Originating as an instrumental German big band leader and composer Bert Kaempfert wrote and recorded this melody for Spanish Eyes as "Moon Over Naples" in 1965, and released on his album "The Magical Music Of Faraway Places." Publisher Hal Fein found lyricists Eddie Snyder and Charles Singleton, who liked the idea of a Spanish number and wrote "Spanish Eyes." Bert made an arrangement for German crooner Freedy Quinn and was released as a single but eventually pulled due to threat of lawsuit from Decca and Polydor who claimed ownership of the song. Hal Fein then got Al Martino to record the song as an album track, which was released as a single and became a smash hit. Both the original instrumental and Al Martino versions are available below.
Elvis recorded his version on December 16, 1973 in Stax Studio in Memphis and is available below along with a live version from Las Vegas in August 1974.
Talk About The Good Times was written and recorded by Jerry Reed who also wrote Guitar Man, U.S. Male and A Thing Call Love which Elvis recorded. Reed had his first top 20 hit in 1967 with "Tupelo Mississippi Flash," a satirical song about Elvis. In 1970 he released the album Georgia Sunshine which he included Talk About The Good Times as the last track.
Elvis recorded his version on December 14th with the master being Take 4. Elvis can be heard singing excerpts of 'Farther Along' and 'Wasted Years' before Take 3 of 'Talk About The Good Times' on Essential Elvis Volume 5 and Elvis At Stax releases. 'Farther Along' is actually edited in from Take 3 of 'Loving Arms' recorded the day before and 'Wasted Years' is edited in from Take 9 of 'I've Got A Thing About You Baby' from the earlier sessions in July. Below is both the master and take 3 releases along with a version done by the original artist Jerry Reed.
Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues is a song written and performed by Danny O'Keefe. It was first recorded by O'Keefe in 1967, but not released. It was recorded by The Bards and released in 1968 as the B-side to the song "Tunesmith" on Parrot Records. The song was recorded by O'Keefe for his self-titled debut album in 1971. The following year he re-recorded it (a slightly slower version) for his second album, O'Keefe. The second version was issued as a single, reaching number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 5 on the adult contemporary chart.
Elvis recorded his version on December 13, 1973 at Stax Studio. Take 9 was utilized as the master with the full unedited recording run time at 4 minutes and 22 seconds. However the take was edited removing the second repeated verse with a final run time of 3 minutes and 9 seconds. Another note in Elvis’ version he does not utilize an original verse of the song that states “I got the pills to ease my pain, can’t find a thing to ease the rain’ which can be heard on the original versions performed by The Bards and O’Keefe below. Below is the full unedited master version of Take 9 that was eventually shortened for the album.
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Good Times (Side A)
Recorded in Stax Studio in December 1973 in Memphis, Elvis released tracks from this session on the album ‘Good Times’ released in 1974. The Sound Advice blog features insight on Side A of the album.
Good Times is Elvis’ twentieth studio album released on March 20, 1974. The album was constructed by the first pick of a session held at Stax Studios in Memphis in December 1973 and two songs, "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" and "Take Good Care of Her", which were left over from the session at Stax in July 1973. The album includes a collection of songs that vary in style and genre. Released the same day as the recording of Elvis: Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis was being made, the title was taken from the song "Talk About the Good Times". Many of the songs are covers of hits at the time, like "Spanish Eyes" and "She Wears My Ring".
Original copies of the LP with the sticker on the cover (stating the singles on the album) are very rare.
The album released two singles, both hits: "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" rose to #4 on the Country charts, #39 pop; "My Boy" hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts, as well as #14 Country and #20 Pop.
Take Good Care Of Her was first released by Adam Wade in 1961 and reached number 7 in the Top 100. Wade signed with Coed Records in late 1959 and became a popular vocalist in the early 1960s. His original recording of "Take Good Care Of Her" enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic in 1961.
Elvis recorded the song on July 21, 1973 at Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and released the song as a B-side single in January 11, 1974 along with I Got A Thing About You Baby. Below is an alternate version Elvis recorded with the original version from Adam Wade.
"Loving Arms" is a song written by Tom Jans and first recorded and released by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge as a duet in 1973 on their album Full Moon. It was covered by Dobie Gray shortly after, and then by a number of artists the following year including Elvis, Petula Clark and Jody Miller. Olivia Newton-John also covered the song in 1975.
Below is the unedited master of Elvis recording and that of the original Kristofferson/Coolidge duet.
I Got A Feeling In My Body was written by Dennis Linde and recorded first by Elvis on December 19, 1973. In 1979, it was released posthumously on the reverse side of the single "There's a Honky Tonk Angel (Who Will Take Me Back In)". The single reached number 6 in the Billboard Country Singles Chart. Below is the original unedited master used on the 1979 single. The version on the Good Times album was the same take with overdubs added. Also included below is take 4 an alternate version with a bit more funk sound to the song.
If That Isn’t Love was written by spiritual songwriter Dottie Rambo who wrote over 2500 gospel songs and this particular song was copyrighted in 1969. Elvis recorded this song on December 16, 1973. Included below are both Take 4 versions the first is the unedited studio recording and the latter includes the final cut version on the album that includes the addition of strings that can be heard around the 2 minutes mark of the song.
The original title of this number is "La Golondrina," Spanish for "The Swallow." The composer, Narciso Serradell Sevilla was born in 1843 in Alvarado, Veracruz and wrote this song in 1862 but how the song came about has varying stories but it is believed written while in exile in France during the invasion of Mexico. Felice & Boudleaux Bryant provided the English lyrics to the song ‘She Wears My Ring’ which was first recorded by Jimmy Sweeney (also known as Jimmy Bell).
Elvis first time singing the song was heard during home recording in 1960 and then of course officially recorded at Stax Studio on December 17, 1973. Below includes the home recording, the Jimmy Sweeney version as well as a version of the Mexican folk song utilized in the movie The Wild Bunch.
Elvis Country (Side B)
In June 1970 Elvis was in Nashville Studio B for a marathon session that would lead to including many of his country favorites to be released on the album ‘Elvis Country’. In this Sound Advice session we look at side B of the album.
As we flip the record to Elvis Country "I'm 10,000 Years Old" to Side "B" the first song is a song written by Dallas Frazier called There Goes My Everything. First released by Ferlin Husky in 1966 on his I Could Sing All Night LP. The song came well known on a recording from Jack Greene's recording where it was voted Single and Song of the Year in 1967 at the 1st Country Music Association Awards.
Below is the Jack Greene version along with a live performance from Elvis in 1970.
Elvis recorded the song on June 8, 1970 and song was released as a single on December 8, 1970 where it reached #21 on the Pop charts and #23 on the Country charts. Listen below to take 1.
The next song was It's Your Baby, You Rock It. Written by Shirl Milete and Nora Fowler the song was first recorded by Jesse Brady who used that as a stage name but later returned to his real name Allen Wright.
Elvis recorded the song on June 5, 1970 and below is Take 3 in which Elvis discusses the guitar intro. Take 3 has no back ground vocals a noticible difference to the master recording with the full background vocals and instrumentation.
Next up on Side B is The Fool a song originally recorded by Sanford Clark in 1956. Elvis recorded this song originally at his home in Bad Nauheim, Germany and then officially for this country album. Listen to Clark's original version in which Elvis keeps his version very similar too.
Elvis official recording took place on June 4, 1970. Below is the first original home recording as well as Take 1 from the recording session.
Faded Love was originally recorded by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys in 1950. Elvis recorded the song on June 7, 1970 and only completed three takes utilizing the first take with an overdub master. The song was also remixed on the 1980 album ‘Guitar Man’ by producer Felton Jarvis.
I Washed My Hand In Muddy Waters is a Joe Babcock written tune from 1964. Babcock did studio work with the Jordanaires and formed the vocal group the Nashville Edition. He sang on more than 10,000 recordings including Elvis' Kentucky Rain and Suspicious Minds. The song was recorded by Stonewall Jackson and can be heard below. Elvis did the song while rehearsing for the movie That's The Way It Is and was available on The Lost Performances.
Elvis recorded "Muddy Water" on June 7, 1970 with a much faster tempo than the original Stonewall Jackson version and even more so than his impromptu rehearsal version above.
The final song on the album was a popular country song composed by Hank Cochran in 1963 called Make The World Go Away. The original version of the song was recorded by Ray Price that same year and it was a top 40 song for Timi Yuro (1963), Eddy Arnold (1965) and Donny & Marie Osmond (1975). Elvis recorded the song June 7, 1970 and utilize the song in his concert performances in the early 70's.
Below is the original Ray Price version along with Elvis concert performance from August 1970.
Elvis Country (Side A)
Elvis was heavily influenced by country music and in 1971 he released ‘Elvis Country’. In this Sound Advice session we look at side A of the album providing insight and comparisons from original artists and specific Elvis recordings.
Elvis Country "I'm 10,000 Years Old" was Elvis 11th studio album and released on January 2, 1971. It reached #12 on the Pop Charts and #6 on the Country charts receiving Gold status by the RIAA in December of 1977.
Segments of the song "I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago" are used to link the songs together in the album. Recorded June 4, 1970 the song was released in its complete form on the LP Elvis Now in February 20, 1972.
The first song on the album on side one was Snowbird written by Canadian songwriter Gene MacLellan. Although this song was recorded by many performers it was best known through Ann Murray's 1969 recording which was released as a single in 1970. Elvis was fond of Ann Murray's singing and would record the song on September 22, 1970. Here is the song that influenced Elvis own recording by Ann Murray and his first take of the song during recording.
Listen to Elvis rehearsal and first take of Snowbird as well as the master recording.
Tomorrow Never Comes was a song written and performed by Ernest Tubb and released on Decca records in 1945. Elvis moody interpretation of the song is greatly in contrast with Tubbs original version.
Listen to Elvis' first take of the song which has a soft feel compared to the master version where he has full force grit and emotion in the song. Recorded June 7, 1970
Little Cabin On The Hill was written and recorded by Bill Monroe in which his title was "Little Cabin Home On The Hill". Elvis first recorded version was on December 4th, 1956 in which he imitated Monroe during the Million Dollar Quarter recordings.
Elvis would record the song on June 4, 1970. In many ways he stays true to the original recording. Listen to take 1 and the master recording.
Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On is widely known as a Jerry Lee Lewis song in which he recorded in 1957. However the first recoring was two years prior by Big Maybelle. A very cool but raunchier version of the songs.
Elvis recording from September 22, 1970 adds more of the country version with Elvis' vocals feeding off the drum beat.
The classic Funny How Time Slips Away was written by Willie Nelson but first recorded by Billy Walker on April 21, 1961. On July 1954 Walker along with Slim Whitman were headlining a show at the Overton Shell in Memphis along with newcomer Elvis Presley. This was Elvis' first professional appearance after his recording of "That's All Right Mama.
Elvis recorded the song on June 7, 1970 and performed this song during his life performances in the mid 1970's. Below is a live version from a 1972 concert and a performance by Billy Walker on the Opry.
The last song on Side A is a beautiful song written by Howard Barnes and Don Robertson called I Really Don't Want To Know in which they produced a demo in 1953. A year later the song was professionally recorded by Eddie Arnold. Elvis recorded the song on June 7, 1970 and released as a single December 8, 1970 where it peaked at #21 on the Pop Charts and #23 in the country chart. Below is the Eddie Arnold original along with Elvis’ undubbed version from the album and a live performance during one his final concert tours.