Elvis Presley in the '60s: 1960

Now let's talk about Elvis!

People seem to be either madly for (he's still the King!) or against (died when he went into the army) Elvis in the '60s. I'll tell you right now, I'm for. Elvis recorded more great material in the '60s than many undisputed great artists from the decade. The trouble is, it gets lots in his gargantuan output. To get the best of him, you have to get revisionist about it. So we will.

To get the good stuff, 5 disc box 'From Nashville to Memphis', is ground zero. A chronological overview of his non-soundtrack, non-religious studio sessions throughout the decade. As such, it hardly ressembles the material contemporary audiences got from Elvis, but it's the motherlode. You can fill in the blanks later.

1960

1. Make Me Know It
2. Soldier Boy
3. Stuck On You
4. Fame And Fortune
5. A Mess Of Blues
6. It Feels So Right
7. Fever
8. Like A Baby
9. It's Now Or Never
10. The Girl Of My Best Friend
11. Dirty, Dirty Feeling
12. Thrill Of Your Love
13. I Gotta Know
14. Such A Night
15. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
16. Girl Next Door Went A'Walking
17. I Will Be Home Again
18. Reconsider Baby

Elvis started his post-army career with 2 sessions (March 20-21, April 3-4) just weeks after his release - both essential.

The first session (song 1-6) is the equivalent of a rock & roll blowing session. No brave departures, no threat to the teenage mind and senses, just pure playing joy - Elvis evidently relishing the chance to lay it down again and feeling none of his talent dissipated. One of my favourite things is to focus on Floyd Cramer's piano throughout - the guy had a hot day!

Barely two weeks later and they were back for the album. This time though, there was ambition. People talk about Elvis abandoning rock & roll and he sort of did. It's no wonder they start off with that great voice, acoustic bass and sneaky drums version of 'Fever'. The session runs the gamut from 'Dirty, dirty feeling' - pure R&B groove - over 'It's now or never' and 'Are you lonesome tonight' to 'Reconsider baby' - late night blues. From Everly Brothers pop 'The girl of my best friend' over gleeful perversity 'Such a night' (I don't know what, but he's doing something wrong!) to pietous balladry 'Thrill of your love'. Elvis mark 2 - the consumate master of C&W&R&B pop. He comes awful close. 12 masters, one night (and we're still going on about the Beatles nailing 10 masters in one day for 'Please please me').

The sessions were spread out over the 'Elvis is back' album and three great singles. The album gives the lie to the rumour that pre-Beatles LPs are a lot of filler - no singles included, all quality. The only reason not to get it, is you want it all. It's on the box set.

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Point made, back to work.

'GI Blues', the first post-army movie, is supposedly one of the better soundtracks. It's the only one I tried in complete form. If that's the best, I don't want to know.

You get welcomed by German backing vocals 'dudeludeludel' and accordeon. Goddamn. Main composer Wayne (6 tracks) approaches the soundtrack like Sound of Music in the Army. Apart from a '50s recording of 'Blue suede shoes', the only one of note is 'Pocket full of rainbows' - sounding surprisingly like something from the Lovin' Spoonful half a decade too early, but not quite as good as that sounds. The awful 'Wooden heart', with German verses and more accordeon, was a major hit of course.

The rest of the soundtracks will be approached by compilations only. I've got two: Elvis in Hollywood and Can't Help Falling in Love: Hollywood Hits. So, I know that in 1960 there was also the title song to 'Wild in the country', a sparse acoustic ballad that is nothing remarkable.

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In october 1960 Elvis commemorated his mother, recording his first full-length religious album 'His hand in mine'. I'm not blown away by Elvis's gospel stuff truthfully. It's a damn sight better than the soundtracks though, and this album is probably his best shot at the genre. 15 shortish renditions, piano-heavy, Elvis and the Jordanaires sharing vocals respectfully. The best song of the night is the lone non-religious one, 'Surrender' - a suspenseful rumba, all the drama of a latenight tv costume movie in two minutes with Elvis performing all the characters. The operatic ending, the percussion, the high pitched backings - perfect.