Elvis Presley in the '60s: 1966

So in may '66, 2 and a half years since his last (brief) non-soundtrack session, Elvis went down to the studio. With typical sense, he decided to record a gospel album. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's some psychological warfare for the soul of the Elvis corporation. He wanted to get his cake and eat it too.

'How great thou art' (released in '67) - it's fine. It's lost a little immediacy compared to 1960's 'His hand in mine'. The tempos are languid, the small choir is omnipresent, the singing is reverent and sincere, renditions take longer to unfold. I have to be in the mood for it, but it's a nice record.

The real meat is in the 5 non-religious songs he recorded at the sessions. Of course, the powers that be knew that putting Elvis in the studio without a soundtrack straightjacket, but with a great band, would tempt him out of retirement. Two weeks later, june 10-12, he cut another 4 non-soundtrack non-religious songs.

1. Down In The Alley
2. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
3. Love Letters
4. Beyond The Reef
5. Come What May
6. Fools Fall In Love
7. Indescribably Blue
8. I'll Remember You
9. If Every Day Was Like Christmas

By all accounts, the sessions and the following similar attempts up until january 1968, were fractious and difficult, conflicts rising. Elvis refusing to record the songs offered, recording other material for which immediately 'copyrights' battles flared up, little accomplished compared to the productive sessions from earlier in the decade. Once recorded, the results were scattered on singles and odds and sods album like 'Spinout' or just remained unreleased. They let the master of 'Come what may' disappear - that's how much they cared.

But...on the boxset, the results are presented as they are. And what they are is stunning. To me, they're every bit the equal of the 1969 American sessions - except they were never presented to the public as they should've been, as a singular strong statement (like 'From Elvis in Memphis') and so they get lost in the shuffle.

Elvis came out of his two and a half years of retirement as a new artist, no more the consumate master of R&B&C&W pop, he was a great country soul voice, making complex emotional music with a majestic sweep. When the songs rocked it was with absolute authority. When they wept, the tears came from deep in the soul. Really, he was ahead of the pack and he did it all with a vision of American music that outstrips any of the post-'68 back to the country brigade.

These 1966 sessions: 'Down in the alley', Dylan's 'Tomorrow is a long time', 'Love letters', 'Come what may''s mutated 'I feel fine' riff, 'Indescribably blue', 'I'll remember you'... it's one highlight after another. So great.

So, record buyers got two great singles, 'Love letters' and 'Indescribably blue' (not the best choice of a single), but mostly 'Frankie & Johnny' (the title track is a faux-early jazz stomp based on a traditional - who thinks these up?), 'Paradise, Hawaiian style' and a couple more of these songs on side two of 'Spinout' (the title song is a stupid groove with fake sitar). Why?