‘Elvis At Stax’ [Deluxe] Reviews
More new sensational reviews of the new STAX release... the Herald-Review has posted yet another great review of the new STAX set.
... The dichotomy of Presley's career and life was the split between the R&B-loving revolutionary and the Southern gentleman who sang gospel, between the hip-swivelling rocker and the charming ballad singer. There was no interest by anyone - not his people, not his record company - of building a career for Elvis Presley. So there was never a concern about helping him release and market a fantastic album. RCA would sell its Elvis singles, and they could probably predict within 1,000 how many copies each album would sell, such would be the consistency of Presley's audience.
So Presley was never really an album artist in his lifetime. It was the concert recordings - especially from the 1970s - that exploded on the charts. But of 28 songs recorded at Stax in 1973, six made the Billboard singles charts...
Exhibit one: "Promised Land." This song alone gives a person enough evidence that Presley was the greatest Chuck Berry cover artist ever. If you've heard "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" or
(especially) "Too much Money Business," you've heard Presley doing Berry great. But to hear "Promised Land" is to hear transcendence.
Exhibit two: "Raised on Rock." Written by Mark James, who also wrote "Suspicious Minds," Presley/RCA thought highly enough of the song to make it the title cut of a batch of the songs released on album.
Exhibit three: "If You Talk In Your Sleep." This is the revelation of the Stax set. Presley's final released was drenched in horns and strings, and made the Billboard top 20. But another version included on the new set is "take 5" of the song. It's filthy in a brilliant way. The band is slinky as it works around its arrangement, and Presley smolders in a way that's almost embarrassing in its intensity and intimacy. It's fantastic, at once reminding the listener what Presley was, and what he could almost be seemingly at will later in his life. If only he'd wanted to more often.....
Go HERE to EIN's overview of the STAX media reviews and Cool Photos of the new box-set.
source: HeraldR & http://www.elvisinfonet.com - Elvis Information Network
More new sensational reviews of the new STAX release... the Herald-Review has posted yet another great review of the new STAX set.
... The dichotomy of Presley's career and life was the split between the R&B-loving revolutionary and the Southern gentleman who sang gospel, between the hip-swivelling rocker and the charming ballad singer. There was no interest by anyone - not his people, not his record company - of building a career for Elvis Presley. So there was never a concern about helping him release and market a fantastic album. RCA would sell its Elvis singles, and they could probably predict within 1,000 how many copies each album would sell, such would be the consistency of Presley's audience.
So Presley was never really an album artist in his lifetime. It was the concert recordings - especially from the 1970s - that exploded on the charts. But of 28 songs recorded at Stax in 1973, six made the Billboard singles charts...
Exhibit one: "Promised Land." This song alone gives a person enough evidence that Presley was the greatest Chuck Berry cover artist ever. If you've heard "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" or
(especially) "Too much Money Business," you've heard Presley doing Berry great. But to hear "Promised Land" is to hear transcendence.
Exhibit two: "Raised on Rock." Written by Mark James, who also wrote "Suspicious Minds," Presley/RCA thought highly enough of the song to make it the title cut of a batch of the songs released on album.
Exhibit three: "If You Talk In Your Sleep." This is the revelation of the Stax set. Presley's final released was drenched in horns and strings, and made the Billboard top 20. But another version included on the new set is "take 5" of the song. It's filthy in a brilliant way. The band is slinky as it works around its arrangement, and Presley smolders in a way that's almost embarrassing in its intensity and intimacy. It's fantastic, at once reminding the listener what Presley was, and what he could almost be seemingly at will later in his life. If only he'd wanted to more often.....
Go HERE to EIN's overview of the STAX media reviews and Cool Photos of the new box-set.
source: HeraldR & http://www.elvisinfonet.com - Elvis Information Network
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