Previous Page “Susan When She Tried” was another that Felton brought to the session and once again Elvis had only a passing interest. He at least gave this one more than a single try the way he did “I Can Help.” The song was upbeat and catchy, though it lacked the power of “Green Green Grass of Home” or the smoothness of “And I Love You So.” It was a bit too hokey to appeal to most radio DJs, but it was a solid recording and Felton knew after so many years that he only had so many songs before Elvis would lose interest. Right now the iron was hot and he had to keep striking. The song may not have had single potential, but it was good enough for the album that RCA was expecting for later in the year, so that was good enough for Jarvis. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” ended up being the song everyone pegged as the breakout single of the session. RCA in fact scooped it up and sent it out before Jarvis even had time to add extra overdubbing. It certainly had a lot going for it to inspire such confidence. It was the purest rock and roll song Elvis had done since “Burning Love.” It was an original number, in contrast to everything else Elvis had to work with at the session, and despite that Elvis gave it his full attention. There’s a misconception that Elvis had no passion for recording rock songs after his split with Priscilla. Yet, whenever he had one to work with, he always tore into it with that same manic enthusiasm he gave to “That’s All Right” a lifetime ago (or at least as much enthusiasm as his older, more worn down body would allow). The trouble was he rarely had good material to work with anymore. His mood would indeed sour in his final years and he certainly demonstrated signs of depression, and he may even have gravitated to those songs of love-lost when choosing material to record, but had his producer actually produced better material, he might have had a better output of recordings in his final years. “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” with its bouncy piano melody and catchy lyrics, didn’t have to be the exception to the rule. If it hadn’t been the only pure “rock and roll” song on the record it might not have been a big blow when the single only peaked at #35 and failed to sell the 500,000 copies needed for gold record status. In fact, Elvis hadn’t had any single “go gold” since 1972, when “Burning Love” and “Always On My Mind” were a one-two punch that sold over a million and over 700,000 respectively. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content “Woman Without Love” was another that Elvis recorded in one take. Again, the strength in his voice and a solid country and western arrangement around it elevates it, but the lyrics are pretty inane. Jerry Chesnutt, who also wrote “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” clearly did not have two hits in his arsenal this time. The song is about a man feeling sorry for his woman whose heart he’s breaking. It’s condescending and patronizing, and peaks with the line “a man without love is only half a man, but a woman is nothing at all.” Despite the obnoxious lyrics, it’s actually remarkable that Elvis was able to so nicely sing it in just one take. Maybe it’s because it—subconsciously—summarizes his actual feelings about his failed marriage! Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content “Shake a Hand” dates back to the days when Elvis was only a singer in his truck working for Crown Electric in Memphis. Faye Adams took the song to number-one on the R&B charts in 1953 and Elvis had always been fond of it. He never attempted it in the studio before here, however, and no home recording has ever turned up. It would have been nice to hear what “1956 Elvis” might have done with it. As it is, the “1975 Elvis” version is fine enough, but as with most everything else recorded here, there’s no creativity at work. Elvis just lays down the song as he always knew it, right down to the constant tremolo on the piano. It sounds old fashioned, and today that means it’s “classic,” but in 1975 that wasn’t a compliment. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content “Bringin’ It Back” was the second and last new song that Elvis recorded in the session. It had been submitted months earlier by Greg Gordon, the then-piano player for the vocal group Voice, whom Elvis had personally hired to perform with him and for him at his beck-and-call. By the time Elvis got around to recording it, Gordon had quit the band. During recording, Gordon got a call from Elvis’ handlers and told him to sign-off on Presley claiming half-ownership of the song or it would not be recorded. Gordon took the deal and the ballad was released as the second single. It fared even worse than “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” however, reaching only #65 (just one notch better than current low-point of the decade, “An American Trilogy”). The song is fine for the album, but there was nothing about it that justified releasing it as a single, especially not over the much-stronger “And I Love You So.” The only reason it seems they released it was because they had partial ownership of it, and it wasn’t a cover of an already-released song. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content “Pieces of My Life” ended the ten-master session with another ballad. It’s a gloomy one, with lyrics about lamenting over bad decisions leading to bad consequences. It’s loosely, unintentionally, autobiographical, and Elvis’s performance is sincere. It was paired as the B-side to “Bringin’ It Back” and between the two of them, the order probably should have been flipped. “Pieces of My Life” managed to reach #33 on the US Country charts, higher than anything “Bringin’ It Back” achieved. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content It’s good that “Pieces of My Life” was done last, too, as Elvis fell in love with the recording after it was completed. The band remained in limbo (still on the clock) while Elvis listened to the master over two dozen times. Midway through what could have turned into an all-night playback, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys entered the studio, having been nearby in Las Angeles and wanting to meet the king. The brief meet-and-greet brought about the formal end to the session, and though Felton Jarvis had the ten songs he needed to compile a full record, there was music left on the table. A trio of songs were unfinished from the 1973 Stax recordings that he could have brought to the studio (but didn’t). Had he, they might have been able to scrap “Woman Without Love” or at the very least have some extra material in the can should the occasion arise that Elvis wasn’t feeling so up for recording. As it turned out, such an occasion would arise the very next time they tried to get him in a studio. Since this session was intended to be both a studio session and a concert rehearsal there were other songs rehearsed which Elvis toyed with adding to his live act. “The Twelfth of Never” was only ever intended for his live act, but the rehearsal shows enough strength in the performance that it could have been formally recorded for an album. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content Elvis also laid down a take of “Tiger Man” that is vastly different from the electric version he jammed out to in the 1968 NBC Special. This one feels much more artificial, safer. It sounded okay enough to have been used on the album if it had been necessary but it’s good that it wasn’t; it would have done a disservice to the way fans prefer to remember that song, with Elvis clad in black leather, thin and full of life, banging his guitar and singing at 100mph. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content
