Elvis's 40 Year Reign (1973-1975)

After the failure of the past two albums, RCA asked for a meeting with Elvis to suggest he remove Felton Jarvis as the producer on his future records. Elvis flat out refused, partially because he had always gotten along with the laid back Jarvis, and partially because he didn’t like being told what to do.

Determined to take matters into their own hands and make money from Elvis someway, RCA put Joan Deary (remember her?) in charge of overseeing the studio’s releases of Elvis’s recently-acquired back catalog. Joan’s first album would be Elvis: A Legendary Performer, Volume 1 and RCA wanted it out by Christmas. Considering Raised on Rock had only just released, the new Deary album would certainly eat into the sales of the singer’s album of new material. It was an ironic situation for Col. Parker, who worked furiously behind the scenes to convince RCA to push the release date, as it had been he who tried to play hardball with MGM back in 1972, when the Aloha concert was originally to coincide with the release of the Elvis on Tour film. Parker bumped the show to January of ’73, and now it was he having to convince RCA agreed to delay their release until January of ’74.

They did, but the album still went on to sell over 700,000 copies and reach at number-one on the charts. The success of the record delighted RCA as much as it frustrated Parker, who suddenly realized he had sold the proverbial birthright for a bowl of lentils. It also underscored just how the record-buying public viewed Elvis: as an oldies act, whose contemporary music was of little concern.

More music was needed, now that Jarvis had used up everything available and two more albums were expected in 1974. Another studio session had to take place and Elvis was not keen to return to Nashville. So, a second booking at Stax was arranged, this one for mid-December of 1973. In the meantime, Elvis and Priscilla would finalize their divorce and officially go their separate ways. They agreed on the joint-custody of Lisa Marie but the issue of the financial settlement was stickier. Priscilla intended to accept a small payout of only $100,000, determined to fight against rumors that she was only married to Elvis for the money. She changed lawyers mid-way through 1973, however, and they convinced her to push for a bigger settlement, arguing that Elvis had more than enough money to go around. In the end, Elvis gave Priscilla everything she wanted, including an outright cash payment of $725,000, additional annual spousal support and child support as well as half the income from the sale of their Beverly Hills house. Despite all the drama the past few years had brought them, when the two walked out of the courthouse they did so hand-in-hand, and Elvis even winked at her as he climbed into his car and told her to call him sometime.

With that chapter of his life over, Elvis entered a second round of Stax recordings with brighter spirits. Unfortunately, the eighteen songs he had to work with did not rise to the occasion. The seven-day affair would yield enough material for two albums, as long as a few older singles were grafted-in to fill them out. As with most Elvis sessions, there’s no rhyme or theme here that unites the material (it’s an eclectic blend of gospel, country and pop), and as with the previous Stax recordings, there’s very little influence from the illustrious studio to give it a unique sound. Other than one exception, Felton bends over backward to make the sound as much like “Elvis music” as he can.

“Burning Love”-scribe Dennis Linde contributed the first song to be recorded. “I Got a Feeling in My Body” is a proto-disco Gospel rock song. If that’s not a bizarre enough description I don’t know what to tell you. Elvis’s voice is much sharper and his energy is stronger too, and though the song had no commercial value, it was at least fun (which can’t be said about many of the songs he was about to record).