From Elvis in Memphis

This kinda sucks. Not sure why I expected anything else.

Elvis Presley is just 1950s Rick Astley with tighter pants. There’s some cosplay at work here, and it’s dressing him up to play the part that belongs to soul singers of a darker hue. He mumbles, he shakes, he broods, but he doesn’t do much in the way of music. Hard pass on this and the racist indoctrination that made him popular.

To some, the apex of one of the most polarizing figures in the history of recorded music. And I truly see exactly why it’s seen that way; it has some classics on it: “In The Ghetto” is one of the greatest songs to ever hit the mainstream (the way it’s written alone: “Buys a gun, steals a car / Tries to run, but he don’t get far, and his mama cries.” It’s visceral, it’s implicit, subtle, and heartbreaking), and there are a few other songs on here that mark high points in the album, and in a career riddled with way too many releases of poor quality.

Elvis is a strange person, occupying a space that is attacked and adored by pretty much all walks of life. When you live where I do, in Chicago, as in a big big city, you could drive around and get 50 different opinions on Elvis Presley and they would probably be split completely down the middle. Some people love him because of his music! Some because of his influence! Some hate him because of his character! Some because of the fact that he profited off the art of Black artists who never got the amount of recognition that he ultimately did get! Opinions, opinions. But his music has undeniable moments of quality. His voice, not unlike Johnny Cash’s, just smoother and perhaps more youthful and energetic at times, lends itself to the good days of a certain kind of life, a certain time, decades ago. His songs, not to my taste, but they can err on the side of good, and even great.

The songs themselves? More than passable. Standouts like “True Love Travels on a Gravel Road” (an undeniable predecessor to Cameron Winter’s 2024 number “Love Takes Miles”) and the soulful and instantly iconic “Power of My Love” sound awesome, and are well-performed. Songs like “It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin’” on the other hand lend a much sourer element to the album, one of definite staleness rather than undisputed nostalgia.

The album, however, maintains a good standing in my mind. Good sequencing, ends on a beautiful high note, and absolutely important.
7.8/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: Relevance, impact, place in discography

My third and final Elvis album on the list and definitely my favourite of the bunch.

There were a couple of tracks in the middle I wasn’t massively keen on, which ultimately kept this out of five star territory, but there wasn’t anything I would call bad.

Top Track - Suspicious Minds

He's the king for a reason. So much better than I expected

Only the strong survive 50 minuten Elvis luisteren. De vorige plaat was ten minste bijna de helft van de runtime. Stomme man en stomme muziek.

Fun fact: nog geen jaar na deze plaat kwam het debuut van Black Sabbath uit. Grappig, het voelt alsof die platen een 20 jaar-gap zouden moeten hebben.

Might but a hot take, but this is the best of three Elvis albums I have listened to. His voice is still great, the production is clean and the songs are well arranged. My one major complaint might be how low the base is sometimes. The second half is also definitely a step up from the first. Gentle On My Mind sometimes sounds like Forever by the Beach Boys and I love that song. Favorites are Wearin’ That Loved On Look, Long Black Limousine, Gentle On My Mind, In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, and Kentucky Rain.

Fine acceptable music. Not bad, just... unmemorable.

Really liked this one. Elvis in Memphis feels like Elvis getting back to what he does best after some of the less interesting stuff he’d been putting out in the years before. The whole album has a really warm, soulful sound, and you can tell he’s much more invested in the material.
I especially liked how it mixes country, soul, gospel, and rock without feeling all over the place. “Long Black Limousine” is probably my favorite, but “Any Day Now,” “Wearin’ That Loved On Look,” and of course “In the Ghetto” all stand out. Elvis sounds great throughout — his voice is deeper and more mature here, and there’s a lot more emotion in his performances.
The Memphis setting also feels important. Recorded at American Sound Studio in 1969, the album has a much more relaxed and organic feel than some of his more heavily produced records. It feels like a real band playing together rather than Elvis just being placed over a backing track.
Definitely one of the better Elvis records I’ve heard so far. Not everything completely blew me away, but there’s a lot to like here, and I can see myself coming back to it.

I find this very good. I know many people prefer early Elvis...and they may be right. However, this is still very good.

As far as I'm concerned, this is at least 4 stars (and probably 5 stars, even if I'm always a bit reluctant to award 5 stars to artists that don't write at least a significant share of the material they sing).

Some songs I particularly enjoy: "Wearing' That Loved On Look", "Only The Strong Survive" (nice bass), "Long Black Limousine", "I'm Moving On", "Power of My Love" (I like the production and arrangements of this track), "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road" (excellent song), or " In The Ghetto" (an absolute classic).

If we take into account some of the songs included in the later releases (like "Suspicious Minds"), this may get even closer to 5 stars.

I’m not a fan of Elvis, so was surprised how much I enjoyed this particular album.

Not my favorite Elvis

This is a different version of Elvis I didn't know existed. It's better than his earlier stuff in my opinion.

As a rock ‘n’ roller, Elvis Presley had rocked the world in 1954 (pun not intended). His 1969 comeback album, featuring a soul band as his backing group, sounds, by contrast, as if he had sold his soul (pun intended). This laid-back groove strips his songs of pretty much everything that had once made him great. What’s more, the then-36-year-old sounds like an old man compared to his debut. In a way, “From Elvis In Memphis” shares parallels with The Doors’ “L.A. Woman,” though it doesn’t quite reach that album’s extraordinary caliber.
It’s nice, but in my view, this is exactly the kind of album you don’t really need to listen to - unless you want to correct your overly positive image of an artist. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad album. But it’s definitely one that serves to limit Elvis’s legendary status to his early work.

Too much Elvis on this list, but this is better than the other 2 I've had thrown at me. Maudlin Elvis is vomit-inducing, especially on the bonus tracks (which I accidentally listened to)

Me pasa algo con Elvis y es que no llego a conectar realmente con su voz y menos con su música. A ver es un clásico por un motivo, claramente no es malo, pero simplemente no conecto.

De eerdere albums van Elvis vond ik wat gemaakt, in die zin dat het allemaal te overdreven was om serieus te nemen. Eind jaren '60 word ik op mijn wenken bediend. Dat overdreven ongeloofwaardige gedoe is weg. Of heeft zich geconcentreerd in In the ghetto. In plaats daarvan is dit album erg gladjes. Je zou kunnen zeggen: gemaakt. We zijn van het ene uiterste in het andere terecht gekomen. Het is nu vaak vrij saai. De stem is uniek en maakt het vaak net interessant om te beluisteren. Maar eerlijk: dit is verder gewoon een vergeetbare 3..

I really like his voice and general charisma. This album is a mixed bag for me: some really good songs and some standard, listenable country music.

This is my favorite Elvis record on here. Way less cocky and more genuinely soulful than his earlier stuff.

Nah, jednak nie lubię Elvisa tak bardzo jak mi się wydawało.