The successor of the sales monster "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" hit the stores on July 16, 1973 and was simply called "Elvis". On the 21st of the month it entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart" where it stayed for 13 weeks and peaked at number 52. On August 25th "Elvis" also enterted the "Hot Country Album Chart". Here the 200,000 sold units were enough for a run of 14 weeks and an entry in the top 10 (it reached number 8). In Great Britain the king scored a top 20 hit with his album, worldwide "Elvis" sold a million copies. Today that would be 150 million paid streams of the album or 1.5 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Commercially this release was on the same level as "Speedway" (1968) and "Elvis Now" (1972), which means it was a disaster. Especially because one could have expected a certain amount of success of the follow up to a mega seller like "Aloha". Obviously it still was an event to see Elvis in concert and maybe the people were also buying an accordant album as a souvenir, but it spoke volumes that the king was not able to convince anybody to buy his new recordings. Strangely though "Elvis" managed to clock in at 625 million streams on Spotify and therefore becoming one of his most popular digital albums.

RCA Records used a picture taken during the "Aloha" concert for the cover. It was the same one that had recently graced the sleeve of the single "Steamroller Blues" / "Fool". Colonel Parker and the management of the record label must have counted on the recognition value. The back cover was once again used as advertising space for the king's previous RCA albums. To name the album "Elvis" was somewhat strange, because there were already two Presley records of this very name. The vinyl album has a running time of 25:25 minutes.

On the streaming platforms "Elvis" is presented the way it was issued in 2016 as part of the set "The Album Collection".  This means that the digital version features "Separate Ways", "For The Good Times", "Burning Love", "Always On My Mind", "It's A Matter Of Time" and "An American Trilogy" as bonus songs. For this project all tracks were scanned with high-resolution equipment and remastered. Therefore the album can be presented with the golden Hi-Res emblem. The better sound of these versions is owed exclusively to the new mastering (the elimination of interfering noise). Because first one cannot turn an analogue recording into a high resolution recording just by scanning the tape with hd equipment and second even an old cd with 16 bit/44.1 kHz exceeds the auditory sense of a human being.

On March 1, 1973 Elvis had sold his rights to royalties for all recordings made prior to 1973 (excluding "Fool", which was supposed to be on the first single under the new arrangement) to RCA Records. He was paid 5.4 million USD, which would be 81 million USD today according to our rough factor of 15. Nowadays the top artists get a lot (!) more, but back in 1973 a catalogue wasn't considered to be worth all that much because there was no real market for using songs in commercials or movies or newly produced remixes and mashups yet. At the time nobody considered it to be a bad deal, especially because the hits had been sold, re-sold and sold again on singles, greatest hits compilations and two recent boxed sets and the lesser known material had been issued via RCA's budget label CAMDEN. The first version of "Elvis" was compiled by Joan Deary and flyers were sent out to the local record shops. In the last minute Elvis' own producer Felton Jarvis opposed and compiled his own version, of course using tracks he had recorded with this boss and he was paid for with each sold unit. Finally it was agreed to use Felton's version and the album was shipped to the dealers even though the product was completely different to what had been announced.

In 2010 Sony Music Entertainment's own collector's label (Follow That Dream Records) released a special edition of "Elvis". The set of two cds included the tracks of the original album, the tracks Joan Deary had planned for the album, some remixes and outtakes. To read the review tap HERE.

In 1969 the German bandleader James Last released an instrumental track called "No Words". Later Carl Siegman wrote lyrics to it and Wayne Newton sang the song, which now was named "Fool". Elvis recorded it on March 28, 1972 at RCA Studio C in Hollywood/California. Take 2 was selected as master take, on May 8th strings and horns were added. The king didn't like the overdubbs, so they were removed before the song was released on the b-side of "Steamroller Blues". The song is a kitschy self-flagellation after his woman had left the singer, but Elvis performs it in a very believable way. Maybe, because "Fool" mirrored his feelings regarding the recent separation from Priscilla.

The song by Paul Williams must also have met his feelings, because I am pretty sure that Elvis asked himself where to go and what to do now. It was recorded on March 27, 1972 and even though his performance was far from perfect the king wanted the 8th take to be prepared for release. Now it was up to Felton Jarvis to safe the track in post production. He tried to do so on May 8th by adding strings and horns.

On May 21, 1971 Elvis recorded "Love Me, Love The Life I Lead" at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. He needed 12 takes to produce a satisfactory master take of that song, which just recently had been released by The Fantastics. The by now almost mandatory strings and horns were added on June 21st. In the song by Tony Macaulay and Roger Greenaway the narrator warns his woman about his character. He's unreliable, spends all his money and won't change for anybody. To a certain extend that also met Elvis' character. I like the song.

After he had recorded "A Thing Called Love" Elvis sat down at the piano and accompanied himself on a few songs. One of them was Ivory Joe Hunter's "It's Still Here". Elvis tried five times, a shortened version of the final performance became the master. The singer was left by his woman and is devastated because he still has feelings for her. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the recording was made on May 19, 1971.

In early 1972 Elvis and RCA Records planned a live album in the style of "On Stage - February 1970". One of the new songs was "It's Impossible" which the king had performed on a regular basis during the "Elvis Summer Festival 1971". After the project was canceled the master (recorded on February 16, 1972 at the Las Vegas Hilton) went into the faults until it was used for this album. To me "It's Impossible" is a real highlight, because Elvis performed this gentle ballad with a huge orchestra and even used a harp. The original version is from Belgium and is called "J'ai Le Mal de Toi". In the 1960's Kathy Kriby sang an English version named "The Way Of Love", but it was Perry Como who had a hit with it. He recorded the song in 1971, now under the name "It's Impossible". In 1975 RCA Records re-released Elvis' version on the album "Pure Gold".

This is a wonderful "asshole song". The singer tryes to cheer his girlfriend up by telling her that she's not the only one he has betrayed and that there are many more to follow. The cynical folk song was written by Gordon Lightfoot, who also was the first to record it. Elvis did so on March 15, 1971 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee and needed 15 takes to get it right. The king didn't perform the song in the style of Lightfoot, but based his version on the interpretation of Peter, Paul & Mary.

Way back in the 1950s Elvis had already claimed that "Padre" was one of his favorite songs. However, it took him until May 15, 1971 before he got around to record it himself. At RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee he produced 11 takes, but none of them was regarded to be good enough for release. And so Felton Jarvis created a splice of take 8 and 11 and overdubbed strings and horns on June 21st. Elvis wasn't in good voice, he misses a couple of notes and even snuffles. His performance also is very much over the top, but I cannot help to like it. "Padre" is my guilty pleasure.

This is another one of the king's early favorites, long after his demise an old tape turned up on which we can hear him sing "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" at the time he was serving the US Army. He recorded it professionally on May 19, 1971 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee within a single take. On May 8th his producer added celli overdubs. Elvis sounds as sad as can be and turns the song into a real highlight. The ballad was written by Thomas P. Westendorf in 1875, Ernest Pike & Stanley Kirkby recorded it in 1910. The lyrics are quite vague, the listener just gets to know that Kathleen should be brought back home were everything will turn out good. We neither learn who the lady is, nor where she is at the moment or what the destination might be. One can only guess that Kathleen is about to die, but it's never mentioned in the lyrics.

Here we have the thrid ballad Elvis played at the piano on May 19, 1971. Like "It's Still Here" this one was written by Ivory Joe Hunter, it was released for the first time in 1952. Seargant Presley sang it while stationed in Germany. "I Will Be True" is another sad ballad, in which the loved one is gone, but still the singer pledges eternal faithfulness. Elvis sounds sad, desperate and lonely. It's nothing but a marvellous performance.

On May 16, 1971 Elvis and his band jamed a little to warm up for the session. The result was a nine minute version of the Bob Dylan classic "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright". Felton Jarvis shortened the recording to 2:42 and created another master for this album. Originally it wasn't meant to be released, but to me this laid-back jam sounds mighty fine.