Customer Reviews

I'm 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ELVIS COUNTRY is an album to play all the way through without skipping any tracks. Each one has something to offer.

This remastered edition of the 1971 LP features 6 bonus tracks, 3 of which were lifted from the 1971 album LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS.

1-SNOWBIRD Elvis sings this Anne Murray hit quite well. Pleasant way to start the album.

2-TOMORROW NEVER COMES Haunting melody and outstanding vocals make this a memorable performance. Listen to Elvis final notes on this. Wow!

3-LITTLE CABIN ON THE HILL Catchy little country tune with nice guitar work and fine harmonies.

4-WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN' GOIN' ON Although this song is associated with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis puts his full rocking throttle on this performance. Even better is the complete, unedited performance, found on A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW: ESSENTIAL ELVIS VOLUME 4.

5-FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY Elvis sings this Willie Nelson tune with a lot of conviction. Another top-notch performance.

6-I REALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW It's amazing that Elvis didn't write his own material. The way he sings songs such as this, you believe that he did write.

7-THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING Another country classic given a fine performance by The King.

8-IT'S YOUR BABY, YOU ROCK IT One of the album's biggest highlights, this excellent rocker features outstanding vocals by Elvis and a very groovy backup band! Whew!

9-THE FOOL Elvis puts his lower register to work on this one. A fine mid-tempo tune.

10-FADED LOVE After hearing Elvis singing this, you'll totally forget the Patsy Cline version. This really blows you away!

11-I WASHED MY HANDS IN MUDDY WATER Another example of Elvis rocking as only he could. A more complete performance is found on the WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES 70s box.

12-MAKE THE WORLD GO AWAY This closed the original 1971 album, and what a way to end it! Again, a bombastic performance, with another big note ending (something that Elvis was doing a lot in this period). Quite a performance, indeed!

13-IT AIN'T NO BIG THING Taken from the 1971 album LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS, this rather typical country tune is sung nicely, but it's not very memorable.

14-A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW Basically a rehearsal in between song takes, but Elvis' inspired vocal ends up turning this into a recently discovered gem.

15-IF I WERE YOU One of the lesser moments from LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS. A better choice would have been the song "I'll Never Know".

16-WHERE DID THEY GO, LORD? Released as a single in 1971 (backed with "Rags to Riches"), this is another big-beat ballad that Elvis gets to bellow out on. Sung well, but (again) not very memorable.

17-GOT MY MOJO WORKING Another rehearsal captured on tape. This was THE highlight on the LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS album. The complete performance is found on A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW: ESSENTIAL ELVIS VOLUME 4.

18-I WAS BORN TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO This was the track that was faded in and out in between every track on ELVIS COUNTRY (interesting at first, but then annoying). This is the complete track, as appeared on the 1972 album ELVIS NOW.

For those who have the WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES box, this particular CD isn't really essential. All the tracks (except for "If I Were You") were released on that box in unedited format (and no "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" faded in and out in between).

Again, a wonderful album!

This is Elvis' best album of the 1970s, in my opinion. Elvis gives one great vocal performance after another on these (mostly) country songs. A special mention has to also go out to Elvis' band, who really cook on these tracks. The most unusal thing about this album is that a few seconds of Elvis' recording of the old folk song "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" play after every song. I don't know who came up with this idea, but I really get a kick out of it. Other people may disagree, however. The remastered CD version of this album adds six bonus tracks from the same recording sessions, including the full length version of "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago". Highly recommended.

This album captures the very essence of Elvis. It demonstrates country, soul, pop, gospel, and a variety of music types combined in a way that only spells Elvis. I believe that everyone would be an Elvis fan if everyone heard this album. This is a very mature Elvis with some excellent material. His heart and soul are in the tracks. Backing Elvis is a wonderful band with some great backup vocals. I love the snippets of "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago." I love this album more than the better known songs on compilations such as 30 #1 Hits. This album plays as fresh today as it did back in 1970. The bonus tracks - most from Love Letters from Elvis - add to the album, especially If I were You and Ain't No Big Thing.

Compare this album to today's "country" artists and you'll see that Elvis shines above them. Nobody sings with the feeling of Elvis. It's straight from his heart.

Elvis - the king of country, rock, pop, and gospel!

ELVIS COUNTRY is, as the liner notes for the reissue suggest, a rather misleading title for this album, most of which was recorded at the exact same early June 1970 sessions which yielded the studio tracks for THAT'S THE WAY IT IS. Country songs had been a sizeable component of the King's output since the Sun era, of course, and Nashville accents had colored much of his repertoire in other genres as well. More to the point, ELVIS COUNTRY is anything but the collection of dung-kicking Dixie ditties such a moniker might suggest. The same huge arrangements, sensitive performances and of course the unfailing taste which served Elvis so well on TTWII are all here too, and while the song selection may lean a bit more overtly toward country material there's plenty of variety. Take "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," which only Elvis could make his own in the wake of Jerry Lee Lewis' seminal rendition; or "Tomorrow Never Comes," here stripped of much of its countriness and transformed into an operatic tour de force with a jaw-dropping finale. The snippets of "I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago" between all the other songs don't bother me, though it's nice to have the full performance here as well. Of the other bonus tracks, "Got My Mojo Workin'" is a stinging reminder of what a fine blues singer Elvis really was, while "Where Did They Go, Lord?" ranks as one of his stronger non-album singles of the period.
Comparisons between ELVIS COUNTRY and TTWII are inevitable - the albums were recorded simultaneously and released only weeks apart. In this context, ELVIS COUNTRY perhaps suffers a bit beside its better-known and essentially flawless counterpart; but the body of material from which both LPs are drawn is big and flexible enough - in these gifted hands, at least - to render any qualitative distinctions superficial. The King was on a volcanic roll in 1970, and anything he recorded at that time is well worth hearing.

This is one of Elvis' best albums. As we all know Elvis loved country music as well as Gospel Rythum and Blues. The insert of I'm Ten Thousand Years Old always appealed to me. I can recall hearing this album brand new when I was a child. The albun was quite orginal in its format with the song playing in between tracks. Let us not forget that Elvis was a deeply religious man.
A great album indeed. Had it been some other artist or group such as the beatles, they would have said it was an inovation to have I'm Ten Thousand Years Old playing between songs.

MJO, (Melbourne, AUS).

In 1970 the worlds greatest singer entered the recording studio in Nashville and put on a demonstration of raw energy and power that has stood for the ages.Elvis' mamoth recording session produced some great albums...Elvis Now,He Touched Me,Love Letters and this classic...Elvis Country.It was as unique and innovative as Elvis himself...from the cover art(Elvis' baby photo) to the use of I was Born 10,000 Years Ago in between songs as one fades into another...it is truly a classic.None of these songs sound country however.Elvis gave each work a clear distinction...Elvis made his own style of country.I embrace this album as a true classic.Play It LOUD.

For the only time in his career, Elvis Presley produced a concept album that encompassed his eclectic taste in rock, country, blues and gospel. "Elvis Country" (1971) represents a timeless personal statement. Along with passionate interpretations of "Tomorrow Never Comes" and "Funny How Time Slips Away," Elvis rocks the house with "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" and "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water." The stirring poignancy of "Make the World Go Away" makes for a dynamic finish. Propelled by its excellent song selection and first-rate musicianship, "Elvis Country" has a seamless quality that cannot be found on any other Presley album. (The CD bonus tracks include a memorable run-through of "A Hundred Years From Now" and the unedited "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago.")

Great 70s Elvis album, here with bonus tracks (although the original LP contents are arguably better enjoyed on the WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES box set where they all appear sans annoying overlapping link track).

Listen to Elvis and his crack studio band tear through "Washed My Hands In Muddy Water", or build to a crescendo on "Tomorrow Never Comes". Other highlights include "It's Your Baby", "Snowbird", and the bonus tracks "Where Did They Go Lord?", "It Ain't No Big Thing" and "If I Were You".

Great stuff. Buy this, then start saving for the forthcoming THAT'S THE WAY IT IS 3-CD box for the very best of 70s Elvis.

What more can be said than what has already been. Its great album..from the first track to the last. Plus it comes with bonus tracks that weren't part of the album's original release back in the 70's and the sound has been digitally remastered....

Elvis singing country is still Elvis. This is a beautiful album. Elvis sings country as well as rock and roll. I would recommend it to all Elvis fans. My reason for the 4 star rating instead of the 5 stars is the medley between the album songs. To me, it was a distraction.