Customer Reviews

Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters

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By the 1970's, the psychedelia of the decade before had written Elvis out of pop culture, and he was now operating outside of rock 'n' roll instead of helping to shape it. Nonetheless, the King re-dedicated himself to his craft. Elvis was working hard, but no longer felt the need to prove his worth to a world that now looked past him; he just made music to please himself. There were the vices & forces that were both lifting him up and dragging him down (the Colonel, drugs, Priscilla, food, Vegas, money, the Memphis Mafia), and it was reflected in his music: sometimes his singing was inspired, and other times he sounded exhausted. RCA has managed to assemble his best accomplishments from that era for this box set. Throughout the dozens of songs here, he sounds relaxed yet in command. The uptempo songs are outweighed by the ballads, but Elvis seems comfortable and sounds natural at all times.

Discs 1 & 2 contain all his singles and B-sides; this is where his most recognizable material appears ("Always On My Mind", "Burning Love"). Discs 3 & 4 collect "studio highlights" that display the King both in sharp focus at and mischevious play. Disc 5 is a concert disc where Elvis makes his already-familiar material sound fresh for the audience, even if he occasionally sounds a bit tired. His version of "Never Been To Spain" is a great concert highlight (I've enjoyed disc 5 more than other reviewers). What is most amazing is how easily Elvis navigates himself through so many styles. Song after song we hear him simmering down into varied grooves. Old-school blues with "Steamroller Blues", glossy rockabilly on "Promised Land", easy folk with "I'm Leavin'", slow-burning drama on "Make the World Go Away", and even some funk(!) with "If You Could Talk In Your Sleep." Who else can take a common country standard like "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" and turn it into his own soulful meditation on aging? "Moody Blue" could only be described as country-disco, and yet the song works! Even when adapting known classics (Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and two Beatles tunes), he gives the song the energy and respect it deserves.

Lastly, people seldom give Elvis credit for his ability and desire to serve as his own producer. Elvis tailored & arranged every song he recorded to his own liking (whereas Sinatra deferred to his conductors). An ironic element is that every song here has Elvis incorporating a heavy arrangement of drums, bass, piano/organ, rhythm & lead guitars, back-up vocals, strings and horns - and yet it never sounds crowded, garish or overdone (others may disagree, decide for yourself). Ultimately, this is a box set for die-hard fans who've purchased the 50's and 60's retrospectives and are craving for more. "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" is a strong argument that the King was - for better or worse - still kicking & screaming with music, even towards the very end.

When I was born Elvis Presley was just another fresh high school graduate driving a truck. So this whole "Elvis thing" passed me by. I do remember liking "Return To Sender" as a child in the early 1960's and I liked his movies in a goofy sort of way. But even watching his "comeback" special on NBC during its premiere broadcast in 1968, I still couldn't see what all the fuss was about. As the 1970's progressed reactions to Elvis generally fell into two groups: there were those who adored him and there were those who laughed at him. Images of an increasingly corpulent and sweating Elvis provided living evidence to those who believed Elvis ceased to matter long ago. As John Lennon remarked, as far as he was concerned Elvis died when he entered the army.

Indeed, there is one school of thought that holds that the true mother lode of Elvis' greatness is to be found on his early Sun recordings. Many hold to this stance so strongly that they view Elvis' signing to RCA as a commercial sellout that ruined his genius. They do not deny that Elvis had several great singles; but on balance they see him as a cheap, used up failure after 1956.

Needless to say, this is an extreme view that I believe is unfairly harsh. (Playing by the same rules, one could just as easily say that John Lennon "died" when he left the Beatles.) Still, with the advent of the British invasion in 1964 and the explosion of new musical directions, Elvis no longer set the tone of American music. Instead, much of the tone was set for him.

It is easy to think of several important singles Elvis released in the 1960's: "Stuck On You", "It's Now Or Never", "Can't Help Falling In Love", "Viva Las Vegas", "Guitar Man", "U.S. Male" and my personal favorite "Suspicious Minds". Yet with the single exception of "Burning Love", it is difficult to remember much of 1970's Elvis. One is more inclined to think that by this time Elvis had been reduced to Vegas appearances and concert shows in modest markets. Thus you are tempted to think a box set devoted to this period would be an exercise in over kill. But time changes everything.

It has been nearly thirty years since Presley's death and since that time a lot of dust has settled to where we can begin to get some perspective. I will never meet Elvis. I will never see him in concert. It is unlikely I will ever meet anyone who knew him personally. I am not interested in going to Memphis to visit Graceland. I will not stand among the faithful on the anniversary of his death to pass by his grave. But I have come to recognize what a breathtaking singer Elvis was. Elvis has been a presence throughout my life and I have just realized in the past few years the truth that was right in front of me.

And this is the delight of this box set. Even in his last years (when he died he was only 42!), Elvis' voice was still rich and strong. Contrary to popular perception, Elvis maintained an aggressive recording schedule throughout the 1970's up until the day of his death. Twenty-seven singles and twenty albums (minus various re-issues and greatest hits packages) were released.

As the liner notes makes clear, at this point Elvis had nothing to prove to anyone. He could do what he wanted, go where he wanted and sing whatever song he cared to sing. Thus the wide library of material found on these five discs. At once blues, then country, rock, pop, and then gospel. There is rarely a jarring note to jolt the listener away from the sense that Presley had succeeded in making all these different styles and songs his own. Presley had the gift to make you believe that each song came from a real place in his soul.

This gets to an interesting paradox about Elvis. Elvis was not a "confessional" singer of the kind popular in the 1970's. The songs of John Lennon or Joni Mitchell (just to name two) served as a kind of diary of their personal lives often times chronicling the comings and goings of real identifiable lovers. Parading the details of his personal life out on the open stage would have been unthinkable to Presley. Yet at the same time, who can listen to "Suspicious Minds", "Kentucky Rain" and "You Gave Me A Mountain" and not sense that Elvis was really singing about his divorce from Priscilla and the loss of his only daughter, Lisa Marie. Sure, the details may not match; but the emotion underneath does.

Elvis sang and when he sang he gave a small glimce of himself to whoever cared to listen. That he could unerringly somehow tap into that one place in his soul that it came out so beautiful will remain one of the mysteries for the ages. All of the his singles and their B-sides are collected here along with a generous selection of album and concert cuts-plus a number of unreleased tracks. As one who has been fairly immune to the "Elvis Cult" all his life, I have to say I was stunned at how much I enjoyed these CDs.

Elvis was a complex man and one can only wonder what he really made of all the adulation that came his way. It is tragic that there were no Betty Ford Centers for celebrities like Elvis in 1977. If there had been, maybe he would still be with us today. Unfortunately, it took the deaths of people of Elvis' magnitude for such centers to be established. The shame and sordidness of Presley's passing also obscured his real accomplishments and made him the subject of bad jokes and tabloid fodder for years. Perhaps it is only now his gift can be appreciated for what it was.

As this box set proves, Presley's voice was a joy.

Rock critic/author Dave Marsh built his essay accompanying this seminal, revisionist Elvis Presley box set around a pithy, powerful phrase, "Elvis sang." Doing so recalled the Bible verse, "Jesus wept," (John 11:35), describing Jesus' reaction to Lazarus' death before restoring His friend's life. Comparing the King of Kings to the "King of Rock and Roll" plays into hero-worship kitsch, tainting Presley's central role in American history and culture. But they are each compassionate, empathetic reactions, understatements prefacing extraordinary permanent action.

"Walk A Mile In My Shoes," compiles the many highlights from Presley's last seven years in studio and on stage, 110 tracks on five CDs. Its music and photo choices emphasize Elvis at his early-70s' strongest, musically and physically; no Elvis fan asked to commit to this set need see more "fat Elvis" photos or hear painful, half-forgotten live renditions from his last tours. Here is the rewritten final act Presley and his fans deserved.

Elvis reunited generations' musical tastes as painstakingly and completely as he divided them his amazing first years. He reassembled American music's puzzle from jagged pieces of R&B (Sanford Clark's "The Fool," with its fat guitar intro, "Pledging My Love," "If You Talk In Your Sleep," Faye Adams' "Shake A Hand"), traditional blues ("Muddy Water," Got My Mojo Workin'"), C&W/countrypolitan ("For The Good Times," "Green Green Grass of Home," "He'll Have To Go") melodramatic folk and story songs ("Early Morning Rain," the still-astounding "American Trilogy" ), black and Southern gospel music (an assertive "Amazing Grace," a rousing "Talk About The Good Times") and even lounge lizard pop and semi-disco ("Rags To Riches," "It's Impossible," "Moody Blue").

Throughout the years and styles, Presley sang in front of the consistent, versatile, distinctive TCB band (featuring renowned guitarist, James Burton, and underrated bassist Jerry Scheff). Its tight sound, especially on hits like "Promised Land," and a scalding live "Polk Salad Annie," is made even more muscular by Dennis Ferrante's clear remastering, especially on the older live tracks.

Yet within his music's refuge, Presley communicated the loneliness, isolation, and fear that removed him from his own life years before taking him from ours. It came through clearly in his two-sided 1972 hit "Always On My Mind/Separate Ways," but is present throughout cover songs like "It's Still Here," the heartbreaking "I'm Leavin'," 1975's melodramatic but still powerful hit, "My Boy," his live "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (tempered by a punch line about his jumpsuit) and, for that matter, every heartbroken ballad here. As his upbringing demanded and untimely death proved, Elvis Presley sang his sorrow more effectively than he could otherwise express it.

While not as essential musically or historically as RCA's model box set "The Complete 50s Sessions," "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" is nothing if not reassuring. Its statistics, essay, and photos will not convert pop culture ghouls and cynics who've mocked or piggybacked the jump-suited figure on its cover. But those who enjoyed Elvis' music until the end of his life and beyond needed reminding that their affection wasn't just from force of habit or cult of personality. It was for the music, and they deserved the vindication this remarkable, highly recommended set provides.

This box set is a marvellous compilation of probably some of the best Elvis 70s music recorded. I purchased this box set about 5 years ago, at that time it had just been released by RCA/BMG as part of a triple box set edition, (also released are the essential 50s and 60s masters).

Contrary to the ill-informed critics who have persisted in discrediting and ridiculing Elvis music and performances in the 1970s, those of us who have loved and followed the king through it all have realised that his 70s work was probably the most powerful and more thought provoking material than any of the previous teeny bopper era of the mid 50s to late 60s.

This magnificent box set includes 5 CDs with about 120 tracks, it covers most of Elvis early 70s studio and live recordings from his Summer engagement at the Las Vagas Hilton; right through to the Moody Blue sessions (which incidentally were recorded in the jungle room at Graceland due to Elvis ill health and/or refusal to record in the studio). This box set is a wonderful tribute to Elvis and his dynamic and awe-inspiring voice that despite his health and depressed state of mind, never let him down.

Such is the amount and wonderful tracks recorded in the 70s by Elvis that it would be out greatest wish to have seen more officially released recordings of Elvis live performances, (let us not forget Elvis gave about 1100 shows from 1969-1977!!). However I say, enjoy what we have, and what we have here is a collection of music that is truly remarkable and captures the true essence of only one man in the world who many owe a debt of gratitude can be thankful and truly label him the entertainer of the century!!

Thank you very much!

I have thought about purchasing this set for quite some time, and finally decided to do so (Along with the 60s collection). Much of the "King's" best material was done in the 70's (An "American Trilogy, "Danny Boy", and his live version of "The Impossible Dream" to name a few), so it is worth the money spent. The reality is as time goes by (Elvis has been dead for almost 30 years now), he becomes more important then ever before. As music increasingly goes downhill (Rap, dance music, music for teengers (Backstreet Boys, Brittney Spears etc), techo and house music, and of course, hate filled stuff like Marilyn Manson to name a few examples), you go back to the masters for quality: It does not matter if you are talking about Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Patsy Cline, George Strait, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, or of course Elvis, the principle is the same: If you want music that has quality lyrics, that can be entertaining and intelligent, and with people actually playing musical instruments (Instead of using computers), this is where to go.
What I would recommend getting is all three boxed sets (The 50's set as well), his 68 Comeback Special, his 2nd To None (For "If I Can Dream" (My favorite Elvis Song)), and his Hollywood Hits (FOR "Follow That Dream'" and "Kissin' Cousins"), and you will have all the Elvis you will need to last a lifetime.

Even the Amazon.com comments had to mention the stereotypical myth of Elvis as the drug addicted, addled, fat, past his prime crooner. Fact is, Elvis was at his physical and artistic peak between 1969 and 1975. It was only the last 2 or 3 years of his life that Elvis got heavy, and the drugs went out of control. Even during that sad period, his voice continued to grow richer, his range growing as well. Bono characterized Elvis at the end of his life as an "opera singer," which is only a slight exaggeration, as is evident in tracks like "Hurt." The purists aren't going to like this, but Elvis' voice in the 50's was immature, and the sound quality sucked. In the 60's came the horrific movie songs from the horrific movies. So, in the 70's, Elvis' voice was at its peak, the sound was much improved, and for the most part, the songs were awesome--even if most are covers. Most of Elvis' covers are better than the original artist's performance. Elvis was at his very best in the 70's. You can't do better than this box set. It is the best of Elvis' best years.

Towards the end of his life, Elvis was showing signs of burnout and depression, even then, he could still rise to the occassion and belt out a great performance. This is the most comprehensive collection of his 1970's recordings available. It starts off with the classic "The Wonder Of You" and takes you right through all of the singles released before his pre-mature death, several great album cuts and alternate recordings, and a sample of his live show on the last CD. His outstanding performances on "Hurt" and "Moody Blue" show what he was capable of in the months before his death. Makes you think of what might have been...

This is THE compilation of Elvis' 70's recordings (Elvis' most misunderstood musical period, according to the foreword of the booklet). To start with the most important thing: the music. This boxset contains 24 previously unreleased alternate takes/informal rehearsals, including 7 previously unreleased songs ( e.g. A Hundred Years From Now, The Twelfth of Never and I Shall Be Released). These 7 songs alone make it worthwhile for every Elvisfan to buy this set! The box includes EVERY single (A & B side) released between January 1970 and August 1977 (fills 2 discs), studio highlights (1970-1971= 1 disc, 1971-1976= 1 disc)and a selection of some Elvis concerts (from 1970, '72,'73,'74,'77 = 1 disc). The singles are already known by the vast majority of musiclovers, but the studiohighlights are really special, including most of the unreleased material. Included are very powerful versions of "Faded Love", "Tomorrow Never Comes", "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water", "Amazing Grace" and "For The Good Times". Simply Elvis at his best and one of the best studiorecordings ever done by Elvis! Listening to these recordings is (re)discovering why they call Elvis "The King". The fifth disc contains some truly breathtaking live-versions of "Something", "You Gave Me A Mountain", "It's Over" and "Softly As I Leave You" (this one isn't live, but a rehearsal). You can hear his voice range from high to very low with a nice vibrato. The booklet is extremely well documented, including a review written by Dave Marsch, all recording data (including lists of musicians), a separate US and UK discography containing all released singles and albums and pictures of all U.S. albums! All together this box captures a lot of essential 70's recordings and a must have for all Elvisfans around the world.

If you already own the 50's and 60's box sets, naturally this one is a must-have. There are many great tracks, especially those recorded in the early 70's before Elvis got tired of recording albums and started to lose some of the passion in his voice. I had always heard people bad-mouth Elvis's 70's music, but after hearing this collection for the first time I couldn't understand why. Maybe those were the people who only heard the hits. But even the hits like "Burning Love", "Always on my Mind", "I've Lost You", and "Promised Land" were great. There are several B-sides that should've been singles like "Stranger in the Crowd", "You Asked Me To" and "Mary in the Morning". I could've done without the live tracks on disc number five. Live recordings always seem like filler to me. Instead of calling them "live" songs, they should call them "songs that you've already heard but less polished and with people screaming in the background". No thanks. Elvis was supposedly bored with the music business during these last years of his life and the live tracks support that belief. Oh well, there are still tons of great songs here. But this collection is not as complete as the 50's and 60's sets. There are many songs that didn't make it like "Three Corn Patches", "Never Again", "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", and tons more that would have been nice to hear instead of the live stuff. As much as I love this set, I can't help but feel sad thinking about "what might have been". There could've and should've been an 80's and 90's box set. There is no doubt in my mind Elvis would have continued his popularity all these years like Frank Sinatra did. What a shame. This set has a great booklet as well. Beware of other Box Sets other than the "Essential 50's, 60's and 70's". These are the best for your money. The other sets include many "alternate takes". There's a reason why those "alternate takes" were never released. Think about it. To summarize, this collection could have been better, but not by much.

By time 1970 rolled around, Elvis had been a megastar for about 14 years. He didn't have nearly the amounts of hit records that he had more than a decade ago but his concentration was focused on entertaining. During the 1970s, Elvis performed more than 1,000 live shows up until his death in 1977 and during those shows he would of course do the old hits like "Hound Dog" and so on but he always saved his best performances for newer songs.

The first 2 discs of this set feature all of Elvis' single releases in the 1970s which are probably the highest point of the sets. As well as hit tunes like "The Wonder Of You", "Burning Love", "Promised Land", Presley sang his heart out on songs such as "I've Lost You", "The Next Step Is Love", "Always On My Mind" and covers like "Hurt" and "Pledging My Love" which he stamped as his own. Disc 3 is a little weaker than the first two as it contains the better of Elvis' album cuts as well as some nice alternate and informal recordings. Disc 4 is pretty much the same featuring a master recording of "My Way", which some think his live performances are superior to Sinatra's version, as well as the fan favorites "Susan When She Tried", "Are You Sincere", my personal favorite "I've Got A Feeling In My Body" and a single Christmas masterpiece "Merry Christmas Baby". The majority of disc 5 is live performances which rank among his best (especially "Something" and "It's Over"). The final disc closes out with a few rehearsal and informal recordings of some noteworthy tunes but disc 5's brilliance belongs to the live performances.

Sure, the 1970's Elvis can't match his 1960's material and doesn't really come close to his 1950's material but it does show Elvis and his voice fully matured and fully capable to belt out any song he wanted and make it his own.

A definite must have along with the 50's and 60's masters.