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

Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters
Box set by Elvis Presley
Released October 10, 1995 (1995-10-10)
Recorded February 1970–June 1977
Genre Rock
Length 6:12:11
Label RCA Records
Producer Ernst Mikael Jorgensen
Roger Semon
Elvis Presley chronology
Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II
(1995)		 Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters
(1995)		 Elvis 56
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
MusicHound[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[3]
Rough Guides[4]

Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters is a box set five-disc compilation of the recorded work of Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1970s, released in 1995, RCA 66670-2. In its initial format as a long box issue, it included a set of collectable stamps duplicating record jackets from every LP release on RCA Records corresponding to the selections here. It also includes a booklet with an extensive sessionography, discography, and lengthy essay by Dave Marsh, some of it excerpted from his 1982 book on Presley. The box set was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 15, 1999.

Contents

The first two discs present the A and B sides of every single released in the United States by Presley during the decade, with the following exceptions: "Kentucky Rain" b/w "My Little Friend," and the B-side "Mama Liked the Roses," recorded in the 1960s; the gospel single "He Touched Me" b/w "Bosom of Abraham," the gospel b-sides "Only Believe" and "Help Me," already included on his first gospel compilation; and "O Come All Ye Faithful," the flipside to the 1971 Christmas single "Merry Christmas, Baby." His final two singles issued posthumously, the #22 "My Way" b/w "America the Beautiful" from November 1977, and "Unchained Melody" b/w "Softly As I Leave You" from February 1978, are also not included, although "Unchained Melody" is on the fifth disc, and versions of "My Way" and "Softly As I Leave You" are also on other discs in the set. Of the 23 American singles on these discs, 19 made the Top 40, with "The Wonder of You" and "Burning Love" also making the top 10. Included as well are four tracks issued at 45 rpm in Great Britain only: the top ten single "I Just Can't Help Believin'" b/w "How the Web Was Woven," the A-side "Green Green Grass of Home," and "Loving Arms," the British flip side to "My Boy." In the U.S., the "Can't Help Believin'" single appeared as two LP tracks on That's the Way It Is, "Loving Arms" on Good Times, and "Green Grass" on Today.

Discs 3 and 4 compile studio tracks from various albums, with 10 previously unreleased recordings or alternate takes. All but five of the 23 tracks on disc three originate from a single series of sessions, held over four days during June 1970, at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. A facsimile of the album "Elvis Country" can be assembled from this disc, minus the lead single, "I Really Don't Want to Know" b/w "There Goes My Everything," included on disc 1. Disc 4 continues highlights through Presley's final studio session, at home in Graceland on October 30, 1976. It also includes a take of "Merry Christmas Baby" shorter than the album track but longer than the single, as well as two songs by Bob Dylan, "I Shall Be Released" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," and a master studio take of the Sinatra signature song, "My Way."

The fifth disc approximates a Presley stage show typical to the era, taken mostly from shows in 1970 and 1972, with 21 songs running to about an hour. Eleven of the concert tracks are previously unreleased, "Reconsider Baby" and "I'll Remember You" originating from the matinee show at Madison Square Garden issued in 1997 on An Afternoon in the Garden. The disc does not open, as Presley shows often did, with the introduction to Strauss' tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra, played by the backing orchestra to announce the entrance of Elvis. The rock and roll instrumental support consists of the TCB Band, in addition to Presley's usual coterie of back-up vocalists, and the orchestra led by Joe Guercio. The final five songs present a "rehearsal" for the show, deriving from informal recordings made at actual rehearsals at RCA Studios in Hollywood in preparation for Elvis: That's the Way It Is and for a summer 1974 engagement in Las Vegas.

RCA issued two similarly configured box set companions, one for the 1950s, and another for the 1960s, the former his complete known masters from that decade, and the latter set chronicling his non-soundtrack/non-gospel recordings from the second decade of his career. Additional two-disc sets featuring his complete gospel recordings and selections from his soundtracks were also issued under this series. Unlike the first two decades collections, however, the compilers of Walk a Mile in My Shoes chose not to collect every studio recording Presley made during his final decade, choosing to focus on the singles, a sampling of "studio highlights" and an example of his live work.

Professional studio recordings made at RCA Studio B in Nashville, RCA Studio C in Hollywood, Stax Studio in Memphis, and in the Jungle Room at Graceland. Live recordings from The International Hotel in Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden in New York, the H.I.C. Arena in Honolulu, and the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Original recordings produced by Felton Jarvis. "Are You Sincere" recorded at Elvis' home in Palm Springs, California, and produced by Presley.

Purpose

After the success of his television special in 1968, the album From Elvis in Memphis and the chart-topping single "Suspicious Minds" in 1969, Presley took himself off the treadmill of churning out the motion pictures that had become his public identity in the 1960s, and returned full-time to music. During the course of the 1970s, in addition to the abovementioned singles, 41 Presley albums appeared in the U.S. prior to the deluge of reissues and vault releases after his death: seven new compilations on RCA, including The Sun Sessions; nine compilations on the budget RCA Camden label, including an altered reissue of the 1957 Christmas album; two additional compilations on the bargain bin Picwick label; four more reissues; six concert documents, including Having Fun with Elvis on Stage and the posthumous Elvis in Concert; and thirteen original albums of new material, with one Christmas LP and one gospel LP among them.

As seen from the chart positions in the discography, public reaction to Presley's output during this period was mixed, in part owing to the sheer volume of released items. Unlike the fifties box, Walk a Mile in My Shoes cherry-picks the material in three sections - commercial singles, choice album cuts, and live performance. Winnowing down the selections argues for the continued vitality of Presley's work in this period. As stated by Marsh in the liner notes:

Elvis' Seventies music has been picked at and picked over, issued and reissued, discussed, dissected, distorted, displayed, and dismissed. But it's only now, gathered into one place, that it kind of makes you gulp a bit to realize how productive he was in the last six years of his life...Certainly, Elvis' albums lack the structural integrity of some other artists recording in this period - which is one reason a box set such as this can in fact present a clearer picture of his music than weeding through all his discs one by one.[5]

Collective personnel

Track listing

Chart positions for albums from the Billboard 200; positions for singles from the Billboard Hot 100, except as indicated. Certain tracks listed as unreleased on the insert card of the jewel cases are unedited masters of issued tracks, or without later overdubs; those are indicated with an asterisk and listed with the original issue information for the released master.

Disc one: The Singles

Track Recorded Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 2/18/70 47-9835 4/20/70 #9 The Wonder of You Baker Knight 2:34
2. 6/4/70 47-9873 7/14/70 #32 I've Lost You Alan Blaikley and Ken Howard 3:30
3. 6/7/70 47-9873b 7/14/70 The Next Step Is Love Paul Evans and Paul Parnes 3:31
4. 6/6/70 47-9916 10/6/70 #11 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me Vicki Wickham, Simon Napier-Bell, Pino Donaggio, Vito Pallavicini 2:30
5. 6/8/70 47-9916b 10/6/70 Patch It Up Eddie Rabbitt and Rory Bourke 3:08
6. 6/7/70 47-9960 12/8/70 #21 I Really Don't Want to Know Howard Barnes and Don Robertson 2:54
7. 6/8/70 47-9960b 12/8/70 There Goes My Everything Dallas Frazier 2:58
8. 9/22/70 47-9980 2/3/71 #33 Rags to Riches Richard Adler and Jerry Ross 1:54
9. 9/22/70 47-9980b 2/3/71 Where Did They Go, Lord Dallas Frazier and A.L. "Doodle" Owens 2:27
10. 6/6/70 47-9985 5/25/71 #53 Life Shirl Milete 3:10
11. 5/20/71 47-9998 6/22/71 #36 I'm Leavin' Michael Jarrett and Sonny Charles 3:51
12. 6/6/70 47-9998b 6/22/71 Heart of Rome Alan Blaikley, Ken Howard, Geoff Stephens 2:53
13. 5/20/71 48-1017 9/21/71 #51 It's Only Love Mark James and Steve Tyrell 2:41
14. 6/4/70 48-1017b 9/21/71 The Sound of Your Cry Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye 3:17
15. 8/11/70 2158 11/71 UK #6 I Just Can't Help Believin' Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann 4:34
16. 6/5/70 2158b 11/71 How the Web Was Woven David Most and Clive Westlake 3:25
17. 5/17/71 74-0619 1/4/72 #40 Until It's Time for You to Go Buffy Sainte-Marie 2:17
18. 5/20/71 74-0619b 1/4/72 We Can Make the Morning Jay Ramsey 3:54
19. 2/16/72 74-0672 4/4/72 #66 An American Trilogy Mickey Newbury 4:30
20. 3/15/71 74-0672b 4/4/72 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Ewan MacColl 3:42
21. 3/28/72 74-0769 8/1/72 #2 Burning Love Dennis Linde 2:50
22. 3/29/72 74-0769b 8/1/72 It's a Matter of Time Clive Westlake 3:02
23. 3/27/72 74-0815 10/31/72 #20 Separate Ways Red West and Richard Mainegra 2:36

Disc two: The Singles

Track Recorded Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 3/29/72 74-0815b 10/31/72 Always on My Mind Johnny Christopher, Mark James, Wayne Carson 3:37
2. 3/28/72 74-0910b 3/4/73 Fool Carl Sigman and James Last 3:30
3. 1/14/73 74-0910 3/4/73 #17 Steamroller Blues James Taylor 3:04
4. 7/23/73 APBO 0088 9/22/73 #41 Raised On Rock Mark James 2:38
5. 7/23/73 APBO 0088b 9/22/73 For Ol' Times Sake Tony Joe White 3:36
6. 7/22/73 APBO 0196 1/11/74 #39 I've Got a Thing About You Baby Tony Joe White 2:20
7. 7/21/73 APBO 0196b 1/11/74 Take Good Care of Her Arthur Kent and Edward C. Warren 2:51
8. 12/11/73 APBO 0280 5/10/74 #17 If You Talk in Your Sleep Red West and Johnny Christopher 2:34
9. 12/15/73 PB 10074 9/27/74 #14 Promised Land Chuck Berry 2:55
10. 12/10/73 PB 10074b 9/27/74 It's Midnight Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Chesnut 3:21
11. 12/13/73 PB 10191 1/4/75 #20 My Boy Bill Martin, Jean-Pierre Bourtrayre, Phil Coulter, Claude Francois 3:19
12. 12/13/73 2548b 10/74 Loving Arms Tom Jans 2:50
13. 3/11/75 PB 10278 4/22/75 #35 T-R-O-U-B-L-E Jerry Chesnut and Steve Tyrell 3:02
14. 12/12/73 PB 10278b 4/23/75 Mr. Songman Donnie Summer 2:07
15. 3/12/75 PB 10401 9/30/75 Bringing It Back Greg Gordon 3:00
16. 3/12/75 PB 10401b 9/30/75 Pieces of My Life Troy Seals 4:03
17. 3/10/75 2635 11/75 UK #29 Green Green Grass of Home Curly Putman 3:35
18. 12/12/73 PB 10191b 1/4/75 Thinking About You Tim Baty 3:00
19. 2/5/76 PB 10601 3/12/76 #28 Hurt Jimmie Crane and Al Jacobs 2:06
20. 2/5/76 PB 10601b 3/12/76 For the Heart Dennis Linde 3:22
21. 2/4/76 PB 10857 11/29/76 #31 Moody Blue Mark James 3:22
22. 2/2/76 PB 10857b 11/29/76 She Thinks I Still Care Dickey Lee 3:51
23. 10/29/76 PB 10998 6/6/77 #18 Way Down Layng Martine Jr. 2:38
24. 10/29/76 PB 10998b 6/6/77 Pledging My Love Don Robey and Ferdinand Washington 2:50

Disc three: Studio Highlights 1970-1971

Track Recorded Original Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 6/4/70 That's the Way It Is LSP 4445 11/11/70 #21 Twenty Days and Twenty Nights Scott Weisman and Clive Westlake 3:15
2. 6/4/70 Elvis Now LSP 4460 2/20/72 #43 I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago Traditional 3:28
3. 6/4/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4671 1/2/71 #12 The Fool Naomi Ford and Lee Hazlewood 2:24
4. 6/4/70 previously unreleased A Hundred Years from Now Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs 1:40
5. 6/4/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Little Cabin on the Hill Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt 1:47
6. 6/4/70 Love Letters from Elvis LSP 4530 6/16/71 #33 Cindy Cindy Dolores Fuller, Buddy Kaye, Ben Weisman 2:31
7. 6/5/70 That's the Way It Is LSP 4445 11/11/70 #21 Bridge Over Troubled Water Paul Simon 4:29
8. 6/5/70 Love Letters from Elvis LSP 4530 6/16/71 #33 Got My Mojo Working/Keep Your Hands Off of It Preston Foster, Elvis Presley 4:34
9. 6/5/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 It's Your Baby You Rock It Shirl Milete and Nora Fowler 2:59
10. 6/5/70 That's the Way It Is LSP 4445 11/11/70 #21 Stranger in the Crowd Winfield Scott 3:47
11. 6/5/70 That's the Way It Is LSP 4445 11/11/70 #21 Mary in the Morning Johnny Cymbal and Michael Rashkow 4:11
12. 6/6/70 Love Letters from Elvis LSP 4530 6/16/71 #33 It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing) Shorty Hall, Alice Joy Merritt, Neal Merritt 2:46
13. 6/6/70 That's the Way It Is LSP 4445 11/11/70 #21 Just Pretend Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett 4:02
14. 6/7/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Faded Love* Bob Wills and Johnnie Lee Wills 4:06
15. 6/7/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Tomorrow Never Comes* Johnny Bond and Ernest Tubb 4:04
16. 6/7/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Make the World Go Away Hank Cochran 3:35
17. 6/7/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Funny How Time Slips Away Willie Nelson 4:19
18. 6/7/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water* Joe Babcock 4:57
19. 9/22/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Snowbird Gene MacLellan 2:04
20. 9/22/70 "Elvis Country" LSP 4460 1/2/71 #12 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On Dave "Curly" Williams and Sunny David 3:02
21. 3/15/71 He Touched Me LSP 4690 4/3/72 #79 Amazing Grace* Traditional 3:26
22. 3/15/71 Elvis APL1 0283 7/16/73 #52 (That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me Gordon Lightfoot 2:08
23. 5/17/71 previously unreleased Lady Madonna John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1:20

Disc four: Studio Highlights 1971-1976

Track Recorded Original Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 5/15/71 Wonderful World of Christmas LSP 4579 10/20/71 Merry Christmas, Baby Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore 5:43
2. 5/20/71 previously unreleased I Shall Be Released Bob Dylan 0:48
3. 5/16/71 Elvis APL1 0283 7/16/73 #52 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right* Bob Dylan 4:00
4. 5/19/71 Elvis APL1 0283 7/16/73 #52 It's Still Here* Ivory Joe Hunter 3:29
5. 5/19/71 Elvis APL1 0283 7/16/73 #52 I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen* Thomas P. Westendorf 2:28
6. 5/19/71 Elvis APL1 0283 7/16/73 #52 I Will Be True Ivory Joe Hunter 2:34
7. 6/10/71 previously unreleased My Way Paul Anka, Claude Francois, Jacques Revaux 4:32
8. 3/27/72 previously unreleased For the Good Times Kris Kristofferson 3:11
9. 7/22/73 Raised on Rock APL1 0388 10/1/73 #50 Just a Little Bit Ralph Bass, Buster Brown, John Thornton, Fats Washington 2:31
10. 7/21/73 previously unreleased It's Diff'rent Now Clive Westlake 2:31
11. 9/23/73 Raised on Rock APL1 0388 10/1/73 #50 Are You Sincere Wayne Walker 1:59
12. 12/10/73 Good Times CPL1 0475 3/20/74 #90 I Got A Feelin' in My Body Dennis Linde 3:33
13. 12/11/73 Promised Land APL1 0873 1/8/75 #47 You Asked Me To Waylon Jennings and Billy Joe Shaver 2:52
14. 12/13/73 Good Times CPL1 0475 3/20/74 #90 Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues Danny O'Keefe 3:12
15. 12/14/73 Good Times CPL1 0475 3/20/74 #90 Talk About the Good Times Jerry Reed Hubbard 2:36
16. 3/11/75 previously unreleased Tiger Man Lewis Burns, Al Lewis, Joe Hill Louis 3:05
17. 3/10/75 Today APL1 1039 5/7/75 #57 I Can Help Billy Swan 4:02
18. 3/11/75 Today APL1 1039 5/7/75 #57 Susan When She Tried Don Reid 2:16
19. 3/11/75 Today APL1 1039 5/7/75 #57 Shake a Hand Joe Morris 3:48
20. 2/2/76 unreleased alternate take She Thinks I Still Care Dickey Lee 3:26
21. 2/5/76 From Elvis Presley Boulevard APL1 1506 4/20/76 #41 Danny Boy Frederick Weatherly 3:56
22. 2/6/76 From Elvis Presley Boulevard APL1 1506 4/20/76 #41 Love Coming Down Jerry Chesnut 3:06
23. 10/30/76 Moody Blue AFL1 2428 7/19/77 #3 He'll Have to Go Joe Allison and Audrey Allison 4:30

Disc five: The Elvis Presley Show

Track Recorded Original Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 2/18/70 On Stage: February 1970 LSP 4362 6/23/70 #13 See See Rider Traditional 2:23
2. 8/11/70 previously unreleased Men With Broken Hearts Hank Williams 0:31
3. 2/19/70 On Stage: February 1970 LSP 4362 6/23/70 #13 Walk A Mile In My Shoes Joe South 2:57
4. 2/18/70 On Stage: February 1970 LSP 4362 6/23/70 #13 Polk Salad Annie Tony Joe White 4:46
5. 2/17/70 On Stage: February 1970 LSP 4362 6/23/70 #13 Let It Be Me Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë 3:28
6. 2/16/70 On Stage: February 1970 LSP 4362 6/23/70 #13 Proud Mary John Fogerty 2:30
7. 8/11/70 previously unreleased Something George Harrison 3:40
8. 8/12/70 That's the Way It Is LSP 4445 11/11/70 #21 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Phil Spector 4:23
9. 8/11/70 previously unreleased Heartbreak Hotel Mae Axton, Tommy Durden, Elvis Presley 1:41
10. 8/12/70 previously unreleased I Was the One Aaron Schroeder, Claude DeMetrius, Hal Blair, Bill Peppers 1:19
11. 8/11/70 previously unreleased One Night Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King, Anita Steiman 1:47
12. 2/16/72 previously unreleased Never Been to Spain Hoyt Axton 3:28
13. 2/16/72 previously unreleased You Gave Me a Mountain Marty Robbins 3:15
14. 2/16/72 Elvis APL1 0283 7/16/73 #52 It's Impossible Armando Manzanero and Sid Wayne 2:52
15. 2/16/72 previously unreleased A Big Hunk o' Love Aaron Schroeder and Sidney Wyche 2:02
16. 2/17/72 previously unreleased It's Over Jimmie F. Rodgers 2:20
17. 2/17/72 He Walks Beside Me AFL1 2772 2/78 #113 The Impossible Dream Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh 2:29
18. 6/10/72 previously unreleased Reconsider Baby Lowell Fulsom 2:41
19. 6/10/72 previously unreleased I'll Remember You Kui Lee 2:35
20. 1/14/73 Aloha From Hawaii: Via Satellite VPSX 6089 2/4/73 #1 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry Hank Williams 2:15
21. 1/14/73 Aloha From Hawaii: Via Satellite VPSX 6089 2/4/73 #1 Suspicious Minds Mark James 4:29
22. 4/24/77 Moody Blue AFL1 2428 7/19/77 #3 Unchained Melody Alex North and Hy Zaret 2:27
23. 8/16/74 unreleased rehearsal The Twelfth of Never Jay Livingston and Paul Francis Webster 2:39
24. 8/16/74 unreleased rehearsal Softly As I Leave You Giorgio Calabrese, Antonio deVita, Hal Shaper 2:14
25. 7/15/70 unreleased rehearsal Allá en el Rancho Grande Silvano Ramos, Del Moral, Urange 2:04
26. 7/29/70 unreleased rehearsal Froggy Went A-Courting Traditional 2:15
27. 7/24/70 unreleased rehearsal Stranger in My Own Home Town Percy Mayfield 4:37

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Elvis Presley Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters". AllMusic. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  2. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 891. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  3. ↑ McGee, David. "Elvis Presley: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ Simpson, Paul (2004). The Rough Guide to Elvis. London: Rough Guides. p. 163. ISBN 1-84353-417-7.
  5. ↑ Marsh, Dave, Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters insert booklet, p. 5 and p.32
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.