Suspicious Minds in Aloha

[Ciscoking]

Besides a few tracks I never liked Aloha very much...too much TV customized...and Elvis doing just his job...not more...not less...

[Eggrert]

But, when did Elvis ever deliver a live performance of the song that reflected the original hit single?

I guess it doesn't exactly "reflect" the studio version, but the version on In Person is an absolute corker, and I'd argue that it actually surpasses the single. They're two different beasts, though.

[samses]

The song was never as good live as the studio version. They rushed it and Burton made an own riff instead of the fantastic one on the studio version. Jerry Schaeff played another bass line and the song did not benefit from that. It was ok in -69 and early -70, but afterwards it was too much Vegas glitz.

[Fabbe]

The master take is magnificent - the live versions are fun and probably worked well in a live context . Up to Msg shows I enjoy it - later no.


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[GERRY]

I love this version, just different style but masterful. Voice is great too.

To me Aloha doesn't look dated and Elvis doesn't look like a parody of his former self even if the performances are restrained.

Also the rehearsal with Elvis looking just brilliant is awesone.

[jurasic1968]

Elvis doesn't look like a parody of his former self but Suspicious Minds from Aloha is far away in quality from the TTWII version, in my opinion.

[Pete Dube]

I don't and have never considered the Aloha SM bad, but it is an at best mediocre rendition. The reason for that is Elvis is so clearly just going thru the motions on the tune.

[Lohmax]

When there was nothing else to choose from, I still listened to Aloha but I was never a fan of it or the songs as they were performed there. Suspicious Minds, along with most of the songs were tame, Elvis sounded too relaxed (bored), he didn't move and looked pancake-faced. I was surprised how much better the rehearsal was when it came out. If you look at the pictures taken around the Aloha concert, he looked super slim.

Anyway, I digress. This is not a good version and I think Elvis hid his nervousness behind this relaxed mask (allegedly the result of a shot that he received prior to the concert but that may be BS).

[egilj]

I'll never forget my disappointment when I got the 70s box, looked at the tracklist for Disc 5, and popped the CD into my player, expecting a kick-ass version of Suspicious Minds, one of the great Elvis songs. What I heard instead was a limp, lifeless, joyless, emotionless track that I never wanted to hear again.

If Elvis was going to throw away songs like this, I'd rather he just filled up the setlist with stuff that he actually wanted to sing. Sure, you might not like the style of songs like It's Over and You Gave Me A Mountain, but at least he invested himself in them. There's a certain irony in that the slow songs in Aloha were almost invariably more energetic than the fast ones.

Cant argue that. At only 38, Elvis just didnt want to rock and roll anymore.

I've mentioned this before: I think Elvis bought into the conventional wisdom that was still in vogue in the 70s that rock and roll was strictly youth music. I think he saw Aloha partly as a way to showcase his transition from kids music to 'adult' music, which is why he put his all into the ballads and sang the rock and roll songs as throwaways.

You're absolutely right, and this perspective is often ignored or simply not understood by quite a few members on this forum.

[a mess of polk salad]

I have read people say that Suspicious Minds in Aloha is a lazy lifeless performance of the song. I don't think it's that bad. he doesn't move like he did in 1970 but I like the way he sang it and the music sounded good. Thoughts?

I like it. The rehearsal version is good too. Love the karate moves at the end...

[Domino]

I have no problem watching the SM performance from Aloha.
I've always watched that concert thinking he deliberately tamed down the whole stage show,maybe because he was told to since it was live TV and maybe they didn't want him to look all disheveled ,sweat soaked and totally beat.Never thought he was giving a true concert experience .Maybe that's just me .
But If this was true then it really was the opposite to what I would think should happen in a concert that is basically a round the world tour in one show for parts of the world that never experienced the Elvis concert.
Still,I like the concert as is.

[Eggrert]

I think he saw Aloha partly as a way to showcase his transition from kids music to 'adult' music, which is why he put his all into the ballads and sang the rock and roll songs as throwaways.

Interesting theory, but I'm afraid I just can't buy it. If that was really his intention, he would have cut the "kids' music" from his setlist altogether after Aloha. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

[Hobbes]

I think he saw Aloha partly as a way to showcase his transition from kids music to 'adult' music, which is why he put his all into the ballads and sang the rock and roll songs as throwaways.

Interesting theory, but I'm afraid I just can't buy it. If that was really his intention, he would have cut the "kids' music" from his setlist altogether after Aloha. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

He sang them mostly as throwaways, as if he were embarrassed to be performing them.

[charro1971]

Only after listening to Elvis' performances of Suspicious Minds in 1969 and 1970, do you realise that the Aloha version is terrible.

[Johnny2523]

Only after listening to Elvis' performances of Suspicious Minds in 1969 and 1970, do you realise that the Aloha version is terrible.

not really, even after the 1972 MSG performance the difference in 8 months is sad.

[Eggrert]

Only after listening to Elvis' performances of Suspicious Minds in 1969 and 1970, do you realise that the Aloha version is terrible.

No frame of reference is needed to realize that the Aloha version of SM is terrible.

[elvis1977br]

IMO

See See Rider : sleepy.
Burning Love : Ok.
Something : Fair.
You Gave Me A Mountain : Good.
Steamroller Blues : Fair.
My Way : Good.
Love Me : Trivial.
Johnny B. Goode : Ok.
It's Over : Great!
Blue Suede Shoes : Weak.
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry : Good.
I Can't Stop Loving You : Ok.
Hound Dog : weak.
What Now My Love : Great!
Fever : boring.
Welcome To My World : Good.
Suspicious Minds : Weak.
Intros (2:42)
I'll Remember You: Good.
Long Tall Sally/Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On : Good.
An American Trilogy : Great!
A Big Hunk O'Love : Great!
Can't Help Falling In Love : Trivial.

Ok show, nothing to brag about.

[fn2drive]

Elvis was bored to tears by Jan 73. If you pick Aloha a part piece by piece it is pretty inferior. But on the whole even given his voice wasnt what it was 2 1/2 years earlier, 50 minutes live to a worldwide audience no lip synching, it was pretty remarkable. Certainly he looked better than on tour. While it was n TTWII, it was also a single performance. Suspicious Minds was fine. Elvis was bored by the song but watching in context nothing to be embarrassed by. That would come later.

[Eggrert]

IMO

See See Rider : sleepy.
Burning Love : Ok.
Something : Fair.
You Gave Me A Mountain : Good.
Steamroller Blues : Fair.
My Way : Good.
Love Me : Trivial.
Johnny B. Goode : Ok.
It's Over : Great!
Blue Suede Shoes : Weak.
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry : Good.
I Can't Stop Loving You : Ok.
Hound Dog : weak.
What Now My Love : Great!
Fever : boring.
Welcome To My World : Good.
Suspicious Minds : Weak.
Intros (2:42)
I'll Remember You: Good.
Long Tall Sally/Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On : Good.
An American Trilogy : Great!
A Big Hunk O'Love : Great!
Can't Help Falling In Love : Trivial.

Ok show, nothing to brag about.

IMHO:

Great Aloha performances:
Steamroller Blues
It's Over
What Now My Love

Good/decent Aloha performances:
You Gave Me A Mountain
My Way
Fever
Welcome To My World
An American Trilogy

Crappy Aloha performances:
All the rest


I do admit that I have a particular soft spot for the rehearsal version of Can't Help Falling In Love. And the post-show songs are mostly awesome.

[elvis-fan]

I'll never forget my disappointment when I got the 70s box, looked at the tracklist for Disc 5, and popped the CD into my player, expecting a kick-ass version of Suspicious Minds, one of the great Elvis songs. What I heard instead was a limp, lifeless, joyless, emotionless track that I never wanted to hear again.

If Elvis was going to throw away songs like this, I'd rather he just filled up the setlist with stuff that he actually wanted to sing. Sure, you might not like the style of songs like It's Over and You Gave Me A Mountain, but at least he invested himself in them. There's a certain irony in that the slow songs in Aloha were almost invariably more energetic than the fast ones.

Cant argue that. At only 38, Elvis just didnt want to rock and roll anymore.

I've mentioned this before: I think Elvis bought into the conventional wisdom that was still in vogue in the 70s that rock and roll was strictly youth music. I think he saw Aloha partly as a way to showcase his transition from kids music to 'adult' music, which is why he put his all into the ballads and sang the rock and roll songs as throwaways.

You're absolutely right, and this perspective is often ignored or simply not understood by quite a few members on this forum.

I absolutely understand what Hobbes is saying but they give Elvis far too much credit... Elvis was "putting his all" into or just simply performing ballads during his show and throwing away the 50's hits long before Aloha From Hawaii... he lost interest in going above and beyond when it came to the content of his stage show after the summer of 1970 IMO

[stevelecher]

Eggrert: American Trilogy was considered THE highlight, the piece de resistance of Aloha and that is justified. It is majestic. You list it as the equal of Fever and Welcome To My World. Don't think so.

I just don't understand how anyone here can listen to Suspicious Minds and think it's OK, a bit toned down, fine or adequate. He sings it in his most nasal, uninterested tone and he couldn't show it less respect. No non-fan watches it and thinks it's pretty good. MSG is lazy and this is abysmal.

I usually like fn2drive's posts, but his amazement that Elvis did a 50 minute live concert without lip synching (remarkable) seems like an over the top appraisal. Any real pro should be able to do his usual concert on TV. It would have been much more remarkable had Elvis done his hit songs with the same power and professionalism he exhibited on the big ballad songs. Johnny B. Goode should have sounded as powerful here as it did on In Person.

[FrankieRider2]

I always liked the band in Aloha...I thought they pretty much knocked it out of the park that show.

As for Elvis, I've always been at odds as to what was wrong during that show. SM would have been more passable had it been finished off strongly, karate or no. The ending of the rehearsal show version was much better. And, yes, to the casual fan who may have been watching it was probably fine. For those who had witnessed earlier versions, it was a definite downer.

[Eggrert]

Eggrert: American Trilogy was considered THE highlight, the piece de resistance of Aloha and that is justified. It is majestic. You list it as the equal of Fever and Welcome To My World. Don't think so.

There's no account for taste, I suppose. The Aloha version just doesn't do it for me - though, to be fair, it's probably because I always compare it to the Hampton Roads version and find myself disappointed when it comes up short. I do prefer the Aloha version to the single, though.

By the same token, I rated the Aloha version of My Way higher before I heard the Rapid City version...for what it's worth.

[Hobbes]

Eggrert: American Trilogy was considered THE highlight, the piece de resistance of Aloha and that is justified. It is majestic. You list it as the equal of Fever and Welcome To My World. Don't think so.

There's no account for taste, I suppose. The Aloha version just doesn't do it for me - though, to be fair, it's probably because I always compare it to the Hampton Roads version and find myself disappointed when it comes up short. I do prefer the Aloha version to the single, though.

By the same token, I rated the Aloha version of My Way higher before I heard the Rapid City version...for what it's worth.

He did sing Trilogy better at Hampton Roads. His voice was stronger in general in April 1972 than it was in January 1973. But the visuals for the Aloha version are stunning. It took him a little while to find his confidence as Aloha began & by Trilogy he had found his groove.

[r&b]

The general consensus here is that SM from Aloha is not very good. So as a someone who does not collect soundboards, or most concerts after 1970, my question is, is there a worse version out there from another show?