Suspicious Minds in Aloha

[matilda]

Or you will be banned.listen to the master of ceremonies.
I tell 'ya.

[ICanHelp]

And for the life of me, I cant figure why that is. Must be strictly 70's fans. The edge was gone by 1971

Yes, sad but true. And for the "Aloha" project his dedication to each song was also MIA.

To the contrary, Elvis sang certain songs with great conviction (e.g., Trilogy, I'm So Lonesome, What Now My Love). I, however, agree he mumbled away Suspicious Minds, which was a shame.

You misread my point. A great performance is a dedication to EACH song. "Aloha" does not show us this. His performances in earlier years does show us such conviction.

Anyone else getting uncomfortable with this treatment of PMP2 -- the hearts in the eyes smilies, calling him "Shaney," etc.? Probably just my imagination. I am sure some of his best friends are gay.

No, it's just you. The light-hearted replies I occasionally post are based on the fact that he often singles out my posts for critical comments, no matter how many have entered the discussion. He follows me around, that is a fact.

More importantly, your implication is DEEPLY OFFENSIVE. I have never made light of ANYONE'S orientation and have ALWAYS condemned those members on the forum who have posted prejudicial statements. Do not make such a mistake again, it is really uncool.

I read what you wrote, which was ambiguous at best. Now that you have clarified, I agree with your point. I have been a consistent critic of Elvis' Aloha performance, which I find vastly inferior to the MSG shows only months earlier, and to many of the 74 and 75 concerts that followed.

"Uncool" is the way you treat nearly every member of this Forum. Your inexplicable behavior costs you the respect you should garner for your almost unparalleled knowledge of all things Elvis and your unquestionably positive contributions to this Board. It's a shame and a waste.

[Fabbe]

Can anyone provide another example of a human voice that changed so much so often?

Ref:- Love letters 66 vs 70 Elvis voice had changed imho. What is incredible for me is vocals like Jailhouse Rock, probably a couple of years later his voice had changed so much that he couldn't sing that the same either. It's now or never and so many others. If i can dream, etc. Aloha is just another example his voice had changed and he chose to emphasise material like Something, What now my love, it's over, etc rather than suspicious minds.

best examples are "guitar man" or "let yourself go" - so close in time and yet so different. To me, I think - up to 1970 - it was not the voice that changed, but the singer. He decided to use it differently and experiments new sounds. After 1970-71 I am not sure what was an artistic choice and what was a work around the problems drugs were creating..

No, also the voice. I don't think if he tried to rerecord "thats someone you never forget" in 1969 in the same voice like 1961 that he would have succeeded on that. It would have sounded different.
Hell, even fever would have sounded different in 1967....not by choice, but because his voice changed.

I am not sure it is possible for a voice to chance that much by itself in a couple of years (have other examples?). But it is possible for a singer to sound different. In fact you hear different sounds in the same year (take"let me" and "peace in the valley")

It is. Why with elvis.....a mystery. But its a fact . His silkness from 1961 was not in his voice in , say, 1969 anymore.
His voice changed. Sometimes even in the same year. Think about the thick tongue recordings of the paradise, hawaiian style recordings. On other songs for other soundtracks the same year he sounded different.
Why? I don't know......but I am damn sure even if he tried to record fever in 1966 withthe same voice approach like in 1960....it wouldn't have sounded the same.

I understand what you are trying to convey, However, I am not even sure among humans it is possible that vocal chords change by themselves like that in different directions like zig-zag. But a singer trying out new sounds can change it. The voice is a muscle and if you train it in different directions after a while you produce different sounds and extensions. So if 69 elvis wanted to sound gentle again like in 61, he would have changed style and after some times of training, his voice would have been similar to how he sounded in 61. It happened somehow (somehow) when in august 1970 he went smooth again - very different than February the same year. Let’s take anther example: «I want to be free». He recorded 2 version the same day , and look how the jail version differs from the one on records in terms of voice. This is my my take on Elvis’ voice up to 1970.

[drjohncarpenter]

I read what you wrote, which was ambiguous at best.

No, you just need to follow the discussion by reading the conversation from the start. I'll make no comment about the rest of your typically rude reply, but be very aware I will not again tolerate any off-topic posts where you try to paint me as a prejudiced person on this forum.

Thanks.

[ICanHelp]

I read what you wrote, which was ambiguous at best.

No, you just need to follow the discussion by reading the conversation from the start. I'll make no comment about the rest of your typically rude reply, but be very aware I will not again tolerate any off-topic posts where you try to paint me as a prejudiced person on this forum.

Thanks.

"your almost unparalleled knowledge of all things Elvis and your unquestionably positive contributions to this Board."

You're right, of course. How impolite of me. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

[Juan Luis]

"Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unpleasant impulses by denying their existence while attributing them to others. For example, a person who is habitually rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude. It incorporates blame shifting." Right there!

[drjohncarpenter]

Back to the topic, right now I watched SM from Aloha and I believe Elvis really forced himself to do the song and the moves. He looks done after he finished it. It seems he looks like he had some physical pain in the middle of the song, in my opinion.

Yup, looks like he didnt really want to do it doesnt it? Anything that is forced never comes off as sincere. Elvis should have done this song until his final concert(as well as Burning Love, The Wonder of You and other late career hits) It was a #1 song, really reinstated his comeback on the radio and on the charts, and was a highlight of the great American studios recordings. He may have thought the 50's stuff was silly and wanted to rush thru them, but what about the later career hits? As someone said, Elvis really never respected the songs that made him successful, but respected other peoples' work far more than his own when it came to the 70's concerts and that is very sad. I think Elvis may be the only performer I have ever seen to open a concert with a song that was not even his own!(CC Rider).

Elvis didn't have someone he trusted who could have conveyed to him how his own work was truly fantastic. He was also somewhat insecure, so that he more acutely noticed criticism of his early-to-mid period material, and tried to avoid much of it when he returned full-time to concerts in the 1970s. It's all a shame really. His catalog was so rich, he never really needed to step outside of it for his concert presentation.

[poormadpeter2]

Indeed, for some, hearing Elvis sing with an "edge" is unsettling, so much so that they cannot hear that he is giving us something new.

Or perhaps some just prefer the beautiful, honest delicacy of the studio master. I appreciate that the 1968 version of It Hurts Me is something new, but that doesn't make it good. Sure, the vocal is "powerful," but at least to me, it doesn't contain a fraction of the intimacy or insight of the original. It, frankly, is more "bellowing" than something like Hurt.

I'm not in agreement with your last sentence ...

Don't hold back, tell us more.

Anyone else getting uncomfortable with this treatment of PMP2 -- the hearts in the eyes smilies, calling him "Shaney," etc.? Probably just my imagination. I am sure some of his best friends are gay.

My last boyfriend was. But then, I liked him!

[Hard Rocker]

Anyone else getting uncomfortable with this treatment of PMP2 -- the hearts in the eyes smilies, calling him "Shaney," etc.? Probably just my imagination. I am sure some of his best friends are gay.

Yes, I find it extremely poor form and it needs to stop immediately. Thank you ICanHelp for adding weight to what I already suspected.

[poormadpeter2]

Anyone else getting uncomfortable with this treatment of PMP2 -- the hearts in the eyes smilies, calling him "Shaney," etc.? Probably just my imagination. I am sure some of his best friends are gay.

Yes, I find it extremely poor form and it needs to stop immediately. Thank you ICanHelp for adding weight to what I already suspected.

Aww leave him alone. He just needs a friend.

[danielf]

Anyone else getting uncomfortable with this treatment of PMP2 -- the hearts in the eyes smilies, calling him "Shaney," etc.? Probably just my imagination. I am sure some of his best friends are gay.

Yes, I find it extremely poor form and it needs to stop immediately. Thank you ICanHelp for adding weight to what I already suspected.

Aww leave him alone. He just needs a friend.

It's very clear he's a lonely man.
It's also very clear he's the one with the uncool attitude.
It's going to be very difficult for him to find a friend, poor boy.
(all puns intended)

[Barbie]

My favourite Suspicious Minds is the Aug. 11th 70 MS - it rocks and I love the way he says "we can't go ON together" at the beginning and then he says "shove it up your nose"....it's a fabulous version!!!!............Ronnie Tutte's drumming is tops in this performance!!!!! (6 minutes of pure pleasure!!!!) Fabulous on DVD too!!!!!....................but I love cranking it up on the stereo or in my car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was disappointed when I first saw the Aloha Show in '73 but I've gotten over it!!!......................we had seen him last live in '71 in Tahoe and he was movin'....................then saw Elvis on Tour...............but he seemed out of sorts to me when I first watched The Aloha Show when it came on TV in April73...................I love the Rehearsal Show which we got to see years later! I wish they would put the rehearsal version on Steamroller Blues in their Elvis live in concert shows.......sexy!................no doubt he was nervous thinking about how many people were going to be watching!!!!!!! That's just my opinion so don't bark at me.....................I do love watching it now!!!!!!!

[Rockin_John]

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.

This is a better answer than you might even realise yourself. It just hit me, maybe this is why he didn't rock no more - he didn't want to make a "fool of himself" performing kids music, now that he was a grown man (well, aswell as loving the ballads of course).

[Harty]

It's not a good performance to the die-hard fan, maybe. However, apparently to the general public, it was just fine...
Later that August, Elvis was telling his Las Vegas audiences that he hated the song. Then he'd go on to say that he was only kidding. Regardless of what he told them, this fan thinks that he was not kidding in the least. He was sick to death of it and within a year, he would be done performing it for the most part. It seemed he later hated the songs that were very good to his career, which is a shame. Many of those classic songs seemed to embarrass him.

All of that said, the Aloha performance hooked me for life when I first saw it on April 4, 1973. To this day, I still have a fondness for it and am very proud of Elvis when I see him pump his fists in the air at the conclusion of his closing number.

Elvis did so much more good than he did bad. This fan much prefers to concentrate on those kinds of threads.

I look forward to seeing you all in the next positive Elvis thread.

Pls do not forget : Elvis recorded the song in 1969 and sang it very well in 1969/1970. But in 1973 Elvis was divorced and the lyrics of the song "we can't go on together with suspicious minds" are very clear to understand..so it is possible that Elvis doesn't like the lyrics to sing in 1973 ...

[GERRY]

I love it love the quality. Love the arr and especially the backing. Madison Square Garden looks / sounds like a awful parody compared to Aloha.

[jurasic1968]

In your opinion. Suspicious Minds in Aloha was just a routine and bored version in January 1973. The MSG version was better but none of them were in the same league with how he sang it in 1969 and 1970.

[Johnny2523]

In your opinion. Suspicious Minds in Aloha was just a routine and bored version in January 1973. The MSG version was better but none of them were in the same league with how he sang it in 1969 and 1970.

It was a better performance in MSG for several aspects, first and foremost Elvis voice doesn't waver around as if he's struggling with the notes, the second is that he still put exciting moves into it including the karate ending. We can say that he tamed it down for aloha, but frankly Elvis moves mostly the same way during the song throughout 1973 and 1974 and 1975.

Madison Square Garden
..

Aloha:
..

Vocally Elvis sounded better doing the song in 1974 again, similarly to the 1972 versions vocally
..

[jurasic1968]

By the way, I forgot when was Elvis' last live performance of SM and where?

[Rob]

The last full version was in Vegas on August 19, 1975.

He fooled around with it just a little in Lincoln, Nebraska on June 20, 1977.

[Johnny2523]

The last full version was in Vegas on August 19, 1975.

He fooled around with it just a little in Lincoln, Nebraska on June 20, 1977.

and one could hear how nervous he was when he got that request in lincoln when he said ''suspicious minds'' and we can even hear james strumming the opening lines ready to go. And Elvis quickly changed it for the song that this topic is all about ''Unchained Melody''

[jurasic1968]

It's clear that after August 1975 the song was a memory of the past for Elvis. Sad.

[Rob]

And Elvis quickly changed it for the song that this topic is all about ''Unchained Melody''

Wrong topic, my man.

[Johnny2523]

And Elvis quickly changed it for the song that this topic is all about ''Unchained Melody''

Wrong topic, my man.

I'll expel myself and will remove myself and give you my badge and my gun and walk out in shame

[Rob]

Keep the gun...just turn in all of your bullets before close of business today. You'll get them back at a time when I see fit.

This is just a verbal and won't officially go into your file.

[ptr1986]

Steamroller from rehearsal show is incredible because of one thing - during rehearsal show, he messed lyrics for few songs because of nerve and Steamroller is one of those songs. It´s actually incredible how well he dealt with it! I love the moment in middle of the song when he was in half of wrong lyrics and how Glenn D. looks at him - you are doing it wrong, but it still sounds COOL!

About Suspicious Minds - I think that the song was interesting for him as "physical challenge" but as he got older, his suits became much heavier (so it was much more demanding to do anything like TTWII) and physical issues appeared, he didnt want to play it, because singing-wise it simply wasnt challenging for him - despite the fact it is incredible song. He never beated 12th Aug 1970 MS version, which was pure perfection from him - not so much from orchestra sadly.