Elvis Presley – Today (Legacy Edition 2015) (1975/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:12:49 minutes | 2,02 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA – Legacy
The Today sessions were held in RCA’s Studio C, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, March 10–12, 1975, and marked the last time Elvis Presley would record in a studio.
Today featured a new rock song, “T-R-O-U-B-L-E”, which was released as its first single and went Top 40 in the US. “Bringin’ It Back” was its second single in the US. The album also features covers of songs by Perry Como, Tom Jones, The Pointer Sisters, Billy Swan, Faye Adams, The Statler Brothers and Charlie Rich.
As it turned out, Today would be the last full studio album Elvis Presley recorded in his life. Headed out to Hollywood to collect the Grammy he won for Best Inspirational Performance of 1975 (it was awarded for a live version of “How Great Thou Art”), Presley booked sessions in RCA’s L.A. Studio C with his longtime producer Felton Jarvis and settled in to knock out ten songs over the course of three days. Because it opens with the rollicking boogie “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” — a legitimate throwback to the dawn of rock & roll — and also finds space for the down-and-dirty gospel-soul groove of “Shake a Hand” and Billy Swan’s cheerful “I Can Help,” Today was pegged upon its initial release as something of a return to Elvis’ Sun roots, but the rest of the record plays straight down the middle: a collection of Presley’s preferred majestic ballads and MOR pop tempered by a touch of lushly produced Nashville country. This combination had long been a winning one for Elvis — it’s the blend developed in the wake of 1971’s Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old) — but in 1975, it was slightly past its sell-by date, so it didn’t quite sell in blockbuster numbers (“T-R-O-U-B-L-E” did turn into a hit, nearly cracking the country Top Ten and revived in 1992 by Travis Tritt). Nevertheless, these era-specific concerns fade over time and leave Today standing as an excellent latter-day Elvis album. Those rockabilly revivals find Presley game and loose, as does a nimble version of the Statler Brothers’ “Susan When She Tried”; the trio of orchestrated ballads (Don McLean’s “And I Love You So,” Jerry Chesnut’s “Woman Without Love,” Troy Seals’ “Pieces of My Life”) give Elvis an opportunity to find a moving heart beating underneath the shine, a skill that also enlivens an almost corny version of the ’60s standard “Green, Green Grass of Home”; while the country reinvention of the Pointer Sisters’ “Fairytale” and the soulful rendition of Gregg Gordon’s “Bringin’ It Back” are expert adult contemporary — gorgeous and skirting the edges of being overwrought. Added up, Today touches upon nearly everything he did well in the mid-’70s — a nice portrait of Elvis at a time when he was still an active, thriving working musician and a record that remains easy to enjoy today. ~~ AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracklist:
1-1. Elvis Presley – T-R-O-U-B-L-E (03:04)
1-2. Elvis Presley – And I Love You So (03:40)
1-3. Elvis Presley – Susan When She Tried (02:18)
1-4. Elvis Presley – Woman Without Love (03:35)
1-5. Elvis Presley – Shake a Hand (03:49)
1-6. Elvis Presley – Pieces of My Life (04:04)
1-7. Elvis Presley – Fairytale (02:44)
1-8. Elvis Presley – I Can Help (04:05)
1-9. Elvis Presley – Bringin’ It Back (03:02)
1-10. Elvis Presley – Green, Green Grass of Home (03:41)
1-11. Elvis Presley – Fairytale (Undubbed Version) (02:48)
1-12. Elvis Presley – Green, Green Grass of Home (Undubbed Version) (03:37)
1-13. Elvis Presley – I Can Help (Undubbed Version) (04:06)
1-14. Elvis Presley – And I Love You So (Undubbed Version) (03:39)
1-15. Elvis Presley – Susan When She Tried (Undubbed Version) (02:43)
1-16. Elvis Presley – T-R-O-U-B-L-E (Undubbed Version) (03:02)
1-17. Elvis Presley – Woman Without Love (Undubbed Version) (03:37)
1-18. Elvis Presley – Shake a Hand (Undubbed Version) (03:25)
1-19. Elvis Presley – Bringing It Back (Undubbed Version) (02:58)
1-20. Elvis Presley – Pieces of My Life (Undubbed Version) (03:50)
2-1. Elvis Presley – Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey) (Live) (01:11)
2-2. Elvis Presley – See See Rider (Live) (03:03)
2-3. Elvis Presley – I Got a Woman – Amen (Live) (05:28)
2-4. Elvis Presley – Love Me (Live) (02:52)
2-5. Elvis Presley – If You Love Me (Let Me Know) (Live) (02:59)
2-6. Elvis Presley – Love Me Tender (Live) (02:25)
2-7. Elvis Presley – All Shook Up (Live) (01:07)
2-8. Elvis Presley – (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear – Don’t Be Cruel (Live) (01:48)
2-9. Elvis Presley – Hound Dog (Live) (01:59)
2-10. Elvis Presley – The Wonder of You (Live) (02:27)
2-11. Elvis Presley – Burning Love (Live) (02:56)
2-12. Elvis Presley – Introductions – Johnny B. Goode (Live) (04:02)
2-13. Elvis Presley – Introductions – School Days (Live) (02:02)
2-14. Elvis Presley – T-R-O-U-B-L-E (Live) (03:35)
2-15. Elvis Presley – Why Me Lord (Live) (02:50)
2-16. Elvis Presley – How Great Thou Art (Live) (04:35)
2-17. Elvis Presley – Let Me Be There (Live) (03:50)
2-18. Elvis Presley – An American Trilogy (Live) (04:30)
2-19. Elvis Presley – Funny How Time Slips Away (Live) (03:40)
2-20. Elvis Presley – Little Darlin’ (Live) (02:21)
2-21. Elvis Presley – Mystery Train – Tiger Man (Live) (02:32)
2-22. Elvis Presley – Can’t Help Falling In Love (Live) (02:29)
