HASTEN DOWN THE WIND

Hasten Down The Wind, released in 1976, was the first Linda Ronstadt album I purchased and the one that turned me into a lifelong fan. To celebrate I am looking back at the recording, release and success of the album. The majority of the text in this article is taken from my e-book Linda Ronstadt-A Life In Music which was published back in 2009 although there is additional/edited text throughout. The illustrations have also been added specially for this article.

Photograph: Ethan A. Russell

By 1976 Linda Ronstadt was riding high with two very successful albums, Heart Like A Wheel (Capitol ST11538) which reached #1 on both the Billboard US Top Country Charts and Top 200 Album Charts and Prisoner In Disguise (Asylum 7E-1045) which peaked at #2 on the Country Charts and #4 on the Album Charts. Both albums would go on to achieve platinum status by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA).

She also had success on the Billboard Singles Charts. From Heart Like A Wheel chart success came with You're No Good (#1 on the Top 40 Singles Chart), When Will I Be Loved (#1 on the Top Country Singles and #2 on the Top 40 Singles Chart), I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) (#2 on the Top Country Singles) and It Doesn't Matter Anymore (#54 on the Top Country Singles).

Prisoner In Disguise would give her chart success with Love Is A Rose (#5 on the Top Country Singles), Tracks Of My Tears (#11 on the Top Country Singles and #25 on the Top 40 Singles Chart), The Sweetest Gift (#12 on the Top Country Singles) and Heatwave (#5 on the Top 40 Singles Chart).

Despite her increasing following in the United Kingdom, chart success evaded her with only the single Tracks Of My Tears b/w Prisoner In Disguise (Asylum K13034) charting at a disappointing #42 and neither of her recent albums achieving any chart action, although this would change with her next release.

Meanwhile at the 1975 Grammy Award Ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium on 28 February, 1976, more success came her way when she was nominated in the 'Album Of The Year' category for Heart Like A Wheel, 'Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female' for Heart Like A Wheel and walked away with a Grammy award for I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) in the 'Best Country Vocal Performance, Female' category. Peter Asher was also nominated for an award in the 'Producer Of The Year' category but was beaten by Arif Mardin.

Her confidence must have been high when she returned to the studio to work on her new album Hasten Down The Wind. Sessions were held between March and June 1976 at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, produced by Peter Asher and engineered by Val Garay.

Musicians appearing on the album included regulars Andrew Gold (guitars, piano, bass), Kenny Edwards (bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin), Dan Dugmore (guitar), Mike Botts (drums) and Peter Asher (tambourine, cowbell, handclaps) along with Waddy Wachtel (guitars), Russ Kunkel (drums), Clarence McDonald (piano) while the string arrangements were handled by David Campbell. A host of backing vocalists included Peter Asher, Andrew Gold, Kenny Edwards, Karla Bonoff, Wendy Waldman, Don Henley and Herb Pedersen.

Mike Botts, who played drums on the sessions, has good memories of the recording of Hasten Down The Wind, “It was before drum machines and samplers so typically the sessions would consist of Linda and a full rhythm section, bass, drums, keyboard and two guitars."

"She was always active in the arrangement process and would provide ‘work vocals’ during the basic tracking sessions to help guide us through the nuances of the arrangement. Once a final take had been chosen, she would then come in to put on the final vocal along with any instrumental overdubs that may have been necessary."

The exception to this was That'll Be The Day and Botts was impressed with how she handled the song in the studio. “She wanted to record it just the way Buddy did, live with no overdubs! So we rehearsed the arrangement for a couple of days and then went in to record it,” recalled Botts. “ It was not only recorded live in the studio but, amazingly, we nailed it on the first take. Now that’s really rare. It was a wonderfully creative time with some really talented and gifted artists. I’m quite proud to have been part of it.”

Unlike many singers, Linda writes few of her own songs, preferring to choose from the multitude of talented singer/songwriters that were around. In the past she had fallen back on the work of people like John David Souther, James Taylor, Lowell George and Neil Young, but with this new release, she turned to a new crop of talented writers including Karla Bonoff, Warren Zevon and Tracy Nelson. However, it wasn’t to the new writers that she turned to for the first single.

For the second time she chose to cover a classic Buddy Holly rock and roll track from the fifties. Back in 1974 she had recorded and released It Doesn't Matter Any More and in August her cover of That’ll Be The Day was issued with Try Me Again as the b-side (Asylum E-45340). The single just failed to reach the top ten on the Top 40 Singles Chart stalling at #11 while on the Top Country Singles Chart it had a worse fate only reaching #27. Released in the UK with the same b-side (Asylum K13053) it fared even worse spending just one week at #52.

Hasten Down The Wind (Asylum 7E-1072 / Asylum K53045) was released in the USA and UK on 9 August 1976. The cover featured a sexy image of Linda on the beach near her home in Malibu taken by Ethan A. Russell. The album cover was designed by John Kosh who first worked on Prisoner In Disguise and would go on to design many more of her album covers including Simple Dreams, Living In The USA, Mad Love, her Spanish/Mexican albums and her trio of recordings with Nelson Riddle. Despite working with many other artists, including The Beatles Abbey Road album and The Eagles Hotel California, his only Grammy's were for Linda Ronstadt albums... Prisoner In Disguise, Get Closer and Lush Life.

The album was presented in a gatefold sleeve with other images from the photoshoot and included an insert with song lyrics and credits.

The cover of her early album Silk Purse had gone a long way in portraying Linda as a sex symbol and the cover of Hasten Down The Wind, which showed her in a sexually teasing pose wearing a low-cut dress that clearly showed she wasn’t wearing a bra, set against a backdrop of a California sunset, only added to the image.

In an interview she spoke about the cover, “I didn’t have a concept for this album cover, and neither did anyone else. I wanted a picture of me in mid-air, falling. I wanted to look like I was floating.”

They tried several ideas, shooting in a swimming pool and jumping off a ladder but it didn’t look right. They finally settled on the beach scene. The photograph was actually unplanned as photographer Ethan A. Russell recalled, “We were shooting pictures outside Linda’s Malibu home when the horse ran by in the background. Linda said, ‘Don’t shoot, you’ll scare the horse.’ Happily, I ignored her.”

After the shoot was over and she saw the photos there was talk of retouching the image to cover up the fact that she was wearing nothing under the dress but she remarked, “I never looked that good a day in my life anyway.”

They didn’t set out to produce a sexy cover and unfortunately this was counterproductive as people were beginning to see her as more of a sex symbol than a serious recording artist.

Mind you Linda is fully aware of her sexy image as she explained, “I love sex as much as I love music, and I think it’s as hard to do. I don’t know how good a sex symbol I am, but I do think I’m good at being sexy. The sexual aspect of my personality has been played up a lot, and I can’t say it hasn’t been part of my success. But it’s unfair in a way, because I don’t think I look as good as my image.”

Three of the tracks were written by Karla Bonoff who had worked in a group with Andrew Gold. Bonoff was born and raised in Southern California and with her sister Lisa started writing and performing under the name ‘The Daughters of Chester P’, named after her father.

Despite an audition with Elektra Records, where they recorded an 11-song demo, she could not get a record deal. She had many musician friends including Kenny Edwards and Wendy Waldman and along with Andrew Gold they decided to form Bryndle.

An unreleased album made for A&M Records, and a single produced by Lou Adler, who also produced the Mamas and the Papas, failed to help their career and the band split. Then both Edwards and Gold went to work with Linda. 

Photograph: Unknown

This led to Linda hearing a demo of Lose Again. Bonoff recalled her saying “Hey, you know that's real good. What else have you got?” Bonoff also provided both Someone To Lay Down Beside Me and If He's Ever Near to the new album. It was Lose Again that opened the album and it is a great song with its emotional opening lines, 'Save me, Free me, From my heart this time.'

Linda described Someone To Lay Down Beside Me as a song 'about a prostitute' and the melody is full of dramatic moments. The song closes the album and is a strong performance by Linda on a song with great lyrics.

The album’s title track was a Warren Zevon composition. Zevon, who was born in Chicago in 1947, began his professional music career in the mid-1960s as part of a boy/girl folk-singing act called Lyme and Cybelle. His own version of the song was still unreleased when Linda recorded her own take on the song. Don Henley joins her for the vocal harmony and the result is another beautiful performance.

Linda had already dabbled with the Jamaican music style of reggae, with some success, on her previous album, covering Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers To Cross and continued this trend with John and Johanna Hall’s Give One Heart which includes an a cappella prelude of Rivers Of Babylon. John Hall was a member of the group Orleans and the song had appeared on their 1975 album Let There Be Music.

Along with Johanna, his lyrical partner, he has written songs recorded by artists including Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, James Brown, Steve Wariner, The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and many others.

Although the album leaned heavily towards less well-known material, it did contain two covers. As well as That’ll Be The Day, a firm concert favourite for years to come, she also covered the Patsy Cline hit Crazy. Written by Willie Nelson it became a number one for Cline in 1961 and was one of her biggest hits.

She would return again to the Holly catalogue for her next album and the reason for her desire to record his songs can be traced back to her early days in Arizona where she probably heard a lot of his songs on the radio.

Furthermore, Hasten Down The Wind was the first album to showcase her song-writing skills. Try Me Again, a story of cheating and confession, was co-written with Andrew Gold. Featuring another confident vocal from Linda that demonstrates the power and drama in her performance.

In an interview he remembered her first attempt at song-writing. “She was kind of shy and she was telling Peter and I that she’d written this little melody with a few words and it wasn’t finished and maybe she could sing it but she was just too shy. It’s funny now because she’s not shy at all." 

"So, anyway she finally said, ‘I’ll sing it for Andrew’ so I went up to her room, closed the door and she sat on one bed and I in the other and she just sang it. I had a guitar and tried to put some chords to it. It was so funny because we opened up the door and it was like one of those cartoons where all these people fell. It was Peter and the band just dying to know what this song was.” Gold made a few suggestions, additional chords and music for the bridge, but Try Me Again was mainly Linda’s song.

The Spanish Lo Siento Mi Vida was a joint effort with Kenny Edwards and Linda’s father Gilbert. With its simple backing of just acoustic guitar, pedal steel, bass and drum, it is a beautiful performance by both band and singer and is one of the best foreign language recordings she ever made, pre-dating her Spanish/Mexican albums by at least ten years.

In the sleeve-notes to her 2004 compilation Jardin Azul/Las Canciones Favourites Linda talked about the writing and recording of the song. “My oldest musical compatriot, Kenny Edwards, was enamoured of a beautiful girl who was a Spanish major and played great blues guitar. Lo Siento Mi Vida was a phrase that stuck from that romance and one that he always loved, so he came up with a snatch of a melody for it, a few chords—and nothing else.”

Photograph: Unknown

Linda’s grasp of Spanish was not great and she called her dad to help with the lyrics as she went on to describe: “The three of us came up with some lyrics and worked and worked on them. I decided we’d write the bridge in English, because it was too hard to get my dad on the phone again.”

Edwards recalled how the song came together: “I was on the road with Linda and we had a day off in some god-forsaken town and so we were killing time at the motel. I had been playing with a melody that had a kind of Tex-Mex vibe to it and Linda responded, suggesting we write it. I think we came up with the title then and planned to finish it sometime."

Back in LA we got together to do so and found we didn't know enough Spanish to get through the lyrics unaided so we called Linda’s dad on the phone and it was like, ‘…so how do you say blah, blah...?’ And he would tell us and we’d plug it into the song.”

It was a song that would cause problems for Andrew Gold when Linda performed it in concert. He couldn’t speak Spanish so learnt it phonetically and never really knew what he was singing.

Gold had also offered other songs to her, “we tried on at least two occasions to record my song Love Hurts. I was always offering her songs but, alas, she didn’t do any. She liked them though, especially Lonely Boy.”

The Tattler is a blues/gospel song that dates from the 1920s and written by Washington Phillips. The song was covered by Ry Cooder on his 1974 Paradise And Lunch album and Linda follows a similar arrangement.

Tracy Nelson was an American country and blues singer whose career started in the mid-1960s with the release of her debut album, Deep Are The Roots. She moved to San Francisco in 1966 and became a part of the local music scene. It was during this period that she wrote and recorded Down So Low which appeared on her Living With The Animals album. It was a song that she would re-record on a number of occasions. Nelson has spoken about the inspiration for the song... her broken heart in the aftermath of her break-up with the musician Steve Miller. It was a perfect song for Linda to cover and is often cited as the best cover version of the song.

The album had a very depressive feel, as Linda said herself. “It was a very down album. I was very depressed then.” The entire album was full of sadness and heartbreak and although there was a heavy quality to the music her voice was, at times soulful and at times beautiful. This was something that many reviewers would pick up on.

Press coverage for the album was mixed. Circus magazine in their review in November 1976 by Ken Tucker felt that she had not released one consistently good album and that she should record an upbeat album with fast country, fast rock and roll and fast rock. The album was criticised for having too many maudlin songs although Tucker did praise both That’ll Be The Day and her version of Crazy. Talking about Karla Bonoff he joked that: “The only thing interesting about Ms Bonoff is that her name, at a quick glance, looks like an acronym for Boris Karloff.”

David McGee, writing in Rolling Stone in September was more impressed feeling that the album was “…a fine album that begs closer inspection.” In particular he picked out her cover of That's Be The Day saying, "I've always appreciated Ronstadt's good-natured approach to her remakes of rock 'n' roll oldies. The version of That'll Be The Day included here neither alters my feelings for nor threatens the Buddy Holly original. Her reading could be tougher, but the music behind it - particularly the solo sparring between guitarists Andrew Gold and Waddy Wachtel - has enough bite to overcome vocal shortcomings." He also felt her other cover, Crazy, was an inspired choice.

"Hasten Down The Wind is not the easiest Linda Ronstadt album to 'get' the first time one hears it, but it may be the classiest and longest-lived one she has done so far", wrote Noel Coppage in the November issue of Stereo Review. He went on to praise many of the tracks and ended the review by saying, "It's the kind of album I don't listen to one cut at a time anyway - It's the kind I listen to a whole lot. The thing has hardly been off the turntable since it got here. It's there now, and I'm anxious to get back to it for what must be the hundredth time in the last few days. That's the kind of judgement about an album I trust most."

Billboard rated That'll Be The Day, Lose Again, Give One Heart, Try Me Again and Rivers Of Babylon as the best cuts on the album and had nothing but praise for the album. They wrote, "That Queen of Lost Ladies whose golden heart is always broken by unfeeling men is back again with another unique delivery of country/pop/rock-oldies laments and defiant good-time pledges. Ronstadt's highly effective stage image of the romantic female loser leads the listener smoothly through a wide variety of music by a staggering variety of songwriters." They went on to say, "It took Ronstadt a long and determined time to get to the top of the heap, but if she can keep up the quality of albums like this, she'll be on top even longer." They also gave credit to Peter Asher for his remarkable production.

The mixed reaction didn’t affect sales with the album reaching #1 on the US Country Charts and #3 on the Top 100 Album Chart. Despite only reaching #32, it did give Linda her first chart album in the UK and went on to receive a silver disc from the British Phonographic Institute (BPI). If further proof of the album’s success were needed, gold and platinum awards from the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) within a month of its release should have been enough to silence even the harshest critics.

Another Grammy Award came Linda's way at the 1976 Grammy Award Ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium on 19 February, 1977, when Hasten Down The Wind won the 'Best Vocal Performance, Female' category.

In support of the album, Linda embarked on a lengthy US tour in early August with sell-out concerts across the USA. A concert review appeared in the December 1976 issue of Playboy where they said, "A few days after Linda Ronstadt released Hasten Down The Wind, we caught the country singer in concert. During the next few hours, she moved through old favourites and introduced the audience to the songs on her new album. The verdict was unanimous: Ronstadt is stronger and more confident than ever before, and with good reason - the new material is equal, if not superior, to the best of her standards." They also praised her band, who they felt were one of the strongest in the business.

In November her fans in the United Kingdom finally had the opportunity to see her in concert when she undertook a short tour of the UK and Europe. There were dates in London at The New Victoria Theatre, the Odeon Theatre in Birmingham, Apollo in Glasgow, the Rai Congrescentrum in Amsterdam and Musikhalle in Hamburg. There were three shows in London with the final show an Old Grey Whistle Test Special, introduced by 'Whispering' Bob Harris.

Photographs: Unknown

During the concerts Linda would perform several songs from Hasten Down The Wind including, Lose Again, That'll Be The Day, The Tattler, Crazy, Lo Siento Mi Vida and the title track. She also turned to earlier material with When Will I Be Loved, Silver Threads And Golden Needles, Love Is A Rose and Tracks Of My Tears.

Backing her on the tour were Andrew Gold (keyboards, guitar and backing vocals), Kenny Edwards (bass, harmonica, backing vocals), Waddy Wachtel (guitars, backing vocals), Dan Dugmore (guitar, steel guitar, backing vocals) and Mike Botts (drums). Andrew Gold was also the supporting act on the tour.

In November a second single (Asylum E-45361) was issued, Someone To Lay Down Beside Me which stalled at #42 on the Pop Charts, although it was the other side, Crazy, that became a #6 country hit. Its success was probably down to the popularity of the song as many were aware of the Patsy Cline original and, although nobody could ever match that, Linda’s version was certainly an excellent performance. Released in the UK a few months later (Asylum K-13071) it failed to create much interest chart wise.

Unfortunately a third single (Asylum 45402), pairing Lose Again with Lo Siento Mi Vida, released in May 1977, could not create any interest and disappeared without trace. It was the same fate in the UK where the single (Asylum K-13065) failed to chart. It was issued in the UK in October 1976 with a picture sleeve featuring a lovely portrait of Linda and on the reverse were the upcoming tour dates.

The chart positions were by no means a reflection of the quality of the material and could be put down to the fact that Linda was becoming more of an album artist at this stage of her career.

Hasten Down The Wind shows the maturity in her voice and demonstrates how much further she had come as a vocalist. The music is emotional and moving, very soulful and for those raised on her earlier work it may have been a difficult album to come to terms with.

However, it was becoming obvious with Hasten Down The Wind, her tenth album, that Linda was getting restless with performing the same old country and country-rock material and wanted to stretch herself by moving into far more complex musical areas. This would become more evident with the release of future albums like Simple Dreams, Living In The USA and Mad Love.

Next year Hasten Down The Wind celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and time for an expanded and remastered edition with, if available, bonus tracks that could include alternate or early versions, demos, songs recorded but not used along with a detailed booklet with comprehensive liner notes, photos and memorabilia. To be honest all her catalogue is way overdue for re-issue. I can always hope. 

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM - REVIEW

 

In the early- to mid-1960s Manchester was a popular music centre that was second only to London. It was also where amateur photographer and music fan Brian Smith combined his two passions, capturing images of the many American artists who visited the United Kingdom. Among the local clubs these artists played, and where Brian would attend with his camera, were The Free Trade Hall, The Oasis, The Princess Club and The Twisted Wheel Club. Brian would soon become one of the latter clubs inner circle, around the same time that DJ Roger Eagle started promoting his R&B All-Nighters in 1963. Brian's photographs soon started appearing in Eagle's R&B Scene magazine. 

Brian Smith

For years his photographs were limited to Manchester's local scene and it would be several more before his work would reach a wider audience, thanks in the main to the advent of CDs and accompanying artwork/booklets.

I have known Brian Smith for more than thirty years and first had contact with him in the late-1990s when I was running the Johnny Cash Fanzine, The Man in Black. He was kind enough to allow me to use his photographs of Johnny Cash at Manchester's Astoria Irish Club in October 1963 in my magazine.

Johnny Cash

We have stayed in contact ever since and he has been a great supporter of my work on Johnny Cash and other artists. I am so pleased that a small portion of his incredible work has finally been bought together in a new book, Boom Boom Boom Boom - The American Rhythm And Blues Photographs Of Brian Smith.

A foreword by ex-Manfred Mann vocalist Paul Jones opens the book and is followed by a preface written by Simon Robinson of the books publishers, Easy On The Eyes Books, which gives some detail on how much work was involved in putting the book together.

A detailed look at the career of Brian Smith makes very interesting reading with background to his life and career along with several interesting quotes from him. Talking about how skiffle led to his love of the blues he says, "Lonnie Donegan was a major milestone for me. Essentially I was a rock 'n' roller in the fifties, although Donegan, Barber and Muddy were developing my other tastes alongside this. My first blues albums were Muddy At Newport and Howling Wolf which I bought in 1961,62. I very much came to blues via Rock n' Roll and Donegan."

Today everyone takes photos at concerts on their mobile phones but back in the 1960s things were very different. Brian recalls a Dusty Springfield TV show where he took a photo with flash and it affected Dusty's performance and they had to do a retake.... "The producer came out and said, 'Would the gentleman who took the photograph please come and have a word with us afterwards?'. I was petrified! I thought I was going to have my camera confiscated so I just put it under my coat and snuck out! Later I thought if I had taken my bollocking I may even have got my photograph, and this did influence me to 'ask first' next time." There are many more great stories to read.

These early sections of the book are accompanied by some great images including many of Brian with artists including Little Richard, Karl Denver, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins. Brian ran the Official Carl Perkins Fan Club and this sits next to a newspaper ad for the club and his photos, a nice touch. However, my favourite photo is of Brian at a table playing cards with Cousin Pleasant, Otis Spann and Muddy Waters.

There are also many items of memorabilia including magazine covers (Hit Parade and R&B Scene), adverts for shows, newspaper cuttings and, of interest to me as a photographer, an advert for an Ilford Sportsman 35mm Camera... a bargain at £11-19-6!

We now come to the main part of the book and what a feast we are treated to. Within the following 150...plus pages there are more than 200 photos, mostly high quality considering the conditions under which the photos were taken and the camera technology of the time.

There are so many artists and wonderful photos to enjoy, too many to cover here so I will just pick out a few of my own personal favourites and leave you, the reader, to enjoy the rest.

In May 1964 Chuck Berry toured the UK and there are photos from shows at The Odeon, Bolton and City Hall, Sheffield. Along with images of Chuck on stage are some great backstage shots.

Blues musician and songwriter J. B. Lenoir's appearance at the fourth American Folk-Blues Festival at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1965 is covered with some stunning photos while Little Richard's May 1964 Oasis Club appearance is covered with more great images. 

J. B. Lenoir, Chuck Berry & Little Richard

Backstage images of Jimmy Reed at the Twisted Wheel in November 1964 include one of him with guitar in hand and harmonica in mouth, one of many favourites in this book.

Blues legends Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howling Wolf, Memphis Slim and T-Bone Walker are all featured as are many UK artists who were heavily-influenced by the artists mentioned above, including The Rolling Stones, Alex Harvey, The Spencer Davis Group, Long John Baldry and Rod Stewart.

Carl Perkins appearances on TV in 1964 are covered with some backstage shots and two years later he is shown with June Carter and Johnny Cash during Cash's first UK tour.

Big Joe Turner

While most of the photos are in good old black & white, which I personally feel works better for these photos, there are a few colour images including this great backstage image of Big Joe Turner, 'Boss of the Blues'.

The text that appears alongside each artist featured gives background to the photos, where and when they were taken, some of Brian's own memories and much more. There are also many pieces of memorabilia illustrated from the time... album sleeves, TV listings, tour ads, concert tickets and much more. All fascinating stuff.

Muddy Waters

The final few pages are devoted to Brian's own look back at his career along with more photos of 'Brian And The Stars', including Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, Helen Shapiro, Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy and Gary US Bonds. A comprehensive index of the text and photographs brings this fantastic book to a close.  

This is my kind of book and I thoroughly enjoyed looking through the pages and it should be in the collection of any fan of American Rhythm & Blues Music. If I was giving out stars in my review it would receive five!

With thanks to Brian Smith for the amazing photos and Simon Robinson and Ann Warburton (EASYONTHEEYESBOOKS) for providing a review copy of the book.

ELVIS - TODAY @50

Elvis Presley's last visit to a recording studio was in March 1975 where he recorded tracks that would find a release on the Elvis Today album. It is fifty years since these sessions and in this article I will be looking back at the recording sessions, the original album and single releases, chart success and the subsequent releases that have featured outtakes.

His last studio sessions were back in December 1973 at Stax in Memphis and the only recordings made during 1974 were the live recordings in Memphis and RCA were pressuring him for material for a new album and singles.

The RCA Studios on 6363 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood were booked from 10 March through to the 12 March. Elvis had previously worked there back in 1972 when he recorded material including Burning Love, Always On My Mind, Separate Ways, Fool and It's A Matter Of Time. It seemed the ideal choice to record there as he would also be rehearsing for his upcoming Las Vegas appearances.

At the 1972 sessions Elvis worked with his road band... James Burton (lead guitar), John Wilkinson (rhythm guitar), Emory Gordy (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums) and Glen Hardin (piano), Charlie Hodge (guitar) and backing vocalists J. D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet.

Backing him on the 1975 sessions were the same musicians except for Duke Bardwell who replaced Emory Gordy on bass. Bardwell joined Elvis in January 1974 and remained until April 1975 when Jerry Scheff returned. He can be heard on the Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis, but there seemed to be a personality clash between Elvis and Bardwell and, as we shall see, his playing can only be heard on one of the tracks on the Today album.

J. D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet were also missing for these sessions and in their place were the vocal group that Elvis had put together, Voice, whose members were Donnie Sumner, Sherrill Nielsen, Tim Baty and Tommy Hensley.

The first day of recording, which were overseen by Felton Jarvis, started at 9pm on the 10 March and ran through to 7am the following morning and the first song recorded was Fairytale. Over the next few hours they worked on three more songs, Green, Green, Grass Of Home, I Can Help and And I Love You So.

The next night a 9pm start resulted in four more masters completed by the the following morning, Susan When She Tried, T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Woman Without Love and Shake A Hand. A break in the planned recordings saw the band kick off one of their warm-up routines on Tiger Man. Elvis immediately joined in, and fortunately engineer Rick Ruggieri hit the record button.

During this second day Elvis, on a whim, announced he wanted to record Country Bumpkin, a current number one hit for Cal Smith. It was a song which Jarvis couldn't understand Elvis wanting to record but sent out for a copy of the record so they could transcribe the lyrics. Fortunately, by the time Jarvis suggested they try the song Elvis was no longer interested and said, "Fuck the 'Country Bumkin'. I'm no country bumkin."

The final day of recording, once again starting at 9pm, produced only two masters, Bringing It Back and Pieces Of My Life. Notes on the session show that Greg Gordon, who had recently resigned as piano player with Voice, and his replacement Tony Brown both played on Bringing It Back.

The sessions were going well and Felton Jarvis had already contacted New York for more master numbers as he felt they could get more songs recorded. Unfortunately this was not to be. Brian Wilson was in another studio next door and he forced his way into the studio insisting on meeting Elvis. Never needing much of a distraction to stop recording this meeting of two music greats bought an abrupt end to the sessions.

Elvis and the band were really on fire during the sessions and not a single song took more than six takes to complete a satisfactory master. It is just a shame that the sessions fell apart as I am sure we would have had a few more great performances to enjoy.

Overdub sessions were held between 8-14 April at Quadrofonic Sound Studio in Nashville where additional guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, horns and strings were overdubbed. Female backing vocals were also added by Ginger Holladay, Mary Holladay, Lea Jane Berinati and Millie Kirkham.

It was also at these overdub sessions that Duke Bardwell's contribution to the recordings were erased, except for one track. Both Mike Leech and Norbert Putnam re-recorded all the bass parts after Elvis heard the first mix of the album and requested that Bardwell's bass parts be removed. The only song on which his bass can be heard is T-R-O-U-B-L-E which was released as a single before Elvis' request could be actioned. It is hard to comprehend why this happened, as when listening to the single there is nothing wrong with the bass playing and, as we shall see later, his original bass parts can be heard on all the original session mixes and outtakes that were released. At the time Bardwell had nothing but praise for Elvis' version commenting that, "...he was so good at that syncopated funky stuff."

Elvis Today (APL1-1039) was released on vinyl in May 1975 and was also available on cassette (APK1-1039), quadradisc (APD1-1039), Q8 (APT1-1039) and Stereo 8 (APS1-1039) formats.

Side One opens with the great rocker, T-R-O-U-B-L-E, a song written by Jerry Chesnut who took inspiration for the song from country music singer and pianist Little David Wilkins. While writing the song he thought of a woman walking through the door and causing trouble. The songs lyrics standout, not least for the idea to spell out some of the words, trouble, alone and looking which Chesnut realised actually rhymed when spelled out. A great opener on the album, a blistering performance from Elvis and, along with Burning Love and Promised Land, one of his best rock songs from the 1970s. 

Following the fast-tempo of the opening track Elvis slows things down with a beautiful and sincere cover of And I Love You So. Written by Don McLean, of American Pie and Vincent fame, it was first released on his 1970 debut album Tapestry. Three years later, in 1973, Perry Como took the song to number 3 in the UK charts where it remained for 35 weeks. Elvis would perform the song many times in his concerts from 1975 through to his final tour in June 1977.

Don Reid, original member and lead singer of country vocal group The Statler Brothers, wrote Susan When She Tried and they had recorded the song in May 1973 releasing it the following year as a single and on their album, Sons Of The Motherland. The identity of Susan has remained a mystery although it may have been someone that Reid knew. The song is similar in style to Jeannie C. Riley's Harper Valley P.T.A. with its name-checking of fictitious characters. A catchy song, with some great guitar playing by James Burton, that Elvis handles well resulting in an outstanding performance.

Woman Without Love follows and is the second song on the album written by Jerry Chesnut, it was first recorded back in 1968 by Bob Luman, best known for his 1960 novelty hit, Let's Talk About Living, and subsequently covered by Johnny Darrel and Brook Benton. Elvis turns in a reasonable performance but the lyrics haven't stood the test of time with the chauvinistic line, 'A man without love's only half of a man, but a woman is nothing at all.' Talking about this, Chesnut has commented, "This song is either loved or hated by women. Those that hate it do so because they resent hearing a man say a woman is nothing at all, under any circumstances." Fortunately he also stated that since writing the song he had changed the lyrics.

In 1953 gospel and rhythm & blues singer Faye Adams released the Joe Morris composition Shake A Hand which reached number one on the R&B chart and stayed there for ten weeks selling over a million copies. Morris was a bandleader who signed her to Herald Records and Shake A Hand was her first release on her new label. With its gospel feel it was an ideal choice for Elvis and he gives an outstanding performance which, for me, is one of the highlights on Today. The song closes side one of the album.

Opening side two is Pieces Of My Life, a poignant ballad written by Troy Seals in the mid-1960s and recorded in 1974 by Charlie Rich. It appeared on his 1974 album The Silver Fox and it is likely that this is where Elvis first heard the song. With it's lyrics telling of past choices, missed opportunities and remorse it was a song that appears to fit Elvis life at a time when he was facing personal and professional challenges. He turns in a heartfelt and emotionally charged performance and, of all the ballads featured on the album, this is the one that stands out.

Fairytale was a hit for The Pointer Sisters in 1974 and featured on their album That's A Plenty. Written by band members Anita and Bonnie Pointer and featuring a lead vocal by Anita, it is a break-up song that was written from her own personal experience. Another song well suited to Elvis and given a strong performance by him although at times he seems to struggle with the high notes and maybe should have taken it in a lower key. Like And I Love You So, it was a song that would feature regularly in Elvis' concerts and he would often introduce the song as being, "The story of my life."

Singer-songwriter Billy Swan is best known for his 1974 song I Can Help which became a crossover hit reaching the top spot on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Country Singles Charts. It was an ideal choice for Elvis to record and he stays faithful to the original, even including the slowed down, false ending. You can tell he is enjoying the song and you can here a laugh in his voice when singing the line, "If your child needs a daddy." Talking about Elvis' version Swan said, "I thought it was great." 

Bringin' It Back is the penultimate song on the album and was written by gospel and country singer, Greg Gordon. Both Brenda Lee and The Oakridge Boys had released the song in 1975 and it is possible Elvis had heard their version. He does his best with a song that can best be described as pedestrian.

Bringing the album to a close is a song that will always be associated with Tom Jones, and a song Elvis is reported to have really loved, Green, Green Grass Of Home. Written by Claude 'Curly' Putman Jr., it was first recorded by Johnny Darrell in 1965 and other artists who recorded the song included Porter Wagoner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Bare and most famously, Tom Jones, who had a worldwide number one hit with the song in 1966. It told the story of a man who returns to his childhood home and sweetheart and remembers all the good times. However, he wakes up surrounded by 'four grey walls' and realises it was just a dream and he is being accompanied by a guard and padre who are leading him to his execution. I prefer Tom Jones version but Elvis certainly comes close with his rendition.

The cover, which again showed little effort in the design, featured yet another live shot, this time from a concert on 3 July 1973 in Atlanta, Georgia and taken by Ed Bonja, with just the wording 'Elvis' and 'Today' superimposed on the cover.

The back cover included adverts for Elvis four previous albums, Promised Land (APL1-0873), Having Fun With Elvis On Stage (CPM1-0818), Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis (CPL1-0606) and Good Times (CPL1-06475).

Song titles were listed, minus any songwriter credits, along with credits for the vocal accompaniment and recording engineers. Elvis Presley was listed as 

'Executive Producer For This Recording Project'. As with previous releases no musicians are credited on the sleeve.

When you compare the Elvis album cover designs from this period with other artists on the RCA label it is further proof that The Colonel, Elvis and RCA were happy to just throw out cover after cover with just another live photo and little or no information. A complete lack of respect for the fans and the musicians who worked on the albums. Just check out albums by other RCA artists like Waylon Jennings or Jerry Reed and you will see the difference. It wouldn't have taken much effort for Elvis to have undertaken some photoshoots to produce portrait style images for his album and single covers. Problem was, nobody else in the business seemed to care either and their thoughts were... it's only Elvis and the fans will buy anything!

Despite being a very strong album, with some great songs and performances from Elvis, the album failed to achieve much chart success. On the Billboard Album Chart it peaked at #57 and spent just 9 weeks in the chart although it fared much better on the Country Charts reaching #4 and selling almost 400,000 copies.

In his review in the 3 July edition of Rolling Stone, Dave Marsh had this to say... "Elvis Presley is the greatest singer in the history of rock & roll. As each of his frustratingly mediocre albums appears, we are forcibly reminded of the fact. There is almost nothing on any of them to keep us listening. But I have never heard an Elvis record which didn't reveal something about the man and his capacities and therefore, somehow, about everyone's. Instinctively and accidentally, Presley teaches us what charisma means." He went on to say, "Today catalogues perfectly the undeniable stylistic and creative decline of every Sun artist, makes us realise how much more than a match Elvis was for them and how canny he has been in avoiding the burnout."

Two singles were released, T-R-O-U-B-L-E backed with Mr Songman (PB-10278), a track lifted from the Promised Land album and written by Voice member Donnie Sumner, and Bringing It Back coupled with Pieces Of My Life (PB-10401). The former was released in April just before the album while the latter was issued in September. 

The artwork for the covers showed as much effort as the album with a different shot from the same concert on the first single and the same image as the album on the second. Oh yes, and let's use the same 3-D 'ELVIS' wording, the fans won't mind.

Like the album, neither single fared well on the charts. In the United States T-R-O-U-B-L-E could only reach #35, spending 9 weeks in the Top 100 and selling just 200,000 copies. Bringing It Back was even more of a disappointment with it's highest placing of #65 and just 5 weeks in the chart.

In the United Kingdom things weren't that much better. Released in June, Today (RCA RS 1011) spent one week on the chart at #48 and re-entered the chart two weeks later also peaking at #48 with just two more weeks in the chart.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E backed with Mr Songman (RCA 2562) was released in May 1975 and during a chart run of just 4 weeks it climbed to #31. A second single was issued, with a different selection to the second US single. Green, Green Grass Of Home backed with another previously released song, Thinking About You (RCA 2635), written by Tim Baty, a member of the vocal group Voice. Released in November 1975 it managed to rise two places higher than the previous single peaking at #29 and spending 7 weeks in the chart.

These chart positions are a surprise considering the quality of the material and it is a shame that these recordings have never achieved the critical acclaim and chart success they deserved.

The first outtakes to appear from the 1975 sessions were Fairytale (take 2) and Green, Green Grass Of Home (take 1) which were included on the 1996 compilation, Great Country Songs.

The following year And I Love You So (take 1) was released on the Platinum: A Life In Music box set while Pieces Of My Life (take 1) featured on the Today, Tomorrow And Forever box set in 2002.

With the advent of the Follow That Dream (FTD) collectors label in 1999 it was the ideal opportunity for even more outtakes to appear and in 2001 they released 6363 Sunset. The CD featured studio outtakes and rehearsals from March 1972 along with six tracks from the 1975 sessions... Green, Green Grass Of Home (takes 2-false start and take 3), And I Love You So (take 2), Susan When She Tried (take 1-false start and take 2), T-R-O-U-B-L-E (take 1), Shake A Hand (take 2) and Bringing It Back (take 2-false start and take 3).

The early releases on the FTD label were single discs housed in 5-inch gatefold digi-packs with no booklets and little or no information other than the track listings. In 2003 they released the first in what would become the 'Classic Album' series. Mostly two-CDs they were housed in a 7-inch sleeve that opened out into three panels housing the CDs and a booklet containing liner notes, session details, images and rare memorabilia. The first releases in this format were the soundtracks, It Happened At The Worlds Fair, Fun In Acapulco and Girl Happy, definitely not classics but as time moved on the label would turn their attention to albums that were more deserving of the title 'Classic'. Among the first were Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis, Elvis Is Back and in 2005, Elvis Today, released to celebrate the albums thirtieth anniversary.

CD 1 contained the original album, the unreleased Tiger Man jam and a selection of previously unavailable outtakes/false starts including And I Love You So (take 1), Bringing It Back (take 1), Susan When She Tried (take 3), Shake A Hand (take 1) and several more.

The highlights on CD 2 were the original session mixes, which were minus many of the overdubs, which make for interesting listening and in some cases are as good if not better than the originals. The set was bought to a close with the material previously made available on the 6363 Sunset release.

The 12-page booklet gave details about the tracks, recording information a brief time line covering the period from December 1974 to September 1975 and illustrated throughout with photos, mainly live as there were none taken at the sessions, memorabilia and record company paperwork.

There are some great moments to enjoy. Both Lisa Marie and his current girlfriend Sheila Ryan had also attended the recording sessions and before the first take of And I Love You So Elvis says, "Step up here Sheila, let me sing to you baby." Take 1 of Fairytale is preceded by Elvis, in a high-pitched voice, joking, "Good luck everybody", and after the keyboard player makes a mistake at the start of Bringing It Back Elvis laughs and says, "Next piano player!" There are many more to enjoy and it shows how much fun Elvis was having during the recordings.

This release leaves just a handful of outtakes in the vaults, more than likely just false starts, which may see a release one day.

The set received some criticism on its release due to the sound quality of the original album tracks that open the set. The audio has been mastered too low and this is noticeable when, after Green, Green Grass Of Home, the volume increases on Tiger Man. One other mistake which should have been spotted before the packaging was printed is the spelling mistake on Susan When She Tried on the reproduced back cover... which changed the title to Susan When She Said! However, it was a welcome release bringing everything together in one place.

To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the albums release Sony Music released it as part of their 'Legacy Edition' series in 2015. With the idea to appeal to a wider audience than the FTD releases, which are aimed at the collector, there are no outtakes although the original session mixes were included. 

A second disc featured the 1975 live recording that had first appeared on the Silver box set back in 1980. For this release it has been remastered and reassembled from the original tapes and the audio is a vast improvement. Recorded during the May and June tour it includes a live version of the recently recorded T-R-O-U-B-L-E along with other concert favourites.

The 24-page booklet features an in-depth liner note written by musician, producer and broadcaster Stuart Colman along with track details and a wealth of live photos and paperwork.

FTD turned their attention to releasing vinyl albums alongside the regular CD releases and in 2016 they turned their attention to Today. Released as a double album, Elvis Today - The Original Session Mixes bought together all the original mixes and a selection of outtakes.

I have read several comments that the album should be issued as part of the FTD 'Sessions' releases but with so few outtakes left available I can't see this being a viable project for the label.

Despite my comments about the album cover and chart success, I do rate Today and it is among my favourite studio albums from the 1970s and, in my opinion, his last great album released in his lifetime.