The career of Elvis Presley is usually broken into two arcs. The first is Young Elvis, the greasy haired hillbilly with a dangerous sneer and gyrating pelvis. The second is Gilded Elvis, the overweight drug addict in a white sequined jumpsuit, belting out “My Way” as rivers of sweat poured from his black helmet of hair. However, there is an arc in Elvis Presley lore that is often overlooked by the general public and rock critics alike, The Pop Idol.
Contrary to John Lennon’s belief, Presley’s artistic sprit did not die when he went into the army. On the contrary, he entered RCA’s newly minted studio in Nashville with an unquenchable thirst to prove that he was more than just a rock n’ roll singer. Revisionist history has painted Elvis’ post-army direction as Colonel Tom Parker exerting control over his client. This theory could not be further from the truth. Rock n’ roll was on shaky ground in 1960. Little Richard had gone into the ministry, Chuck Berry was in jail, Jerry Lee Lewis was blackballed for marrying his fourteen year old cousin, and Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper perished in an Iowa cornfield. Rock became a genre of singles, one hit wonders and clean cut teenagers. Rock n’ roll was not a career. Elvis Presley was savvy enough to realize this, and knew he had to do an about face.
Shortly before the album’s release, Elvis was Frank Sinatra’s special guest on a Timex television special entitled Welcome Back Elvis. In a moment of pop culture detente, Sinatra crooned a few verses of “Love Me Tender,” as Elvis shook his hips to “Witchcraft.” Cynical critics wrote the duet off as Elvis paying his respects to the old guard. When Elvis is Back was released shortly after, critics and fans alike were surprised at how traditional it sounded. The arrangements were more subdued. Elvis voice was deeper, smoother and rarely quivered or hiccupped. “It’s Now or Never” could have been sung by Eddie Fischer or Mario Lanza. It didn’t smack of danger as his earlier albums had, which is probably why some fans saw it as a betrayal. There is nothing rebellious about a man in a white turtleneck.
Elvis is Back doesn’t sound like a revolution, but it’s arguably the best he album he ever made. The reason it works is because the songs were well chosen, the musicianship was impeccable and Elvis Presley was determined to prove that he was more than a hick from Tupelo Mississippi. When Elvis was engaged, he could make even the most saccharine song work. Take “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” one of his best known songs from this period. It’s maudlin, overwrought and a touch melodramatic, and features the most ridiculous monologue in the history of recorded music. In the hands of Perry Como, Tennessee Ernie Ford or even Andy Williams, it would be resigned to late-night Time Life infomercials, but Elvis’s interpretation keeps it relevant. Like his hero Marlon Brando, he brings his own experiences to every song he sings. On the surface, “Are You Lonesome Tonight” is addressed to Pricilla Beaulieu, the gorgeous American teenager he dated while stationed in Germany. However, he could also be singing about his own feelings of isolation after losing his mother two years before. It could be interpreted a dozen different ways, making it one of his most unfairly maligned performances,
But he had to betray his rock n’ roll credibility for such a performance, right? Wrong. In the middle of all the sweet and syrupy pop comes “Reconsider Baby,” one of the toughest songs Elvis ever recorded. Over a slinky acoustic guitar and Boots Randolph seductive saxophone, Elvis snarls his way through the Lowell Fulson classic. He no longer sounds like a greasy-haired trucker from Tupelo, but an experienced veteran who has experienced the world outside of his hometown. He may be asking the girl to reconsider, but he knows that he is capable of getting any female in the world.
Elvis is Back! proved that Elvis Presley’s appeal went beyond the rock n’ roll ghetto, but his new style quickly became an albatross around his neck. He became seduced by the easy paychecks of lightweight Hollywood musicals, and exerted less control over the songs he sung. As the ‘60s became “The ‘60s,” Elvis’s pop leanings became archaic. He stopped caring, and released some of the most mediocre music of his career, which has blurred the greatness of Elvis is Back! As with his late ‘60s comeback, there is a ton of wasted potential. If Elvis had remained motivated, what could he have accomplished? Unfortunately, this question would never be answered.