1970s hits outside the top 10 Part 44: Elvis Presley Part 4
Posted: November 1st, 2025, 3:05 pm
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Retro Roundup: 1970s hits outside the top 10 Part 44: Elvis Presley Part 4
By Joel Goldenberg The Suburban
We now resume our look at Elvis Presley's singles of the 1970s that made the Billboard pop charts, but did not scale its heights sufficiently to reach Top-10 status.
Raised On Rock (#41)- Oh, the potential! In July 1973, Elvis Presley recorded at the Stax studios in his home town of Memphis. The studio and label of the same name, now a popular tourist attraction, yielded some of the best music ever made from the likes of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett (whose records were released on Atlantic), Rufus Thomas, Eddie Floyd and many others. So Elvis recording there would result in soul masterpieces, right? Only if Stax was misspelled and was actually Memphis's American Studios, where Elvis recorded in early 1969. No, in July 1973, Elvis was not in a great mental or physical state — his tours were punishing, his divorce from his wife Priscilla was about to take place and, in the case of the sessions, the songs he was being offered were, to a great extent, substandard, including Girl Of Mine and Three Corn Patches. Even a good song like the Drifters' If You Don't Come Back was performed sleepily by Elvis. Raised On Rock has a bit more life to it, but it's a bit discomfiting to hear Elvis sing a tribute to '50s rock at a distance from it, when he pioneered it. Still, Elvis is not quite as asleep as on some of the other sessions' songs, and the musicianship is great.
For 'Ol Times Sake: This was also recorded at the July 1973 sessions, and was the B-side of Raised On Rock. This should have been the A-side. No matter his state, when Elvis performed a song he actually liked, he got past his struggles and sang with utter soul and tenderness, as he does here. One of his best and most underappreciated 1970s performances, and more great ones were to come.
I've Got a Thing About You Baby (#39)- While this was recorded at the largely desultory July 1973 Stax sessions, it was held over for the Good Times album from 1974, and for good reason. Elvis is not quite fully awake vocally, but that's okay for a song that is played in a slinky, funky and subtle way.
Take Good Care Of Her- This is the above single's B-side. Even though Elvis was in a not great way during the July 1973 Stax sessions, he returned to the same venue in December of that year after a health crisis and some much needed relaxation. The results of the more productive sessions were much better, not only because of Elvis's improved health, but because the studio equipment and the songs were better. However, this is not one of my favourites from the session. It's an okay version of an Adam Wade hit from the early 1960s, but it's not exceptionally inspired and it sounds like too many older country songs that starts off with the chorus and settles into the verses in a formulaic way. This is from the Good Times album, and a much better choice for an A-side from that LP would have been Loving Arms or Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues, two of Elvis's most penetrating performances since 1969. I could listen to those two songs on a loop.
If You Talk In Your Sleep (#17)- This is one of the better results of the December 1973 sessions, and is provocative both in its lyrics (which are about adultery) and in its playing, which musically provides an atmosphere in which one could visualize some sneaking around by some marriage miscreants in the dark of night. This is from the Promised Land album from 1975.
Just a note: As mentioned previously, I have a Billboard Country top-40 book, and here's how Elvis did on those charts from 1970 to 1974: Kentucky Rain (#31, surprising, I thought this would have hit #1), The Wonder Of You (#37), There Goes My Everything (#9), I Really Don't Want To Know (#23, again surprising to me), Life (#34), It's A Matter Of Time (#36), Always On My Mind/Separate Ways (#16), Fool/Steamroller Blues (#31), I've Got a Thing About You Baby/Take Good Care Of Her (#4), Help Me/If You Talk In Your Sleep (#6, in which the A and B-sides were reversed).
Next time: Promised Land and the conclusion of this Elvis series.
Retro Roundup: 1970s hits outside the top 10 Part 44: Elvis Presley Part 4
By Joel Goldenberg The Suburban
We now resume our look at Elvis Presley's singles of the 1970s that made the Billboard pop charts, but did not scale its heights sufficiently to reach Top-10 status.
Raised On Rock (#41)- Oh, the potential! In July 1973, Elvis Presley recorded at the Stax studios in his home town of Memphis. The studio and label of the same name, now a popular tourist attraction, yielded some of the best music ever made from the likes of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett (whose records were released on Atlantic), Rufus Thomas, Eddie Floyd and many others. So Elvis recording there would result in soul masterpieces, right? Only if Stax was misspelled and was actually Memphis's American Studios, where Elvis recorded in early 1969. No, in July 1973, Elvis was not in a great mental or physical state — his tours were punishing, his divorce from his wife Priscilla was about to take place and, in the case of the sessions, the songs he was being offered were, to a great extent, substandard, including Girl Of Mine and Three Corn Patches. Even a good song like the Drifters' If You Don't Come Back was performed sleepily by Elvis. Raised On Rock has a bit more life to it, but it's a bit discomfiting to hear Elvis sing a tribute to '50s rock at a distance from it, when he pioneered it. Still, Elvis is not quite as asleep as on some of the other sessions' songs, and the musicianship is great.
For 'Ol Times Sake: This was also recorded at the July 1973 sessions, and was the B-side of Raised On Rock. This should have been the A-side. No matter his state, when Elvis performed a song he actually liked, he got past his struggles and sang with utter soul and tenderness, as he does here. One of his best and most underappreciated 1970s performances, and more great ones were to come.
I've Got a Thing About You Baby (#39)- While this was recorded at the largely desultory July 1973 Stax sessions, it was held over for the Good Times album from 1974, and for good reason. Elvis is not quite fully awake vocally, but that's okay for a song that is played in a slinky, funky and subtle way.
Take Good Care Of Her- This is the above single's B-side. Even though Elvis was in a not great way during the July 1973 Stax sessions, he returned to the same venue in December of that year after a health crisis and some much needed relaxation. The results of the more productive sessions were much better, not only because of Elvis's improved health, but because the studio equipment and the songs were better. However, this is not one of my favourites from the session. It's an okay version of an Adam Wade hit from the early 1960s, but it's not exceptionally inspired and it sounds like too many older country songs that starts off with the chorus and settles into the verses in a formulaic way. This is from the Good Times album, and a much better choice for an A-side from that LP would have been Loving Arms or Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues, two of Elvis's most penetrating performances since 1969. I could listen to those two songs on a loop.
If You Talk In Your Sleep (#17)- This is one of the better results of the December 1973 sessions, and is provocative both in its lyrics (which are about adultery) and in its playing, which musically provides an atmosphere in which one could visualize some sneaking around by some marriage miscreants in the dark of night. This is from the Promised Land album from 1975.
Just a note: As mentioned previously, I have a Billboard Country top-40 book, and here's how Elvis did on those charts from 1970 to 1974: Kentucky Rain (#31, surprising, I thought this would have hit #1), The Wonder Of You (#37), There Goes My Everything (#9), I Really Don't Want To Know (#23, again surprising to me), Life (#34), It's A Matter Of Time (#36), Always On My Mind/Separate Ways (#16), Fool/Steamroller Blues (#31), I've Got a Thing About You Baby/Take Good Care Of Her (#4), Help Me/If You Talk In Your Sleep (#6, in which the A and B-sides were reversed).
Next time: Promised Land and the conclusion of this Elvis series.