What I'm Listening To

Just listened to these two bitchin' tracks a little while ago: I'm Leavin' and Heart of Rome. As you can see by the picture, these were originally released on a single in 1971 and are available on the CD box set Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters.

I'm Leavin' is an extraordinary song that I've only recently discovered; it has a gentle country-ish feel and an overall melancholy tone that differs from a lot of Elvis stuff that you may be familiar with. Picked acoustic guitars and piano abound in this song, as well as some relatively strange time changes and a whole lot of the word "la". Very emotional and stirring. I keep listening to it again and again!

Its B-side, Heart of Rome, is no sloucher either. It's quite a bit more upbeat and melodramatic, with sweeping strings and blasting horns. There are quite a few "la"s in this song as well... dunno what was going on at this time. It does, however, help to tie these two songs together well.

By the way, both of these songs have some great harmony vocals that accent and support that of the King's. I can't determine exactly who that is singing backup on these parts, but it sure is good. [Update: I found out that the background vocals on Heart of Rome are done by Elvis's long-time right-hand man, Charlie Hodge.]

I think Elvis's 70's recordings are a bit underrated. Sure, they're schmaltzy and a bit over the top. And some of it is pretty sappy. And corny. But hell, it's the king! There really are some good songs and performances to be found in this era (also known as the Fat Elvis period)... you just have to open up your ears a bit.

I don't think enough young people know the power of Elvis.

I'm kinda high right now.