Elvis Presley “Suspicious Minds” American studio 1969: A vocal masterpiece

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

Elvis Presley “Suspicious Minds” 1969 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hdmIhCkp3p4

Like his work of the 1950s, Presley’s late 1960s recordings reworked pop and country songs in distinctly different arrangements. His vocal style and range now involved a more contemporary rock sound melded to soul and funk. A lot of Elvis in Memphis mirrored his fresh rock and soul fusion. One of these recordings became one of the most outstanding hits of Elvis’ career. Mark James wrote “Suspicious Minds”, a thoughtful pop song with themes of deep love, distrust and pain, containing drama and operatic power. The hyper-produced soul-influenced pop ballad had been covered by others but it was Elvis Presley’s 1969 recording that will always be remembered as the definitive version.

The producer was legendary Memphis soul producer Chips Moman at the funky American studio. It hit the charts alongside stiff competition, testament to its command. According to Piers Beagley on the Elvis Information Network “(t)he 1969 pop charts were one of the strongest in years with the political, “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Something in the Air” by Thunderclap Newman mixing with the innovative, David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and the classics, The Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Women” and The Beatles “Come Together”. ….Elvis’ musical strength had always been as a great interpretive singer and it would only be the absolute passion he injected into the song that would elevate it to the #1 slot on the US charts; #2 in the UK, amongst these other classics.” Elvis’ rendering of the song ranks in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #91. This is a stunning vocal achievement.

The track established Elvis’ return to vocal form as well as a literal return to his home town. After many years of squandering his talent on B-movie soundtrack padding, a thundering, mature-voiced Presley lets loose his full power on this ballad, a defining moment in the history of popular song. “Suspicious Minds” starts with Reggie Young’s unrelenting guitar riff harmonised to Bobby Woods’s piano line, conveying an edgy mood for the listener. The vocal lines are delivered in two-part harmony. When Elvis enters with the astonishing first line for a pop love-song “We’re caught in a trap” the drama is instantly laid bare. The listener is confronted with an overwhelming intimacy; the refrain alternates between anger and smouldering despair, from an urging powered chorus to a seething, tentative tempo bridge that feels like a totally different song. During this soul section – after the aching frustration suggested in the verses – Presley begs his lover not to “let a good thing die,” as if down on one knee (in the live performances of the song Elvis indeed drops to his knees during this section). The fade out and return to the song feels exactly like the trap the lovers are caught up in. Raw emotion is sensed throughout, with Elvis’ vocal expressing both vulnerability and anguish as he declares to his sweetheart that he loves her too much.

This is one of the songs where he reaches the notable high register G4. The King’s passion turns the song into something utterly his own, while provoking the studio band to turn on several degrees of heat. The other musicians on the sessions included Reggie Young on guitar, Bobby Woods on piano and vocal, Mike Leech on bass, and Gene Chrisman on drums. The arrangement quickly builds to include horns, strings, layered backing vocals, and the throbbing rhythm section. Everyone in the studio that night knew that this was the song, how it was always meant to be sung and played.