Track Listing

1. TROUBLE
2. And I Love You So
3. Susan When She Tried
4. Woman Without Love
5. Shake A Hand
6. Pieces Of My Life
7. Fairytale
8. I Can Help
9. Bringing It Back
10. Green Green Grass Of Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27904 in Music
• Released on: 1992-07-04
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
A uniformly strong selection of songs and cleaner-than-usual production make TODAY one of Elvis Presley's better '70s studio efforts. From its opening track "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" (latera hit for Travis Tritt), TODAY announces that it is not just another collection of regret-filled ballads from the King.Sure, there are a few torch songs here, but on TODAY the tear-jerkers are balanced out by such up-tempo numbers as "Susan When She Tried", the inspirational "Shake A Hand", and a cover of the Billy Swan hit "I Can Help".
On other tracks, Presley transforms the Pointer Sisters' hit "Fairytale" into a two-step and belts out a Tom Jones-like version of thedeath-row weeper "Green, Green Grass of Home". Throughout, Elvis' crack band sparkles, with guitarist James Burton in particularly fine form. Don't let the nearly identical coversRCA slapped on Presley's Seventies albums fool you: not allElvis albums from this era are the same. Each has somethingto recommend it, but TODAY has more than the standard shareof highlights.

Customer Reviews

BEST PRESLEY CD OF THE '70s (if not of all time)
I could save you time reading reviews of 'Elvis Today'. Trust me - get this CD.

This album sends shivers up and down my spine. Here's why: The King was simply at his absolute very best vocally. You will not hear Elvis as good as this on any other CD. His delivery is breathtaking and the voice is unbelievable - right from the first note to the last chord of the last track. Ten gold-plated songs filled with awesome power and soaked with pure emotion. He sounds Rock; Country; Rythm; Blues; Ballad; and Gospel - all in one album!!!

Elvis kicks off with T-R-O-U-B-L-E and you can tell immediately that he means business. This is his best rocker of the 70's. He just attacks it head on. We will never hear a cover version of this track by any other artist. Why? Because no one else can deliver this track like Elvis does. And the 'hiccups' at the end are amazingly unique.

AND I LOVE YOU SO comes next and Elvis does true justice to this classic. Just listen to that voice. Suddenly you are a ballads fan! SUSAN WHEN SHE TRIED would have sounded too country by another artist of the time but Elvis turns it into a brilliant country-rock piece. It ranks as one of my favourites here. WOMAN WITHOUT LOVE takes you into another world - perhaps his at the time. Backing vocals come in very prominently and beautifully here.

The rest of the album is truly superb with notable outstanding tracks such as, well, all of them. Just listen to the phenomenal power of SHAKE A HAND and decide for yourself if this is a blues, rock or gospel - or the emotion-filled PIECES OF MY LIFE which must have been torn out of his soul. The beautiful FAIRYTALE shows us how country music should sound - Presley style! Next the Billy Swan number I CAN HELP and you can sense how much Elvis is enjoying it just by that powerhouse ending. BRINGIN' IT BACK is next and words alone cannot even come close to a description - those few minutes are worth the album alone. The Tom Jones hit of the sixties GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME is the last magic spell on this CD. But this is a very different version with Elvis and backing vocals merging beautifully to really blow you away.

ELVIS TODAY was released in mid 1975 - when Elvis had turned 40 and the world was watching his waistline rather than his work. Glam rock was at its peak and Presley was now more of a concert artist than a studio artist, having not recorded anything in a studio since late '73. The puzzling crime however was that although Elvis was performing sellout concerts to screaming fans all over America, this album should have gone to number one but didn't.

I hope you enjoy Elvis Today as much I do. Just turn it up loud!

Most Under-rated Elvis Album
There are few albums i listen to without skipping a track but this one is so good that all you have to do is sit back and listen. Vocally Presley is fantastic - from songs such as the fast T-R-O-U-B-L-E or the slow Pieces Of My Life, he carries it off superbly. I think this version of Green, Green Grass Of Home not only matches but betters Tom Jones' version. With much more emotion and strength in his voice. I can see that maybe it wasnt the right choice of songs for the average music fan in 1975. But for Elvis fans i fail to see how its been so overlooked.

Good Album, But Not A Classic
Released in 1975, Elvis Today failed commercially, but did include some exceptional performances from the King.

The best tracks on the album are T.R.O.U.B.L.E, Shake a Hand, Pieces Of My Life and I Can Help.

T.R.O.U.B.L.E is excellent, a fast rocker and in fine form by Presley and the accompanying band.

Shake a Hand is outstanding, Elvis deliveres a fine performance, one of his best, far surpassing the Great Jackie Wilson's version, and Paul McCartneys version a couple of years ago pales miserably in comparison.

Pieces Of My Life is outstanding. This song is emotional, and powerful, and again a defining song for Presley. His phrasing, voice and breath control are still unsurpassed, I can only say WOW about this song.

I Can Help is the Billy Swan classic, and although Elvis version is not as good as Swan's, it is faster, and a lot of fun for the listner.