Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) Explained

Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)
Type:Album
Artist:Elvis Presley
Cover:Elvis Country.jpg
Released:January 7, 1971[1]
Recorded:June 4–8 and September 22, 1970
Studio:RCA Studio B (Nashville)
Genre:
Length:38:49
Label:RCA Victor
Producer:Felton Jarvis
Prev Title:That's the Way It Is
Prev Year:1970
Next Title:You'll Never Walk Alone
Next Year:1971

Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) is the thirteenth studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Records (LSP 4460) in January 1971. Recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, it reached number 12 on the Billboard 200.[2] It peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, selling over one million copies worldwide.[3] It was certified Gold on December 1, 1977, by the Recording Industry Association of America.[4]

The lead single of the album, "I Really Don't Want to Know" backed with "There Goes My Everything", was released on December 8, 1970 and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Adult Contemporary chart, and number 23 on the country singles chart.[5]

Content

The bulk of the album came from five days of recording sessions in June 1970 which yielded 35 usable tracks. Presley performed every track "live", recording his vocal part in the same take as the band, as was standard practice for him. Eight tracks from the session were released two months earlier in November 1970 on the That's the Way It Is album. During the sessions, Presley and producer Felton Jarvis realized they had several country songs in hand and decided to record several more to create a full album of country material. Needing two more satisfactory tracks, Elvis returned to the same studio in September where he recorded "Snowbird" and a manic, one-take version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."

Nearly every style of country music is represented: bluegrass, honky tonk, Western swing, rockabilly, countrypolitan, and even the then-nascent "outlaw" movement. Snippets of the song "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" act as a bridge between each track.

After this album, Presley would return to his usual practice of recording a seemingly random batch of songs on each trip to the recording studio, letting his producer assemble them into albums.

Cover

The sleeve image is a colourised photograph of Elvis as an infant, with an inset of the original shot of the artist flanked by his parents Vernon and Gladys Presley,[6] anticipating by several decades the rap fashion of musicians using their baby pictures for album covers.[7] [8]

Reissues

The June 14, 2004, compact disc reissue included six bonus tracks from the same sessions. Three of them had been previously released on the LP Love Letters from Elvis. The others were the B-side "Where Did They Go, Lord?" (a track that made its first LP appearance on the 1978 compilation He Walks Beside Me) and the unabridged version of "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" later released on Elvis Now.

In 2008 Elvis Country was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special two-disc edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes. In late 2011, RCA Legacy (owned by Sony) announced a two-CD "Legacy Edition" set of the Elvis Country album. Enthusiasm was short-lived as fans quickly criticized the decision to pair the album with the leftover set that was 1970's Love Letters LP instead of compiling rarities from the acclaimed Elvis Country set. However, both albums originated from the same recording sessions. An unreleased Quadraphonic version is also known to exist.

Track listing

2012 legacy edition reissue

Personnel

Sourced from Keith Flynn.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Overdubbed
Production staff

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Elvis Presley Discography. www.keithflynn.com.
  2. Web site: Elvis Presley Pop Albums - Billboard's Top Pop Albums . Elvis Presley: The Official Site of the King of Rock 'n' Roll . Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. . 2013 . May 28, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101108074213/http://www.elvis.com/about-the-king/music/billboard_top_20_charts/pop_albums.aspx . November 8, 2010 .
  3. Web site: Elvis Express Radio - The UK Album Charts . 2013 . May 28, 2013 . September 2, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170902151256/http://www.elvis-express.com/elvisradio_ukeplp.html . dead .
  4. Web site: Searchable database . 2013 . RIAA . Recording Industry Association of America. May 28, 2013. Note: Enter search for "Elvis Country"
  5. Web site: Elvis Country Awards. AllMusic. Rovi Corp. . 2013 . May 28, 2013.
  6. Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old). Peter. Guralnick. . March 4, 1971.
  7. Web site: A History Of Artists Who Use Their Own Baby Pics As Album Covers (LIST). August 22, 2013.
  8. Web site: What's Up With All Those Baby Photos on Rap Album Covers?.
  9. Web site: Elvis Presley Recording Sessions: June 4, 1970 .
  10. Web site: Elvis Presley Recording Sessions: June 5, 1970 .
  11. Web site: Elvis Presley Recording Sessions: June 6, 1970 .
  12. Web site: Elvis Presley Recording Sessions: June 7, 1970 .
  13. Web site: Elvis Presley Recording Sessions: June 8, 1970 .
  14. Web site: Elvis Presley Recording Sessions .