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

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Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 7, 1971[1]
RecordedJune 4–8 and September 22, 1970
StudioRCA Studio B (Nashville)
Genre
Length38:49
RCA Victor
ProducerFelton Jarvis
Elvis Presley chronology
That's the Way It Is
(1970)
Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)
(1971)
You'll Never Walk Alone
(1971)
Singles from Elvis Country
  1. "I Really Don't Want to Know"
    Released: December 8, 1970
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB−[3]
MusicHound[4]
Rough Guides[5]

Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) is the 13th

RCA Studio B in Nashville, it reached number 12 on the Billboard 200.[6] It peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, selling over one million copies worldwide.[7] It was certified Gold on December 1, 1977, by the Recording Industry Association of America.[8]

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.[9]

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

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

rap fashion of musicians using their baby pictures for album covers.[11][12]

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.[citation needed] However, both albums originated from the same recording sessions. An unreleased Quadraphonic version is also known to exist.

Track listing

Original release

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."
Tomorrow Never Comes"
Johnny Bond, Ernest TubbJune 7, 19704:07
3."Little Cabin on the Hill"Bill Monroe, Lester FlattJune 4, 19701:58
4."Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"Dave "Curlee" Williams, Sunny DavidSeptember 22, 19703:10
5."Funny How Time Slips Away"Willie NelsonJune 7, 19704:32
6."I Really Don't Want to Know"Howard Barnes, Don RobertsonJune 7, 19702:59
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."
I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water"
Joe BabcockJune 7, 19703:54
6."Make the World Go Away"Hank CochranJune 7, 19703:46

2000 reissue bonus tracks

Tracks 1-12 are from the original album
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
13."It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)"Shorty Hall, Alice Joy Merritt, Neal MerrittJune 6, 19702:47
14."A Hundred Years From Now"
I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago
"
TraditionalJune 4, 19703:13

2012 legacy edition reissue

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."
A.L. "Doodle" Owens
2:27
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."
Heart of Rome"
Alan Blaikley, Ken Howard, Geoff Stephens2:56
6."Only Believe"Paul Rader2:50
7."This is Our Dance"Les Reed, Geoff Stephens3:16
8."Cindy, Cindy"Dolores Fuller, Buddy Kaye, Ben Weisman2:32
9."I'll Never Know"Fred Karger, Sid Wayne, Ben Weisman2:25
10."It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)"Shorty Hall, Alice Joy Merritt, Neal Merritt2:49
11."Life"Shirl Milete3:10
12."The Sound of Your Cry"Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Buddy Kaye3:17
13."Sylvia"Geoff Stephens and Les Reed3:17
14."Rags to Riches"Richard Adler and Jerry Ross1:54

Personnel

Sourced from Keith Flynn.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Overdubbed
Production staff

References

  1. ^ "Elvis Presley Discography". www.keithflynn.com.
  2. AllMusic
  3. . Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. .
  5. .
  6. ^ "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. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  7. ^ "Elvis Express Radio - The UK Album Charts". 2013. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  8. ^ "Searchable database". RIAA. Recording Industry Association of America. 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013. Note: Enter search for "Elvis Country"
  9. ^ "Elvis Country Awards". AllMusic. Rovi Corp. 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  10. ^ Guralnick, Peter (March 4, 1971). "Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)". Rolling Stone.
  11. ^ "A History Of Artists Who Use Their Own Baby Pics As Album Covers (LIST)". August 22, 2013.
  12. ^ "What's Up With All Those Baby Photos on Rap Album Covers?".
  13. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  14. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  15. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  16. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  17. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  18. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".

External links