WORDS BY MATT SHEPHERD
As a 70s baby, I didn’t discover Elvis until after his death. I stumbled across him in one of his many movies on TV and I was an instantly hooked six-year-old. As a child, I was, of course, drawn to the rock’n’ roll Elvis of the 1950s, and one of the first albums I actually owned featured Presley’s version of Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On – but this had been recorded in 1970 and originally featured on the Elvis Country album. The one thing it did prove was that, given the right material, 1970s Elvis could still rock out with the best of them.
It’s very easy to write off Presley in the 1970s as someone who just recorded love songs about heartache, following his separation and ultimately divorce from the only woman he ever married, Priscilla.