Memphis

It's difficult to say exactly what was doing with the album, although one wishes he'd done another album's worth of material like it. On one level, it shows his batteries recharged with the opening number, But then it moves on to more familiar sentimental territory of the kind that had been charting with and filling his albums with for a few years -- and after that comes a hot, beat-driven, chorus-laden, big-sounding number. Further down the line is a carefully understated interpretation of 's that shows how less can be more with a voice like 's, and then there's the which incorporates some heavy, -style fuzz guitar, and a version of complete with phased drums, that is as good as any you'll ever hear this side of 's single. Perhaps this was intended to be 's answer to the pair of albums that had generated out of in Memphis in 1969-1970, except that didn't need the "comeback" -- he hadn't squandered time and years on bad movies (except one) and bad songs; he just needed to sell some records, which this didn't really do. So what we have here is veering very successfully between , , and , with excellent production by the singer and . Reissued by in 2004 as part of a two-CD package with killer sound. ~ Bruce Eder