100% Album

[History History]

I was wondering if anybody has an EC album that they can play from start to finish without skipping any tracks because it spoils the 'feel' of the record?
For me it's:
TYM, IB & BY

PS: Just like to say Hi and Happy New Year to everyone here.

[jardine]

hi and happy back at ya! you know, i tend to listen to any album right through and don't skip tracks. sometimes i'll listen to half a cd ( like NR because it is soooo long, 30 minutes at a time is find w. me). i sort of don't want to decide for the artist what needs skipping. without its "weaker" tracks, e.g., NR would not be the same. it might be abstractly "better", but it would no longer be this artist's creation but more of "mine." make sense??

[when i was cruel]

All This Useless Beauty, I can't find one bad or even off track on there it is my favorite EC album, which is pretty contradictory to most people love of IB. One album I haven't brought myself to listen to entirely is North, I believe it was a flop album although every good song on it was on the bonus disc.

[History History]

I agree with you about ATUB and I could add Get Happy! as well. I nearly always skip Eisenhower's Blues on KOA though.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Imperial Bedroom is the closest for me.

[Ypsilanti]

hi and happy back at ya! you know, i tend to listen to any album right through and don't skip tracks. sometimes i'll listen to half a cd ( like NR because it is soooo long, 30 minutes at a time is find w. me). i sort of don't want to decide for the artist what needs skipping. without its "weaker" tracks, e.g., NR would not be the same. it might be abstractly "better", but it would no longer be this artist's creation but more of "mine." make sense??

Agree--don't like to skip tracks. Makes me feel like I'm cheating. Records which compel me to skip, I don't really listen to at all (or hardly ever)--for the reasons mentioned above. Most Elvis records are 100% non-skipable for me. The ones which ARE NOT--the ones I tend to avoid because I can't get on board with every song from start to finish are...

TYM
Trust
AB
IB
GCW (although I LOVE the Rhino Bonus Disk--from start to finish)
MLAR
TJL
KV
ATUB
MFBB
SP&S

All the other ones...I happily go straight through, from beginning to end (in order).

[Jack of All Parades]

For myself, there are four albums in his entire oeuvre that I can play straight through with no track elimination: Get Happy, Imperial Bedroom, Trust and Painted From Memory. The first three have always been a perfect trifecta for me as an Elvis fan; I have always found them to be the highest examples of his overall talent in a variety of genres and to contain a disproportionate number of his best songs for my ears and the best examples of his group work and his singing, as well.

[Poor Deportee]

Great question!

The only one I can think of is 'Blood and Chocolate.'

[wardo68]

Get Happy!!, Trust, Imperial Bedroom, King Of America, Blood & Chocolate.

[Neil.]

MFBB

I've drawn a blank on this, Yps - which album are you talking about?

My 100%ers are

Model, Get Happy, Trust, Blood Choc, Brutal Youth.

But I love so many others so much that the odd skippable track hardly feels worth mentioning! (and I usually still let 'em play through, anyway)

[pophead2k]

MFBB = My Flame Burns Blue

I'm not much of a track skipper, but some songs (Playboy to a Man is one example) deserve it. I can happily listen all the way through Trust, Imperial Bedroom, Armed Forces, Brutal Youth, The Juliet Letters, Painted From Memory and National Ransom without skipping.

[Jeremy Dylan]

The first two are it. And they aren't my favourites, but I will play them all the way through with no skipping more often than TDM or NR, etc.

[Jack of All Parades]

Ypsilanti wrote:

"Agree--don't like to skip tracks. Makes me feel like I'm cheating. Records which compel me to skip, I don't really listen to at all (or hardly ever)--for the reasons mentioned above. Most Elvis records are 100% non-skipable for me. The ones which ARE NOT--the ones I tend to avoid because I can't get on board with every song from start to finish are...

TYM
Trust
AB
IB
GCW (although I LOVE the Rhino Bonus Disk--from start to finish)
MLAR
TJL
KV
ATUB
MFBB
SP&S

All the other ones...I happily go straight through, from beginning to end (in order)."

Just curious as a fan to a fan -that is over a third of his catalog that you do not listen to or, at best, rarely listen to if I read you correctly["Records which compel me to skip, I don't really listen to at all (or hardly ever)--for the reasons mentioned above."] Quite a bit of good material in all those albums, outside of perhaps SP&S[my own distaste] that you seem to consciously avoid-I hope this is not really true as I think you miss so much by doing that.

[alexv]

Great question. My only non-skippables are MAIT, TL, and AF. Oddly enough, these are not my favorites. Overall, I prefer IB (where I skip Pidgin, Fool and Home). I also prefer GH and TYM to AF, but have always had issues with Night Rally, Gears in Reverse, and Beaten.

[Ypsilanti]

Just curious as a fan to a fan -that is over a third of his catalog that you do not listen to or, at best, rarely listen to if I read you correctly["Records which compel me to skip, I don't really listen to at all (or hardly ever)--for the reasons mentioned above."] Quite a bit of good material in all those albums, outside of perhaps SP&S[my own distaste] that you seem to consciously avoid-I hope this is not really true as I think you miss so much by doing that.

First--and very importantly--tracks I skip or albums I don't play a lot are just not to my taste. I'm not saying various songs are bad or unworthy or poorly crafted. I just don't like them.

I almost never listen to Trust & Kojak Variety because they have the most tracks I dislike. I've tried hard, but their appeal is totally lost on me. Imperial Bedroom certainly has it's merits--"Almost Blue" & "Man Out Of Time" are clearly among his very best songs (although I despise those chaotic, tacked-on bits at the front and back of MOOT--almost kills it for me). Overall, I find the production of IB a little dated and cloying and I have to skip a few songs, especially "Boy With A Problem", which I loathe. Although I love a few songs on each, these are the 3 records I most avoid. I know it's blasphemy, but there you have it...

Goodbye Cruel World...it's a shame Elvis was too high or too depressed or whatever to stop the producers from ruining his music, because the actual songs are really quite good. That Rhino Bonus Disk is among my favorites.

Almost Blue...I like the perversity of the songs choices. Seems like Elvis went out of his way to pick several really wacky, over the top Country songs--mixed in with a couple of great ones. Because of this, it's almost like a "novelty record" for me, but occasionally, in the right mood, I can listen to it.

This Year's Model...Don't really dislike this record, but overall, it's too homogeneous. I am lukewarm to tepid on a few tracks ("The Beat", "Living In Paradise", "You Belong To Me", Hand In Hand"), so when I want to hear some early stuff I tend to pick MAIT or AF or TL instead.

Mighty Like A Rose...This is an emotionally complicated record that requires a big commitment from the listener. It can be exhausting. I love most of it (I can even get through the dreaded "Playboy To A Man"), and I do listen to it sometimes--maybe I'll even put it in the rotation for a couple of weeks straight, but "After The Fall" is so intensely depressing it often scares me away from the whole album.

The Juliet Letters...I listen to it sometimes. Love it a little. Admire it a lot. Especially enjoy "Romeo's Seance", "The Birds Will Still Be Singing", "I Almost Had A Weakness" & "This Offer Is Unrepeatable" (which reminds me of the Tom Waits song "Step Right Up"). It must have taken balls of steel for Elvis to attempt something like this--and I feel he succeeds. But, I find much of the storytelling a little murky & confusing. Maybe this is because it was written in collaboration with others. Still, it's quite an achievement.

All This Useless Beauty...Like this record a lot and play it pretty often, but I have issues with "Distorted Angel" (which always sounds to me like he's describing being fondled by a nun--Yick!), "Why Can't A Man Stand Alone" & "I Want to Vanish" (which I take as a rather petulant & unnecessary "Fuck You" to the fans).

My Flame Burns Blue...Love it except for "Speak Darkly, My Angel" & "Almost Ideal Eyes".

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane...Not a fan of "She Handed Me A Mirror". Otherwise like it just fine.

[Jack of All Parades]

Thank you for the clarification. I was simply reading your words which clearly state you do not or very rarely listen to at least 11 records by my count and found it hard to believe that you would not listen to so many records being the fan you so clearly are.

[Ypsilanti]

Thank you for the clarification. I was simply reading your words which clearly state you do not or very rarely listen to at least 11 records by my count and found it hard to believe that you would not listen to so many records being the fan you so clearly are.

Yes, well...while there are 11 I don't listen to regularly, there are still the at least 17 I do listen to all the time, without skipping tracks. Surprisingly, everyone else posting in this thread lists less than 5 albums in that category. Of course I have my likes and dislikes, but perhaps I am easier to please than most people.

[alexv]

christopher, I'm a big fan too, but there are some EC records where I actually listen to fewer songs than I skip. He's put out so many records over the years that there are lots of songs that don't either connect, or over time just fade from lack of interest. As Ypsi says, this is just personal taste.

Juliet and WIWC are two records that have consistently failed to connect with me. In Juliet I usually skip everything except Weakness; Who; Jackson; and the wonderful Birds. Having said that, I think Birds is one of his great songs and the whole Juliet exercise is worth it just for that song (and jackson is another gem).

In WIWC, my least favorite EC record by a mile, I only listen to Spooky (although I prefer the Cruel Smile version), WIWC2 and Blonde (although I prefer the MFBB version).Can't say I would have missed anything though, if this record had never been made.

The Delivery Man is another skip fest: I skip everything except Darkness; Either; Name; Bruise; and Tide.But I love these songs, especially Bruise and Darkness.

RIR the same: Ascension; Thorn; Brother; Tears; and the title song are it.

Profane is another one where, like TDM, I skip as many as I listen: I only listen to Wine; I dreamed; Red; Crooked; and Partners.

And on Spike I only listen to This Town; Mirror; Veronica; Comic; Pads; and McBeth. But Veronica, God's Comic, and Mirror are classic songs, so who cares about the misses.

The great thing of this "skip" exercise is that when you look at a record like GCW, by consensus the worst record from his golden era, at least in my case, I don't find as many skippables as I would expect: I skip Porterhouse, Sour, Unknown, and Deportees. But I still get a kick out of the rest. The thing is that the non-skippables, even though I still enjoy listening them every once in a while, are not great or even good EC songs, but they have enough in them to still draw me in. So, even though it's a bigger failure than any other record, I prefer it, overall, to lesser failures where the songs just don't have what even bad GCW songs had. Whatever that means.

[terryhurley]

I found this topic so interesting as It really made me think about the pieces as "whole". I was also surprised by my own realisation that my only one with no skips is "The Juliet Letters". It's certainly not my favourite piece yet I appreciate every track.

[watercamp]

never did warm up to
- "Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" from MLAR

over all I have a hard time considering "The Juliet Letters" and "Il Sogno" as EC albums period.

The rest of the albums I listen to all the way through.

[when i was cruel]

I just found a lot more, I was under the impression that first the forum was only supposed to be about one album
Anyway:
MLAR
MAIT
IB
WIWC
SP&S
NR
ATUB
B&C
Spike
North bonus disc, the actually album is dreadful
TDM
BY Any of the bonus disc except blood and chocolates
Costello & Nieve (if that could be counted) KOF

I find that albums like Juliet Letters have maybe 1 good song (Jacksons, Monk & Rowe) because they are way to far fetched for a lot of peoples musical taste, and the only reason why that songs is good is because of the upbeat, smart song that Costello and company put together.

By any chance has anyone ever heard 'Just Another Mystery' and wondered why in the hell a song like 'Playboy To A Man' wasn't replaced by it ?