Elvis Presley - Guitar Man (1981)

Artist:  Elvis Presley
Title:  Guitar Man
Release:  1981
Format:  LP
Label:  RCA Records
Catalog#  PL-13917

In 1980 Elvis’ long-time producer and friend, Felton Jarvis went back into the studio with a bunch of Elvis vocal tracks to produce a ‘new’ Elvis album. No one else would have had better insight into what kind of music Elvis might have recorded had he been alive in 1980. The end result was the “Guitar Man” album released early in 1981. The album and the song were also modest hits in the UK. ‘Loving Arms’ was released as the second single from the album and was a Top Ten Country hit. Unfortunately Jarvis died just before the album was released and did not see the fruits of his labor. RCA asked Waylon Jennings to sing along on his finished track. I couldn’t handle that. ‘Call Elvis’, I told them. ‘If it’s okay with Elvis, it’s okay with me’. The Too Much Monkey Business collection released by Follow That Dream Records, includes 10 other Jarvis remixes that were not included on the ‘Guitar Man’ album. It is possible that Jarvis had planned to use them on a second album of remixes. While the remixes are pretty good and most have more punch to them, in general I prefer the originals. It takes a few listens to get used to the differences. Some of the songs sound like they just wanted to make them sound different and not necessarily better. One of the exceptions is ‘Guitar Man'; the remix sounds much better than the original too me. It features the song’s composer, Jerry Reed on guitar. He played guitar on the original too, only this time he plays an electric guitar instead of acoustic and it sounds great.


Side one
1.  Guitar Man  (2:50)
2.  After Loving You  (3:20)
3.  Too Much Monkey Business  (2:50)
4.  Just Call Me Lonesome  (2:04)
5.  Loving Arms  (2:54)

Side two
1.  You Asked Me To  (2:58)
2.  Clean Up Your Own Backyard  (3:08)
3.  She Thinks I Still Care  (3:39)
4.  Faded Love  (2:52)
5.  I’m Moving On  (2:46)

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