Moody Blue

For the album by Beverley Mahood, see Moody Blue (Beverley Mahood album). For the band, see The Moody Blues.

Moody Blue
Studio album by Elvis Presley
Released	July 19, 1977
Recorded	March 20, 1974, February 2, 4, 1976; October 29, 31, 1976, April 24, 26, 1977
Genre	Rock music
Length	31:35
Label	RCA Records
Producer	Felton Jarvis
Elvis Presley chronology
Welcome to My World (1977) Moody Blue (1977) Elvis in Concert (1977)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Moody Blue is the final studio album by Elvis Presley. The album was a mixture of live and studio work, and included tracks from Presley's final studio recording sessions in 1976, including Moody Blue, a previously published hit song, and Way Down, which became a hit song after Presley's death less than one month after this album's publication. As described in Elvis: The Illustrated Record, RCA was not able to obtain sufficient new studio material for a complete album, with most of Presley's studio recording of 1976 having already been used in the previous album, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee. The company chose to augment the remaining available works with three live songs recorded in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on April 24 and 26, 1977, including his version of Unchained Melody which was the album's third single, released posthumously. RCA and the producer Felton Jarvis had booked a recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, for January 1977, to record some new tracks for this album. Presley had chosen a few songs to record with the help of Jarvis, most of them were rather country and uptempo. Unfortunately, Presley never showed up at that session, claiming that he was sick and thus staying home (an excuse that Presley used rather frequently during the 1960s to avoid recording poor soundtracks for his motion pictures). Jarvis and RCA had nothing left to do but to fill the album with the live tracks mentioned above. Also included is a live performance of Let Me Be There which had already been publishded three years earlier on his album Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis.

The song Moody Blue was released as a single in early 1977 and it reached number one on the Billboard Country Singles Chart, and #31 on the pop chart. Way Down was released as the album's next single during the early summer of 1977. It did not go very far up the chart, but it soared to #18 after Presley's death in August (all the way to number one in U.K.) It was a bigger hit on the country charts, and it had risen to number one in the same week of the death of Presley. This album reached number three on the Billboard album charts after his death, although it had already entered the top 40 before he died. This was the last album by Presley to reach the TOP 40. Moody Blue was also a number one album on the Country Albums chart. Moody Blue was published on July 19, 1977, and it peaked on the album chart in August 1977.

RCA pressed the album on blue vinyl, to match the title track. Since colored vinyl pressings were relatively rare, and they almost never occurred in a wide release, this has led to collectors mistakenly assuming that blue-vinyl albums of Moody Blue are collectors' items, when in fact the true collectables are pressings from immediately before Presley's death on standard black vinyl. (Immediately following his death, the production of Moody Blue was shifted back to blue vinyl. However, in some later years the album was produced using standard black vinyl).

Following Presley's death, Unchained Melody was also released as a single, and it peaked at #6 on the country music charts.

The original CD issue had the standard songs of the original. The CD reissue of the year 2000 revised the cover art including a different concert photo of Elvis, omitted the track Let Me Be There, due to its presence on Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis, and it added the complete album From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee as tracks 10-19 - in effect compiling the Graceland sessions rather than reissuing the album. It was certified Gold and Platinum on 9/12/1977 and 2x Platinum on 3/27/1992 by the R.I.A.A.

Track listing

Side A

1. Unchained Melody (Alex North and Hy Zaret) (Recorded on Tour April 24, 1977 ) 2:32
2. If You Love Me (Let Me Know) (John Rostill) (Recorded on Tour April 26, 1977) 2:57
3. Little Darlin' (Maurice Williams) (Recorded on Tour April 24, 1977) 1:52
4. He'll Have to Go (Joe Allison, Audrey Allison) (Recorded at Graceland October 31, 1976) 4:28
5. Let Me Be There (John Rostill) (From the album, Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis March 20, 1974) 3:26

Side B

1. Way Down (Layng Martine, Jr.) (Recorded at Graceland October 29, 1977) 2:37
2. Pledging My Love (Don Robey, Ferdinand Washington) (Recorded at Graceland October 29, 1977) 2:50
3. Moody Blue (Mark James) (Recorded at Graceland February 4, 1977) 2:49
4. She Thinks I Still Care (Dickey Lee Lipscomb) (Recorded at Graceland February 2, 1977) 3:49
5. It's Easy for You (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice) (Recorded at Graceland October 29, 1976) 3:26 ^[2]

Personnel

• Elvis Presley - vocals, piano, guitars
• The Sweet Inspirations, Sherrill Nielson, Kathy Westmoreland, J.D. Sumner & The Stamps, Myrna Smith - background vocals
• Bergen White - horn arrangements

Production

• Executive Producers: Elvis Presley, Don Wardell
• Producers: Chick Crumpacker, Felton Jarvis
• Engineer: Dick Baxter

Chart performance

Chart (1977)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	1
U.S. Billboard 200	3
Canadian RPM Top Albums	2

Certifications

Region	Provider	Certification(s)
United States	RIAA	2x Platinum [3]
Canada	CRIA	2x Platinum [4]

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ http://www.softshoe-slim.com/lists/p/presley.html#48
3. ^ http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/elvis_records.asp
4. ^ http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/elvis_records.asp

External links

• AFL1-2428 Moody Blue Guide part of the The Elvis Presley Record Research Database
• AQL1-2428 Moody Blue Guide part of the The Elvis Presley Record Research Database

Preceded by Ol' Waylon by Waylon Jennings

Top Country Albums number-one album September 3-November 5, 1977

Succeeded by Elvis in Concert by Elvis Presley