Energized by his success of the 68 TV Special and the fact that he "still had it" in front of a live audience, Elvis then fell into one of those great bits of serendipity that would become a hallmark of his recording career.
Influenced by his Memphis Mafia buddies who had connections to American Recordings studio in Memphis, in 1969 Elvis decided to skip returning to Nashville and to record in his hometown for the first time since 1955. The resulting sessions, directed by producer/studio owner Chips Moman and initially released as "From Elvis in Memphis" now ranked just below his "Sun Studio Recordings."
In 1966, Marty Lacker (Memphis Mafia) took a promising position with a company called Pepper Records. Before long he was doing production work with Chips Moman at American Sound Studios, where Red West, Elvis's childhood friend was doing session work.
American Studios was literally located in the Memphis ghetto. After King's assassination, Memphis was a tense place to be, especially in the black neighborhoods. So Moman kept dogs around and occasionally put a guard on the roof armed with a shotgun to watch over the parking lot.
Lacker knew American's sound was right for Elvis. It was more commercial than their rival, soul oriented Stax. Chips' technique was also state of the art. He would cut a rough vocal track with the rhythm section, setting the structure and tone of the song. Later he would sweeten the track by adding horns or strings. The artist would then be called back in to lay down the main vocal tracks.
Whenever Lacker mentioned how great working with Chips would be, Elvis would say, "Well, I'll think about it," or "One of these days soon we'll try it." While Moman would gaud Lacker asking, "When are you going to tell Elvis to let me produce a record?"
Well it wasn't two minutes before Felton came out and said "Elvis wants to see you. He wants to talk to you about cutting in Memphis."
Elvis wanted to begin on Monday, but Neil Diamond had been scheduled in that slot. And Elvis worked at night, through the early hours of the morning.
Lacker called Chips at his home to let him know that Elvis was willing to give American a go. He let him know the constraints, emphasizing that it had to be a closed session, no guests, no publicity.
Chips' take charge, no bullshit attitude ruled out any serious input in the studio. Parker could only send Diskin and RCA vice-president Harry Jenkins to the sessions to make sure everyone on the gravy train was having his interests considered.
Fike was selling one song,"Kentucky Rain" by Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard, that he had a really good feeling about.
Elvis wasn't too impressed, but Fike was persistent. It was a smart call and Fike would very pleased with himself when "Kentucky Rain" was released in 1970, it stayed nine weeks in the top 100, reaching #16.
Chips began to prepare for Elvis. He pulled songs from his own library he knew Elvis could sink his teeth into. Some he had cut with other artists, some hadn't worked out just right.
"Suspicious Minds was one. Chips had recorded it with the song's writer Mark James in 1968 for Scepter, but the record never made the charts. Chips thought he had a good chance with Elvis whose voice and intensity were perfect for the song.
When the time came to cut the tracks, Chip used same arrangement as with James (played by the same band), believing that only Elvis was the missing ingredient to a hit record. He was right. It was the last time Elvis would have a number one record on the Hot 100. Full Version see: http://www.elvispresleynews.com/ChipsMorman.html
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