#29 Elvis Presley: Pot Luck With Elvis

The King’s interregnum starts here…

(RCA)

Released: May 18th 1962

Topped the Chart:

22nd July 1962 (for 5 weeks)

2nd September 1962 (for 1 week)

6 weeks total

For an album that brings an era of the album chart to a close, it’s remarkable how unremarkable Elvis Prelsey’s ninth studio album is.

Pot Luck With Elvis (terrible title, terrible choice of cover photo) would be the final time that Presley would hit the top of the UK album chart for 6 years as British artists would take over for much of the decade. It’s not a huge surprise: Pot Luck might as well be called Mixed Bag.

In other retrospective reviews, much is made of the fact that Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman were promoted to lead songwriters on the strength of hit single (Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame. They were known as writers with a softer edge, and are often blamed for Pot Luck’s lack of grit; in reality their songs are among the best on offer here. Gonne Get Back Home Somehow and Night Rider are powerful rockers that at least provide a mild pulse race to an otherwise sleepy album. The former is packed with an RnB smokiness and Harold Bradly guitar licks swinging in and out, while the latter is a rock n roll throwback, powered by Bill Haley horns and Little Richard piano, a nod to Presley’s old school sound.

Suspicion, meanwhile, should have been the lead single as the most immediate and commercial song on the LP, with an intoxicating tempo change into the chorus. It would be taken into the US top 5 by Elvis-a-like Terry Stafford in 1964, then frittered away as a Presley B-side soon after in a failed attempt to capitalise.

Beyond these songs, there’s very little that stands out on Pot Luck. The majority of the ballads are miserable: Just For Old Time Sake and I’m Yours sound like Elvis is half asleep, while (Such an) Easy Question in a doo-wop pastiche, reminiscent of a reheated and limp version of (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear.

Pot Luck does at least end on a positive, with That’s Someone You Never Forget a real tearjerker that features a rare co-write from Presley. Elvis’ soulful delivery prevents it slipping into the maudlin, supposedly written for Presley’s mother who passed away in 1958. The band’s instrumentation twinkles, while the soft shuffle beat from DJ Fontana supports the vocals perfectly.

Despite hitting the top spot in the UK, Pot Luck was largely ignored in Elvis’ home country as attention turned to his film years, hardly a shock considering how uninspired and tired it feels. It would be a long road through the soundtrack era before Presley would find a place in the hearts of LP buyers once again. Stay tuned…

Score: 5/10

Track listing:

SIDE A

1.      Kiss Me Quick

2.      Just For Old Time’s Sake

3.      Gonna Get Back Home Somehow

4.      (Such an) Easy Question

5.      Steppin’ Out of Line

6.      I’m Yours

SIDE B

7.      Something Blue

8.      Suspicion

9.      I Feel That I’ve Known You Forever

10.  Night Rider

11.  Fountain of Love

12.  That’s Someone You Never Forget