But this hadn't even been Elvis' first comeback. In fact, the '68 Special ended up being in effect a redo of the 1960 Frank Sinatra Timex Show: It's Nice to Go Traveling, which itself would later come to be known as Welcome Home Elvis. Meant to re-introduce Presley to the American public following his two year stint in the American armed forces, it succeeded in moving The King more in the direction of being an all-around family entertainer which, in turn, sent him towards Hollywood. Had the '60 Special brought Elvis back as a straightforward rock 'n' roller, it likely would've negated him having to make a second comeback eight years later.
As the special's title indicates, this was a Frank Sinatra show with Elvis as a guest alongside Rat Pack cronies Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford, along with a young and emerging Nancy Sinatra. (How likely is it that Old Blue Eyes warned The King to "stay the f- away from my daughter"?) Having been a soldier for the last two years, Presley looks unsure of himself out there. The sideburns were now long gone but he did sport a great big wall of hair that made TV host Ed Sullivan observe that the top of his head "looked like a ski jump". Worse still, he was completely outclassed on stage by Sinatra as the pair performed a duet. Elvis may have been back but what the hell happened to The King?
Among the material Elvis did for that show was both sides of his comeback single, "Stuck on You" and "Fame and Fortune". Or it had been his latest single back when the show was taped at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel in March of 1960. By the time the special had aired that May, "Stuck on You" was at the end of its four week reign at number one while its B-side was already falling from its Top 20 peak. Though Welcome Home Elvis was a ratings hit, it didn't do anything to prolong the single it was meant to promote. Whatsmore, its memorable follow-up, "It's Now or Never", wasn't performed at all. (It wouldn't be recorded until a couple weeks after the Sinatra show so it's impossible to say if it was considered; needless to say, this was a missed opportunity) Though very little was made of it at the time, this suggests subtle signs that Elvis the recording artist was soon to be supplanted by Elvis the entertainer and, naturally, Elvis the movie star.
On the other hand, the best thing he could have done if he wanted to still be a rock star would have been to record better stuff. There's nothing especially wrong with "Stuck on You" but it is uncharacteristically forgettable, especially considering it was his first post-army single. Anticipation must have been high and I suppose they managed to meet them to some extent. Though nowhere near as frenetic as his hits of old, there's still enough of the old Elvis present to have satisfied fans, even if it's easy to imagine many of them being somewhat let down. The distinctive vocal mannerisms are present and correct
"Fame and Fortune" though is poor and not simply because I'm not crazy about Elvis' slower numbers. Addressing the emptiness of pop stardom might have made more sense just as he was about to depart for that US military base in Germany back in '58 rather than at a moment when he would have been more than happy to re-embrace the spotlight. But bad timing aside, the song's just a nondescript bore.
Finally, I'd like to address the sleeve of this comeback single. While there will be many far more disturbing photos taken of Elvis from around 1970 until the end of his life, there's something unsettling about the two images of him. They almost look more like Madam Tussaud's wax images of him. The army had been when he was first introduced to barbiturates and perhaps that's why he appears so vacant but who's to say? In addition to his comment about the "ski jump" hair, Ed Sullivan had been critical of Elvis in the Sinatra show, even lamenting that those trademark sideburns were gone. He knew that this wasn't the same Elvis — and, despite the odd comeback, he would never be the same again.
Score: 4
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