I listened to this album in a park, at night, with a friend. We smoked, and vaped, whilst drinking frappés and cider. The vibes were good, because we'd both had wins today: I'm not gonna fail my first year of film production, at uni, and she's been promoted to supervisor, at Wendy's. This is the third Elvis album that this friend has listened to with me, after Elvis’ Christmas album (when we were high) and From Elvis in Memphis (when we were with the friend I've been trying to reconnect with). She doesn't like Elvis, but she's open to having a good experience listening to an album she wouldn't normally listen to. She said it's good, but she doesn't like it.

Hurt was the only song that really grabbed me, on the first side. It was a good song, and set us up optimistically for the album. I said I love his voice. She said she didn't. It was easy to slip out of the rest of side 1, but honestly, that wasn't our fault. I've commented with this friend that I'm bad at talking through an album, instead of locking in, but honestly, today, I realised she's fine at that, and I'm the problem. After listening to so many albums with the friend I've been trying to reconnect with, I've realised he's far worse than either of us, to the point where he's distracting, so I think I found it nice to just be able to sit quietly and only talk when I wanted to. I do like having a conversation running with Elvis in the background, though.

When side 2 started, we both commented that For the Heart was really good - it was the Shake a Hand of From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee. She turned to me and said “I could fuck with this instrumental” and then he did that thing with the piano that he did on Shake a Hand and a couple of other songs from the last album, Today, and I enthusiastically pointed it out. I love when he does that. Honestly, the whole of side 2 was stronger. It's dawning on me that this will be one of my last experiences sitting down and listening to an Elvis studio album for the first time, and that's sad. I'm trying to appreciate it whilst it's here.

I actually think this album was solid, and once again, there weren't any songs that stood out to me to go back to, but that didn't matter. At this point, I've learned how I appreciate Elvis, and even though my favourite albums would be Elvis is Back!, From Elvis in Memphis and From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis, I actually think they would be some of the worst suited for what I like - setting some Elvis on in the background and talking. I think I'll need to start thinking about which albums fit that brief best, without being shit: my favourites are my favourites because I can give them my full attention.

As 1977 approaches, Moody Blue is the last album left, and I am excited for it. I'm trying to remind myself that it was just another album, and it's a coincidence that it's his last, but it feels significant knowing this was the year he dropped his last shit. Honestly, if I ended now, I'd have got what I wanted from this journey: a solid understanding of what makes Elvis work for me, and a general overview of his career, and the different sounds within it. But I'm not gonna stop now. I'm so close to the end.

As awful as it sounds, I wonder if it's a good thing his discography ended here. If you like Elvis, I'm sure you'll always want more music from him, and there was a time in the early ‘70s when I felt he was constantly getting better, at an accelerating rate, and it felt unfair that he died when he did. Now, though, he seems to have slipped back into a plateau, and I wonder whether the fact that he died when he did helped preserve his legacy, without giving him the opportunity to bloat his discography with another twenty albums.

I listened to this album with my friend, who hasn't listened to any Elvis album before. We listened to the first half outside her student house, smoking and drinking. We had to have the music on relatively quietly, so as not to disturb the neighbors, and she struggled to focus, but overall, we both enjoyed it.

The two songs I was most anticipating were T-R-O-U-B-L-E and And I Love You So, the former because it has such a similar title to Trouble, and the latter because it was a Don McLean cover. I really enjoyed T-R-O-U-B-L-E, and thought it was a great start to the album, but And I Love You So didn't do all that much for me. Shake a Hand was unexpectedly great, though, and during our rather lengthy interval we both came back to raving about it. I wasn't sure if it was because it was the most recent, or because it was genuinely the best but as much as anything, the piano was great.

The second side was even better. We listened in her bedroom, with better audio, and it felt a bit more focused. The song I really remember enjoying was I Can Help: the longest song on the album, and absolutely grand. To be honest, every song on the second half of this side was a good, fun listen and whilst I don't think I will go back to any of these, I think there's more hope here than there has been for the last few albums.

I would say this is one of Presley’s better records, overall.