Raised on Rock / For Ol' Times Sake

Content

Recorded in two separate sessions, this album came together at Stax Studios in Memphis during July 1973 and later that September at Elvis Presley’s Palm Springs home. The initial vocal tracks were laid down in July. Two songs from these sessions were held back for the following spring’s Good Times album. The only single from the record paired "Raised on Rock" with "For Ol' Times Sake," peaking at number 41 on the Billboard chart and number 42 on the Country chart in September 1973. While the album itself was one of the few that didn’t chart in the United Kingdom, the single did make it onto British charts. The tracklist includes familiar covers like "Are You Sincere," a song that had been around for years, alongside newer material written specifically for Presley or by songwriters he had worked with before, such as Mark James. Historians have pointed out a lyrical oddity in the title track: Presley sings in first person about discovering rock and roll through records like "Johnny B. Goode," even though he was a contemporary of the artists he name-drops. In 1979, a stripped-down version of "Are You Sincere" appeared on the album Our Memories of Elvis and was released as a single, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Country chart.