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In his sleeve notes for the new Elvis collection
“Close Up” Colin Escott makes the following observation, “We’re
still coming to terms with the recorded legacy of Elvis Presley.
Generations that neither knew him nor saw him are discovering him, and
discovering that so much that they take for granted in popular music
started with him”, and these are indeed true words. I was ten years old when Elvis died in the
summer of 1977, and the images I saw on my TV screen back then from the
young rebel on the Ed Sullivan show to the superstar entertainer of the
seventies as the various news crews looked back on his life and career,
not only introduced me to the music of Elvis Presley, but started an
interest in rock music that has stayed with me ever since. Many of the
great records I have listened to since Elvis’ passing would never have
been made if it wasn’t for his huge influence over popular music and
culture, and I’m sure twenty years from now many of the new fans who
recently discovered Elvis though the success of the “ELV1S – Thirty
Number One Hits Album” last year will be able to say the same thing. The demand for new Elvis material shows no sign
of slipping. New fans are still discovering Elvis’ music, and it’s
testament to Elvis’ unique talent that his best music sounds just as
fresh and exciting today as it did on the day it was recorded. Fans are
keen to speculate on the content of forthcoming releases long before
they are issued, and discuss them in depth when they are finally
released, and in Ernst Jorgenson BMG have a man at the helm that cares
deeply about the way the musical legacy Elvis has left behind is
represented. His latest compilation “Close Up”, a four CD set that
explores four separate aspects of the Presley career was recently
released, and the purpose of this article is to take a closer look at
the performances showcased on this set. Whilst many interesting alternate performances have already been released, there are a number of additional session tapes that remain unaccounted for, and it is to the credit of Ernst Jorgenson, Roger Semon and their team at BMG that they continue to search for missing tapes that could be used on future Presley releases. The contents of disc one from this set are the result of such vault searches. “Unreleased Stereo Masters From The ‘50’s” gives us 20 two track binaural recordings that were originally recorded for experimental purposes, and presumed erased for many years. The disc starts with the master take (9) of the
gospel “Peace In The Valley”. The song was performed live during
Elvis’ third appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on January 6, 1957,
and the positive reaction towards this performance was obviously a
factor in Elvis’ decision to record the song at Radio Recorders,
Hollywood seven days later on January 13. Whilst most fans will be
familiar with this performance, this binaural recording with the Elvis
in the left channel and the Jordanaires in the right makes for a great
listening experience through headphones, and provides the listener with
a fly on the wall insight into Elvis’ recording process back in 1957. The second track, alternate take 11 of “I Beg Of You”, was recorded on the same day as “Peace In The Valley”, and whilst this is a good performance, Elvis still seems a little unsure on the vocal phrasing. The master take (12) from this session was not issued until 1988 on the album “Stereo ’57 – Essential Elvis Volume Two”. Elvis obviously though he could improve on what had been taped on January 13, 1957, as he re-recorded the song the following month on
February 23, 1957 during another session at Radio Recorders, running
through thirty-four takes before he had a satisfactory master. This
later version would be issued as the flip side to the single
“Don’t” in early 1958. Four binaural master takes follow and these are
“It Is No Secret” (take 13), “Blueberry Hill” (take 9),
“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” (take 15), and “Is
It So Strange” (take 12). These four selections represent Elvis’
complete Radio Recorders session from January 19, 1957. “It Is No
Secret” was the fourth and final track to be recorded for what would
become the 1957 EP album “Peace In The Valley”, whilst “Blueberry
Hill”, “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”, and Faron
Young’s country ballad “Is It So Strange” were issued on the 1957
EP album “Just For You”, along with the additional 1957 cut “I
Need You So”. In 1959 with Elvis serving in the US army and
unable to record new material “Is It So Strange” was also included
on the stop gap album release “A
Date With Elvis”, which was compiled from previously released tracks
that hadn’t appeared on a album release before. Three of the songs from the January 19 session
were also used as bonus cuts on Elvis’ first long playing soundtrack
album “Loving You”, and we revisit the recording sessions for this
soundtrack for the next batch of tracks on this disc. Here we have two
takes of the fast (or main title) version of
“Loving You”, the early take 5, and the later take 15. Elvis
is obviously still getting to grips with the song during the earlier
take, but by take 15 the pace has speeded up somewhat, and Elvis’
delivery is much more confident, and has a more bluesy approach in
places. Elvis’ third movie is next, and the rest of
this disc concentrates on performances from the soundtrack session to
the classic 1957 Presley flick “Jailhouse Rock”, recorded at Radio
Recorders during April and May of 1957. First we get a binaural mix of
the film’s title track (master take 6), and this starts with Elvis
discussing the ending of the song with the engineer, “"keep it
lasting as long as you wanna - we'll keep it going as long as you’re
ready to fade”. A longer fade is featured on this version which as per
the mono master was spliced from a later work part, but this does
illustrate how Elvis worked on the song in the studio until the desired
effect was achieved. An alternate binaural mix of take 5 is also
available on the FTD release, “Silver Screen Stereo”. Next is take 19 of the first movie version of
“Treat Me Nice”. This is a good performance that features different
backing vocals from the Jordanaires, that provide interesting listening,
but don’t really work as well as what was achieved during the later
versions of the song. Two takes of “Young And Beautiful” follow.
Take 21 is incomplete, and features Elvis breaking up laughing after
what sounds like some sort of private joke in the recording studio,
whilst take 22 is the binaural version of the record master. The solo master take three follows with Elvis
laughing, “how bad do you want me to get, Jack?” and this is
followed by the short nightclub master (take 7) of the same song. Unlike
most Presley movies, a number of songs were performed more than once
during “Jailhouse Rock” and this is also true of the next track “I
Want To Be Free”. Here we get the movie version (take 12), which is
followed by the record master (take 11). The second movie version of
“Treat Me Nice” (take 13) follows, and this is a stronger take than
the first movie version, featuring revised backing vocals from the
Jordanaires, that work much better than their attempts on the first
movie version. This approach was also retained for the record master. Two versions of “Don’t Leave Me Now “
follow. One being Elvis’ piano version, whilst the other is the movie
version. The movie version
features what in my opinion is a slightly better vocal from Elvis, and
is also boosted by backing vocals from the Jordanaires. Elvis had first
recorded this song before it was considered for the “Jailhouse Rock”
movie during an earlier session at Radio Recorders on February 23, 1957.
The master take from this session was issued as a bonus cut on the
“Loving You” soundtrack album prior to release of the “Jailhouse
Rock” soundtrack. The first disc closes with take one of “Baby I
Don’t Care” which opens with Elvis commenting, “(you’re) just
gonna be wasting tape, its too late in the day for all this shit”.
Despite Elvis’ obvious tiredness this version starts surprisingly
strong, with the early part of the take sounding similar to the master
(take 6), but by the middle of the track it’s obvious that this is
indeed an earlier take, with Elvis still finding his way around the
middle section of the song. The “Jailhouse Rock” single topped the charts in both the US and the UK in late 1957 and 1958 respectively, and was the first ever song to enter the UK charts at the No.1 position based on advance sales only. A soundtrack EP album released in 1957 featuring the title track, “Young And Beautiful”, “I Want To Be Free”, “Don’t Leave Me Now”, and “Baby I Don’t Care” proved to be one the most popular Presley EP titles ever released. A full soundtrack album was finally issued in 1997 on a CD release that complied all the original masters, some out takes, and the recordings from the “Love Me Tender” soundtrack as a bonus. |
