Title: Elvis Country (released in 2008)
Label: FTD
Date: June 4-8 1970 + September 22, 1970, Nashville, Tennessee
Sound Quality: from * * * * * + / * * * * * +
Content Rating: * * * * * / * * * * * +
Compilation Rating: * * * * * - / * * * * * +
Tracks:
CD 1
1.Snowbird 2.Tomorrow Never Comes 3.Little Cabin On The Hill 4.Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On 5.Funny How Time Slips Away 6.I Really Don’t Want To Know 7.There Goes My Everything 8.It's Your Baby, You Rock It 9.The Fool 10.Faded Love 11.I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water 12.Make The World Go Away 13.I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago 14.Where Did They Go, Lord 15.Faded Love (country version) 16.The Fool (take 1) 17.A Hundred Years From Now (takes 1, 2) 18.Little Cabin On The Hill (take 1) 19.It's Your Baby, You Rock It (take 3) 20.Faded Love (take 3) 21.Tomorrow Never Comes (take 1) 22.Tomorrow Never Comes (take 2) 23.Snowbird (rehearsal, take 1) 24.Where Did They Go, Lord (take 1) (Duration: 76 min. 27 sec.)
CD 2
1.I Really Don't Want To Know (undubbed master) 2.Faded Love (takes 2, 1) (undubbed master) 3.Tomorrow Never Comes (takes 12, 13) (undubbed master) 4.Make The World Go Away (takes 1, 3) (undubbed master) 5.Funny How Time Slips Away (undubbed master) 6.I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water (undubbed master) 7.I Didn't Make It On Playing Guitar 8.Tomorrow Never Comes (takes 3, 11) 9.There Goes My Everything (take 1) 10.September Warm Up (instrumental) 11.Snowbird (takes 4, 5, 2) 12.Where Did They Go, Lord (takes 2, 3) 13.Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin On (with horns) 14.When I'm Over You (undubbed) 15.The Next Step Is Love (undubbed) 16.Love Letters (undubbed) (Duration: 67 min. 38 sec.)
Package: The FTD’s classic series has wonderful packages and this CD with all the needed information regarding the album is no exception. .
Elvis: Depending on the date Elvis’ mood differs. He is in absolute control over the session in June and he seems to be somewhere else during the September session. The studio banter prior Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin On shows this pretty well.
Review: The Nashville Marathon – if you let me call the recent FTD series of releases covering the June and September 1970 this way – closes with this fantastic release, containing one of our all-time favorites – the Elvis Country album.
The first CD starts with the original album in fantastic sound quality with the I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago pieces (still in-between the songs) and it is a real pleasure to listen. However, we were surprised by the absence of the A Hundred Years From Now “master”, since two outtakes are on this set. With 3 and half minutes of spare time on the first CD and 12(!) on the second this could have been taken care of in our opinion.
This still doesn’t spoil this fantastic release. The outtakes section starts with a very-country Faded Love followed by The Fool, both previously released on Essential Elvis Volume 4. The first song is about 2 or 3 seconds longer, while the second reveals Elvis wondering “Rolling?” in the very beginning of the song. “Let’s do one more time from the top,” Elvis commands. The following takes of A Hundred Years From Now form the uncensored session from start to finish with all the lyric-changes uncensored (“It’s all in the past, you can kiss my ass”, “Missed that fucking ending”, “There goes my fucking career right down the drain” for example). Prior the first take of A Little Cabin Home On The Hill we can hear Elvis playing the standard intro to a Chuck Berry song prior singing the guitar riff from The Fool. For whatever reason the harmonica is missing from the mix in the middle of the song. A few unreleased seconds of studio banter precede the third take of It’s Your Baby You Rock It. This take has been previously released on the FTD’s Nashville Marathon CD. Faded Love take 3 is taken from the Essential Elvis Volume 4, and could have easily been the master take.
Take 1 of Tomorrow Never Come preceded by some studio banter is next. The take could not have been considered a master take anyway, since it begins with some Elvis commentaries in the beginning. He misses the phrasing in the middle, commands (“Now the modulation”, “No brake”) so this is more of a rehearsal rather than a true take 1. But what is more important – thanks to Ernst and his decision to include this take into the CD we get to see Elvis the producer. He is in total control of the recording process. This is a true professional at work. We know the following take 2 of the song since it has been released on the Nashville Marathon CD about five years ago. The short rehearsal of Snowbird is essential to us, but unfortunately it is very short and then it is followed by take 1 previously released on the above mentioned The Nashville Marathon. Take 1 of Where Did They Go Lord finishes the CD. A few seconds of the intro are missing unfortunately. The tempo is slower than what we are used to and the acoustic guitar is too much in front in the mix to our liking. Eddie Hinton’s guitar playing thing is very annoying as well. But Elvis is simply great, it seems like he poured all his emotions into the song, even though Priscilla was with him during this session and there seemed to be no signs of the separation yet to come.
CD 2 begins with some undubbed masters. I Really Don’t Want To Know is the first and this pure mix with no strings and no additional voices is simply fantastic. One thing that the Colonel was right about is the fact that there was no need in any additional overdubbing. Pure Elvis with the band is the fantastic experience that one can enjoy now. Faded Love has some 30 seconds of rehearsal prior the undubbed master take (“You’re rolling?” Elvis asks). Take 12 of Tomorrow Never Comes ends in the very beginning with Elvis saying: “And if I broke there you can imagine how bad it’s gonna be later on”. Following is the undubbed master take 13, a great version and very intimate without the orchestra. The following Make The World Go Away session (with the two existing takes – an incomplete take 1 and the undubbed master take 3) are next, and the studio banter before the first take with Elvis instructing Jerry Carrigan what to do with the drums and Elvis’ remarks about James being wrong by trying to play his solo without letting Elvis to do the second verse show Elvis in total control of the session once again. Felton Jarvis’ attempt to encourage the musicians prior the master take (“That’s good James”) doesn’t take any credit from Elvis and seem to be more of a reminder that the guy was in the control room. Still it’s Elvis’ session.
My it’s been long time since we’ve been expecting the undubbed master of Funny How Time Slips Away. This song just like the other undubbed masters on this release prove the fact that the pure takes with no orchestra sound simply fantastic and better than the released versions. The undubbed master of I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water is well known by its appearance on the Essential Elvis volume 4 album but the sound is improved and we get to hear more tambourine on this mix. I Didn’t Make It On Playing Guitar on other hand seems to have been taken directly from that very CD. The following 8 minutes of Tomorrow Never Comes session, featuring an incomplete take 3 and the complete take 11 are truly revealing and a great experience as you are there in the studio with Elvis recording this fantastic song.
“No, it don’t have to be strictly country,” Elvis says prior take 1 of There Goes My Everything. Besides some talk in the beginning of the song we’ve already had this version on the Great Country Songs compilation. The following September Warm-up is a nice thing to listen to, but Eddie Hinton on guitar still doesn’t impress us as the guitarist. Snowbird features one false start and an alternate – we still can’t figure out why three takes are listed. A false start of Where Did They Go Lord precedes the previously released take 3 of the song. One of the best outtakes of the song, but not new to us.
The banter prior Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin On includes the famous “Felton, I’m going back to LA. Tonight. 12:30.” The 90 seconds of Elvis talking prior this song are the most revealing part of this CD. For anyone who considers himself interested in Elvis Presley this dialogue will be one of the most interesting things on the CD. What about the horns? They make the song even wilder, but actually are terrible and it’s no surprise Elvis asked to get them out of the tape prior the release.
The CD closes with three undubbed masters – namely When I’m Over You, The Next Step Is Love and Love Letters. Nice to finally have them (even if not on the corresponding albums).
What about our remarks? We were upset that there are still some unreleased undubbed masters but we at least hope that Ernst simply doesn’t have any more. Otherwise he’s cheating on us. Too little new material? Well, we could have expected more with some 15 minutes of free space on the package. But actually we have to be thankful for what we have. Most of the FTD CDs are must haves, and this CD is among them. Even if you dislike this album (which is hard to believe) it is worth having for historical reasons at least – the banter prior Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin On is very revealing.
November 2008
E BMG / FTD releases index
