Title: The How Great Thou Art Sessions

Label: 2001

Date: May 25-27, 1966, Nashville's Studio B

Sound Quality: * * * * - - / * * * * * +

Content Rating: * * * * * / * * * * * +

Tracks: 1.Run On (take 1) 2.Run On (take 2) 3.Run On (takes 3,4,5) 4.Run On (take 6) 5.How Great Thou Art (takes 1,2,3) 6.Stand By Me ( takes 1,2 ) 7.Stand By Me (takes 3,4,5,6,7) 8.Stand By Me (takes 8,9) 9.Stand By Me (take 10) 10.Where No One Stands Alone (take 1) 11.Where No One Stands Alone (takes 2,3) 12.Where No One Stands Alone (take 4) 13.Where No One Stands Alone (workpart, take 1) 14.Where No One Stands Alone (workpart, takes 2,3) 15.Farther Along (takes 1,2) 16.In The Garden (takes 1,2) 17.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (takes 1,2) 18.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (take 3) 19.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (takes 4,5,6,7,8,9,10) 20.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (take 11) 21.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (take 12) 22.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (takes 13,14,15,16) 23.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (workpart, ending, takes 1,2) 24.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (workpart, ending, takes 3,4 ), 25.Somebody Bigger Than You And I (workpart, ending, takes 5,6)

Package: The cover art of this release is absolutely outstanding, I would give it a 6 out of 5!!! Very good liner notes, fantastic photos, great color choices. Something that even BMG can't match. If the official releases were "decorated" in the same way I would be the happiest human being on earth!

Elvis: He is at full blast! He is recording non-soundtrack material for the first time in almost two and a half years and you feel how dedicated he is on this sessions.

Review: Elvis was very happy when he received the RCA order to record a gospel album in early 1966. It would be the first time he would enter the studio to record non-soundtrack material in two years. He begun preparing for the recording, making home records of songs that he consider as candidates for the album. The dedication that he put into this home rehearsals and studio sessions is evident on both How Great Thou Art album and (even more) on this release.

The How Great Thou Art Sessions CD features outstanding material, showing Elvis as a very dedicated singer. No fooling around (as we are used to by other studio sessions of Mr. Presley), just straight work.

The sound quality on this release differs from song to song. There is some annoying hiss on some of the songs, but knowing that this are not the master tapes, it's possible to live with it. It's a pretty good mono recording.

When Elvis entered the studio in the evening of May 27-th, he was greeted by a new producer - Charles Felton Jarvis, who would act that role till the end of Elvis' life. Along with newcomers Chip Young on rhythm guitar, Pete Drake on steel-guitar, sax player Rufus Long, session singers June Page and Dolores Edgin plus the great Imperials with Jake Hess the team was ready to pass any mountains.

As in case with many other sessions, the evening begun with a three hour warming up by singing gospel songs and sharing stories. By 1 a.m. they started with Golden Quartet's Run On. Carrying the song through the only problem (Elvis' difficulty of remembering his words and the phrasing) they got to the master (take 7). After the unsuccessful take 3, Elvis says: "Keep the drums up. The drums are dragging". By take 6 Elvis got the situation under control and the take can easily compete with the master.

Next on the CD is the fantastic recording of the How Great Thou Art. The only complete outtake is take 2. It is such a great version that I can only wonder why Elvis had decided to make another take. This version is outstanding and probably the only problem was that Bob Moore had played his bass on higher register, while a lower register in terms of Felton would make the record sound richer.

For the next song - Stand By Me - Elvis asked the lights to be turned off to make a more intimate feeling. They faced some problems in finding the right arrangement for the piano but even more harder was for Elvis to remember the words to the song as it was newer to him. "We'll do another type of song" Elvis says before take 8, and adds after the unfinished take 9: "It's not the right lyrics. I'm singing another song. Give us just a little bit of light...". But with Felton's encouragement, they got through another take before getting the master on take 11.

Where No One Stands Alone - the last gospel recording of the evening - was in fact outside Elvis' range. He faced real difficulty recording it, cracking on the ending of it. To save Elvis' voice it was decided to make a work part of the ending, and after hearing the last (abandoned) ending of take 4 (the first part of which was used in the spliced master) we get to the recording of the work-part ending, which is interesting to hear. The result, as we know, was fantastic.

The next evening of recording begun with Love Letters, which was followed by So High (outtakes of which for whatever reason are not presented on this release) which in it's turn was followed by the recording of Farther Along. The first complete take of which (number 3) became the master. The two outtakes presented on this CD are pretty short uncompleted versions, still very close to the master. There are no outtakes of By And By which was recorded after Farther Along. and In The Garden (which was polished in one complete take) is presented here by 1 minute 54 seconds of two false starts.

With the next cut - Somebody Bigger Than You And Me - the sound quality becomes more annoying. It was the first record of the evening of 27-th. Elvis is clearly experiencing trouble with the low key they begun playing the song in, before cracking in the low notes on take 3. After that they raised up the key, it took another 13 takes (many of which are incomplete) to get the master before getting to recording a work part of the ending.

Now we are waiting for the second volume of this fantastic release. It is a real shame that BMG, having all these recordings in their vaults (and, there's no doubt about it, they have the master tapes) still holds them until the end of time. Thanks to 2001 for the perfect product, I recommend it to every serious collector because it shows the performer at his best.

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