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[NightRider]

ELVIS COUNTRY

 countryorig.jpg ( 43.25K ) Number of downloads: 12


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Disc One: Original release and outtakes

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 (1) (Ess. Elvis Vol. 4)
17. A Hundred Years From Now (1, 2) (Ess. Elvis Vol. 4)
18. Little Cabin On The Hill (1) (Ess. Elvis Vol. 4)
19. It's Your Baby, You Rock It (3) (The Nashville Marathon)
20. Faded Love (3) (Ess. Elvis Vol. 4)
21. Tomorrow Never Comes (1*)
22. Tomorrow Never Comes (2) (The Nashville Marathon)
23. Snowbird (reh*, 1) (The Nashville Marathon)
24. Where Did They Go, Lord (1*)

Disc 2: Outtakes and undubbed masters

1. I Really Don't Want To Know (undubbed)
2. Faded Love (2*, 3) (undubbed)
3. Tomorrow Never Comes (12*, 13) (undubbed)
4. Make The World Go Away (1*, 3) (undubbed)
5. Funny How Time Slips Away (undubbed)
6. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water (undubbed)
7. I Didn't Make It On Playing Guitar
8. Tomorrow Never Comes (3*, 11*)
9. There Goes My Everything (1) (Great Country Songs)
10. September Warm Up (instrumental*)
11. Snowbird (4*, 5*, 2) (Time Life - Country)
12. Where Did They Go, Lord (2, 3) (The Nashville Marathon)
13. Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin On (w/horns)
14. When I'm Over You (undubbed)
15. The Next Step Is Love (undubbed)
16. Love Letters (undubbed)

*previously unreleased.

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Elvis Country FTD. A review by Father Conor.

General points first of all. Yes, the original album presentation at the beginning of disc 1 maintains the use of "10,000 years ago" as a reprise between tracks. The sound is good throughout and that is obvious and enjoyable having recently listened to the version of this album on the 50cd collection. What may sound contradictory is that Elvis's voice is at times superb and at other times a bit "raspy" as if he is short of breath. I've no doubt though that this is because of the demanding nature of so many of the songs involved. The power in his voice is at times incredible and he himself notes the difficulties.

This brings me on to particulars and the epic "Tomorrow Never Comes" this acts, if you will, as the leitmotif of the album with it making several returns through the course of both discs. More often successfully than not Elvis's soaring attempts at this song do demonstrate why he might have managed to be both superb and asthmatic! At one stage, early on in a take, his voice goes and he comments: "If I break there you can imagine how it's gonna get later on." It long having been a favourite of mine its perhaps surprising that, until listening to this album, I was unaware of how many takes and tries it took our lad to get it as he wanted and the actual master is take 13 with work part 1 providing the ending, which is understandable when you hear take 13, until the very ending!
The final track on CD1 is "Where did they Go, Lord" in which Elvis sounds stunning and this carries over onto track one of CD2, "I Really Don't Want to Know" - I appreciated that, perhaps accidental, bridge between the cds which ensures the listener knows he's in for another disc of excellence. An outstanding example of this is "Make the World Go Away" (take 3) where his voice is crystal clear and powerful - Waterford crystal! This and eight other tracks on the 2nd cd are billed as "rough mixes made by Felton Jarvis immediately after the sessions before any overdubs were recorded." I don't recall seeing that on other FTDs so I supose this is notice that they are not raw session tape material. This doesn't diminish the enjoyment of hearing them undubbed (but does anyone else find themselves adding the dubs in their head as they listen? I do, seems like I have an orchestra and backing singers in my head somewhere between my ears and my brain!) Take one of "There Goes My Everything" is different enough though to thwart my own mini-session musicians, fortunately, and is quite beautiful in its simplicity.

Onto the packaging, hey it's nearly as important! Aside from two representations of record covers the whole package has no pictures of Elvis contemporaneous with the recording sessions. Instead there is a great sequence of photos of the young Elvis from a baby through to a young adult. Some I haven't seen before and of those I have their quality is, of course, excellent. Included in the photos of memorabilia is a very interesting note concerning the Colonel's control of the album art - with instructions included about the typeface (or font to us computer fiends!)
One horrid ommission from the booklet though is the usual "Behind the Scenes" section. I don't know why its not there, perhaps they thought that TTWII and Love Letters FTDs had covered it all but I had really been looking forward to some information about the decision to use "10,000 years ago" betwen the tracks on the original album. It's probably information that's out there somewhere, but generally that's the case anyway and it belongs with this FTD treatment of the album for sure.

The bonus cuts at the end of Disc 2 are "When I'm Over You", "The Next Step is Love" and ... "Love Letters"!!! Some housekeeping to add a little more of the previous 17" covering these sessions? These are undubbed rough mixes belongng to that same new category of Felton's post session mixing. All good to have and Love Letters is, as always, beautiful (and yes Barry my portable flautist did indeed fill in those gaps - "more brass I tells ya!")

Overall, how lucky are we? In the last year we've had this trilogy of FTDs which covers that Nashville Marathon which one CD could never give justice to. Perhaps they represent a real moment of transition from Elvis into the new decade, which some will lament. However, in this particular album I think it's really possible to hear Elvis's voice mature into that exponent of power ballads - those rasps I spoke of may in fact mark that very transition. Like watching a crysalis open, for me and many anyway.

October 25th 2008.