Elvis Back In Nashville (4 cd Box Set)

[paulsweeney]

Well, I’m enjoying this set, unlike many others it seems…

[Kullervo]

I haven't received the set yet, but based on the opinions and observations above, I am quite sure I'm going to like it a lot. Good to hear that there is a lot of studio chatter, as I really enjoy listening to Elvis talking and joking in the studio, even on multiple listenings.

This is obviously one version or iteration of these sessions, which will not be the go to version for everyone. I'm sure, if and when FTD stays afloat for many more years, that these sessions will be revisited in the future as an FTD sessions release.

[billyblues]

For what it's worth, these are my personal thoughts. If the idea was to present the recordings as done in the studio, (minus later overdubs), and whether that be Elvis singing by himself, with the band or with backup singers and the band, then that's what we should have got. It has generally been felt that it is the Felton Jarvis post work that has affected the overall sound of many Elvis recordings, so in that respect, and for me, removing that post work is accepatble to create undubbed recordings and you still have the overdubbed masters elsewhere on other releases. But with this release there should have been no tampering with what got recorded in the studio pre the overdubs. As an aside though, there are occasions when Jarvis' post work on a variety of sessions has benefitted some recordings where Elvis' voice has not been top notch in places or the song sounds empty in places. And this was a golden opportunity to offer decent remixes of the originals, although I accept that remixes and the inclusion of the original masters are subjective and it would add one or two extra CDs to the set pushing the price up, but at least we would then have what could be regarded as the ultimate deluxe set.

But there are other things regarding this release and outside of the music that I have found frustrating. One is the errors in the book that should have been corrected via proof reading and then there is the packaging and how the discs are inserted, although not exclusive to this release- why they could not follow the style used by Apple (see photo below) where the CDs are placed in a proper sleeve and then inserted into something that is easy to get at without the risk of tearing the card is mystifying. The 28 page booklet is not exactly mind blowing as the two individual essays by Jorgensen and David Cantwell are almost similar. For a 28 page booklet, too much space is wasted on virtually telling the same thing and on informing the reader where the tracks have previously been released and the achievements gained on the various recordings. We are told that the three orginal albums that made up these recordings were not that well received, yet at first glance, a casual reader or nn fan may be confused in thinking that every song got an RIAA certification when the record was released rather than the actual album it came from and of course we know that some certifiactions took many years to reach those RIAA accolades.

Finally, i feel that the info regarding the project itself and what they wanted to do, the decisions taken and how they did it is a little too scant. Once again, compare it to the book that came with the recent Let It Be set, four times as many pages and where every song is discussed in some way and you can buld up a decent idea of the sessions. That said, maybe Sony have to take the slimmed down approach due to costs versus sales.

Bottom line and putting the frustrations aside...I am pleased to hear these recordings in their remixed and in most parts undubbed variants, especially as they come from three albums I rarely play, but for marking purposes on the set, i would have to annotate a message to Sony "could have done better".

Sadly, it seems like Elvis' releases won't ever be at the same level as Beatles'. I have been buying their super deluxe releases, and... seriously, there's nothing to add. Even though there's some apparent work to bring Elvis to the mainstream and keep him relevant, it isn't half as good as what Beatles' releases offer, in all terms. It is as if Elvis wasn't worth it.

[DEH]

That's because they rarely release anything. They starved their fans. We have been spoiled. Nothing to do with better quality.

[Buddy]

My points:

1.
To me "undubbed" masters means the final take the artist choosed to be the one released later on record.
So if Sony is releasing a take declaring "this Is the undubbed master" it is a just criminal to eliminate something from the session tape the ARTIST wanted to be on there... AT LEAST Sony should have made a remark behind the Song on the box tracklisting like:
*backing vocals removed

2.
the whole box is a "rushed through" producting to release it before the "50 years copyright thing" has ended, but NOT releasing the 2 duets? So they are now "free" to be released on bootlegs. What a foolish decision...
3.
They had not even a concept doing the tracklist. What presenting "Amazing Grace" on CD 1 "isolated" from the Gospel tracks?
4.
Why is there a "false start" before "The First Time Ever I Saw Her Face" where we can hear Ginger Holladay and when the undubbed master starts she is removed??? I'm really lost for words...
5.
The piano was recorded for the first time on two-tracks which gave the possibillity to create a great stereo panorama but here one the box the piano playing was mixed down to mono. What a mess...
6.
BUT as a friend of mine said:
"Now as I have paid for that box I have to find something positive so that I am not totally frustrated.
AND yes there is ONE great thing for Burton fans. We can hear his fantastic guitar playing constantly on the left channel. So listen to the box concentrating on James and you can listen to a great guitar playingJames Burton box feat. also Elvis adding his great voice to it." : - )

[n880epelvis]

For what it's worth, these are my personal thoughts. If the idea was to present the recordings as done in the studio, (minus later overdubs), and whether that be Elvis singing by himself, with the band or with backup singers and the band, then that's what we should have got. It has generally been felt that it is the Felton Jarvis post work that has affected the overall sound of many Elvis recordings, so in that respect, and for me, removing that post work is accepatble to create undubbed recordings and you still have the overdubbed masters elsewhere on other releases. But with this release there should have been no tampering with what got recorded in the studio pre the overdubs. As an aside though, there are occasions when Jarvis' post work on a variety of sessions has benefitted some recordings where Elvis' voice has not been top notch in places or the song sounds empty in places. And this was a golden opportunity to offer decent remixes of the originals, although I accept that remixes and the inclusion of the original masters are subjective and it would add one or two extra CDs to the set pushing the price up, but at least we would then have what could be regarded as the ultimate deluxe set.

But there are other things regarding this release and outside of the music that I have found frustrating. One is the errors in the book that should have been corrected via proof reading and then there is the packaging and how the discs are inserted, although not exclusive to this release- why they could not follow the style used by Apple (see photo below) where the CDs are placed in a proper sleeve and then inserted into something that is easy to get at without the risk of tearing the card is mystifying. The 28 page booklet is not exactly mind blowing as the two individual essays by Jorgensen and David Cantwell are almost similar. For a 28 page booklet, too much space is wasted on virtually telling the same thing and on informing the reader where the tracks have previously been released and the achievements gained on the various recordings. We are told that the three orginal albums that made up these recordings were not that well received, yet at first glance, a casual reader or nn fan may be confused in thinking that every song got an RIAA certification when the record was released rather than the actual album it came from and of course we know that some certifiactions took many years to reach those RIAA accolades.

Finally, i feel that the info regarding the project itself and what they wanted to do, the decisions taken and how they did it is a little too scant. Once again, compare it to the book that came with the recent Let It Be set, four times as many pages and where every song is discussed in some way and you can buld up a decent idea of the sessions. That said, maybe Sony have to take the slimmed down approach due to costs versus sales.

Bottom line and putting the frustrations aside...I am pleased to hear these recordings in their remixed and in most parts undubbed variants, especially as they come from three albums I rarely play, but for marking purposes on the set, i would have to annotate a message to Sony "could have done better".

Sadly, it seems like Elvis' releases won't ever be at the same level as Beatles'. I have been buying their super deluxe releases, and... seriously, there's nothing to add. Even though there's some apparent work to bring Elvis to the mainstream and keep him relevant, it isn't half as good as what Beatles' releases offer, in all terms. It is as if Elvis wasn't worth it.

Two of the Beatles are still with us and I am sure oversee all releases. If Elvis were still here we would never have seen these tracks released with backing vocalists removed for sure.

[rockinrebel]

I've read through the booklet, and it's hard to argue with the comments about the factual and grammatical errors. I also agree that the two essays are very similar, which makes the reading experience monotonous.

I've only listened to the first disc so far. Like most people I would have preferred all the elements of the original studio recordings to have remained in place, but whilst the bleed from the backing vocals is obvious on some tracks, I still enjoy the mixes overall.

Issues with the backing vocals aside, I felt the stripped back approach worked best with the country / folk material, and of course the piano songs.

With regards to the 'pop' material, lesser songs / performances such as Padre and Love Me, Love The Life I Lead, really don't benefit from the removal of the overdubs. The lack of direction in terms of the secular material when the sessions resumed in May is also apparent here, which is a real shame as we do get a great insight into what might have been from the first 10 tracks.

The single masters, whilst interesting to hear this way, also sound unfinished without the backing vocals and overdubs that we associate with the original releases.

That said, the first 10 tracks plus (different mixes of) I'm Leavin' and It's Only Love would have made a far better studio album than Elvis Now, even if the country / folk idea wasn't fully realised.

[Gamma Master]

pmp's hit the nail on the head, although if you ask me, there shouldn't be any studio chatter at all given this was meant to be a mainstream product. This chatter length would be more appropriate on a FTD product.

I think I have to disagree there, I really like to hear the studio chatter, agreed though it can sometimes disturb the flow. If I want to add an alternate take to my spotify playlist I have to make sure the chatter beforehand isn't too excessive which is very annoying if it's a particularly good take. What else annoys me is when two takes are compounded into one track, especially if there's a lot of chatter between takes ie It's Only Love takes 8&9, it just takes forever to get to the main event. I don't mind the chatter if it's just a few seconds, but I think if it's any more than about 10 seconds it should be a separate track. Any post-take chatter is fine, because you can just skip it

I would have the tracks like this for 'It's Only Love takes 8&9':
1] It's Only Love [take 8] the chatter is only a few seconds beforehand so it's fine to leave it in
2] It's Only Love [take 9] (pre-take chatter) the chatter here is a lot longer so it would really ruin the flow on my playlist
3] It's Only Love [take 9] maybe leave a few seconds of chatter just to introduce it as an undubbed alternate take to the listener

That would be ideal for me, although I can see how that would leave the track listing horribly cluttered, so it might not be for everyone.

Overall though, I really dig the mastering on this, I'm really liking Ross-Spang's work on these releases, and I hope he is really working on the EOT tapes, they should sound great if he is, although no doubt live tapes are a different beast. (plenty off bass please Matt!). I think it's probably needless to say that I agree with what everyone is saying about the removal of backing singers and I completely agree, if they weren't dubbed in after, they should be left in, mix them down all you want, but leave them in. The version of We Can Make The Morning with the backing singers left in is much better than the one without, and it sounds much better with them mixed down, they were far too loud in the original mix imo.

[pmp]

My points:

1.
To me "undubbed" masters means the final take the artist choosed to be the one released later on record.
So if Sony is releasing a take declaring "this Is the undubbed master" it is a just criminal to eliminate something from the session tape the ARTIST wanted to be on there... AT LEAST Sony should have made a remark behind the Song on the box tracklisting like:
*backing vocals removed

2.
the whole box is a "rushed through" producting to release it before the "50 years copyright thing" has ended, but NOT releasing the 2 duets? So they are now "free" to be released on bootlegs. What a foolish decision...
3.
They had not even a concept doing the tracklist. What presenting "Amazing Grace" on CD 1 "isolated" from the Gospel tracks?
4.
Why is there a "false start" before "The First Time Ever I Saw Her Face" where we can hear Ginger Holladay and when the undubbed master starts she is removed??? I'm really lost for words...
5.
The piano was recorded for the first time on two-tracks which gave the possibillity to create a great stereo panorama but here one the box the piano playing was mixed down to mono. What a mess...
6.
BUT as a friend of mine said:
"Now as I have paid for that box I have to find something positive so that I am not totally frustrated.
AND yes there is ONE great thing for Burton fans. We can hear his fantastic guitar playing constantly on the left channel. So listen to the box concentrating on James and you can listen to a great guitar playingJames Burton box feat. also Elvis adding his great voice to it." : - )

As I said many moons ago in my book and on here, Amazing Grace was recorded as part of the folk album, not the gospel album. Judy Collins recent hit recording was folk not gospel. Somewhat weirder, though, is that Put Your Hand is a religious side on the 2nd disc, but not on the 3rd.

And this wasn't rushed through. They knew about this deadline for releasing tracks for many years.

[Mona Lisa]

pmp's hit the nail on the head, although if you ask me, there shouldn't be any studio chatter at all given this was meant to be a mainstream product. This chatter length would be more appropriate on a FTD product.

I think I have to disagree there, I really like to hear the studio chatter, agreed though it can sometimes disturb the flow. If I want to add an alternate take to my spotify playlist I have to make sure the chatter beforehand isn't too excessive which is very annoying if it's a particularly good take. What else annoys me is when two takes are compounded into one track, especially if there's a lot of chatter between takes ie It's Only Love takes 8&9, it just takes forever to get to the main event. I don't mind the chatter if it's just a few seconds, but I think if it's any more than about 10 seconds it should be a separate track. Any post-take chatter is fine, because you can just skip it

I would have the tracks like this for 'It's Only Love takes 8&9':
1] It's Only Love [take 8] the chatter is only a few seconds beforehand so it's fine to leave it in
2] It's Only Love [take 9] (pre-take chatter) the chatter here is a lot longer so it would really ruin the flow on my playlist
3] It's Only Love [take 9] maybe leave a few seconds of chatter just to introduce it as an undubbed alternate take to the listener

That would be ideal for me, although I can see how that would leave the track listing horribly cluttered, so it might not be for everyone.

Overall though, I really dig the mastering on this, I'm really liking Ross-Spang's work on these releases, and I hope he is really working on the EOT tapes, they should sound great if he is, although no doubt live tapes are a different beast. (plenty off bass please Matt!). I think it's probably needless to say that I agree with what everyone is saying about the removal of backing singers and I completely agree, if they weren't dubbed in after, they should be left in, mix them down all you want, but leave them in. The version of We Can Make The Morning with the backing singers left in is much better than the one without, and it sounds much better with them mixed down, they were far too loud in the original mix imo.

Which is the ITS ONLY LOVE take when he sings , ''it's only sex '' ...?

I thought it was on this box ...?

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[Gamma Master]

Which is the ITS ONLY LOVE take when he sings , ''it's only sex '' ...?

I thought it was on this box ...?

That's take 7, which isn't on this box unfortunately

[Buddy]

Which is the ITS ONLY LOVE take when he sings , ''it's only sex '' ...?

I thought it was on this box ...?

That's take 7, which isn't on this box unfortunately

really unbelievable..

[Buddy]

And this wasn't rushed through. They knew about this deadline for releasing tracks for many years.

You are right, EMJ must have ordered a quick "rushed through" otherwise such a half hearted box is not explainable ....

[Edwin]

Received the set today!
Wonderful addition to my collection.
I'm grateful we still get these kind of releases 44 years after Elvis left us.

[Ryan73]

I really enjoyed Matt Ross-Spang's work on the previous album. I honestly can't remember when I've actually heard a remix of Elvis music which actually both impressed me and also made me a bit of a fan of tracks that I never cared for. I've always wondered why a lot of Elvis' 70s albums sounded so dated, not only in comparison to other 70s artists work but even against his catalog in the 60s.

I agree with the complaints within this thread that if the backup singers were in the studio, they should have been left in. It's looking like 12 masters had backup removed, 31 masters either didn't have backs ups or Matt left them on and 3 masters left the backup on but low in the mix. As for my experience with the album? Of the 31 remixes he once again worked his magic and again made me a fan of some songs that I generally skip. From the liner notes to the 12 (15?) masters that in my opinion should have kept the backup I don't know what to say. I'm as equally frustrated as I am used to this being common practise on Elvis releases which is a sad state of affairs. To paraphrase Tom Petty's quote in The Searcher, I just don't know why 'they just don't go all the way' when it comes to Presley's music and presentation.

[frus75]

Just listening to the He Touched Me tracks (in the same order as the original album). My god, these really kick ass to me! I always felt the original vintage mixes were really 'over produced' but the new mixes are really intimate and warm. I will say the same for the Christmas tracks to a lesser extent, but they are still more enjoyable than the vintage mixes.

I loathe the new mix on "I, John". No power at all anymore, at least to these old whistling and ringing ears.

Buddy your ears are very young. They’d better be, as we were born same year!

[pmp]

Just listening to the He Touched Me tracks (in the same order as the original album). My god, these really kick ass to me! I always felt the original vintage mixes were really 'over produced' but the new mixes are really intimate and warm. I will say the same for the Christmas tracks to a lesser extent, but they are still more enjoyable than the vintage mixes.

I loathe the new mix on "I, John". No power at all anymore, at least to these old whistling and ringing ears.

Buddy your ears are very young. They’d better be, as we were born same year!

Having listened to the set again yesterday, the best word I can find to describe many of these mixes is that the songs now seem "neutered.". The outtakes discs are better than discs 1&2, but the excessive studio banter makes those troublesome, too.

And why is the 15 seconds of Are You Lonesome Tonight given its own track, but not the other one-liners (Listen to the Bells etc).

[norrie]

One thing that I'm not sure has been mentioned yet is that on the outtakes discs, the dialogue, practicing and fooling around prior to each full take seems much longer on this set than on previous ones. Half a minute of studio chatter isn't so bad, on some tracks this runs (or feels like it runs) to a couple of minutes. Again, this isn't an FTD release, where people on FECC might want to hear all of this kind of thing. Something of this nature at retail level is aimed at listening pleasure, not indulging fans in this kind of thing. It might be fun to hear, but on repeated listens this is going to be tedious as hell. Yes, there was some of this on the Stax, Jungle Room and Nashville 70 sets, but not to this degree. It's another sign, I think, that the people behind the set have taken their eye off the ball. While there is a quote about not pleasing all of the people all of the time, this set manages to please most people none of the time!

Good point ! Either old age has got the worst of Ernst or he was not feeling well when compiling this esacpe...err release and writing his summary.

You have to wonder if it fell apart in production or whether it was also a mess in planning! It's a shame, though, as I was rather looking forward to this one.

You do have to wonder. It should have been simple.Follow the same formula from the previous Nashville set.All the undubbed masters on disc one and two as approved by Elvis at the time.Remastered/ remixed for optimum sound quality BUT NOTHING REMOVED.
If they were so desperate for us to hear songs with only Elvis' vocals they could have been on disc 3 or 4 alt takes,,maybe even all together in there own "Our Memories" section.

I played the undubbed masters from Elvis In Nashville many times,absolutely loved it.I won't be playing disc one on this set too often.

norrie

[eric c]

finished the set last night and will go thru it again and again.
i love it.
job well done.

[JimmyCool]

Using these undubbed masters, I made my own "He Touched me" album playlist although, on second thought, I should change the title...

Front.jpg

[eric c]

Using these undubbed masters, I made my own "He Touched me" album playlist although, on second thought, I should change the title...

absolutely do not change that title.
put it out ASAP.
you'll make a million over night.

[eric c]

[Jaime1234]

Amazon

#63 in All CDs & Vinyl

#15 in Country (CDs & Vinyl) https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/music/16/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_music

Amazon charts fluctuate by the hour. They are meaningless for the most part. I've had a book climb 15,000 places by selling one copy.

14 hours have passed and it is still #15. LOL

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/music/16/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_music
[/quote]

[rockinrebel]

Using these undubbed masters, I made my own "He Touched me" album playlist although, on second thought, I should change the title...

Nice idea. I played the gospel masters from the new set this afternoon and really enjoyed them. I'm working my way through the out takes now.

Maybe you could rename your play list:
He Didn't Touch Me During Post Production

[JimmyCool]

Using these undubbed masters, I made my own "He Touched me" album playlist although, on second thought, I should change the title...

Nice idea. I played the gospel masters from the new set this afternoon and really enjoyed them. I'm working my way through the out takes now.

Maybe you could rename your play list:
He Didn't Touch Me During Post Production