 |
 |
At Elvis' 1970 Nashville Marathon Sessions, under the direction of producer Felton Jarvis, Elvis joined forces with one of the most potent studio ensembles ever assembled to create an often underrated chapter in Presley's rich legacy. Working with the fabled "Nashville Cats" for his first album of 1970, Elvis Presley connected to a circle of contemporary musicians that included Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, George Harrison and others.
'From Elvis In Nashville' - Review by Piers Beagley, December 2020. Elvis’ 1970 Nashville session was very different from the previous Memphis sessions or even Elvis’ later sessions. Nashville was a real mix of Elvis recording RCA supplied demos along with one-take spontaneous favourites Elvis threw into the mix. There was no labouring over 28 takes to perfect any song and no Elvis session before or after would include so many one-take spontaneously recorded gems. While as a keen Elvis fan I know these sessions intimately, having the songs spread out over the three original albums actually diminished the overall impact of what Elvis and the band laid down over these six days. While the 2002 FTD ‘Nashville Marathon’ emphasised the musical creativity behind the overdubs it did however miss out on all the “one-take” magic. Similarly, the three FTD ‘Classic Albums’ hid the gems, i.e. ‘Mojo Working’ and ‘Cindy Cindy’ hidden amongst the sessions leftovers on 1971 “Love Letters” LP. Here, at last, is every raw Nashville recording assembled together in one glorious set and as a double-cd of 39 Masters they reveal even more musical creativity than previously thought. If Chips Moman was the true inspiration behind the Memphis Sessions there is no doubt that Elvis had the control here. Felton Jarvis’ main input comes across as saying “That’s a Gas” and trying to keep Elvis’ spirits up especially on the more mundane material. The true disappointment of these Nashville session was that no “chart-topping” new material was being supplied to Elvis. If only Elvis had recorded ‘Burning Love’ (actually composed in 1971) or even rocked through Chuck Berry’s ‘Promised Land’ at this session then they would be remembered by fans, and the General Public, as more like Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” return-to-form rather than as Elvis recording lesser, middle-of-the-road, Nashville ballads. And imagine if Elvis had recorded Bill Withers' ‘Aint No Sunshine’, Tony Joe White’s 'Rainy Night in Georgia', 'Patches' the Clarence Carter hit, or even an old rocker updated such as Smiley Lewis’ ‘I Hear You Knockin’ at these sessions. If recorded by Elvis they all would have had a potential 1970 Number 1 chart-smash stamped on them.
The Package The CD holder features RCA session tape-box covers and pictures of Studio B and as always the CDs are fitted very tightly in their sleeves but can be loosened with a little dexterity. The book features plenty of photos from the time - unfortunately the famous front cover photo is the only one from the session itself – plus two detailed articles. Four pages by Ernst Jorgensen on the session themselves plus an interesting 7-page essay by Nashville author David Cantwell explaining how these “Muscle Shoals” musicians all came together in Nashville to create such important music. The first two CDs feature the Undubbed Masters while the second pair feature a well-selected compilation of recorded outtakes which all help emphasise Elvis’ keen involvement in the sessions and his overall positivity about jamming with this new set of musicians. At one point in the middle of recording ‘If I Were You’ Elvis starts jamming on "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" with the band quickly kicking in. Elvis remarks, "It don't take much to get these guys going, boy, I'll tell you…. Just give them a "well...." and they're gone. That's what I call 'Sittin' on ready". In his essay about the sessions Ernst writes,
In the second essay, which examines more of the musicians’ approach, Nashville journalist David Cantrell perfectly explains..
The Music. And the audio quality STUNNING, it truly shines with a clarity and full-body like never before. To be honest EIN never reviewed these FTD Classic Albums because I felt the Studio Outtakes sounded rather flat, as if taken from 3rd generation tapes. The content was great but the audio less-than-shiny. These Matt Ross-Spang masters do indeed demonstrate what quality was recorded at the time and don’t disappoint in any way. The Undubbed Masters here sound nothing like the previous FTD releases of the same tracks, nor the Bootleg versions released for instance by the Venus label. If Ernst has been holding back on putting out these 1970 Undubbed Masters, knowing that this set was going to released in the future, then he deserves huge congratulations as they all sound so good. Both CD1, CD3 and CD4 start with studio warm-up jams helping set the mood but while the very first track ‘Opening Jam’ is previously unreleased you can’t make out any input from Elvis at all, so it would surely be a bit of a mystery to the general public. However, once they get down to business right from the start ‘Twenty days and Twenty Nights’ has a stunning audio clarity that you won’t have heard before. The focus of the mix is on the gorgeous subtle guitar work from Chip Young and James Burton, as well as the tightness of the rhythm section. While only at the start of the session you can feel the musicians bonding around Elvis’ soulful vocal. His “Oh God” (03:18) at the end has never sounded so sincere. What a shame that the original album release faded out at this sublime point. And that is what this whole set is all about, revealing even more of Elvis’ emotional and creative involvement than we have heard previously. Similarly ‘I’ve Lost You’, that follows, with its cleaner mix brings out the ache in Elvis’ voice emphasising the sadness of his feelings as he keeps on going, “Ooooh, ohh, I’ve lost you” long after the original single faded out at 03:30. Audio engineer Matt Ross-Spang (with some help from Ernst) has transformed the original tapes bringing a new feel and excitement to them. The instruments are more spread out and each one individually brought up in the audio mix placing you right in the centre of the studio as the magic is created. These new Masters sound terrific on headphones. In many of the original masters Charlie McCoy’s organ was rather muted whereas here it is raised in the mix bringing more of a southern-soulfulness to the sound rather than “Nashville country”. The separation of each instrument, as well as Elvis’ vocal being placed high in the mix, truly adds a new “punch” to these remasters with songs like “Mojo Working” sounding so different (more soulful organ) to the rather compressed version previously released on the FTD Classic Album ‘Love Letters’. And these versions are all unedited. Elvis sings, “sweet as she can be, Motherf**ker now” @0325 which Felton Jarvis of course had to edit out on the original release using two lines from the previous verse. As the jam comes to an end Elvis truly laughs with the fun of it all noting, “We grew up on this mediocre shit, man”. He is of course joking and it is no doubt one of the best cuts from the session. There is plenty of swearing throughout this set but it actually demonstrates Elvis’ camaraderie with his new friends, and the looseness of the sessions, rather than any anger. ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ sounds so beautiful here – one-take perfection, where the band knew exactly the place to go. Here it truly shines, whereas the overdubbed strings of the original release buried so much of the emotion. Classic, breathtaking. The remastered ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’” again sounds fresh and packed full of energy compared to previous outings. James Burton’s guitar work is loud and cutting while Charlie McCoy’s organ was pretty well faded-out in earlier versions. The energy is palpable with Elvis saying “Take It Out” at 02.50 but still rocking on for another 2 minutes. His “ma-ma-buh-buh-baby” at 03.30 is priceless and should have been used in the original release. Similarly, the full-length ‘Faded Love’ - without the unnecessary horns-overdub of the original – has an astoundingly better “country-jam” feel and continues for another minute past the original fade-out with an extra verse and classic proper ending. Other more worked-through tracks such as 'It Ain't No Big Thing' also sound great without the added backing vocals of the master, similarly the original ‘Love Letters’, like many, was ruined by the seventies syrupy strings overdubs. While a few fans have complained that some of the original Masters actually benefited from the subtler overdubs - and indeed this is probably the case with the gospel backing-vocals added to ‘Just Pretend’, ‘Bridge’ or ‘Only Believe’ - that is not the point of this new release which rightly sets out to show that Elvis’ major creative input into his recording sessions didn’t stop at American Sound. Tracks such as 'Mary In the Morning' delight with their pure, aching, emotion with Elvis’ vocal nicely playing against Charlie McCoy's harmonica. Here Elvis really does seem alone with Mary "waking in the sleepy haze" of a dreamy countryside. On the original release the syrupy orchestra overdubs and Tijuana-style trumpets made it sound as if Elvis woke up in the Mexican countryside. Even lesser filler such as ‘Sylvia’ (not even released until 1972) is much improved without those original terrible trumpet overdubs. The only real misstep here is Elvis struggling to hit the final note on ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ which after 13 attempts was never going to be easy. Knowing the backing vocals would rise to cover the final note, it was understandably better for them all to move on to other selections. Elvis’ raw ending does not sound the best here even if it was a work-part splice. (EIN Sidenote 1: If you have never heard the very simple country Ernest Tubb original version of ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ – click here to YouTube - you can however still be impressed by Elvis’ Roy Orbison type full-vocal approach.) Similarly as noted, “Sometimes less is more; sometimes it's just less” and Elvis' extended outro on ‘The Sound Of Your Cry’ does become a little O-T-T. No doubt everyone buying this set will already own all the original Masters and so fans can create their own Nashville ultimate six CD set by adding them as two final CDs of overdubbed final releases. The whole set does make fascinating listening and to me something it is I will revisit far more often that the FTD Classic albums.
The Session Outtakes - CD3 and CD4 In a similar way to Matt Ross-Spang and Ernst’s production on the 2016 ‘Way Down In The Jungle Room’ release collectors will discover that the studio banter and false starts have been tightly edited on this release. This helps drive the sessions along and emphasise Elvis and the band’s creative approach to these recordings. Some outtakes / false starts have also been shuffled in order, while others are not even indicated on the sleeve notes. The key here is that all these recordings have again been remixed and remastered and so they often sound very different from previously released versions. The clarity and stunning sound of all these outtakes put the previous FTD versions in the shade. A new light is shone on ‘The Next Step Is love’ with Elvis’ vocal rehearsal followed by two previously unreleased outtakes helping demonstrate how they worked towards the first complete take. With its rather ‘psychedelic–sixties’ lyrics, “Going nowhere special really fast, But we've yet to taste the icing on the cake, That we've been baking with the past” I always felt it deserved a more out-there arrangement. And here Charlie McCoy’s previously faded out “I Am The Walrus” styled organ provides exactly that. A very neat version. ‘How The Web Was Woven’ is noted as being Take One, but in fact includes 2 minutes of delightful rehearsal beforehand, “I tell you what I like, the sound of that open-string guitar on the intro” suggests Elvis. Elvis' vocal is fabulous for a first take and without being buried or drowned in syrupy string overdubs the lyrics sound even more meaningful. At the start of ‘Just Pretend’ Elvis says to drummer Jerry Carrigan, “Jerry, when we get up into the high stuff drive me on, it makes me sing better”. While these takes were previously on the FTD Classic Album here they have a stunning clarity plus more of Charlie McCoy’s soulful organ in the mix. Similarly, 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' now sounds as fresh as if it was recorded yesterday. Here the “funked-up” rehearsal version is correctly placed before the beautiful first take. This is so delicate as Elvis tries out the lyrics, sounding a little tentative and at times it almost sounds like him singing the song alone at the piano. It is very special, just beautiful. The delights continue all the way through. The rocking ‘Patch It Up’ Take 9 with some new banter and rehearsal edited on to the start. ‘A Hundred Years From Now’ with both Charlie McCoy's harmonica high in the mix, along with James Burton's chicken-pickin’ guitar, now sounds like a real country-hoedown compared to the previously released version. One of the session's most sublime moments is at the start of Elvis' spontaneous decision "while we're waiting" to record Sanford Clark's 1956 US Top 10 hit 'The Fool'. Side Note: It is reminiscent of Bob Dylan's "Is It rolling Bob?" from the John Wesley Harding sessions to producer Bob Johnston. And there is a connection since Charlie McCoy was also on that session with Dylan. Elvis was having a ball jamming on guitar on most of the session and in a lot of these cuts his guitar has been deliberately raised in the mix. An example is ‘Little Cabin On The Hill’ where Elvis' guitar is nice and clear and there is a brilliant mid-song harmonica solo from Charlie McCoy that was completely missing from the previous FTD release. Even ‘Love Letters’ (always a disappointment to me compared to the 1966 version) sounds more interesting here with the clearer mix plus James Burton's guitar shining bright. The less interesting Hill & Range supplied album-filler tracks such as ‘Sylvia’, ‘Life’, ‘This Is Our Dance’, ‘I'll Never Know’ etc are noticeably not even mentioned by Ernst in his essay about the recording sessions. However, some of the lesser outtakes do still fascinate. Before ‘If I Were You’ Elvis discusses the band “Sittin' on ready", as mentioned above. The comment was from Take 3, but here it is edited on to the front of Take 5 which, with a clean mix focussing on the musicians, sounds much better than before. On ‘I’ll Never Know’ Take 3 there is delight in hearing Elvis sing a snatch of 1960’s ‘Run On’… “Well, you better run” then noting to David Briggs, “I like the bass thing you’re doing on that piano”. Elvis then fluffs the next take singing, "What makes a f.. f.. fucking firefly". These remarks are from Takes 4 and 5 but edited in before the first Take 3. It still captures the humour and enjoyment of the session even if it is a rather mundane song. These aren’t the fake 1970s originally released MOR overdubbed layered-in-syrupy-orchestra recordings but instead show Elvis as a musician still interested in creating some fine music, playing his acoustic guitar and jamming with a truly fine bunch of musicians. The creative, real Elvis is shown throughout this set. Towards the end of CD4 on the delightful ‘It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)’ Elvis is strumming his guitar – high in the mix - but decides, "No, I can't do it, somebody else can.." suggesting someone else kicks off the track. Elvis jokes with the band, "That's where I want the intro, it’s just that nobody knows what the fuck's happening! Let's surprise everybody, man!” At the end (edited in from Take 8) Elvis starts singing "Mother In Law" (the 1961 song by Ernie K-Doe – which the band quickly starts playing) noting with a hearty laugh that "It don't take much to spark you guys off. A couple of words and you're off and running." And that’s what this set is all about. The Real Elvis, The Creative Elvis, the Happy Elvis, Elvis the Musician.
(EIN Sidenote 2: Fans can create an astounding Elvis 1970 “Country Jam” by combining the jam-session at the start of CD4 with Elvis’ other undubbed one-take masters, 'I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago', 'Got My Mojo Working/ Keep Your Hands Off Of It', 'I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water' and 'Whole Lot-ta Shakin’ Goin’ On' plus other favourites ‘Cindy, Cindy’ and ‘It Ain’t No Big Thing’ ) Overall Verdict: This is one of RCA’s best Elvis releases in years. Everything is newly remixed and re-mastered and the whole set shines a new light on just how important these 1970 Nashville sessions were. Elvis’ newly found creative streak did not end at the 1969 Memphis sessions and presented with a new band, a wide choice of material and his own enthusiasm, Elvis still revealed the musical inspiration that helped start it all back in the fifties. Perhaps Felton Jarvis and his obsequiousness to keep his masters (Elvis and RCA) happy can be blamed for any future downturn but these raw tapes certainly prove that Elvis’ musical inspiration was still there post Chips Moman. If you love Elvis’ music, then you have to purchase this set. Totally essential listening. Great value for money. A massive thanks to Ernst Jorgensen and Matt Ross-Spang.
Review by Piers Beagley. Click here to comment on this review
EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.
Elvis Presley, Elvis and Graceland are trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises. The Elvis Information Network has been running since 1986 and is an EPE officially recognised Elvis fan club.
|
|
