'The Something For Everybody Sessions'

‘The Something for Everybody Sessions: Ft Wild In The Country Sessions' Box-set REVIEW

Released back in November 2020, this was the sixth in FTD’s “Complete Sessions” series.
This time, due to Elvis' stunning work in completing his ‘Something for Everybody’ March 1961 session in just one night, FTD also includes his ‘Wild In The Country’ November 1960 soundtrack session.

The original ‘Something for Everybody’ March 1961 session FTD ‘Classic Album’ was released back in 2006 and what pure joy it was. With remastering by Sebastian Jeansson he brought a beautiful openness and new sparkle to the audio.
That set was even more impressive as it also included Elvis’ classic singles sessions from later in the year, ‘Little Sister’, ‘His Latest Flame’ and ‘Good Luck Charm’.

This new “complete sessions” Deluxe ‘Something for Everybody’ package misses out on those classic singles and instead includes Elvis’ ‘Wild In The Country’ November 1960 soundtrack session.

With 'I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell' being included on the original ‘Something for Everybody’ album there is some sense in combining the two sessions and in fact it is ‘Wild In The Country’ that provides the majority of previously unreleased outtakes.

It is hard to believe that FTD collectors won’t have already bought the previously released two ‘Classic Album’ releases. So what reasons are there to buy these recordings all over again?

1) The previously unreleased outtakes must be the primary reason.
Here fans get the following new outtakes from ‘Something for Everybody’, none of them are complete and most being False Starts running less than 30 seconds.
I’m Comin' Home (Take 6 - two False Starts)
It’s A Sin (Take 3)
I Want You With Me (Rehearsal)
There’s Always Me (Take 3)
Put The Blame On Me (Takes 3, 4)

The Wild In The Country session supplies plenty more unreleased takes but again most of them are False Starts
Lonely Man (Takes 2, 5, 10)
In My Way (Takes 3, 7)
Wild In The Country (Takes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18)
I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Takes 4, 5, 6, 12)
I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell Lower Key (Take 17)

2. The improvement in audio quality would be another reason. And the audio does indeed delight on this new set, but fans have to realise that Sebastian Jeansson remastered the previous releases (with Vic Anesini similarly doing the soundtrack session remixes) so the improvement is not greatly noticeable on a general "hi-fi" or cheap headphones.

3. The neat packaging, cool design with fold-out tape-box CD holder plus 28-page booklet.
Fans who bought the previous two classic album sets would already have two booklets about these sessions but FTD have been careful here and it is impressive that they don’t repeat photographs from the previous booklets.

4. Recording session obsessives will also enjoy hearing every take in chronological order.
As previously noted, as a recording artist Elvis was the greatest interpreter, and for the early part of his career his recording sessions usually took around 10 studio attempts to cut the Master. Packed full of enthusiasm in the fifties these fluffs would often be caused by either the band or Elvis tripping up over something quite simple.

By the sixties Elvis would usually spend a little more time working from the rough-first-take, sometimes changing the arrangement, before cutting the final Master. Again this would often take around ten takes and it is this that makes Elvis’ “Complete Sessions” so enjoyable and work surprisingly well.

It is only when Elvis and the band spend over 20 similar takes getting relatively nowhere with a soundtrack song - or even 23 takes working away on a studio cut (‘In The Ghetto’) - that it gets wearying listening to every take one after the other.

Unfortunately the Wild In the Country soundtrack session does becomes repetative, with nineteen takes of the title track and 18 takes of I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell. Disc 3 similarly includes only the two songs ‘Lonely Man’ and ‘In My Way’ again with multiple takes.
Fans will easily understand why Ernst left out all of those extra False Starts off the previous Classic Album.

The Package.
Continuing FTD’s “Complete sessions” concept there is plenty to explore for Elvis collectors.
The 4 CDs are in a four panel fold-out with the joy of fans being able to pore over various RCA paperwork and tape boxes. “Thorne” was the engineer at Radio Recorders for the soundtrack session with Bill Porter on the more important Nashville session.

The large 8-inch 28-page booklet is a neat upgrade from the two Classic Album booklets (with very few images being repeated.)

There are articles on Elvis’ 1961 Memphis charity shows, the March 12, 1961 album session as well as a lengthy article on ‘Wild In the Country’ by author Alan Hanson.

Several pages are dedicated to Movie Trivia, Behind The Scenes photos, Session Data as well as the various Single and Album releases.

With pages of memorabilia, international record covers and movie posters, RCA documentation as well as some delightful photos of Elvis from ‘Wild In The Country’ the booklet is a delight.

I found it interesting to discover that..

a) at some point ‘I Want You With Me’ was going to be the final album track.
b) Some marketing whiz at RCA thought combining ‘Something for Everybody’ and ‘Frankie And Johnny’ was a good pairing for a ‘Stereo 8’ Twin-Pack
c) How much more stylish the Canadian album cover looked without that totally unnecessary idea of having the tracklist on the front cover.
d) Why did the bathe Elvis’ photo on the front cover in red, looking embarrassed or sunburnt when the original photo captures a nice gleam in his eyes.
e) The Italian ‘Surrender’ single featured a cool Bay-of-Naples backdrop
f) Alan Hanson’s essay on ‘Wild In The Country’ includes some interesting stories.

The Music.
CD 1 starts with the Masters and delightfully kicks off with the excellent ‘I Feel So Bad’ – the track that Elvis wanted released as the single and follows with the 1961 album - plus the earlier ‘Wild In The Country’ December 1960 Stereo Masters.

These 1960 WITC Stereo Masters appear to be a new find as the audio mix - with echo spread across the whole spectrum, more compression plus some background tape hiss - sound very different to previous stereo releases.
A very nice addition to our collection.

Note that Elvis’ first four 1960 singles were released in “Living Stereo” which included ‘Surrender / Lonely Man’. The stereo single format would be dropped by the ‘Wild In The Country’ / I Feel So Bad’ release.
The Mono single mixes, especially the cutting ‘I Feel So Bad’, would have been a nice addition here.

Short Overview
While I truly enjoy the FTD Classic Album concept of ‘First Takes’ and later outtakes, the “complete session” concept works extremely well here with only SFE’s ‘There’s Always Me’ dragging on a little too long, requiring multiple false starts and five complete takes before Elvis was satisfied.

The chronological sequence of Elvis and the band’s one night of work is also of interest. Elvis kicking off with a warm-up rocker, laying down the all-important single when everybody had bedded in, picking up his guitar for added interest as they get tired in the wee-hours (on ‘Judy’) and a quick, rather tired exit with ‘Put The Blame On Me’.
Presented over less than two hours of tape, it’s a very enjoyable eavesdrop on Elvis and the band at work.

The Wild In The Country sessions are presented on the second pair of cds and while the whole of the SFE album and ‘I Feel So Bad’ single was wrapped up in a total of 54 takes, Elvis spent exactly the same number of takes to record just the three songs ‘Lonely Man’, ‘Wild In The Country’ and ‘I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell’.

Back in 2008 Ernst Jorgensen decided that only 63 minutes were needed to explore the six songs on the FTD ‘Wild In The Country’ soundtrack ‘Classic Album’ and personally I think he was right. While I do appreciate having Elvis’ complete sessions officially released with this soundtrack session you certainly understand why sometimes “Less is more”.
There are a few new moments of interesting studio eavesdropping but the session seems like a real struggle just to lay down some lightweight movie material.

Short Overall Verdict: If you treat the ‘Wild In The Country’ session as an appealing bonus material then the first two cds packed with tremendous studio cuts, Elvis in great creative spirit and enough previously unreleased material then this set is a collector’s delight. The booklet also provides some great photos, memorabilia and plenty to explore.

 

Looking deeper at what unreleased gems you might discover...

The March 1961 Sessions.
While I truly enjoy the FTD Classic Album concept of ‘First Takes’ and later outtakes, the “complete session” concept works extremely well here with only ‘There’s Always Me’ dragging on a little too long, requiring multiple false starts and five complete takes before Elvis was satisfied.

The chronological sequence of Elvis and the band’s one night of work is also of interest. Elvis kicking off with a warm-up rocker, laying down the all-important single when everybody had bedded in, picking up his guitar for added interest as they get tired in the wee-hours (on ‘Judy’) and a quick, rather tired exit with ‘Put The Blame On Me’.
Presented over less than two hours of tape, it’s a very enjoyable eavesdrop on Elvis at work.

In fact right from the start there are new joys to be uncovered.

‘I’m Coming Home’ Take 1 now includes 15 second before they kick-off where you can hear the band listening to a snippet of Carl Mann’s original (Thanks Tony S).
But soon after they start Elvis messes up and tells the band to “Hold it” while he rehearses the words to himself. Elvis says to A&R man Steve Sholes, “I need a couple of lines Mr. Sholes. Hold it just a second”.
This neatly flows into some studio discussion, “Let’s start it off in the right tempo” and the band laughing in the background. Take 2 starts with Elvis clicking his fingers to fix the tempo and by Take 3 the band are working smoothly – and what a tight rhythm section of Buddy Harman working with bassist Bob Moore.
Play loud, it sounds splendid!

Take 5 is a highlight with Elvis messing up the lyric towards the end as he laughs delightfully, “Oh hell man, hold it”. The band stops while Boots Randolph throws in a fun sax break.
Brand new Take 6 is less than 10 seconds as the band fails to kick in together (actually 2 false starts) and while nothing of import it does help to show the ease that everyone was working with that night.

Slowing down the mood, the gorgeous early takes of ‘Gently’ showcase the graceful guitar-picking by Hank Garland playing beautifully against Scotty Moore’s and both matching Elvis' exceedingly delicate vocal harmonising with the Jordanaires. It was unlike any song that Elvis had recorded before and was a touch of Folk music that would become so important in the mid-sixties.

Getting back to the Blues sound of Elvis Is Back, the complete ‘Give Me The Right’ session has to be an absolute highlight and presented in chronological order (unlike the FTD Classic Album) this deserves repeat playing.
On Take 1 the teasing blues guitar and wailing Boots Randolph sax draw you in as suddenly @01.18 The Jordanaires burst out of nowhere as their mics are suddenly faded up and then later mess-up their vocals. Just as the band stops @ 2:30 Elvis keeps on going with the band jumping back on for the ride. Elvis’ begging along with the sleazy grinding guitar gives this version a very different feel to the Master. We sure know what Elvis is talking about - “Why make me plead for something you need?” Delicious, rough & bluesy.

On the FTD ‘Classic Album’, Elvis’ comment “Mr Sholes does it sound better, the tempo?” was edited in before ‘Give Me The Right’ Take 3 whereas here it makes more sense being before Take 2.
And other interesting comments were previously edited out that demonstrate Elvis’ commitment. You can now hear Elvis say under his breath, “I’m gonna’ get this son-of-a-bitch” at the start of Take 3 and on the next take he had indeed cut the Master.

The second CD kicks off with the classic ‘I Feel So Bad’ and on this set we do get the bonus of the complete count-ins to the Masters along with the full tape until fade out. Here Elvis chuckles right before the Take 2, the master and the tape continues to the very end and a microscopic blast of studio ambience.

More new previously unreleased delights include 1 minute of studio rehearsal before take 1 of ‘It’s A Sin’ as well as Take 3 False Start where there is discussion about increasing the tempo.

The full session of ‘I Want You With Me’ is another highlight with a brilliant 35 seconds of unreleased rehearsal where Elvis is laughing and there’s obviously a fine atmosphere in the studio. The complete final master also features Elvis teasing the band and giggling before the actual start.

When Elvis then tries multiple attempts on the dramatic ‘There’s Always Me’ you can hear his vocal gathering confidence. Previously unreleased Take 3 only stops because the timing hasn’t gelled as yet, “You all come in a little bit too soon”.

The later unreleased multiple false starts are also fascinating since they let us eavesdrop on the recording process. By now it would have been into the early hours of the morning and Elvis is interrupted when the Memphis Mafia walk into the Studio by mistake. Elvis sounds slightly annoyed saying, “What the hell are you all doing? Hey G! We’re in the middle of a take fellas!”.
Here we get the full session tapes including all four false starts of Take 8 that were missing from the ‘classic album’. Note that here ‘Takes 5-9’ run over 7 minutes whereas on the Classic Album they were edited down to run only 4 1/4 minutes.

After the easy cool swing of cutting ‘Starting Today’ (here Elvis laughs and comments “Idiot” before the master take!) and ‘Sentimental Me’, the final two songs of the night provide more delights.

The full eight takes of ‘Judy’ are a delight to eavesdrop on as Elvis decides to play guitar.
Rough Take 1 delights but all the earlier versions feature Elvis playing guitar and obviously enjoying it. Take 6 is a gem where you hear the chuckle sneaking into Elvis’ voice by the second verse and it soon falls apart with him laughing ... “Bullshit”! Still in good humour he remarks, “I’ve never played (guitar) & had that much trouble over a song. Shit!”
Note that Takes 5-7 here run 30 seconds shorter than the ‘Classic Album’ release as FTD decided to add a fake ending to Take 7 - which in reality fell apart after Floyd Cramer messed up the piano solo and Elvis missed his timing. Here he frustratingly laughs “Oh, No Man!”
Take 8 now also has the key input from Elvis beforehand asking “Can we speed up the beat just a little bit?”

The full ‘Put the Blame On Me’ create the perfect session finale as Elvis voices burns out.
Between takes 1 and 2 Elvis notes, after his voice cracks, “That’s not it at all, Since I’ve had it... Let’s face it. Ok, let’s try one more...”,
Takes 3 and 4 are previously unreleased and help capture the frustration of being so close to the end. Take 3 is at a much slower tempo “no hold it” while Take 4 finds Elvis clapping along and growling “oh yeah” before his voice once again cracks.
Once again Elvis ask for “the tempo up just a little bit” and clapping along he cuts the master.

Twelve great tracks cut in one night’s work, in 1961 Elvis could still give any performer a run for the money.

The Wild In The Country Sessions’ (November 1960. 33 tracks, 2CDs, 90 mins).

The connection of course is ‘I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell’ unfortunately the weakest track on the SFE album. Incredibly Elvis recorded 18 attempts of this rather average movie soundtrack number before he was satisfied.

The whole of the SFE album and ‘I Feel So Bad’ single was wrapped up in a total of 54 session takes, whereas Elvis spent exactly the same number of takes to record just the three songs ‘Lonely Man’, ‘Wild In The Country’ and ‘I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell’.

Ernst Jorgensen decided that only 63 minutes were needed to explore the six songs recorded for the FTD ‘Wild In The Country’ soundtrack ‘Classic Album’ back in 2008, and personally I think he was right. While I do appreciate having Elvis’ complete sessions officially released with this soundtrack session you certainly understand why sometimes “Less is more”.

EIN reviewed FTD’s ‘Wild In the Country’ Classic soundtrack album at the time and noted that “Since 'Wild In The Country' was never released as a vinyl soundtrack, not even as an E.P. this was an intriguing concept. With only five songs and therefore low expectations this is a very fine FTD Soundtrack release.”

Back then we checked out the then 22 previously unreleased outtakes and noted.. In 1960 Elvis' voice had acquired a new vocal range and depth not heard before his army stint. The simple ballads recorded here give fans a chance to soak up the feeling of Elvis singing alone strumming his guitar with the simplest production. There would be very few times in Elvis' career (save the 1971 'I Will Be True' piano solo session) that Elvis would be recorded in such a simple setting. The only track that does have the throwaway feel of a soundtrack song is the lightweight 'I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell' but even that has interest in being recorded in two different keys.

CD 3 here kicks off with ‘Lonely Man’
The record release takes 13 attempts from which the highlights have been previously released.
The first take has some nice studio banter and laughter before but in a slower tempo with rehearsal feel as Elvis sounds like he's reading the lyrics.
Take 3 is the cute “Goddamn that's pretty“ version as noted by engineer Thorne Nogar which was previously spliced in to Take 4.

Pn the exquisite Take 4, Elvis has plugged his guitar in and it is this truly magical version which was chosen for FTD's 1999 'Out In Hollywood' now with a fabulous audio mix. A gem.
After Take 6 Elvis stops playing guitar, "I'll gonna put the guitar in later" he jokes.
Take 8 is another delightful complete version still with the shuffle arrangement while Take 11 stops "the tempo's getting slow".
Demonstrating just how difficult it can be to make the perfect record listen closely to Take 12 (@02.08) and you can hear Elvis' voice strain as it slips away from the melody. He also falters at 02.46, which makes it all the more appealing - Elvis was human! The next take was the Master.
New additions on this set Take 2, and Long False Start Take 5 add nothing to the session. Similarly new Take 10 is close to the released master except Elvis falters near the end.
In the end it feels like a frustrating recording session.

The master Take 13 at least benefits from the addition of Elvis asking, “You got any of that gum have you? Aspergum?” This was an analgesic chewing gum, for sore throats. Who knew Elvis liked this as a session helper?

Lonely Man (Solo) follows.
All four of these takes have been previously released, with Take 1 delightful for its simplicity and fragile vocal and Take 3 one of the 25 reasons to buy the 'Close Up' box-set. Turn off the lights and dream of Elvis sitting on your porch and singing just to you. With no other backing this version perfectly emphasises Elvis’ loneliness & emptiness, "Here I am, come meet a lonely, lonely man."

'In My Way' is a delight if only for capturing the simplicity of Elvis alone with a guitar and with most takes included on the FTD soundtrack CD.
Previously unreleased Takes 3 (5 seconds) and Take 7 add nothing to the session.
Thorne Nogar’s suggestion that Elvis needs to “Go back to the feeling you had at the start, you’re projecting too much now” is the perfect explanation of what often happened after numerable repeated takes.
Take 6 here is the genuine "Long False Start" whereas on the FTD Classic Album the end was spliced to create a “complete” version.
On Take 8 Elvis had cut the master.

 

The final CD features another forty takes resulting in only 3 lightweight soundtrack songs.

'Wild In The Country' is more interesting since at least it made #1 in the UK charts.
Take 1 (first released on 'Close Up') is fascinating as the whole band is playing, accordion and all, with Elvis' voice going off at a crazy tangent. The Jordanaires’ “do-do-do-do” are very staccato which also feels wrong and the take stops with Elvis' voice breaking and him saying, "Hold it a second".
By Take 2 the arrangement was totally revamped, the band no longer playing and with guitarist Tiny Timbrell's tic-tac guitar already in place.

Newly released Takes 3,4,5,6,7 again add little to the overall session expect the feeling of growing frustration. Take 8 is however near complete and already has the feel of the final master and only stops due to Scotty Moore missing a note.

By now everything was in place, it just needed one satisfying and it would be complete.
Take 11 was the first complete take recorded, subtler than the Master, this was the first WITC alternate take ever released by FTD on their 2nd ever release 'Out In Hollywood'.

Complete Take 13 has a nice touch of Elvis' high and fragile vocal from his earlier Sun sessions ('Blue Moon’) while on complete Take 14 Tiny Timbrell's tic-tac guitar has been faded down giving more prominence to Meyer Rubin's double-bass. Elvis' vocal is delightful but they are still looking that something extra.

Engineer Thorne Nogar then tries that neat trick of, “El, make one more for me” to push for something extra.
“New” Take 15 fails immediately, while complete Take 16 is exquisite and easily a possible master take.
“New” Takes 17 and 18 are interesting additions if only for demonstrating Elvis’ annoyance at how the night was panning out. “What the hell was that?” he exclaims and then as Take 18 fails, “Fuck it. Give me another start.”
The next attempt would be the Master.

Now way after midnight 'Forget Me Never' would end the evening.
With all takes previously released by FTD, here they are presented in the right order.
Take 2 is very amusing classic (first heard on the Bootleg classic 'Behind Closed Doors') Elvis sings, "If I should go, Forget me never, please ... shit!"
The 1965 European overdubbed 'maracas' version from 'Elvis For Everyone' is not included.

The group returned the following day for 'I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell' and it took 18 attempts to cut the Master.

The delight here is listening in on the studio banter. Elvis has to request a pencil.. "All this is running together here" and you can actually hear him writing on his lyric sheet as he sings the lyrics to himself! .
Takes 1, 2, 3 have a different feel to all the other songs and could easily have been from Elvis' future 'Blue Hawaii' sessions.

Previously unreleased Takes 4 and 5 go nowhere but Take 6, with Elvis’ unhappy sigh before it, is complete and could have been a Master save for Elvis’ vocal waver before “Dazzled and dizzy” and Dudley Brook slight reticent on the piano thrills.

Takes 7, 8, “It’s starting to swing” says Thorne but Elvis keeps stumbling on the lyrics.. "I got dazzled and dizzy, I fell.... you shit!" Takes 9 and 10 are complete and frustratingly close to the final release. You wonder why they kept going.

Take 11 - This penultimate take still has Elvis has using his cute vocal trick of sliding into the final verse "Ahh.. umm, my knees are week" (@01.31) which is strange as it is not used in the final Master version.

You can feel the frustration on previously unreleased Take 12 that again fails before it gets going. Take 13 would be the album release.

'I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell' (Lower key) - Takes 14,15,16 (all previously released on 'Close Up' and the FTD Classic album) feature Elvis and the Jordanaires vocals are emphasised over the band.
It is also interesting that after 13 takes Elvis decided to record in a lower key. Elvis also seems unsure, "is that a better key?" he asks. Take 14 and 15 fall apart while Take 16 has some nice piano work from Dudley Brook's while Elvis again seems to be having trouble with the vocal.
Again you can understand why Ernst has ignored previously unreleased Take 17 as it gets nowhere - apart some cool piano licks before they kick off.
At least we now get the joyful studio banter before Take 18 (Alternate Master) Thorne laughs as someone then blows their nose, everyone is laughing, even if Elvis sounds worn out.
After 18 attempts the session finally wraps.

It would be four months before Elvis would return to Studio B for the ‘Something for Everybody’ sessions.

Overall Verdict: With fabulous sound this is another excellent “complete sessions” FTD release. The first two CDs of stunning music featuring fine ‘Something for Everybody’ studio material, Elvis in great creative spirit, with the tracks in chronological order and enough previously unreleased material to add interest really are a collector’s delight. The booklet also provides some great photos, memorabilia and plenty to explore. Fans who adore Elvis’ 'Wild In The Country' songs may even enjoy the final two cds which, however, arguably do prove that in some situations “Best Ofs” are sometimes enough. However as these are genuinely noted as a bonus “Feature” I have no issue in recommending this set. Collectors will discover more than enough to make this a great addition to their burgeoning collections.

 

Review by Piers Beagley. -Copyright EIN March 2021 EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.   Click here to comment on this review   Note the review images are low-res personal scans and are far worse quality than the stunning images in the FTD release.

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'The Something For Everybody Sessions' - Special 4-CD Deluxe release. FTD November 2020 release #506020-975150 Album produced and art directed by Ernst Mikael Jørgensen & Roger Semon. Mastered by Sebastian Jeansson, Wild In The Country session remixes by Vic Anesini.