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"Hang up that tambourine and Go!"
The quintessential first Elvis Presley album. The first million-selling Popular Music LP, the world’s first Number One Rock’n’Roll album, the in-your-face front-cover photo showing rebellious youth breaking free – the album that changed music history forever. So good that the 12 songs could be split into 6 separate 45rpms. So good that it was also worthy of 3 separate 4 track EPs. So what could be better? Well, well, well.. the Kevan Budd remastered Deluxe FTD of course! How can music fifty years old sound so goddamn good? Most Elvis fans will have bought this LP multiple times already, including the Kevan Budd remastered 2005 release, but it doesn’t matter as this unbeatable CD features the complete sessions, all the outtakes & more - along with a pristine sound that will rock you out of your seat. In fact FTD’s new Deluxe release really needs no review, as an Elvis fan you just have to buy it. All Elvis’ early recorded musical interests are presented here. Country, Pop, Ballads, delicious Rhythm & Blues, brand new hits (i.e. Blues Suede Shoes) & old classics (i.e. Blue Moon). The interesting thing to note is that with pressure on RCA to produce the first Elvis LP this is actually a rather cobbled-together affair featuring 2 RCA sessions as well as roping in 5 unreleased Sun Studio songs. While it seems inevitable that ‘Tryin’ To Get To You’ would have been Elvis 6th Sun single there is no way that Elvis could have imagined the other Sun recordings ever being released, let alone on his first LP. The first CD presents Elvis’ first LP, along with the first 3 classic singles – plus another 18 outtakes. It is 70 minutes of sheer bliss. Tracks like ‘I Got A Woman’ (Unknown 2nd take) sounding sensational compared to its previous release on the ‘Platinum’ box-set. Audio restorer Kevan Budd ('Elvis At Sun', 'Loving You') has worked his usual magic throughout and the sound is magnificent. Listening to this album I discover something new everyday and today ‘One-Sided Love Affair’ reached out & grabbed me. A Steve Sholes rather than an Elvis choice, the band drag it from its plain country roots and blast it with rock’n’roll. Elvis throws in a pile of his (soon to be known) trade-mark vocal mannerisms while pianist Shorty Long plays some mean boogie and an amazing one-note piano solo. Listen to Elvis slide his vocals, imitate a Buddy Holly hiccup, and his whoop of joy @ 01:10 in Shorty Long’s solo. As the song glides to the end you know that Elvis isn’t happy "I ain’t for no one-sided Love Affair" but there’s that bold curl in his voice that let’s you know he’s won her over. Yesterday I couldn’t get enough of ‘Money Honey’ but, let’s face it, all of the 18 songs here make one feel this way. Everyone 2 minutes of masterful creative rock’n’roll perfection. The second CD features 34 outtakes, most of them from just three songs but again all essential listening as you eavesdrop on the band and explore the creation of this classic Elvis material.
The Session information & ‘Behind The Scenes’ details are informative and there is no doubt that the Deluxe FTD production values are getting better & better. The original cover photos are used, as opposed to the poor scans in the 2005 version. Unfortunately there’s no art credit on this one, but I guess Ernst & Roger Semon are the designers once again.
Do you need to see or know more? At a double CD for a single CD price just buy it! Digging Deeper.. 15 officially unreleased outtakes (plus fragments) are featured here, many of them have been bootlegged before but in audio quality that hardly counts. And the main thing is to once again get all these essential 1956 recordings in context. CD.1 - On the first CD we get only two unreleased takes but every minor fragment is included down to an 8 second fragment of ‘Money Honey’ – Ahh, if only there was more! Of course the early versions of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ are a delight and it’s fascinating to hear the development as they record of ‘I Was The One’ and head towards the more subtle drum arrangement of the final take. When I reviewed the ‘Flashback’ FTD I stated that ‘I Was The One’ was never the unedited Master Take 7 as suggested, so I am pleased to see this CD features both Take 7(a) and the original single Take 7(b). I wasn’t dreaming after all! Another new UnKnown take of ‘I Was The One’ ends the first disc. This is a great addition, unfortunately incomplete, as it has a sparser backing vocal arrangement. Check towards the end where Elvis sings, "I’ll never know, who taught her to lie" where there are no backing-vocals at all, unlike on every other take. I wonder if this was late or early version? CD. 2 starts with the ‘Dry Reverb’ tape for ‘I’m Counting On You’. Only 2 minutes long but a total fascination as we get to hear the session as it sounded just through Elvis’ lone microphone. Listen to this carefully and then go back to the Sun Session track ‘I’ll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin’)’ as it then helps reveal even more of the history of Sam Phillips’ Slap-Back echo when you hear Elvis’ solo vocal electronically echo’d back onto the tape. ‘Lawdy, Miss Clawdy’ and all twelve takes follow. The all-important Take 1 with its classic studio build-up was featured on ‘Platinum’ but here is has even more of that great pre-take build-up that here has not been edited. Elvis gets a correct feeling for the vocal almost immediately, so the takes are fairly similar, but the band take a little longer to catch up. There is however some delight in hearing the studio banter & interaction as they go along. 'Lawdy, Miss Clawdy' - Unreleased Take 5 is a noteworthy for the delightful messed up Scotty Moore guitar solo and there is also the pure fun of D.J Fontana slip-up on Take 7 with everyone bursting into laughter. It’s also a bonus to hear the pre-take studio build-up "Wait a minute, wait a minute now" just before they record the Single Master, Take 10. ‘Shake, Rattle & Roll’ similarly took twelve takes. This song is much more interesting as Elvis follows the suggestive lyrics of Big Joe Turner’s original over the more famous Bill Haley & The Comet’s version, and the arrangment also changes as they progress. As Elvis states at the start of a rockin' Take 7, "Hang up that tambourine and Go"! Several false starts haven’t been released before. On Take 11 Elvis misses the start sighing, "Always the same, we forget our cue." The final single (Take 12) also featured Elvis & the band overdubbing the backing vocals and a real discovery was that the Master was actually edited, as well as being overdubbed! On the Take 12 Single version the edit is @ 2.10 where it seems a work-part ending has been spliced. It certainly doesn’t sound the same ending of earlier takes. The rather low-key session of ‘I Want You, I Need You, I Love You’ follows. There is interest hearing Elvis mentioning the problem the band had with the flight the night before, getting lost & with fuel problems. Before Take 14 Elvis says, "We catched that old whippet plane - that glider!" It is surprising that he doesn’t sound more upset as they nearly didn’t make it! At last the cute Take 15 from ‘A legendary Performer Vol.2’ gets a CD release. A classic cut, this is where Elvis gets the word order wrong but still keeps going. One final bonus is Elvis’ remarkable & previously unreleased 1956 interview with Radio DJ Don Davis, taken from a syndicated programme from the Gruen Watch company called ‘Time hill Frolic’. Here Elvis talks of his clothing, cars, the Jacksonville riots & more. One highlight is Elvis’ unusual & modest remark that Sam Phillips never recorded his acoustic guitar. "(In the trio) Well, actually there’s only two. I’m just singing. I play the guitar but they don’t record it" he says, when we all know how important Elvis’ guitar playing was to that Sun Sound and the Birth of Rock’n’Roll. Review by Piers Beagley
Cover photos above: As it rightly says, this is a 'Special Edition' See Kevan Budd's comments about this Deluxe release below. Click here for FTD Loving You' Special Edition review A Kevan Budd interview about upcoming FTD & BMG projects coming in a few weeks. Click here for Kevan Budd's February 2006 interview with EIN. 'Elvis Presley' Special Edition 2 CD SET - LPM-1254 - FTD 2006 July release #8287686160-2 Tracklisting - CD-1: The original LP, Singles & outtakes Blue Suede Shoes I'm Counting On You I Got A Woman One Sided Love Affair I Love You Because Just Because Tutti Frutti Trying To Get To You I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You) I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') Blue Moon Money Honey - - Bonus singles Heartbreak Hotel I Was The One Lawdy Miss Clawdy Shake Rattle And Roll My Baby Left Me I Want You, I Need You, I Love You - First RCA Sessions CD-2 Kevan Budd comments on aspects of the 'Elvis Presley' Deluxe Release. EIN Note: A Kevan Budd interview about future FTD & BMG projects will be coming in a few weeks. Click to comment on this article.
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