Review by Piers Beagley - Elvis Information Network
From his first post-army sessions in March 1960 through to exactly two years later, and the Pot Luck recording sessions, Elvis recorded eight million-selling number ones, released six albums, and appeared in six movies.
Released in August 1963, Elvis’ Golden Records Volume 3 encapsulated Elvis’ amazing chart successes of that period. Elvis was still the biggest super-star in the world; this was a time of innocence and the album just pre-dated the US arrival of his new challengers The Beatles.
As the FTD sleeve notes explain….
“By the time Elvis' Golden Records Vol. 3 was released in August 1963, no one in rock 'n' roll up to that point, other than Elvis, had ever legitimately earned a second 'greatest hits' volume, much less a third. It also embodied the best commercial examples of Presley's new post-army maturity, as both vocalist and musician, and the songs featured on this album achieved an unparalleled level of global chart success by any artist between 1960 and 1963. It may not be widely recognized but this album is equally worthy to its aforementioned predecessor in representing a period when Elvis reigned as the undisputed "King of Pop" as million-selling #1 records followed one after the other.
The fact that this compilation wasn't recorded as 'an album' as such is a moot point. Elvis' singles were never included in his studio albums anyway and so these 12-songs debuted here on 33 rpm and offered a collection as musically cohesive as any album recorded over a limited period of time.”
This would truly be Elvis’ last “classic” Golden Records release since Volume 4, which would appear four years later in January 1968, would embarrassingly have to include three left-over “hits” from 1960-1962.
The Booklet
The twelve-page booklet contains the usual selection of memorabilia, original 45 rpm sleeves, newspaper advertisements and photos.
Unfortunately there is no “In and Outakes” section to explain where all these alternate takes come from. In some ways, this does FTD a disservice since almost all the takes on Disc 2 are officially previously unreleased - although many of them will be familiar via bootlegs from the past.
The Music
Plenty of previous FTD releases have covered the same period from the relevant classic albums to various compilations. There is no question that the most interesting alternate outtakes have been previously released by FTD, and so the selection featured here in general has to be a mop-up of a lot of false starts or similar sounding alternate takes. However, this was such a creative period for Elvis that eavesdropping on any of his recording sessions from the time is a real delight - especially in such fantastic audio quality courtesy of Sebastian Jeansson.
Disc 2 also includes several songs that were not included in the original Golden Records release. Of course plenty of EU public domain releases have been making the most of these unreleased outtakes, but nothing like in this audio quality.
At last we get the missing takes of ‘Little Sister’, ‘(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame’, ‘Fame And Fortune’, and ‘Make Me Know It’ that couldn't fit onto the packed CDs of their relevant classic albums.
The Original Album
From Elvis' biggest seller, ‘It’s Now Or Never’, via the gorgeous ‘Fame And Fortune’, the blues of ‘I Feel So Bad’, the double-sided smash of ‘(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame’ / ‘Little Sister’, the exquisite ‘Anything That's Part Of You’, to the British number one of ‘She's Not You’, the original album contained twelve great selections. What a shame that they never thought of slipping in the extra bonus of ‘Return To Sender’ which would have made an even greater impression.
The Alternate Album
The first disc also features “the alternate album”, the majority of which are first takes. This is something I have always found quite fascinating since early takes often capture a little rougher edge to Elvis' recordings providing a more personal and less polished insight into the whole process.
From the delightful intro of “Give us a pitch first” from the marvellous Take 1 of ‘It’s Now Or Never’, the Alternate Album is a treat. On most tracks you can sense Elvis feeling his way with the melody, working out how much he can push his vocal or how to blend in with the band.
As Elvis says at the start of ‘Good Luck Charm’ Take 1 "If we goof up, just keep going" and what follows is three minutes of studio magic. Halfway through, the lead guitar slips off melody and mid-song although Elvis notes, "Somebody goofed!" they do keep going. If you don’t own this, it is sensational.
Some tracks would come surprisingly easily - ‘Stuck On You’ in just three takes, ‘It’s Now Or Never’ in four. Other songs such as ‘Fame And Fortune’ would take over fourteen attempts. For easy reference, FTD really should have noted the master take number as well.
There are a several new gems for collectors here. For instance, previously unreleased ‘Fame And Fortune’ Take 1, where Elvis sings in a higher key. With multiple false starts to begin with - “Elvis showin’ ‘em what you want them to do” - it has a marvellous rehearsal feel. The Jordanaires are trying “too damn hard” while Scotty Moore’s lead guitar fill hasn’t been worked out yet. Hearing Elvis trying out the soaring vocal melody for the first time is a real delight.
‘I Feel So Bad’ was finished in just two takes but the first version has a rougher edge. Elvis “Whoops” as Boots Randolph takes flight with the sound wandering around the studio as everyone digs into the blues. A classic.
Other treats are an alternate edit of ‘Surrender’ where ending “Work-Part ” Take 1 has been added to the last complete Take 9 (Elvis still wasn’t happy with the power-ending). ‘She's Not You’ also gets a newly created splice with previously unreleased “Work-Part”, Take 1. This is interesting since the ending had to be re-done five times before they were happy. On this attempt, Ray Walker’s final bass-line is notably too indistinct
Disc 2 - The Outtakes
‘Stuck On You’. Take 2 is the only other alternate take of this classic number. Elvis slides around the lyrics and halfway through misses the timing on “Hide in the kitchen” but the band still keep going. It has a lovely rehearsal feel all the way through to the fabulous “Stuck, err, Hold it!” messed up ending. Previously released, this sounds even better here.
‘Fame And Fortune’ took fifteen attempts and eventually needed a splice to create the final master. It was a song that Elvis wanted to perfect, even if that meant multiple near-perfect takes. In these early sixties’ sessions sometimes you have to really speculate as to what was that special extra something that Elvis was searching for.
The Elvis Is Back! FTD Classic Album didn’t have enough space for all the takes so here we get an additional seven cuts. Still in the higher key, with Elvis’ vocal nice and light, early Take 3 enchants until engineer Bill Porter suddenly stops it. By Take 6 they had moved to the lower key but it also gets cut off for no apparent reason. Take 7 is near perfect except for Scotty Moore’s lead guitar fills still being worked on and not finalised.
The complete Take 8 is sublime. I love Elvis’ additional backing vocal “wah-oo, wah-oo” @1.56 but this version has no lead guitar fill at all. By Take 9 the final lead guitar line has been added and sounds very close to the master, only failing when Elvis stumbles over the first “but to know” near the end. On Take 10 both Elvis and the band strangely seem to have lost confidence, as the timing goes off at several points with Elvis soon calling a halt. And while Take 11 is complete, Elvis’ vocal lacks the earlier smoothness and he obviously strains at one point. At the finale Elvis also sings “ah, aaah, but to know that you love me brings”, whereas on the master he would go back to “boo-doo-doo-doo, but to know that you love me brings”.
‘Make Me Know It’ was all important for being Elvis’ first post-army recording. The RCA execs were all there, packed into Studio B to make sure their hottest property could still cut it. As engineer Bill Porter noted, “I felt a lot of tension in the room, I really did”. With the group ready to rock, Elvis and the band kicked into this Otis Blackwell cracker with the first few attempts being more like rehearsals than potential takes.
Take 2 is surprisingly good for such an early take, although Scotty Moore’s guitar goes off at a tangent, and near the end Elvis slips into a cartoon voice telling everyone to “Hold it”. Take 8 gets similarly derailed near the end. Elvis giggles, “I’m sorry, damn!”
Take 14 - the first version on this disc - is a sensational version, (Ray Walker’s bass-line now pulled further back in the mix) and it shows just how incredibly well Elvis and the band would work together at this first post-army session. Elvis unbelievably misses the final line on the fade out - ”Oh, shit” he exclaims. This is a classic for any collector! Take 16 is good enough to be an album master except that just as Bill Porter fades it out Elvis again suddenly slips-up exclaiming, “Hell, no!”
‘Make Me Know It’ was not included on the Golden Records album, so we do not get the master here.
Soldier Boy is another bonus track not on the original collection. The second song recorded at Elvis’ first post-army session, Elvis pushed for fifteen takes until satisfied. Take 11 is exquisite featuring a slightly different lead guitar line from the master.
‘It's Now Or Never’ (Undubbed Master). This was previously released on the ‘60s box-set from 1993 but here we get the Take 4 count-in and the audio quality is greatly improved ,and it’s great to have in the context of these sessions.
‘Surrender’ (Splice of Take 7 and “work-part” Take 7). Take 7 - as featured on His Hand In Mine FTD - was close to perfect until Elvis’ voice cracked on the very final note. This is another newly-created composite that’s as good as the released single.
‘He Knows Just What I Need’. Take 9 is very similar to the previous attempt, and is taken at a slower tempo. Elvis sings up the scale during The Jordanaires’ solo break which does not feature in the final version. In any case, the take is ruined by some studio clatter right at the very final note.
‘(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame’ . How can any fan not love hearing new outtakes of this classic single? While the Take 3 false start was on the Something For Everybody FTD, the actual full version was left off. An earlier take, less acoustic guitar driven and with more tom-tom percussion, this version - for some odd reason - now has more reverb added to it and with the piano mixed to the right channel - the opposite of the actual single and other takes. But it’s a fine addition to the collection. By Take 7 and 9 they have settled down to the final arrangement (Take 8 was the master) and both are false starts. Complete Take 12 was the final attempt and good enough to be the chosen single, although the earlier Take 8 would be actually selected.
‘Little Sister’. This is another classic where Elvis continued looking for something extra even after the master (Take 4) had been cut. Previously unreleased Take 10 is a gem, having the power and excitement of the final single until D.J. mistakenly misses a beat halfway through. Before the final Take 11 – also unreleased - Elvis announces, “It might have been a little bit slow there, fellows” but this time Hank Garland’s lead guitar goes off melody and at this point they realise Take 4 was all they needed.
‘Kiss Me Quick’ was from the same ‘Little Sister’ session. The earlier takes have more of a Latino ‘‘tango” feel that the master. Unreleased Take 2 is all that more enjoyable for being a rough run-through. Elvis falters at 01.58 on “While we are swaying” but everyone keeps on going to the end. The earlier takes also have the ‘Cha-Cha-Cha’ ending, rather than the fade-out of the master.
Take 3 has a similar feel, but by Take 5 the second guitar line has been changed to more staccato arrangement. This attempt stops halfway through with everyone agreeing “Much better up ‘til there”. Take 6 has a similar arrangement.
Unbelievably, there are still four more complete takes that FTD have not yet released. In the end, the master (not included here) used a delightful Ray Walker deep bass-line and also a fade-out ending.
‘Anything That's Part Of You’. This is a beautiful ballad that Elvis again attempted so many times looking for that utter perfection. By Take 3 the arrangement had been finalised with Take 6 and Take 7 both being false starts, “I’d like to start it again”.
Take 3 is exquisite with the acoustic guitar, higher in the mix than on the final release. It is hard to believe that Elvis wanted to do better.
‘For The Millionth And The Last Time’. This is another latino based number. Take 3 is a false start with D.J. noting, “That’s a good lick”. On Take 4, the arrangement now included Gordon Stoker playing accordion which unfortunately resulted in the song sound very “early sixties”. Take 5 was complete, even if Elvis stumbled slightly on the lyrics, while Take 11 was another false start with Elvis noting, “Dog-gone, what the hell am I saying man!”. He then joked about Lamar Fike being in the studio suggesting, “We can put Lamar in a little ballet skirt!” It’s all great eavesdropping. Complete Take 8 is very similar to the master.
‘I Met Her Today’ was a simple ballad that for some reason Elvis would attempt twenty times before deciding Take 18 was the master. The delight here is to listen in on the session with Elvis snapping his fingers in time and singing with such sincerity. The early takes are at slower tempo but by Take 12 (false start) and Take 13, the arrangement is perfect. Elvis’ voice wavers all so slightly on Take 13 and he misses his timing on Take 14 but otherwise either could have been the final master.
‘She's Not You’ Take 1, is a gem, another rough run-through and taken at a slower tempo. Elvis would throw in his supportive “Ah-hum” during the piano solo which would become a key part of the final single - but the song abruptly stops after only 90 seconds. By the next take they had sped up the beat, as well as adding the extra second half of the song. Elvis wasn’t happy with the final play-off so then they re-cut the ending. Here we also get unreleased “work part” Take 2, where Ray Walker’s bass-ending still isn’t as strong as needed.
Overall Verdict
Forty-nine tracks, thirty-eight brand new outtakes all collated from just twenty-four months and the best of Elvis’ early sixties‘ recording sessions - what more could collectors ask for?
While the obvious focus is on Elvis’ million-selling ‘Greatest-Hits’ album, it is all the previously unreleased outtakes and the joy in eavesdropping on such a creative period in Elvis’ legacy that makes this two-for-one compilation so enjoyable and such great value.
And fans can forget all those previous “Public Domain” EU releases of the same material, as the audio remastering here shines like a diamond. More please…
