ELVIS FTD REVIEWS
- JUNGLE ROOM SESSIONS -
JUNGLE ROOM SESSIONS
Track Listing :
Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall - alt. takes 2 & 5 - Time : 5:09 / She Thinks I Still Care - alt. take 2 - Time : 5:40 / The Last Farewell - alternate take 2 - Time : 4:22 / Solitaire - alt. take 3 - Time : 4:51 / I'll Never Fall In Love Again - alt. take 5 - Time : 4:03 / Moody Blue - alt. take 3 - Time : 5:34 / For The Heart - alt. take 2 & 3 - Time : 4:15 / Hurt - alt. take 3 - Time : 2:26 / Danny Boy - alt. take 8 - Time : 4:06 / Never Again - alt. take take 11 - Time : 3:00 / Love Coming Down -alt. take 2 - Time : 3:27 / Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain - alt. take 2 - Time : 4:05 / It's Easy For You - alt. take 1 - Time : 3:47 / Way Down - alt. take 2 - Time : 3:09 / Pledging My Love - un-edited master - Time : 5:25 / He'll Have To Go - rough mix-master - Time : 4:35 / Fire Down Below - instrumental - Time : 4:50 / ( not listed ) America the beautiful.
This review is dedicated to Timi Yuro, Andylon Lensen and Jeff Davidson
February 1976. Convoy by C.W. McCall was dominating the charts, and 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon was about to replace it at the top of the charts. It was the beginning of a year marked musically by Elton John, The Eagles, Chicago…
It was a hard year for living legends. Indeed it was a hard era. Sinatra, since his comeback in 1973, didn’t know what to record. In 1974 he had ceased releasing albums, and he was only putting out singles that didn’t have any impact, (I sing the songs, Stargazer and other singles didn’t even charted). Dean Martin longed for his succesful 1964-1969 era, and he even stopped recording in november 1974, and would only record again in 1983. Even Tom Jones last top 40 entry had been in 1973 (Letter to Lucille #38). He would be lucky enough to have only one top 40 hit between 1973 and his 1988’s Kiss, and that would be at the end of 1976, with Say you’ll stay until tomorrow (wich charted #1 country and #27 pop). His albums no longer entered the charts. The 70’s were a bad era to be 40 years old and performer.
In fact Elvis was the only one of all the living legends that still scored at least one top 40 every year – in fact many more- and whose albums always charted. But that didn’t masked the fact that his situation could be bettered, but the problem was “HOW?”.
Being Elvis as he was, it was impossible to put him under the orders of a real producer. He hated orders, he hated tracking, he just loved to do it his way, recording live in the studio and recording songs he liked at random, with no theme or feel conection. Only instinct and personal taste conection.
He had always recorded that way. Except for the Christmas and Gospel projects he had abandoned that philosophy only twice. First, by necessity, in january and february 1969, when he was put (by himself and the circunstances) under the orders of Chips Moman. Second, by chance, on the “Elvis Country” 1970 project, born by consequence of the lack of suitable material in June 1970. With no new good songs available, he just launched into a great bunch of country classics, translated to his own language.
The problem had always been material. But people probably forgets that by december 1973, after the July debacle, Felton Jarvis was completely free to bring any material he judged suitable. In 1967 Chip Young was warned to never again suggest any material to Elvis (he had suggested High heel sneakers). In October 1976 everything was so different that he was even asked for suggestions, bringing out Pledging my love.
So I think we should have in mind from the start that from 1973 (december) to the aborted 1977 sessions, Elvis wasn’t in the same frustating situation he was in the early 70’s, regarding material, though that doesn’t mean the situation was completely solved, as an economic interest in sharing the rights with the writers would continue until the end. But anyway, in 1976, only with It’s easy for you did they got a share of the publishing.
But the point is that probably from 1974 on, Elvis didn’t want to record at all.
“Why?” He surely asked himself? Though the material have improved in December 1973, he still wondered why his records didn’t sound as he heard them in his mind, why his records didn’t sell as they did in 1969-1970.
“Why???” In 1969 and 1970 all his hits were ballads, save for Suspicious minds. Then, when the hits kind of stopped in 1971, they all begged him for a rocker. He had delivered Burning love and sure it was a winner. Now he had released competent and good rockers such as Promised Land or T-R-O-U-B-L-E, but they didn’t sell even half a million. He also released catchy-good-comercial singles like the funky If you talk in your sleep and the international hit My boy . They dented the top 20 but didn’t reach the half million mark. In fact all his records from 1974-1975 didn’t surprass 350.000 copies. His priceless I’ve got a thing about you baby did sell 500.000 but only charted 39, because of poor airplay. He sure had the right to think he had released 5 great singles in a row, and sure 3 of them reached the top 20 and all of them the top 40, but where the heck were those Burning love results????
At the same time his situation was far better than in 1965-1967. He would have died in 1967 for 5 top 40 in a row. He would have died in 1966 for sell out performances all across the USA. He’d have died in 1965 to perform before so many people as he had at Pontiac for New Year’s Eve in. In spite of all his problems, at the beginning of 1976, Elvis was still the King. At the beginning of 1967, a thing of the past at best, or a hollywood joke at worst.
So his situation (career-wise) wasn’t critical enough for a revolution. Gold records weren’t falling from the skies, but he was the King. And, unlike in 1964-68, there were no Beatles, no Tom Jones that were treating his position. He was really established by 1976. His success could last forever.
And he wasn’t as motivated as he was in 1966-68 to change things around. His personal life was a mess, a complete disaster. He was caught in a trap for real. But again probably then it didn’t seem as dangerous as it seems now, seen from 2003, knowing what would happen in his last 18 months. In february 1976, danger wasn’t so dangerous, if you know what I mean. You just look at that photo taken with the denver policemen in january 1976 and the horrible summer of 76 seems like a century ahead.
So the conclusion to this intro is that in the first days of february 1976, the situation wasn’t as desperated as it has always been described. And that’s the whole point about “Jungle room”. In the words of Paul Simpson
“[Jungle room] comes as something as a revelation…Elvis sounds disappointingly normal and not psychotic or paranoid at all. Most of the songs improve on this release”.
So we’re back now to january 1976. Nashville engineer Brian Christian was sent by RCA to stage everything. Just when the mobile unit was 150 miles from Graceland the transmission broke, so it had to be towed. The budget for the session was $74.378,00.
On february 2th musicians James Burton, Jerry Scheff, Ronnie Tutt, Glen D. Hardin, David Briggs, John Wilkinson and Charlie Hodge were ready, along with backup singers J.D. Sumner and The Stampd Qt., Myrna Smith (for the first time on an Elvis session) and Kathy Westmoreland.
The sessions started, and here we can hear takes 2 to 5 of the first song attempted, Bitter they are harder they fall, in fact the cd case says takes 2-5, but from the control room we clearly can hear take 3, while Ronnie and the guitar players play around and Elvis demands to the stamps not to desert him on that very first part.
Then we hear take 3, and it gets interrupted by a clearly audible phone ringing, then when Felton calls for take 4 and Ronnie starts the countdown, we hear a dog yelling, making everybody laugh!! We inmediately see from the start that Elvis is in quite good spirits.
The song itself is a good ballad, with a refreshing structure, not the usual ABAB but ABCB (indeed section C could be subdivided in more sections). The song also uses some good effects, like ending both lines from section A in an original alliterating way (“that’s what she’s done, just what she’s done” and ” when is lived in by one, one lonely one”) or later in the large section C with the caught me lying, caught a train, caught a fever figure.
In all is a refreshing song, well written, in the country language. And above all, this take 5 let us hear that Elvis voice was quite potent and rich. The arrangement is good too. Master was take 7, so let’s pray takes 1,2 and 6 are complete ones for future releases!!.
She thinks I still care is also a country song, a George Jones classic that Elvis tried in many arrangements. We heard him giving it a country-blues feeling in take 2B. Now we hear aborted take 1A and complete take 2A. The arrangement is different to the released master the chorus here singing “she thinks I still care” as an intro to the song. This take is just a rehearsal, not a proper take. Elvis is clearly searching for a proper phrasing, playing with the melody for five minutes, ending with a finale, not a fade out. The master is obviously superior to this take. Indeed along with Moody blue and Hurt, She thinks I still care is one of the songs not totally ruined by overdubbs. I would be the first in line to hear the complete 17 takes from this song.
The start of the sessions was good enough. Maybe Elvis didn’t produced many songs, but at least he focused on them, specially on the second one. The material wasn’t outstanding but it was pretty good.
But then musicians were given a sheet for the first and last time in an Elvis session.
Elvis had promised a girl to record The last farewell, by Roger Whittaker, probably the weirdest song Elvis ever chose to record. But one has to admit that this outtake, take 2, without all the bizarre XIX century orchrestral overdubbed arrangements, wins when compared to the released master. Master take was spliced of takes 5 and 3, so maybe Elvis didn’t have that much interest in the song, though other sources say he loved the Whittaker record. Sinatra has been begged too to record The impossible dream in 1966 by Mia Farrow. He hated the song, and it also had to be recorded in bits and spliced.
Things got worst next night, february 3th, as Elvis struggled all night to record Neil Sedaka’s Solitaire. The song it’s not that bad, and it has that great moment when Elvis sings a little hope goes up in smoke, and his voice goes up too in a wonderful semi falsetto. Eleven takes were needed to make a master, and this take 3 is less convincing than the master. The master was ruined by extra orchrestration that made an already maudlin song into an unbearable maudlin one. Go to Japanese Complete Singles collection to hear the remastered undubbed version first released on Our memories of Elvis in 1978. It sounds so much better!!
February 4th songs were more focused, and more productive. Elvis attacked Tom Jones 1967 classic I’ll never gonna fall in love again , but he put it aside and started recording Moody blue. After cutting that song, he returned to the Tom Jones song and cut it. Take 9 was the master, and here Ernst Jorgensen gives us take 5 (give us more Ernst!). For years the From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee released version of I’ll never fall in love again had been a bitter-sweet experience. The power of Elvis voice was amazing, but the problem rested on the chorus, as everytime he reaches the words “fall in love”, his voice gets totally invisible (unaudible I mean), obscured by string and chorus.
Since “Jungle room” was released three years ago, I have developed the theory that Elvis wanted to sing the chorus that way.
So he starts the first verse “I’ve been in love so many times…”, as a sad description of the situation, accepting the fact that he’ll never fall in love again. His feelings are controlled, but you can already hear the sadness and regret. Then in the first chorus the pain comes, he sings in pain throughout. Then on the second verse, he’s more up, but still describing his feelings, still accepting the facts. On the second chorus, Elvis starts to get angry or desperate, blending the sadness from the first chorus with despair. Ending of course with that great shout of deperation (or afirmation). He goes from a sad tiny “fall in love”, to a despair shout “nooo I’ll never gonna”. Had he “shouted” all the verse through (as Tom Jones did) maybe this version wouldn’t have been so much critizised.
It was misunderstood, or maybe badly developed, as he had problems with intonation, but I’ve always believed that that was his approach. Obscuring the chorus by overdubbing, the feeling we had was that Elvis couldn’t sing, and we couldn’t hear that subtle interpretation. But it’s of course a theory.
Elvis starts take 2 of Moody blue in a good voice. It’s a good song, the first potential hit of the session. In fact it had hit written all over it. On the second verse he gets messed up, joking afterwards and stating that he hates to read. Then he starts take 3 (I hear 5, but the case says 3). This take is not up to the master, Elvis sounds a little strained or tired, maybe saving his voice for a later take. On “Just when I think I know her…” he gets out of breath. Maybe it was at this moment when he circled all the verse stating on his lyric sheet that he had to sing all the way from “Just when I think” to “adored and knew” without breathing. (As featured on the lyric sheet photo contained in the booklet of Walk a mile in my shoes: The essential 70’s masters)
In all this is a good record, ranked by writer Mark James as his second favourite of the songs that he wrote and Elvis recorded (first was of course Suspicious minds) . Mark had recorded it back in 1974, and Elvis followed his arrangement closely. David Briggs considers it too a great song.
Things continue to improve next night, february 5, as Elvis will record three wonderful songs. Fisrt he start with Denis Linde For the heart . We still don’t know wich take was the master. We DO know that take 1 ( released on Platinum) was a winner. Here we have aborted take 2 and complete take 3. It’s a less convincing performance than take 1, but still a winner. It clocks at 4 minutes, and swings like hell!! The band is really engaged too, with Hardin swinging piano, the acoustic guitars going along, Jerry doing a marvelous bass job, and Elvis giving a free, relaxed reading.
Hurt is with no doubt the most famous Elvis later career song, as he performed nearly at every show beteewen march 1976 and june 1977. The Timi Yuro 1961 hit (featured too in the Sharon Stone-Robert de Niro-Joe Pesci film Casino) gets an awesome reading by our King, who maybe was inspired more by his life time idol Roy Hamilton version from 1955. Master was take 7 and here we have take 3. Elvis messes up the start, making Myrna and Kathy laugh. He starts again, and he gets it better, but not yet perfect. In this take we can hear the chorus singers, as here Ernst hasn’t eliminated them (as he did in Platinum maybe to give aa clearer musical picture of Elvis’s voice). All available takes are great, I don’t get tired of this song. The main difference between the alternates and the master is that when he sings “now you want someone new, and it breaks my heart” he goes up into a great falsetto, instead of the full voiced master. I find this falsetto more effetive though. The falsetto on the end of take 3 is also breathtaking.
The third song of the night is the long time favorite Danny boy . Reportedly Elvis attempted it in a higher key first. In fact he starts this take 8 by saying he prefers to do it in “C”. He falters on “here”, but otherwise is a moving performance. Elvis sings great. Again here we hear all the band, as on Platinum (take 9) Ernst dropped everybody out except Glen (again to achieve a more pure sound, and he succeeded).
On february 6th Elvis will record 2 good songs, both by Jerry Chesnut. Those songs weren’t outstanding, but they were good album material, or maybe good B sides. First was Never again. Master was take 14 and here we have take 11. It’s not polished yet, not as perfect as the master, but it is really amazing how much it wins when compared with the overdubbed master. I strongly recommend you the Our memories of Elvis undubbed master. Elvis states before singing it “Lamar walked in and disrupted the whole room”. The song, like many on this session (Bitter they are, harder thay fall, She thinks I still care, The last farewell, Hurt and Love coming down) , isn’t again on the ABAB tradition. That is an overlooked fact, that brings a kind of diversity to these sessions.
Next is Love Coming Down. This a good take (take 2, master was take 5), very close to the master, though it’s more acoustic, due to the lack of overdubbing.
After the night was over, half the group left, due to prior comittments. For the last nigh, Billy Sanford replaced Burton, Putman replaced Jerry Scheff, and Bobby Emmons replaced Glenn Hardin (though in fact David Briggs would play acoustic piano, while Emmons will play the electric one).
So many changes didn’t help the sessions to virtually end there, as they would only record one more song. In the six hours the session lasted, they recorded five takes of Willie Nelson’s Blue eyes crying in the rain. Take 2 is presented on Jungle room (master was take 5). Reportedly by now Elvis was tired. Well, he does sound tired, or too relaxed. Anyway the song has a late night country-blues feeling that strangely fits.
At seven in the morning the session ended.
In march Hurt and For the heart were released as a powerfull single, but it didn’t break the course. It stalled at #28 and sold around 300.000 copies. February 16th and april 16th overdubbing sessions destroyed many sides, except maybe Love coming down, She thinks I still care, Moody blue and Danny boy. The album was released later in spring and reached #41 and eventually got a Gold record.
October 1976. If you leave me now, by Chicago was dominating the charts. Don’t go breaking my heart, by Elton John had been the summer’s song. Elvis meanwhile had been breaking many hearts himself, in the bad sense of the expresion. His march-june performances had been pleasant enough, though his looks were worst than ever. From July on things got even worst. He, as we all know, gave his bodyguards and friends a cold goodbye (in fact through his dad). And the horrible summer of 76 started. Pity performances all around, almost no decent shows from July to September.
Then in october he started to loose weight and his performances got better (not much, just listen to eternal flame).
In October 29th, 1976, he was ready for a change. His November and especially December tours will be very good. He was also supposed to record some more songs at Graceland.
So musicians got together again inside the jungle room. Chip Young was there, and Tony Brown replaced Glenn Hardin, who had left for good right after february 6th .
The first song was It’s easy for you. The october songs were not heavily overdubbed, in fact they sounded ok, but this song has the been the worst sounding Elvis master since it was first released in the Moody blue album in june 1977. So this alternate, the only available (take 1), is a refreshing release, for we are able for the first time to listen to this song in a proper setting. It’s a good song, a sad song that reflects Elvis feelings really accurately. Elvis declares “I get carried away very easily, emotional son of a bitch”. The performance is touching.
Next is a favourite of mine…Way down. Man, the band is really coockin’!! They sound focused and freely relaxed at the same time, with a looseness feeling that adds to this psychodelic tale of drugs and depression. It has a swing, it has fire. And I like the instrumental bridge just before the ending, later edited on the master.
Next is a wonderful version of Pledging my love, suggested by Chip Young. Elvis masters the song, making it his own as he had done with so many songs since 1954. Here is the unedited 6 minute master. Elvis just seems as if he was going to keep singing forever…he just doesn’t get enough.
But then this great session got halted. Elvis wasn’t in the mood to keep recording, so he left and Felton directed the band to get an instrumental track of He’ll have to go and Fire down below. Elvis overdubbed his vocal to the first song in just one take, and he did it perfectly, he just nailed it down. It’s an amazing, moving last studio performance of the King. Here we have a remixed master, with Shane Keister “moog” (overdubbed in april 6th 1977) more upfront (that strings sound).
As he never laid a vocal track on Fire down below, here we have the instrumental track plus a surprise few seconds of America the beautiful, recorded (and erased) in the february session.
In december 1976, Moody blue/She thinks I still care were released as a single, making #31 but selling 50.000 copies more than hurt and being #1 on the country charts. In June next year Way down/ Pledging my love were relased as a single. It charted #31 and sold 300.000 copies, but with Elvis death it got up again to #18 selling around 900.000 copies. It only reached #18 beacause the record had had his natural run chart from june to august, and when Elvis died it had to regain lost terrain again. In June all the october tracks plus the Moody blue single were tangled with 3 april live recordings plus Let me be there from 1974 Memphis live album (why My way wasn’t used we’ll never know). The album did surprisingly well while Elvis was still alive, getting into the top 30 for the first time since 1973’s Aloha and still climbing places when Elvis died. Of course after Elvis dead it got to #3 and multi platinum status, so we’ll never know where would have ended this album if Elvis haven’t died.
So that’s what those Elvis final sessions produced. Not the revolutionary album we alll wished, but a good collection of songs, mostly sad, that were destroyed upon release by terrible mixing and overdubbing (except a few, notably Moody Blue and the october tracks). In 2000 Ernst gave them the status they deserved by releasing this cd. Now please Ernst, remix the original sides completely, removing, rechanelling, doing whatever to bring justice to the masters, as the 2000 update of the album was the same old released mix again. Elvis deserves better and you will deliver, as you’ve always done.
[On a technical note, there is a version of Jungle room remastered by a New York sound engineer that in places sounds much better than ftd, except a few times were too much echo is used
2003/05/30 Ivan Fructuoso
