ELVIS FTD REVIEWS
- That's The The Way It Is -
Track Listing: DISC 1: THE ALBUM: I Just Can’t Help Believin’ (live) / Twenty Days And Twenty Nights / How The Web Was Woven / Patch It Up (live) / Mary In The Morning / You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me / You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling (live) / I’ve Lost You (live) / Just Pretend / Stranger In The Crowd / The Next Step Is Love / Bridge Over Troubled Water. BONUS TRACKS: Patch It Up (studio version) / I’ve Lost You (studio) / Twenty Days And Twenty Nights – take 8 / Bridge Over Troubled Water (live) : Little Sister/Get Back (live) / Something (live) / The Next Step Is Love - undubbed master / Patch It Up – take 1 / Bridge Over Troubled Water –alt. mix. -- Disc 2: THE SESSIONS: Tiger Man (jam) / Twenty Days And Twenty Nights – rehearsal, takes 1,2,3 / I’ve Lost You – rehearsal, take 1 / Bridge Over Troubled Water – take 1 / You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – rehearsal composite / The Next Step Is Love – rehearsal, takes 2,3,6 / How The Web Was Woven – rehearsal, take 1 / Stranger In The Crowd – rehearsal, takes 1,3,4,5 / Stranger In The Crowd – master take 9 – rough mix / Mary In The Morning – takes 1,2,3,4 / Patch It Up – takes 2-7 / Patch It Up – take 9 – alt. master / You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – takes 1,2 / Just Pretend – takes 1,2 / The Next Step Is Love – takes 7,8,9,10 / Bridge Over Troubled Water – rehearsal, takes 2,5 / I’ve Lost You – takes 4,5,6 / Twenty Days And Twenty Nights – takes 5,6 / Twenty Days And Twenty Nights – take 9 master – rough mix --- Compilation by Ernst Jørgensen & Roger Semon - Mastered by Jean-Marc Juilland and Vic Anesini - Original A&R / Producer: Felton Jarvis - Original engineer: Al Pachucki. --- Recorded at RCA’s studio B in Nashville June 4-8, 1970, and live at The International Hotel, Las Vegas, August 11-13, 1970. --- Nashville musicians: Guitar: James Burton, Chip Young, Elvis Presley; Bass: Norbert Putnam; Drums: Jerry Carrigan; Piano: David Briggs; Organ & Harmonica: Charlie McCoy. Overdubs: Guitar: James Burton; Organ: David Briggs; Percussion: Jerry Carrigan; Percussion and Vibes: Farrell Morris; Steel Guitar: Weldon Myrick; Vocals: Mary Holladay, Mary (Jeannie) Green, Dolores Edgin, Ginger Holladay, Millie Kirkham, June Page, Joe Babcock, The Jordanaires, The Imperials. ---- Las Vegas musicians: Guitar: James Burton, John Wilkinson, Elvis Presley; Bass: Jerry Scheff; Drums: Ronnie Tutt; Piano: Glen D. Hardin; Vocals: Millie Kirkham, The Sweet Inspirations, The Imperials. Joe Guercio and his Orchestra.
INTRODUCTION: ELVIS IN JUNE 1970
Elvis was from the old school. As much as he had been vilipended through the fifties by the crooner generation he belonged more to the Sinatra school of performers than he himself imagined. Not in the sense of material chosen and general approach to life in general, of course, but their overall approach to their profession was similar. Elvis loved to perform live on stage, he never planned recording sessions in the way The Beatles or The Eagles or whoever would do. And he never spent endless weeks or months in the studio. He was a perfectionist in the studio but always looking more for feeling than perfect execution. He wanted to be a Hollywood star and a serious actor. He always tried to please himself through pleasing his fans, not the other way around.
By the spring of 1970, he had achieved almost all he had dreamed, all but that serious acting role thing that always seemed to elude him and those overseas concerts that never became real. Hollywood didn’t take him serious, they thought of him being no more than a singing idiot, so once he made his comeback special in June 1968, he couldn’t wait to fulfill his contracts with MGM, Universal Pictures, etc, and perform again in front of real people. Goodbye Hollywood!
The success of the aforementioned TV Special, aired on December 3rd, 1968, was followed by the now famous American Studio sessions that took place in January and February next year. Chips Moman, the in-house producer-owner-songwriter of the soulful studio, was forced to adapt his agenda and style in order to accommodate Elvis. Usually, Moman would select material, arrangements and made the singers sing live with the rhythm section, making them later replace that “scratch” vocal. With Elvis he had control (indeed more than anyone since the Sun days), but had to let Elvis chose some of the songs, and even record songs he would have never chosen. Elvis’s extraordinaire voice made the vocal replacements unnecessary for the most part (except on some early songs when he was suffering laryngitis). In all it was an experience of magnificent results: a new sound, blockbuster hits, two excellent albums, praise from the press and, specially, a whole bunch of self-esteem.
After those recording sessions, Elvis returned to live performances, with two full months of Vegas shows in August 69 and February 70, ending with four shows at the “Annual Texas Livestock Show” in Houston, TX. Elvis was back...once again.
During those spring months of 1970, he enjoyed his wife and daughter, spending time watching movies in his new home in Palm Springs, and then returning to Memphis on May the 21st where he remained until July the 5th, except for two brief incognito visits to Dallas with Charlie Hodge, Richard Davis and Joe Esposito.
After his sensational success in Vegas, the Colonel planned a closed-circuit concert, but the idea fell apart and instead he made a deal with Kirk Kerkorian (owner of both the International Hotel and MGM) on April 7th to make a concert movie to be shot in Vegas in August.
His records were selling like hot cakes. Don’t Cry Daddy had charted all through the end of 1969 and the beginning of 1970, achieving a Number 6 position and selling 1.200.000 copies. The follow-up single, Kentucky Rain, the final American Studio single, was shipped to dealers on January 29th, selling 600.000 copies and charting #16. For his spring single, Elvis chose a live version of the 1959 Ray Peterson song The Wonder Of You, recorded in Vegas in February. It was another hit, reaching #1 in UK and #9 in USA where it sold almost a million copies. He also sold 400.000 copies of the budget album Let’s Be Friend, released in April, and would sell more than 500.000 copies of his regular next album On Stage, February 1970.
THE STUDIO TRACKS – ELVIS BACK IN NASHVILLE
It was in this situation that a new recording session was planned for June, concretely for June 4th-8th. One of the most asked questions is why he didn’t come back to American Studio in 1970. The answers normally given have to do with management interfering, caused by Moman negative to give any of his rights over Suspicious Minds. So it seems that RCA, Hill & Range, the Colonel and even Felton Jarvis didn’t want Elvis to record with Moman again. They thought he had too much control over their boy.
It might have been the case, but probably Elvis wasn’t too eager to be back there. Not because he wasn’t happy with the results, or that he didn’t like Moman. He had gone to American Studio at Marty Lacker’s and George Klein’s insistence, and at that stage of his career American Studio rendered what he needed the most: HITS. Once he had them, he was ready to return to his way of making music. He wasn’t accustomed to be pushed by a producer, he hated to overdub... he, let’s say it clear, enjoyed calling the shots. He had to be in charge again. And that’s the way Elvis was. So he was back to Nashville, to RCA’s Studio B, where he hadn’t recorded since January 1968.
RCA demanded 15-20 songs in 5 days, just enough for an album and some singles. The schedule was tight but not overwhelming, with just 4 songs required each night. Felton Jarvis quitted RCA on June 1st to become Elvis’s personal producer. He dismissed the whole 60’s band (Cramer, Fontana, both Moores, Harman and the Jordanaires) and assembled a new band leaded by Elvis’s personal guitar player James Burton, David Briggs on keyboards, Norbert Putman on bass guitar, Jerry Carrigan on drums, Chip Young on guitar and Charlie McCoy on the harmonica and organ. The studio was newly equipped with a 16 track recording system, and the plan was to save some tracks for later vocal and orchestral overdubbing.
Looking at the final product from these sessions, one feels almost forced to divide the material in three different blocks. The first one (and the lesser) is made by a bunch of leftovers. Elvis almost always sang songs that were unsuited for release for any number of reasons. Sometimes he didn’t know all the words, or his vocal was unfinished, or the material was sub par, or just sang them as a joke, or he was just having fun, as he loved to sing.
In 1969 there had been quite a few ones of these songs, some of them released (From A Jack To A King), some of them temporally shelved (Hey Jude). In 1971 it would happen again (Padre, Love Me Love The Life I Lead…). In 1970, he would record some weak songs sometimes as a favor to Lamar Fike (Life, This Is Our Dance), and even David Briggs begged him to record Love Letters again. As I said, many of these songs were never intended to see the light, and ideally they would have made a novelty cd collection nowadays as “Elvis lost recordings”. The sad thing is that in 1971 they did saw the light, killing some of Elvis new credibility as an artist in the process.
The second block of recordings offered quite much substance. On the very first day of the sessions, after recording two new songs, Elvis jumped on an impromptu version of the Golden Quartet spiritual I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago, that could have very well been considered a leftover. He then recorded one more song and just starting to play his guitar and sing whatever words he could remember of Faded Love. Calling out for the lyrics, he launched on a version of The Fool. And “Elvis Country” was born, becoming in the most Elvis fashion (“the spur of the moment”) the pivotal piece of the sessions.
The third block of recordings, initially the main goal of the sessions (and of this review!), consisted of strong songs that would ideally had built a new pop album. Just as his live albums up to the moment explored different styles (the “raw” NBC album, the “punk lounge” 69 effort, the “Vegas Elvis” February 70 album), Elvis’s studio albums were still varied and mature, while maintaining a high degree of quality. Right now, corny and mature were not synonyms. So, if his 69 studio albums were as black and soul as Elvis could be, his projected country album pointed directly to his roots and made an statement of Country music as Elvis felt it, that is, as soulful as it could be. And his planned pop album for 1970 was as sophisticated and European as Elvis could be. He headed towards the London-based recordings made by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, but not quite imitating them (except on the weaker shelved tunes, let’s remember This Is Our Dance was an Enge reject, my God!) but showing them what the “real McCoy” could do. In the meantime, he almost never looked away from the familiar idioms, country and gospel. And he kept demanding the musicians to be involved in the feeling of the moment, never resting on pre-arranged charts, and it paid off.
His 1970 pop album track listing could have been this: “Elvis Back In Nashville” (the kind of title RCA just loved!)
- I’ve Lost You - Twenty Days And Twenty Nights - How The Web Was Woven - Stranger In The Crowd - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me - Mary In The Morning - Just Pretend - The Next Step Is Love - Patch It Up - Bridge Over Troubled Water
As you see, quite an attractive and cohesive album!
On the new FTD, we have as usual the original album, followed by the studio versions of I’ve Lost You and Patch It Up both featured on original 45’s but replaced by the live versions on the final soundtrack album.
The first studio song on the album, Twenty Days And Twenty Nights is also the first studio song recorded by Elvis in the 70’s. It is an adult song submitted by Clive Westlake, who also wrote the third song of the album How The Web Was Woven.
Twenty Days And Twenty Nights was written with Glen Campbell in mind, while How The Web Was Woven was composed for Wilson Picket. Amazingly, the writer says today that when Elvis did these two songs “he was probably at his worst as a singer”. Indeed, Elvis sounds great, in full command of the whole song and singing like a bird, with none of the hoarseness that plagued previous sessions from June 1968 and January 1969. These two songs are too a fine example of the kind of material that Elvis favored in 1970. Adult love songs with a touch of country, sang with care, done quickly and then heavily overdubbed for release.
He needed 9 takes to achieve a master of Twenty Days And Twenty Nights, though it seems that only takes 3 and 8 were complete. We’re given a bit of the rehearsal prior to takes 1,2 and 3, with Elvis singing off-mike. These undubbed takes showcase the delicate acoustic guitar playing of James Burton and Chip Young.
Takes 1 and 2 are just false starts, showing some problems with the intro. Finally it seems they decide just to make a run-through leaving the intro-problem for later. The complete take 3 sounds like a typical early take, unpolished, with the occasional mistake but still worthwhile. We miss take 4 and Elvis sings a one liner of I Got A Woman just before the aborted take 5. Next take is also incomplete. The intro is almost perfected but the take falls apart in less than a minute.
The unreleased take 8 is very close to the master, the instrumental beginning almost perfected by now. The lack of overdubbing gives the song an acoustic intimate feeling, maybe closer to the lyrics. Of course, the master sounds perfectly polished, with plenty of orchestral and vocal overdubs. We are giving another version of the master, labeled as “rough mix”. It is unclear where this rough mixes originate from. For me they are “new mixes” done today. It features both the orchestral and voices overdubs but mixed at different levels than on the original master. The guitars are still mixed on different channels and the vibes are quite prominent on right channel. Besides it has an longer fade out.
On the final master mix, both guitars are mixed on the same channel (right) so we miss most of the gracious acoustic duel. A pity! As usual, and this comment applies to all songs, the drums are on center on the alternates, while on the original masters they were placed on left channel.
We also have a brief unreleased rehearsal of How The Web Was Woven, just before the previously released take 1. Different phrasing from the final master (take 3) and again that acoustic intimate feeling, thanks to the lack of overdubs. The final master take, is a well known favorite among Elvis fans, as Elvis voice shines throughout this romantic song.
The next studio song in the album is Mary In The Morning a number #27 hit for Al Martino in 1967. Five takes were needed to get a master. The first 3 takes are false starts with Elvis even joking that “nothing’s quite as pretty as Charlie in the morning”…. Finally take 4 arrives after almost four minutes of false starts. We all know this take from FTD’s “Nashville Marathon” that lacks the horns, strings and chorus that were overdubbed on the final master. Michael Rashkow, one of the co-writers, says that “Elvis sang the song with a little bit different phrasing: the value of the notes against the rhythm is slightly different in the line as Mary in the morning. It was a change….and it disturbed me, but I’ve come to think that he got it 100% right. What Elvis did is better that what we had done”. Nice compliment indeed! The final master, with so many horns, voices and strings, kills the delicacy that the lyrics seem to demand. On the undubbed versions, it seems as if Elvis sings of Mary in the morning while seeing her sleeping and ready to awake. On the final master, one wonders if he sings it just to awake her!
And there’s that disturbing guy talking in the midst of the master, from minute 3:42 on…any idea who’s he??
The next song is the English version of the Italian song Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te (I who don’t live without you literally), recorded and made famous by the British singer Dusty Springfield in 1966. The writers Wickham and Napier-Bell adapted it for Dusty and they both mark the “very manly” version Elvis did, filled with passion and feeling. FTD gives us a marvelous unreleased “rehearsal composite”, as it seems Elvis rehearsed it over and over. This composite is slightly more intimate and slower than the master and still it doesn’t feature that ghostly guitar playing courtesy of James Burton. Take 1 is aborted after the three words. Already released take 2 is great, as is the master, the main difference, apart from the occasional phrasing changes, is yet again the overdubs. Elvis and drummer Jerry Carrigan carry the weight both playing their instruments with intensity, even with a touch of aggressiveness. Elvis is not pleading, but threatening. The result is one of Elvis’s classics from the 70’s. He achieved making a classic out of covering a classic. He just didn’t imitate Dusty’s version, but made a version of his own. Indeed, is the same “modus operandi” that will preside all over his classic album “Elvis Country”, recorded during this sessions.
(As a curious note, this masculine performance by the most masculine performer ever was originally written by a gay composer for a gay singer).
For Just Pretend, after the very early aborted take 1, Elvis demands extra assistance from Jerry Carrigan because “it makes me sing better”. No wonder, as he sings this classic song with a hint of gospel at full voice with no back up singers to rely on. Take 2 is complete and beautifully executed by all involved. Without the overdubs we can really appreciate the “fantabulous” work of Jerry Carrigan (I never get tired of praising his left hand!) and even the subtle work of Charlie McCoy on the organ although kind of buried on the right channel. The final master is as good as it can be, the overdubbed singers and orchestra providing a powerful explosion of power on the chorus. A perennial fan favorite.
Next comes Stranger In The Crowd. A rehearsal clearly featuring the drum pattern is followed by four false starts (takes 1,3,4, and 5), with Elvis ad-libbing “Carmen Carmen, ahhhhhh”. Nothing eye opening about these false starts, all of them too short, but it’s always fascinating to be that little fly on the wall listening as Elvis progresses through a particular song. Take 5 is the most complete of them, or better said, the less incomplete, lasting for less than two minute. We must assume takes 2, 6, 7 and 8 are false starts, as with all probability if any of them would have been complete we’d be listening to it right now on this package. We are given though yet another “rough mix”, an alternate mix of the master with the maracas quite high on the mix. But again it provides us hungry completists with almost a minute of extra fade out. Great!!
The Next Step Is Love was recorded in the midst of the night of June 7th 1970, the day Elvis recorded the main body of the album “Elvis Country”. Ironically, in the middle of such an American environment, this song was probably the most European pop song ever tackled by Elvis, its lyrics bordering on the silly (“fun, fun, look at us run..”) but overall a fine song, tiding with Elvis ever expanding musical scope. Paul Evans and Paul Parnes wrote it especially for Elvis, inspired by The Beatles and Jimmy Webb. For Paul Evans, Elvis version of the song “couldn’t have been done any better…I was thrilled with it. The production…was full and Elvis sang great”. [Those days Elvis] was doing songs that were a little more clever and complex and The Next Step Is Love reflected that creative evolution”. The rehearsal of the song featured on the new FTD starts with the group listening to the demo for a few seconds. Take 2 is halted early on, and the same happens with take 3, as Elvis misses the intro. Next comes complete take 6, with Elvis doing a fine job.
Take 7 is another false start. On take 8, everything runs ok, until Elvis sings “we’ve been walking barefoot” instead of “we’ve walked barefoot”. Elvis ruins too take 9, on the line “didn’t bother to explain”. Take 10 is complete, though slightly inferior to take 6. See how for example Elvis has to break just the first phrase short of breathing. The final master, with the usual amount of overdubs and different mix is the next to last song of the album.
“It was a bit melodramatic, but how was I supposed to compete with that?” said Paul Simon after watching Elvis sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” live in New York, in 1972. Yes indeed!! From the first take it was obvious that Elvis was all professionalism and he was completely focused on the song. Take 1 starts beautifully with just Elvis and David Briggs. On the second verse bass and drums join in, as well as an almost inaudible rhythm guitar. Also at the ending of this second verse we hear Charlie McCoy on the organ. On the final verse all the band and even Charlie come along. The resulting take 1 is delicate, less explosive than the master and the live versions, due to the lack of voices and orchestral presence. After take 1, we are given a rehearsal of the last verse. It is unclear if this rehearsal took place between takes 1 and 2 or it’s been edited here. Take 2 is aborted, almost non-existent. Take 5 is again complete and it differs from take 1, as the organ is already present on the first verse and the rhythm guitar on the second is a little more upfront in the mix. On the final master, the first verse has the organ quite upfront, mixed on the right channel, and it really seems there are two pianos playing. Right on the second verse two strings sections join the song, as well as bass and drums. Then we find horns, and even a full chorus on the climax.
Two more studio records were released as a part of the big That’s The Way It Is project. Early in the summer, the studio version of I’ve Lost You was coupled with The Next Step Is Love and released as a single, reaching number 32 on the Billboard charts and racking up more than 500.000 copies. I’ve Lost You was maybe the first of that long string of “love gone bad” songs recorded by Elvis over the 70’s. Take 1 is very personal, tender and delicate, showcasing his talent “to caress the most tender of lyrics and soar into the most thrilling and passionate chorus” as Alain Blaikley, one of the writers, remembers. The exquisite acoustic guitar playing of both guitar players carry the song with the inestimable help of David Briggs piano. Just before take 4 we hear some guitar and organ tuning. Take 4 lasts a second, and take 5 not much more. Take 6 is complete and again great. The difference from the final version again has to do less with Elvis performance and more with the drastic difference all these songs have when overdubbed. And so, the final master looses its acoustic tenderness once again in front of a full orchestration and chorus arrangement that instead provides power and a sense of perfection. Anyway, is great to have both versions to choose from. This studio master wasn’t featured on the album, as it was replaced by the live version.
The same thing happened with the last song recorded on the June sessions: Patch It Up. On this FTD update we are delighted to hear take 1 for the first time. It sounds great. Here James leaves the acoustic guitar for his fender guitar and plays exciting licks. Jerry Carrigan and Norbert Puttman form a great tandem while keyboard players flourish the song. Different phrasing from the master and an exciting first take. Takes 2 to 7 show Elvis working on the song. None of them are complete but the joy of experiencing the complete session for this song is an unexpected bonus I certainly appreciate. Elvis gives instructions because on the bridge, when they sing “with that feeling, that old feeling…” they (Charlie and Elvis) need some bars to rest as they come from a soaring big voice. Elvis misses take 7. Both takes 8 and 9 were considered as masters, but at the end take 8 got the distinction. Both are perfectly executed, the band really cooking. And once again I have to say that the main difference on the master is the overdubbing of horns and voices. The song appeared on the B side of You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.
LAS VEGAS, AUGUST 1970
The new documentary transformed the upcoming record in a new half studio, half live album that focused on songs sung in any form on the new movie, “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is”. For ages it’s been claimed that this album wasn’t a proper soundtrack. Indeed it was maybe the only classic soundtrack Elvis released!! Classic because on the famous musical comedies from the Hollywood golden era, the singers re-recorded the songs that appeared on these movies, as they were recorded on the soundstages, not in proper studios. The original soundtrack remained shelved and the studio versions were released instead (See how the real original soundtracks recorded by Sinatra on soundstages were released recently on the “In Hollywood” box set). With “TTWII” something similar happened. Apart from three of songs, all versions used on the album were alternate, more polished versions than the ones seen on the screen. The problem was that there were some songs that weren’t featured in the movie in any form…but they always could be considered a bonus!
Let’s take a look of what versions were on the album:
- I Just Can’t Help Believing, Patch It Up and I’ve Lost You – the movie versions and the album ones were the same.
- Twenty Days And Twenty Nights and Just Pretend – Not featured in the movie.
- How The Web Was Woven, Mary In The Morning, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, Stranger In The Crowd, The Next Step Is Love and Bridge Over Trouble Water. Elvis was seen either rehearsing or singing live those songs. The June studio versions were used on the album.
- You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling – The live version featured on the movie contains a slight mistake by Elvis. It was cool to see it on the movie, but on record the “definitive” August 12th m/s version was used.
On this engagement, and just because of the movie, RCA recorded six shows. On hem Elvis sang many songs recently recorded in Nashville and he also sang some completely new songs:
- I Just Can’t Help Believin’ - You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling - Something - Get Back (in medley with Little Sister)
Many fans are asking why the last two songs have been included on this FTD. All of them were considered for inclusion in the album, along the live master of Bridge Over Troubled Water, and that’s why they have been included in this FTD update. In the end, neither Get Back or Something were on the movie, so they were dropped from the album, though Something was again considered for the album “Love Letters From Elvis”.
I Just Can’t Help Believing opened the album. The recording from the August 11th dinner show appeared on both the film and the original album. Even with the now classical Elvis mistake it’s a superior version, maybe the only Elvis song to feature an orchestra solo. It’s greatly arranged and performed by all involved, from its opening bars to its false ending. Along with An American Trilogy it’s the most ambitious song performed live by Elvis from the point of view of the orchestral arrangement.
The studio version of Patch It Up was saved for the B side of the next single, while the live version recorded on the August 11th dinner show was placed on the album and the film. The live version was wilder than the record. The Sweet Inspirations added that famous spice, Ronnie attempted to break the drums and Jerry Scheff played at light speed. The horns were much prominent than on record too. Elvis had great aspirations for this song: he even went as far as replacing Suspicious Minds with it on Opening Night. But after some more nights, it was totally abandoned and it was never performed again.
Jerry Scheff bass guitar, followed by James and Ronnie opened side 2 of the “That’s The Way It Is” album. Elvis version of You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, the classic 1964 Righteous Brothers song, was a classic on its own. His performance was commanding, ferocious and tender at once, powerful but not over the top. The arrangement and musicianship was excellent. This version, recorded on the incredible show from the midnight of August 12th is probably the best ever, even if for the record it was edited, as the original featured and extended outro. For the film, the August 11th dinner show was chosen instead. That version featured a lyric mistake by Elvis so, after hearing the tapes, everyone agreed that the August 12th version was too good and it made the record.
As the studio version of I’ve Lost You had been already released, the live version from the August 12th dinner show was included in the album, to avoid duplication for the fans that already owned the single. Besides, this version could be seen on the movie. The Vegas touch, the ever powerful Ronnie Tutt and the army of vocalists gave this version an even more dynamite feeling than the studio version.
It was decided early on that the studio version of Bridge Over Troubled Water would be in the soundtrack album. But, after recording and seeing Elvis powerful live versions, RCA labeled the August 11th dinner show version as a master. In the end it was decided that the studio master would be the one chosen for release, with a dubbed applause at the end.
FTD gives us that alternate live master, previously featured on “Platinum”. It’s a tremendous version. The arrangement is close to the studio version, with Elvis and Glenn on the first verse, with some vibes too and the rest of the band coming on the second verse with some beautiful flute touches heading right to the climax filled with strings, horns and voices.
Something was covered so much during the early seventies that maybe it was a wise decision not to release Elvis’s version. Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Joe Cocker, it seemed that everyone and the dog suddenly fell in love with this Harrison composition. It was a good song of course, and Elvis live master was focused, with a nice drum pattern on the choruses, a haunting soprano voice and the inevitable Vegas touch.
And last, but not least, comes that wonderful medley, made of Elvis’s 1961 classic Little Sister and Get Back, The Beatles hit from 1969. It was an idea born at the rehearsals held for the upcoming movie. Maybe some copyright problems caused that the Get Back part never appeared (in the original movie just the Little Sister part could be seen and, when in 2007 TTWII was re-released, a bonus of the live version was included, but with Get Back edited out). So this great medley remained unheard for 10 years and still remains officially unseen. The funky guitar line intro, the fact that Elvis played guitar on it and the loose ending gave the song a jam session feeling, a far departure from the polished performances featured on the album.
And that’s what this Special Edition of this classic album offers. The sound, as usual is pristine. It’s been mastered with exquisite “gusto”, the original album retaining and emphasizing the original vinyl sound, the alternates all offering the same mix and sound level pictures.
So folks…That’s The Way It Is!!!
2008/05/25 Ivan Fructuoso
