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Sunday, November 28, 2021

Guest Blog: Elvis Back In Nashville – A Review


The natural follow-up to last year's From Elvis In Nashville 4-CD set is out, and although I haven't yet received the physical product, I've listened quite a lot to it on Spotify. Containing masters and outtakes from Elvis’ 1971 Nashville session, Elvis: Back In Nashville presents the 43 masters on the first two CD’s and the outtakes on the final two discs.

The sound is great, no doubt about it. Instruments that previously have been buried in the mix now sound crystal clear. The drums in ”It's Only Love” for example, without the horns to drown them out, are really moving the song forward.

I've always had a soft spot for these 1971 recordings. Elvis' voice is not as good as in 1970, actually it is sometimes quite weak, but it morbidly fits well with so many of these lost love/broken man songs. Like on ”I'm Leavin’,” one of my favorite Elvis recordings. So I was so much looking forward to this box set.


The idea of presenting the tracks without overdubs, as they were recorded in the studio, is a great one. Many of these songs were really suffering from overuse of horns and strings (although one could argue that they were recorded with overdubs in mind). And I have no problems either with new mixes, making some instruments more prominent than before, and some less so.

But on the first CD the producers have made a strange decision: About half of the masters are presented with the background singers removed. Yes, the singers that were in the studio with Elvis! This was one of the big differences compared to the 1970 Nashville sessions where no other singers than Elvis and Charlie Hodge were present. And now, The Nashville Edition, The Imperials, Mille Kirkham and the Holladays, are gone.

If this had been properly made, maybe I could have accepted it. But often the background singing is bleeding through, and with earphones you sometimes can hear it quite clear. It's like it's there, but far, far away. And even without the bleeding-through, this makes for some strange listening. On ”The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” Ginger Holladay is very much audible during the false start. Then during the master, she is not there anymore.

The first CD actually reminded me of the two Our Memories of Elvis albums from 1979 where the same kind of removal mixes were made. It didn't make sense then, and it doesn't make sense now.


It's a greater delight to listen to the second disc, with songs that would form the albums Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas and He Touched Me. The background voices are luckily intact on the gospel material and a lot of the instruments that you couldn't hear before are really up front. "I've Got Confidence" really rocks! The background singers were not present during the recording of the Christmas songs (I guess the Christmas tree that was put up in the studio took up too much space!) and without overdubs, the songs form a softer and gentler version of the 1971 seasonal album. Unlike some of the folk and pop tracks from CD 1, the Christmas recordings often work without additional singers.

The outtakes discs (where the producers thankfully have not removed the background singers) work well, although there are too many false starts and too much studio banter to really make it a great listening experience. But there are some gems here, including a previously unreleased take on one of the best Christmas songs, Michael Jarrett's ”I'll Be Home On Christmas Day.”

In all fairness, the big problem with this release is the first CD. Unfortunately, that was the disc I looked forward to the most, as it collects all the pop and folk masters from these sessions for the first time. The undubbed Christmas masters are, a bit surprising, the big win for me, and I will play that portion of CD 2 a lot come Christmas time.

Despite my objections, it's terrific that box sets like this are still produced. However, I hope the producers get it together for the next volume in this series, containing Elvis' 1972 and 1975 masters. I have a great title for that release: Back In Hollywood (Well, he was there a lot in the 60's, right?). And an advice: Do not remove instruments and vocals recorded in the studio. Please.

/Mårtenbrother

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2 comments:

Thomas said...

Thank you for a great review, Mårtenbrother! Yes, the decision to remove the background singers that were there in the studio with Elvis is a strange one. And it's not consistent, as you can still hear them on "Until It's Time For You To Go" (on both the original master and the remake master). And why are the backing vocals lifted from "There Is No God But God" although the booklet states that they have been left as originally intended on the gospel tracks (on all the other gospel material the backing singers are there). Inconsistent. That said, I have been listening to this set a lot, and like you feel lucky to have these kind of releases coming out way, some 50 years after the songs were recorded. And the Christmas numbers do sound so much more intimate and sensitive without the bombastic overdubs. I am happy Elvis: Back In Nashville was released so close to Christmas, as I have been playing the Christmas songs the most. I doubt that would have been the case, had it come out in the summer. A wise decision from Ernst Jorgensen and his crew.

Unknown said...

I loved the whole boxset. I just love to hear only Elvis singing. No backup.