Guarding Elvis In The Summer Of ´61

Toby (Elvis Presley) enters a bank to take out a loan in the movie Follow That Dream. The scene was filmed in Ocala, Florida.

Currently on vacation in Denmark with my family in our summer cottage by the sea, there is little time for blogging. But stumbling across an interesting article on the Internet where Martin Stephens, 82, reminisces about guarding Elvis while he filmed Follow That Dream in 1961, I just had to write a short post about it.

The article is titled "The summer of Elvis" and written by Susan Smiley-Height of the Ocala Gazette. In it, Martin Stephens recalls the story of how he, as a 22 year old police officer, was assigned to provide security for Elvis on the movie set in Ocala, Florida, where they did the bank scenes (most of the movie was shot in Yankeetown).

“We weren’t worried about riots or somebody hurting Elvis. The security was strictly to keep people back,” he explained. “He couldn’t do nothing without a crowd. We would offer to chase people off, and he’d say, ‘No, no, that’s what I’m supposed to do.’ He was very personable and a nice guy. He was interested in people and was easy to work with.”

He tells the reporter that it was unbearably hot in the bank as the film crew turned off the air conditioning because it made too much background noise. Elvis had to change his denim shirt every 15 to 20 minutes. He also remembers how Elvis got hold of a pair of sunglasses worn by a deputy on the security detail. ("I know, though the deputy never admitted it, that he sold his sunglasses.")

According to Martin Stephens, the filming in Ocala took place over two long weekends. ("The building is still there, right before the railroad tracks if you're going into town.") In the article, he describes one of his fondest memories during the time he was assigned to accompany Elvis on the movie set: 

“They had rented the Marion Hotel, and the movie crew went over there to eat. When we went to eat lunch that first day, Elvis told me, ‘Let’s go.’ So I grabbed three guys. We went over there, and I didn’t know exactly what we were supposed to do. Elvis went inside, so I said, ‘Well, I guess we guard the doors,’” he said. “We’re standing there, and in a minute, Elvis comes out and says, ‘Come on boys, you don’t have long to eat.’ We go in, and he’s got a table, and he says, ‘I went ahead and ordered for you.’ They brought us T-bone steaks, and he got a grilled cheese sandwich. ‘I didn’t know what you wanted,’ he said. ‘I just went ahead and ordered for you.’ That’s the guy I remember.” 

• Read the article "The Summer of Elvis" on the Ocala Gazette website

An Elvis Moment

With two children, four and ten years old, and our cottage in Denmark off limits due to corona restrictions, me and my wife were a bit lost at what to do during the Easter Holiday here in Sweden. Then we got the idea to play tourists in our home town and stay in a hotel for one night. 

It turned out to be a great experience, especially for the kids. My sister-in-law had worked as a manager at that particular hotel, and saw to it that our room was full of balloons and  Easter eggs filled with candy. There were even some newly bought magazines placed on a table, one for each family member. Mine had a famous shot from the Comeback Special on the cover and was titled (in Swedish) The Complete Guide To Elvis. It included some 30 articles spread over about 150 pages.

I lay down on the comfortable bed for a predictable but pleasant read. The chapters covered different aspects of Elvis' history such as his rise to fame, his movie career, the '68 Comeback Special and the return to live performances in Las Vegas. It also featured articles about some of Elvis' most important albums, like Elvis Presley, Elvis Is Back and From Elvis In Memphis. 

The magazine included a lot of photos, and I recognized most of them. But in one of the last chapters, titled "Having Fun With Elvis," I spotted one I hadn't seen before: it showed a handwritten list of the movies Elvis had watched when he rented the Memphian Theatre on Friday, September 25, 1964. 

Four titles were picked by Elvis that night, but only the last one, Dr. Strangelove, was screened from start to finish - apparently for the fifth time! The one before that, Kings of the Sun, apparently didn't grab Elvis and the reels were switched to the Peter Sellers movie after only a couple of minutes. It was also amusing to see what was written below the list: "Elvis was always one hour to three hours late."

Finishing the magazine, I noticed it was written by Gillian G. Gaar and titled Elvis - The Legend when originally released in English. A quick search on the internet on my phone revealed that the author was a music journalist and the magazine an adaption of an illustrated biography authorized by the Graceland Archives to mark the 40th anniversary of Elvis death in 2017.

It's funny how Elvis turns up when you least expect him to. This time in a hotel room full of balloons, Easter eggs and children. Granted, the magazine wasn't something I would have picked up from a newsstand as it was clearly aimed for the general public, offering nothing new. But it was my Elvis moment that day, and it was a good one. 

PS: This is what Jerry Schilling has to say about Elvis and Dr. Strangelove in his book Me and a Guy Named Elvis:

"There was one stretch during which Elvis had us watch Dr. Strangelove at least a dozen times. Me and the boys were probably not the most astute judges of political satire, but, hearing Elvis bust up laughing, we'd start to see the film through his eyes and end up laughing just as hard. [...] As a matter of fact, he did a masterful impression of Dr. Strangelove being choked by his own misbehaving prosthetic hand, an impression that he startled us with countless times over the years."

Following That Dream (Part 4)

The fourth and last part of the article "Following That Dream," that I wrote for the Elvis International magazine, takes a closer look at the “what if” albums released by FTD.

“The album that could and should have been,” Ernst Jorgensen writes in the booklet accompanying FTD’s Standing Room Only, and he’s right. The decision to release Burning Love And Hits From His Movies Vol. 2 instead was both dumb and inexcusable. But 37 years later, in 2009, FTD aimed to put things right. The label’s version of Standing Room Only combines the Las Vegas masters from February 1972 with the studio masters recorded the following month. The second CD consists of outtakes from the March studio session.

The second album “that never was” is titled Elvis Sings Memphis, Tennessee. It was recorded by Elvis in Nashville in May, 1963 and January, 1964, but for different reasons didn’t see the light of day until 1990 when it was released as For The Asking – The Lost Album in Europe. (When released in the U.S. in 1991 it was titled just The Lost Album.) What FTD did in 2008 was to release all the original masters and alternate takes from these two sessions on 2 CD’s. In 2011 the same formula was used with Elvis Sings Guitar Man, the third “what if” album that included songs recorded in Nashville as well, masters as well as outtakes, this time from the period 1966-1967.

One of the highlights on the Elvis Sings Guitar Man album is the making on the title track from the September 1967 session. Listening to Jerry Reed taking command of the recordings is fascinating stuff, as is the studio banter between him and producer Felton Jarvis. And that brings me back to what I really enjoy the most about the releases from FTD; to listen to how Elvis approached his work, and in that way learn more about him as an artist and a performer To read about it is one thing, to listen to what actually took place when it happened is a completely different ball game.

I’d like to end this article with something I wrote for my blog last year after having listened to the recording of “Guitar Man” on Elvis Sings Guitar Man. Combining what I heard in my headphones with facts and memories from those who that were there (described in books by, for example, Ernst Jorgensen and Peter Guralnick) and by using a bit of imagination, I came up with the following.

Jerry Reed, a whirlwind of energy, hooks up his electric gut string, tunes the B-string up a whole tone, and tones the low E-string down a whole tone. “So I can bar straight across,” he explains to his fellow guitar players. He plays a couple of tones with his fingers.

Felton Jarvis glances at Elvis who is standing at the microphone, looking expectantly at Jerry. “We’re rolling, this is ‘Guitar Man’ take one,” Felton says, as Jerry continues to run through some guitar licks, trying to get his fingers up to speed. Elvis laughs as Jerry excuses himself, “I ain’t played all weekend, Elvis.” “I know, you’re house is a mess, Reed,” Felton kids him. Elvis, fascinated by the man, chimes in, “That’s a mess, man.” “It is ... a mess,” answers Jerry as he starts working out the intro.

“No man, there ain’t no way you can get them both, they'll just sound like a room full of spastics or something,” Jery Reed tells Chip Young, who nods his understanding that it’s not possible to do all the guitar parts from his original recording at one time. Then, after a couple of tries, he turns to bass player Bob Moore, “It’s long on the record, I forgot it’s like this,” he says and plays the intro just right. Elvis’ face lits up.

What follows is a take abandoned after the first verse, but during those 35 seconds there’s no mistaking Elvis sounding energized and engaged, focusing on the music. Instead it’s Jerry Reed making the mistakes, “Man, I may wonder of in the parking lot. Stay with me, or I’ll get to you, sometime tonight,” he jokes. “I can do that better ... one two, three four.”

And better and better it gets. Elvis, responding well to the shot of musical adrenaline injected by Jerry Reed’s guitar sound, really gets into it. Take 5 is the first complete take, and at the end of take 10, when the guitars and the rhythm is just right, Elvis starts singing “What’d I Say.”

As the band adds power, steel guitar player Pete Drake, wearing his customary flowered shirt, glances as Elvis and a thought runs through his mind: “Is this really the same guy that I played for in June, and whose last recording was that silly song, what was it called again ... yeah, the one with the corny title ... ‘He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad’?”

So, there you have it, one of many special moments with Elvis provided by the Follow That Dream label. With over 100 releases during its 13 years of existence, I still find myself looking forward to every new announcement for the next upcoming titles.

Still, it’s not easy to please everyone. Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon have constantly been criticized by fans for not releasing the right material, bad mixes, poor artwork on the covers and so on. And certainly, I don’t agree with everything they do either. But the amount of unreleased material that they have made available is really awesome, and I for one only have to think back to the 1980’s to realize how lucky the fans are to have them. As someone wrote on an Elvis forum a couple of years back, defending Ernst Jorgensen, “We’re spoiled folks, remember that!”

This post is dedicated to Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon.

• Following That Dream (Part 1)
• Following That Dream (Part2)
• Following That Dream (Part 3)

Following That Dream (Part 3)

Now follows the third part of the article “Following That Dream,” that I wrote for the Elvis International magazine. This part deals with the live concerts released by FTD.

From the beginning live concerts have also played an important part of the FTD label, and the policy is to issue at least one show from each and every engagement that Elvis did in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, as well as from every tour during the 1970’s. So far some 40 concert recordings have been released; the majority in the form of so called soundboard recordings (recorded from the mixing desk in mono).

These soundboards make it possible for fans to experience how Elvis sounded on stage throughout the 1970’s. For example, a release such as Elvis As Recorded At Boston Garden ’71 offers you the chance to experience a fantastic concert that shows that Elvis was still at the top of the game during his third tour, in November 1971. And thanks to releases such as Dixieland Rocks and A Dixieland Delight I’ve learned that it must have been an incredible experience to see Elvis live on tour in the spring and summer of 1975. Not only was Elvis himself often in a great mood and looking well, but the audiences also created atmospheres in the auditoriums that were incredible.

The Follow That Dream label also offers you the possibility to get a ticket to one of the weirdest concerts of Elvis’ career, available on the album Closing Night. The closing show in Las Vegas on September 3, 1973, was an unusual, and at times, crazy show. One moment Elvis in a good joking mood, for example while performing “What Now My Love” lying on a bed that had been pushed out on stage. Another moment he is showing his frustration with the Las Vegas routine, by changing the lyrics in “Love Me Tender” to “Adios, you mother, bye bye, papa, too. To hell with the Hilton Hotel … the showroom, too.” (Colonel Tom Parker was in the audience, and Elvis blowing off steam didn’t go down to well with him, as it resulted in a heated argument after the show where Elvis fired his manager, although he changed his mind a bit later).

At times FTD has released a taped rehearsal as well. The one titled From Sunset To Las Vegas makes it possible to visit Elvis’ rehearsals at RCA’s Hollywood studio on August 16, 1974 for his upcoming Las Vegas season, and then, with the help of the CD Nevada Nights get a seat in the Las Vegas Hilton showroom and listen to the opening show, where Elvis performs an entirely different repertoire than his standard show. Dropping the “2001” introduction, he opens with “Big Boss Man,” introduces new material like “Promised Land” and “It’s Midnight” and throws in songs he never done live before, including, surprisingly, “Down In The Alley” recorded back in May 1966. Unfortunately the second CD, featuring the August 21 Midnight Show, reveals that he is back in the old “2001”-“See See Rider”-“I Got A Woman”/”Amen” routine only two nights later.

For better or worse, a show from each and every tour and engagement means that not every release can be a great one content wise. Playing New Haven ’76, recorded live on July 30, 1976, is downright distressing. Not only does “And I Love You So” sound off-key, there is also no mistaking the tiredness in Elvis’ voice. That Elvis is exhausted and out of breath is painfully evident during the next song as well. Usually “America” was one of the highlights during his concerts in 1976, but this time it’s another story altogether. Elvis voice is weak and fragile. In fact, pretty much the whole show is a sad affair.

When you think about it, it’s hard to understand that this is the same guy that five months later performs some of his best shows that year, during his December tour. The 2 CD release Showtime! Birmingham/Dallas ’76 features two of those shows, recorded on December 28 and 29. Both makes for pure listening pleasure. Take the concert in Dallas, for example. From the first notes of “See See Rider” where he practically throws himself into the song, to the falsetto ending of “Unchained Melody,” it’s Elvis at full blast. “No Teddy Bear, forget that,” he says at one point and delivers an emotional rendition of “My Way” instead. Then it’s right into high gear and “Polk Salad Annie.” It’s that kind of show.

Some professionally recorded concerts have been issued by FTD as well. Nearly all of them are live recordings that RCA did in Las Vegas during 1969 and 1970, featuring Elvis at his peak. One Night In Vegas (August 10, 1970 Opening Show) and Elvis At The International (August 23, 1969 Midnight Show) are two examples of this.

From the day I heard the Elvis In Person album for the first time when I was a kid I have always enjoyed the live recordings with Elvis from 1969. He’s so full of energy, sings fantastic with much of that raw 68-voice still present and clowns around quite a bit (maybe too much at times). Even the old songs sound great, like “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Hound Dog.” And the monologue is always funny to listen to (“I did Loving You, loving her and loving everybody I could get my hands on at the time,” for example). That’s why I’m happy that four complete shows from August 1969 have been released from FTD so far, and I’m looking forward to more of the same. And of course the rest of the professionally August recorded 1970 shows are on my wish list too.

In one case professional recordings were done by RCA between March and May, 1977 at various concert halls (released under the title Spring Tours ’77). FTD has also issued the Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis album (taped March 20, 1974), including the eight songs that were cut from the original release in 1974.

With one of the latest concert offerings FTD managed to surprise us all. Last year, out of the blue, a professionally recorded Elvis concert suddenly made an appearance. Titled Forty Eight Hours To Memphis, it features a show recorded in Richmond, Virginia, on March 18, 1974, two days before the show in Memphis that was released as the Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis album I just mentioned. Elvis sounds engaged, like he is having a great time. It’s really incredible that a concert in this sound quality has surfaced so many years after it was recorded. The release shows that there is still more out there, waiting to be discovered. Things not even rumored to exist. In some ways, it was almost as exciting waiting for it as listening to it.

The last of the professionally recorded live material done by RCA that has been released by FTD on an album so far (I’m still waiting for Elvis In Concert) comes from Elvis’ January-February 1972 Las Vegas engagement. Titled An American Trilogy it includes songs from different shows done on February 14-17, recorded for the abandoned Standing Room Only album. Which brings me to the three “what if” albums that FTD has put together, one of which is, yeah, you guessed it, Standing Room Only. 

To be concluded on July 29 (Part 4) …

• Following That Dream (Part 1)
• Following That Dream (Part 2)

Following That Dream (Part 2)

Here follows the second part of the article “Following That Dream,” that I wrote for the Elvis International magazine. This part focus on the Classic Album series.

But it was with the launch of the Classic Album series in 2003 that FTD opened the doors wide to the different studios where Elvis worked during his career, and let us experience the recording sessions first hand. By releasing Elvis’ original albums in deluxe 7” size packaging together with an accompanying booklet and most of the times a second CD full of outtakes (many of them previously unreleased) we are offered a fly-on-the-wall experience of how Elvis and his group of musicians and singers develop the different arrangements of the songs in question.

I, for one, love to put my headphones on and time-travel to a recording session, listening to the laughter, banter, tuning of instruments and discussions taking place among Elvis and the musicians as they work out intros and make progress with the songs. Let me illustrate with a few examples, taken from the FTD classic albums Jailhouse Rock Volume 2, Blue Hawaii, How Great Thou Art and Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas.

Starting with Jailhouse Rock Volume 2, I've always thought the title track must've been a demanding song for Elvis, and listening to the last couple of takes confirms that. “I don’t think I’m gonna make it all way through,” he says after take 8 and then goes on recording just the ending. Another highlight is the first movie version of “Treat Me Nice,” where not only the tempo changes during the course of the 19 takes of the song, but also the beginning and the ending. “That’s a hit,” Elvis jokes after the third take and a bad ending by the Jordanaires.

Overall, Elvis seems to be in a good mood during the Jailhouse Rock sessions. “How bad you want me to get,” he laughs after the second take of “Young And Beautiful” (jail version). The only time he seems irritated is while recording the second version of “Don't Leave Me Now.” “Seems like everybody is holding down, we can’t get any feeling out of it this way,” he mutters after the first couple of tries of the song.

Moving on to Blue Hawaii, the FTD version of the soundtrack offers a fascinating insight into the making of one of Elvis’ biggest selling albums. The first takes of “Rock-A-Hula Baby” are worth the admission alone. When Elvis for some reason stops singing 40 seconds into the second take, the band just keeps going, seemingly unable to stop. “Hold it,” Elvis shouts, then laughs, before launching into the third take, delivering a wild and cooking performance. Another highlight is the making of the movie version of “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” Elvis going through 26 takes of the song (12 of them are included on the FTD album). “Damn pants too tight,” he says before take 14. The following takes shows Elvis having trouble with the slow tempo of the song “I can’t hold a note worth a damn,” he sighs after abandoning take 22.

“Slicin’ Sand” might not be called a classic, but many of the 12 takes included are fun to listen to. One example is take 6 which has Elvis throwing in an extra verse: “Sand in my toes, sand in my hair, sand in my sandwich but I don’t care.” Elvis worked hard with “No More,” going through take after take of the song. As they all sound pretty similar, I was wondering about this, until I read today in Ernst Jorgensen’s A Life In Musicthat the writer of the song, Don Robertson, was invited to the studio that day. Elvis obviously wanted to show him that he was serious about the song.

Next in line is How Great Thou Art, recorded in May 1966. Getting a front seat in RCA’s Studio B in Nashville and being able to listen to Elvis’ new producer Felton Jarvis directing the session with his supportive comments and encouragement offers a great listening experience. The five takes of “Stand By Me” are good examples of this. Elvis can’t see the lyrics as the lights are turned down in the studio and mutters after an abandoned take, “That’s not the right lyrics, I’m singing another song. Give us just a little bit of light.” To me it then sounds like someone is rummaging around in a box of matches!

A demanding song for Elvis was “Where No One Stands Alone,” proof being the grand finale that Elvis recorded a couple of times as a work part to be spliced to the rest of the song. The ending always sends a shiver up my spine, and apparently Felton Jarvis felt the same way, exclaiming at one point: “It sounded great, Elvis. God, I was scared to death.” “By And By” is one of the fast numbers, in fact so fast that Elvis mixes up the lyrics. “We try to do our best when we wonder how to test,” he laughs. “Sounded like you said what the hell is this,” somebody in the studio shoots back as everybody cracks up. Hearing Elvis sing “I come to the piano...” after the intro played by Floyd Cramer (or is it David Briggs?) on the first take of “In The Garden” is a funny moment. It's easy to imagine Elvis walking towards the piano while singing this, making the pianist look up and lose his way among the keys.

One of the last albums FTD released in 2011 was Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas. Elvis seems to be having a good time from the start during the session that took place in Nashville during two nights in May, 1971. While producer Felton Jarvis and the musicians discuss the beginning of “It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)” featuring a celeste, Elvis throws in a line of “Merry Christmas Baby.” David Briggs follows suit, hammering away on the celeste. “I gotta hold you guys down, man,” Elvis laughs. Admittedly, he sounds a bit annoyed when the second take breaks down, complaining that the lyrics aren’t written out, but then works hard through a couple of more takes before settling on take 7 as the master. The previously unreleased take number 5 is a highlight, with Elvis pushing the boundaries of the song, the result a looser and less polished version than the master.

The FTD treatment of Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas also reveals a more intimate and sensitive side of the 1971 Christmas recordings, with the help of outtakes not being overdubbed in any way. One example of this is “If I Get Home On Christmas Day.” When originally released in October 1971, Felton Jarvis had just about used every trick in the book when it came to making overdubs on it, adding strings, horns and a lot of backing vocals. Listening to the alternate takes, especially the early ones, you can almost be fooled into thinking it’s another song, it sounds so much more intimate.

As promised, those were some examples from the Classic Album series that give you an idea of how Elvis practiced his craft. I love the feeling of “being thrown” into the studio like that, and on occasion, see the recording sessions in a different light. For example, in his book Careless Love, Peter Guralnick writes that Elvis “was no more at ease than he had been at that strange session the previous September” while recording the songs for Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas. Maybe that was the case, but it’s not something I found evidence of while listening to the outtakes provided by FTD's treatment of the album.

To be continued on July 27 (Part 3) ...

• Following That Dream (Part 1)

Following That Dream

Earlier this month I received an e-mail from Phil Arnold, who runs the ElvisBlog and is a regular contributor to the Elvis International magazine. He told me that he had just received his copy of the latest issue of the magazine and that the article I wrote for it looked great.

It was Phil Arnold who at the end of last year asked me if I was interested in writing something about the Follow That Dream (FTD) collector's label. Thinking about it, I came up with the idea of focusing on the CD's in the series and how listening to studio outtakes and live concerts can help you get a feel for how Elvis approached his work.

During two months I wrote the article in my spare time, so reading the mail from Phil Arnold felt good. He had noted that the editor Darwin Lamm had split my story into parts, and that he looked forward to reading more in the next issue.

I then wrote an e-mail myself, to Darwin Lamm, asking his permission to publish the whole article on my blog. He replied that it was OK, so this week I devote my blog to the FTD label and the article “Following That Dream” in no less than four posts, starting today.

*** 

Following That Dream (Part 1)

With over 100 titles since the start in 1999, Sony BMG’s official Elvis Presley collectors label Follow That Dream (FTD) has released more albums than Elvis did during his life time. The wide range of available concerts as well as studio outtakes offers an interesting insight into how Elvis approached his work. Thomas Melin, author of the Elvis Today Blog, takes a closer look at some of the CD releases from a label that has served the fans with unreleased material for more than a decade.

The summer of 1999 saw the launch of the collectors label Follow That Dream (FTD) with the title Burbank 68, featuring rehearsals, studio and live recordings from Elvis’ legendary TV Special.

I still remember how excited I felt reading the announcement of the label in the British fan club magazine and ordering the CD. For years the major European fan clubs had discussed the possibility of establishing a legitimate Elvis Presley collector’s label, and finally Elvis’ record company had agreed. The goal with the new label was (and still is) to serve the dedicated Elvis collector with unreleased material. Since then, FTD with producers Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon at the wheel has produced an average of eight releases a year.

That’s an impressive release schedule if you stop and think about it for a moment. Just compare it with the “dry” years between 1978 and 1986 when only about 25 Elvis releases from RCA saw the light of the day (that's averaging three albums a year), many of them compilations with mostly old material, like The Rocker and Always On My Mind. In those days it was a long wait for an Elvis record including unreleased material, and releases such as Elvis: The First Live Recordings and Elvis - A Golden Celebration were a big happening, indeed.

Things just had to get better – and they did. In the mid 1980’s Ernst Jorgensen (then employed by RCA in Denmark) and Roger Semon (then employed by RCA in London) teamed up and during the 15 years or so that followed they brought order and vitality to the Elvis Presley record catalog. Not only did the releases improve greatly, they also served to reestablish Elvis reputation. Suddenly people around me thought it was cool that I listened to Elvis (something I’d known all along).

A steady stream of critically acclaimed box sets like Collectors Gold, The King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll, From Nashville To Memphis, Walk A Mile In My Shoes and Platinum – A Life In Music were released, but also a couple of albums that in a way were the forerunners to what was to become the FTD label. This was the Essential Elvis series, where Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon used the same formula that they would on many of the FTD releases. That is, collecting unreleased outtakes from a certain recording session or studio on an album.

In fact, during 1999 and 2000, Ernst and Roger produced albums for BMG that could as easily have been FTD releases, as well as the other way around. One example of this is the last Essential Elvis volume Such A Night (2000) that focused on the early sixties sessions that took place in RCA’s Studio B in Nashville, another the FTD album Long Lonely Highway released the same year, featuring Studio B outtakes from 1960 to 1968. With this in mind, it came as no big surprise when I read in an FTD catalogue from 2004 that the highly popular FTD album The Jungle Room Sessions (2000), with material from Elvis’ two last albums, was originally planned as a release on the Essential Elvis series on the main label.

And speaking of the The Jungle Room Sessions, this was the first FTD title that made many fans, me included, revaluate a certain recording session, as it presented the 1976 recordings in a much more positive light than was the case with the original albums From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee and Moody Blue. Elvis generally seems to be in a good mood, laughs between songs and above all, is committed. And without the heavy overdubs (strings, horns and voices) found on the masters, the takes included on The Jungle Room Sessions makes for a more moving listening experience as well, exposing Elvis feelings. One such example is the first take of “It’s Easy For You.” As the musicians hit a couple of notes to check their instruments, Elvis says, “I get carried away very easily. Emotional son of a bitch.” And he’s right. What follows is one of the most emotional performances ever done by Elvis, at least in my book.

To be continued on July 25 (Part 2) …

Writing For Elvis International

Currently on parental leave with my one and a half year old daughter I don't have as much time for Elvis as I used to before I became a father. So I have to choose carefully what I want to do Elvis wise with what spare moments I have, usually when she's tucked in for the night. The last two months I have given priority to writing an article about the Follow That Dream (FTD) collector's label for Elvis International magazine.

It all started with an e-mail right before Christmas from Phil Arnold, who runs the ElvisBlog and is a regular contributor to the magazine. He'd noted that I'd posted over 100 articles dealing with FTD, and asked me if I was interested in writing something about the label for the magazine, in the way of a general overview.

I thought about it during the Holidays and decided that it was an offer I couldn't refuse, as Elvis International magazine seems like an excellent publication. So I came up with the idea of focusing on the CD's in the series, how they have developed during the 13 years the label has existed, and how listening to studio outtakes and live concerts can help you get a feel for how Elvis approached his work.

Phil Arnold and the editor, Darwin Lamm, liked my idea, so I went ahead with it, illustrating my story with some examples, taken from FTD classic albums as well as soundboard recordings. I ended the article with a look at the "what if" albums FTD has put together, like Standing Room Only and Elvis Sings Guitar Man.

Earlier this week I sent the article to the graphic artist who puts the magazine together, after learning that it will come out prior to August 16, so it can be sold at Graceland during Elvis Week. It's a good feeling knowing that what I wrote will be read by fans such as myself in Memphis. And maybe Ernst Jorgensen himself will notice it, too!

The Meaning Of Elvis

My wife recently bought me a copy of the September/October issue of the Intelligent Life magazine published by The Economist. The reason for this was a big picture of Elvis on the front cover as well as an article inside titled "The King And I" by Ray Connolly.

The article looked promising enough, as Mr. Connolly actually got to go to Las Vegas in 1969 for the London Evening Standard and interview Elvis. Unfortunately I wasn't too impressed after finishing it.

You see, I've read many articles on the same theme through the years. I bet you've seen them too, paying tribute (rightly) to Elvis in the 50's, then pointing out the huge mistake that Elvis did heading for Hollywood ("Elvis, the great inventor, was turning into a plump pudding of banality"), and finally, after admitting that he had a couple of good years around 1968-1972, describing the decline ("He was a drugged-out carricature of himself").

But what about Ray Connolly's meeting with Elvis? Well, after seeing a couple of the shows in August, 1969 ("He didn't [... let us down...] But Elvis did race through several of his biggest hits as though bored with them, and the kung fu moves [...] were plain silly."), he finally got to meet Elvis ("And, in truth, what I got that night was more of an audience at court than an interview.")

In all fairness, reading about the meeting was interesting enough, with Mr. Connolly asking questions about the movie career, praising the Elvis Is Back album (that Elvis liked too) and Elvis talking about doing a world tour.

But Ray Connolly then goes on ventilating his disappointment over the fact that Elvis never did recorded another album like Elvis Is Back, that he never played more serious parts and that he never did a world tour. And then, near the end of the article, he writes something that clearly is a reconstruction that doesn't hold true (but makes for a good ending).

At one of his last concerts in 1977, filmed for TV, he even apologised before singing a song he’d first recorded at 20. His voice, he said, had been a lot higher then. It must have been a bleak moment of self-realisation. That lightness of touch he’d once enjoyed, the way he’d been able to soar and dip effortlessly, often bestowing on a song more mellifluousness or passion than it might have deserved, was gone.

Now, if there was one thing going for Elvis in 1977, it was his voice. Also, he'd used that line about his voice being a lot higher then, since he first started doing "Trying To Get To You" in 1974.

So, what is my conclusion of all this? Troy Y. over at The Mystery Train Elvis Blog pointed me in the direction of a blog penned by Sheila and a post called "I Refuse To Be Sad About Elvis Presley."

It is my personal opinion that focusing on regret when one focuses on Elvis is not the way to go [...]. If one focuses on regret, and the what-might-have-beens, then his entire career starts to look tragic. [...] But change the filter just slightly, move the prism a quarter-inch to the left, and the entire thing seems completely improbable, first of all, as well as totally triumphant, second of all. Who could survive making such a string of bad movies [...] and still come roaring back in 1968, as he did, not only relevant, but dangerous? That 1968 special is dangerous and it wouldn’t have been possible without Presley having been boxed up in a daunting movie contract for the entirety of the 60s.

Maybe if writers like Ray Connolly looked at Elvis in this light instead, their articles would hold much vore value. At least to fans like myself who's interested in more than the 50's and the '68 Comeback Special.

Why No On Tour Shows?

In the letter section - Shout It Out!- of the September issue of the Elvis The Man And His Music magazine that I received this week, a fan from New Zealand asks if anybody knows why FTD has never released any of the concerts from April 1972 that were recorded for Elvis on Tour. Apparently the editor knows how to get in touch with Ernst Jorgensen because he received the following answer:

FTD has been holding back on the three unreleased live shows from Elvis On Tour in order to include them on a release to coincide with whatever Warner Brothers might want to do with the unreleased footage from this project. As you know, Elvis On Tour was released on DVD in its original form, and we felt that this wasn't really the opportunity. I'm sure we will release these performances eventually, but at this time we don't have them scheduled. We have more than enough other great material to work with.

I have to admit I have difficulties understanding Ernst Jorgensen's line of reasoning. It took ages until Warner Brothers decided to release Elvis On Tour on DVD, and when it finally happened, combined with a special presentation of the movie at theaters across the United States, Ernst Jorgensen didn't feel that was "really the opportunity?!" Amazing.

A while back Troy Y. over at The Mystery Train Elvis Blog wrote a post titled "Hey Sony, isn't it about time for an Elvis on Tour boxed set?" In it, he expressed his hopes that the 40th anniversary of Elvis On Tour in 2012 will capture Sony’s imagination, and that it deserves a 3 CD treatment on the main label featuring the three unreleased concerts from the movie, together with an Elvis On Tour: The Rehearsals – Volume II on the FTD label.

I think that's an excellent idea, but admit I would be equally happy if the three shows were released as a box set by FTD. But I don't hold my breath, especially after reading Ernst Jorgensen's answer. If he's waiting for Warner Brothers to release unreleased footage from Elvis On Tour, I think he's in for a long wait. And that means the fans will be too, when it comes to the three concerts (from April 9, 10 and 14, respectively) being released officially on CD, be it on the FTD or the Sony main label. Such a shame.

Destination USA 1972

Yesterday saw the start of Elvis Week in Memphis, and as usual it made me think of my trip to the U.S. and Elvis Week 2005. It was one of the best Elvis experiences I've ever had, meeting fellow fans from all around the world and musicians who played for Elvis. But reading an article in the latest issue of the British fan club magazine, I was reminded that there are those who have experienced even greater things when it comes to Elvis.

The article is titled "Destination USA 1972," and in it Rita Overhead describes the first British Elvis Presley Fan Club trip to America to see Elvis during his Las Vegas engagement in the summer of 1972. It's an amazing story. Not only did she get to see no less than 10 shows, she also met Elvis.

After attending the midnight show on Saturday, September 2, she waited for the extra Sunday morning show together with a couple of other fans outside the showroom. Suddenly the door to what was the manager's office opened and there was Colonel Parker chewing on a long cigar. After "a nice little conversation" with him he asked how many they were and told them to come along.

It must have been an incredible experience, following the Colonel through a "No Exit" door and then down a corridor and realizing they were being taken down to see Elvis. As they entered a large room they noticed The Stamps, The Sweet Inspirations and Kathy Westmoreland sitting down watching a small television.

They were then shown into a small room, first being introduced to Vernon Presley. Then all of a sudden Elvis appeared in the doorway. He asked them if they had a good journey to USA and if they enjoyed the shows. The author of the article also received a kiss.

She then forgot her own name when Elvis was about to sign a menu she had from one of the shows. "You must have a name," he kidded and when she finally remembered it he answered, "Rita, are you sure?" He then signed the menu "I love Rita, Elvis Presley."

To have such a memory of Elvis must be priceless, and while I enjoyed the article immensely, I was also a little bit saddened that I never saw Elvis in person. That one will always be an impossible dream. On the other hand I've done the next best thing: going to Memphis in 2005 was a dream come true, and something I will never forget.

A Life With Elvis

About two months ago I was interviewed by the editor of the official news magazine for the University of Gothenburg where I'm currently holding a position as a public relations officer. Today the magazine was published, featuring an article spread over two pages titled A Life With Elvis under the heading In My Spare Time. This is how it begins:

Few artists have such dedicated fans as Elvis Presley. Thomas Melin, who is a public relations officer at the Faculty of Arts, has lived with his idol for over 30 years and not a day goes by when he doesn't think of him.
"Yes, Elvis is a big part of my life," says Thomas, when we meet in his apartment, while the sun sets over the harbor entrance.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with the end result, including the layout. From personal experience working as a journalist, I know how writing about someone with a keen interest in something, like an Elvis fan, can be a delicate balance. One the one hand, you don't want the one you interview to stand out as a lunatic, on the other you want to be able to explain why that person is so fascinated by his or her hobby.

I'm happy to report that I come across as a pretty normal guy, the article explaining why I got into Elvis in the first place and how I try to learn more and more about him, both as an artist and as a human being. Also, my Elvis blog was mentioned, as well as my trip to Memphis in 2005. The article ends like this:

When I ask Thomas to make a top-five-song list, he says that's really an impossible task, but then still comes up with a list that applies for the day. On it is "Walk a Mile in My Shoes," that Thomas himself made ​​a CD recording of when he visited the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. Outside, the darkness has settled, the volume is turned up:

"If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour, if we could find a way
To get inside each other's mind"

Ett liv med Elvis (full article, page 22-23)

More News From The Colonel's Office

Leafing through some old copies of the magazine Elvis Monthly from the 90's I stumbled across an interesting issue, no 421 from January 8, 1995. Celebrating Elvis' Diamond Jubilee Year, it featured re-prints of articles written during Elvis' lifetime.

Studying some of the articles gave me an idea of what it must have been like to read about what was happening to Elvis and his career when he was alive. I found the one written by Tom Diskin, titled More News From The Colonel's Office, especially interesting Here are som excerpts:

Excitement ran high at the recent sneak preview of MGM's "STAY AWAY, Joe". The Comments of everyone summed up to: "This is the sort of thing we've really been waiting for." MGM is releasing "STAY AWAY JOE" for the Easter Season so you can check with your theatre manager when it will be showing in your community.

The long awaited ELVIS'S "GOLD RECORDS, VOLUME 4" has been released by RCA Victor–a great addition to the record collections of fans everywhere. In the meantime, DJ's are giving the hit treatment to Elvis' current single "GUITAR MAN/HI HEEL SNEAKERS"

The Christmas Season Radio Shows presented by Elvis and the Colonel drew thousands of letters of thanks and appreciation. The reaction to the sacred album "HOW GREAT THOU ART", has been especially significant and recently this LP has been nominated by the recording industry as one of the outstanding sacred albums of 1967.

Elvis will be making three new motion pictures in 1968 and the studios are all aiming towards new and different stories. The first will be for MGM, presently titled "KISS MY FIRM BUT PLIANT LIPS"; the second for National General Pictures is titled "THE JACK VALENTINE STORY"; and the third, as yet untitled, will also be for MGM.

Imaging reading the above at the beginning of 1968. How exciting it must have been to learn that Elvis' career was once again on the move. But how did The Jack Valentine Story end up becoming Charro!?

"Don't quote me on that"

Thanks to the June issue of Elvis The Man And His Music, not only did I learn of the rare Louisville 1974 footage. I also found out long before the news were announced on various Elvis sites that FTD are going to release an expanded version of the How Great Thou Art album (finally!).

Furthermore, the magazine reports that Ernst Jorgensen and company are working on an Elvis (Fool) classic album as well. As "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" was recently among the bonus tracks on Elvis Now I wonder if it will be part of the Elvis (Fool) package as well. Maybe it will, just as "Something" was featured on both That's The Way It Is and Love Letters From Elvis.

I feel a more logical choice would've been to include the June 1971 remake of "Until It's Time For You To Go" on Elvis Now instead of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and put the latter on the album were it was originally released, i.e. Elvis (Fool).

But let's move on to another piece of information I thought I'd like to share with you, courtesy of Elvis The Man And His Music. It concerns FTD's long awaited and much anticipated Sun book/CD project and goes like this:

Ernst Jorgensen told EMM: "The book is more or less written and we're about two-thirds through the design stage. But just when we think we've gathered all there is to know about the period, along comes something brand new. Recently, for example, an American lady contacted me and was able to supply another six unpublished photos from various 1955 shows in Texarkana. I'd love to think that we'll be able to have the thing out before the end of this year, but don't quote me on that." Whoops, we just did.

I don't know about you, but if Ernst wants to collect "all there is to know about the period" I think we're in for a long wait...

Louisville footage

Thanks to the latest issue of The Man And His Music, the best Elvis magazine around, I learned of a rare clip of Elvis leaving his hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 26, 1974.

According to a letter from a guy living in The Netherlands, the local TV station, WHAS 11, filmed and interviewed fans before Elvis' performance at the Freedom Hall. The station also captured Elvis coming out of his hotel as he was leaving for the arena.

I immediately sat down at my computer, goggled for "WHAS 11 Elvis" and found both Vintage Elvis footage as well as Friday Flashback: Elvis plays Louisville on the station's website. The latter is a news feature (running 3:13) that was broadcast on January 8 this year, honoring Elvis' 75th birthday, and the former includes bonus footage (nearly 28 minutes of it).

Both features the clip of Elvis leaving his hotel, wearing the Peacock jumpsuit and looking great as he laughs at some fans and then gets into his limousine. "Quick shot there, but we got it," a smiling news anchor announces afterwards.

And another thing: The news feature also includes footage from Elvis playing in Louisville at the Armory in November 1956. Although silent, it shows the impact of his show and the arena packed with people. Pure magic!

Elvis In The 90's

November 1989 saw the dawn of a new era in the history of the RCA Presley tape legacy, for from Friday, 17th November 1989 and Monday the 20th onwards, the "Essential Elvis" team of Ernst Jorgensen, Roger Semon, Erik Rasmussen and Ger Rijff, "got down to business" and started on the massive and long term project of hunting down the "lost Elvis tapes" in the "box filling" system of RCA's New York tape vaults...

So began an article in the December 1990/January 1991 issue of the British fan club magazine, that I stumbled across while reading some back numbers a couple of days ago. Those of you familiar with my blog know this is something I like to do.

The article, in which the author David G Hall described the results of the initial searches of both the New York and Indianapolis storage vaults, was interesting in a couple of ways. For one thing, it made me realize that it's exactly 20 years this month since Ernst Jorgensen and his team started dedicating their time to locating elusive reels with Elvis music.

For another, it hit me (once again) how exciting it was to be an Elvis fan back then. When the article was printed, the 3 CD box set Collectors Gold was scheduled for release, and for me that's when it really started getting interesting. Certainly, the three first volumes in the Essential Elvis series had already been released, but Collectors Gold was the first package solely dedicated to unreleased outtakes.

It was also the start of what I suppose one could call "the box sets era." Elvis himself was again taken seriously by both the public and the critics with the release of The King Of Rock 'N' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters box set in 1992, that was followed by its two companions featuring essential masters from the 60's (1993) and 70's (1995).

Then in 1997, between the two Essential Elvis volumes 4 and 5 (featuring much of the outtakes described in the fan club article), came the Platinum: A Life In Music box set. 1999 saw the launch of the Follow That Dream collectors label, but that didn't stop the regular label from releasing a string of more box sets packed with unreleased material: That's The Way It Is - Special Edition (2000), Live In Las Vegas (2001), Today, Tomorrow And Forever (2002) and finally, Close Up (2003).

Yet that wasn't all that happened during those years. Under the slogan, "Elvis In The 90's," Elvis' back catalog was also taken care of. Practically all of the original albums were made available on CD, many of them with bonus songs. Now it's another story, altogether. The regular label has reverted to the 80's again, producing mainly compilations with the occasional exception, like the From Elvis In Memphis legacy edition released this year.

So nowadays it's entirely up to FTD to produce albums that put Elvis' music in the right context. That's ok for the fans, I guess, but what it means for the public's view of Elvis is another matter altogether.

A final thought: In 2000, RCA/BMG released Such A Night - Essential Elvis Vol. 6 while almost simultaneously FTD put out The Jungle Room Sessions. I've always believed that the latter was planned as The Jungle Room Sessions - Essential Elvis Vol. 7 and then re-scheduled for FTD release as the collectors label took off.

This post was inspired not only by the article in the British fan club magazine, titled "There's A Brand New Day On the Horizon," but also by a comment fellow Elvis fan Tygrrius posted on my blog in June this year.

If you're lookin' for outtakes

Seems King Creole will not get the FTD treatment anytime soon. This I learned through an interesting article in the latest issue of the excellent Elvis magazine The Man And His Music.

According to the author of the article, Trevor Cajiao, only nine genuine King Creole studio outtakes/alternate takes have ever turned up. These nine takes have always existed on acetate, and were used for the first time officially in 1990 on the third volume of the Essential Elvis series, titled Hits Like Never Before.

Two years later tapes of these outtakes had been found. Two of them were used on the 50's box set The King Of Rock 'N' Roll and five featured on the upgraded King Creole CD released in 1997. In the article Ernst Jorgensen has the following to say:

We'd love to do a King Creole CD, but there's nothing new to add to what's already appeared on RCA. We live in the hope that at some point the missing outtakes will turn up, but it's been over 50 years now and that's a long time. Will we ever hear outtakes of things like "Dixieland Rock", "Hard Headed Woman" and "Trouble"? Your guess is as good as anyone's, but I feel they would have turned up now if they existed.

Doesn't sound too hopeful, does it? On the other hand, I remember an article in the British fan club magazine about the binaural (stereo) tapes from Elvis recordings at Radio Recorders in 1957. The article, published in the mid 80's, stated that RCA received the binaural tapes, but that somewhere in 1959 someone gave the instruction to erase them.

That didn't sound too hopeful either, but a couple of years later it turned out the tapes hadn't been erased after all. Instead binaural masters were issued on Stereo 57 - Essential Elvis Volume 2 in 1989. The upcoming Jailhouse Rock album from FTD will feature binaural session takes as well. So maybe there is some hope, after all.

Reshaping the Elvis catalog

Yesterday I was sitting at my kitchen table, leafing through old Elvis magazines like I sometimes do. I like to "time travel" in this way, as it reminds me of how it was like being a fan in say 1985, and what was going on in the Elvis world back then.

The magazines on the table were all from the British fan club, and one I found particularly interesting was the December/January 1986 issue. Starting with the editorial, a clearly frustrated Todd Slaughter writes the following:

"Although 1985 has been Elvis' 50th anniversary year you wouldn't know it from looking at the record charts... Packages such as The Rocker, Always On My Mind and A Valentines Gift For You, have about as much finesse as Elvis Sings For Children and Grown Ups Too."

Interestingly enough, a couple of pages later the fan club magazine publishes an interview with the guy behind the above mentioned releases, the then "Elvis RCA boss" Gregg Geller. The interview was originally published in the record collectors magazine Goldmine, and has Geller talking about creating a new Elvis Presley catalogue that would make sense to someone who arrives from another planet in the year 2077 and goes to a record store!

He also speaks of unreleased material, and that he so far has found three things he didn't know existed: "Tomorrow Night" without the overdubs, an alternate take of "That's All Right" and the alternate take of "Ain't That Loving You Baby." "Other than that, nothing has turned up," he says, but after getting a question about later material, answers:

"There are many, many concert recordings from the '70s. There's so much of the stuff that we're still at our leisure cataloging it. But there were so many live Elvis records released in the '70s, there's not much to add to the picture. I think we can allow for some time to lapse before we get to those."

That answer made me think about the box set A Golden Celebration, that originally was to include a 1976 soundboard concert. As Gregg Geller was the "Project A&R Director" for that one, maybe it was he who ordered the concert removed. But, when getting a question about why material from the 1968 comeback was included, he says:

"The ideal album would have been called Elvis '56 in my opinion. It should have included every piece of music Elvis recorded in 1956."

Unfortunately, the interviewer doesn't ask why this wasn't to be, instead moving on to Gregg Geller's concept albums. Geller reveals that his own favourite among the bunch is Reconsider Baby, and I have to agree with him on that. It's one of the best Elvis compilations around that at the time included a couple of gems such as the fast version of "Ain't That Loving You Baby," the undubbed "Tomorrow Night," an alternate mix of "Stranger In My Own Home Town" as well as "One Night (Of Sin)."

I then had to smile when Gregg Geller talked about the Always On My Mind album, telling the interviewer that "Somebody actually suggested calling it Priscilla." Yeah, I wonder what she would've thought about that!?

The interview ends with Geller talking about his plans for the future, all compilations, "a country Elvis package... a couple more Rockers... a gospel album... an album of the real straight ballad singing that he did in the '60s."

In retrospect, I'm sure Gregg Geller did what he thought was best and that he had some good ideas, but clearly that wasn't enough. Thankfully, Roger Semon then took the helm and showed which course to steer with releases such as Essential Elvis and Stereo '57. Then, in 1992, together with a certain Ernst Mikeal Jorgensen, he put Elvis on the map again with the '50s box set and, well, you all know the story.

Whole Lot-ta Elvis Goin' On

So far this week has been a busy one when it comes to Elvis, at least for my mailman. Monday he brought me the April/May issue of the The Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain magazine, Tuesday he delivered my copy of Madison's Opening Night - January 1970 and yesterday Blue Hawaii from FTD arrived.

Starting with the magazine, I guess the biggest piece of news was that Todd Slaughter revealed that the CD the fan club is putting together will be "a unique theme album featuring those tracks which Elvis recorded which were written by UK song-smiths." The album is expected to be released in August and according to Todd, could be "one of Elvis most powerful and commercial releases for some time."

The only British songwriter that comes to mind is Roger Whittaker, who recorded "The Last Farewell" and of course the members of a certain group called the Beatles. By the way, want to know what "The Last Farewell" is all about?

Moving on to Opening Night - January 1970, I have to say it's just as impressive as its companion Closing Night - February 1970. Not only is the show first class (even "Teddy Bear"/"Don't Be Cruel" rocks), so is the accompanying booklet with liner notes and lots of photos. Also, the album includes the rare live version of "True Love Travels On A Gravel Road."

As for Blue Hawaii, I'm afraid that one will have to wait until tomorrow. This evening is dedicated to Opening Night. Right now "Suspicious Minds" is blasting through the speakers and it's hard to sit still in front of the computer. So I'll sign off for now and go enjoy this fantastic CD one more time.

"Elvis is not really downloadable"

In the latest issue of the music magazine Mojo, there's an article with the title "Elvis' 'official bootleg' label celebrates tenth birthday!" I only read it the other day, and thought it interesting as it gave me the answer to why no tracks from FTD records are available as individual downloads.

Talking about the upcoming Standing Room Only release, Ernst Jorgensen reckons that "Well annotated, glossy packaging is the key," and that "This kind of project is not really downloadable. I want to maintain Elvis's legacy as something you acquire and keep in your home."

I can't help thinking that this is a somewhat old fashioned way of looking at things. And contradicting too, as a lot of Elvis albums, among them the 50's box set (produced by Jorgensen no less), are in fact available as downloads at iTunes Store.

As for "well annotated, glossy packaging", yes, that's certainly true when it comes to the classic album series. But the same can't be said about the FTD 5" albums, where "lack of information" is a better word to describe them.

In the above mentioned article in Mojo, Roger Semon explains to the readers that the Follow That Dream label was set up "for distribution by fan clubs only...in return for their cessation of bootleg sales." But the bootlegs keep coming. And many of them offer "well annotated, glossy packaging," featuring informative booklets with a lot of pictures.

Why FTD doesn't follow suit when it comes to, for example, the soundboards, I can't figure out. I think I read sometime that the reason was that the people who buy concerts already know all about them. But collectors want all the details, so that can't be true. Do you know why?

PS: Roger Semon also tells Mojo that the release he is most proud of is The Jungle Room Sessions, and I think he should be. It's an outstanding release. But isn't it about time we got the first FTD box set? I'll vote for the one my brother likes to call: Behind Closed Doors - the complete 1976 studio sessions.

On tour 16 with the King

I recently bought a couple of back issues of the excellent Elvis The Man And His Music magazine, among them No. 74 from December 2006. In it was an interesting interview with Shane Keister who played piano for Elvis on his first tour in 1976.

Shane did some synthesiser overdubs on a couple of tracks from February 1976, and was asked to go on tour with Elvis as a replacement for Glen D. Hardin who had handed in his notice (along with Ronnie Tutt).

He happily accepted (who wouldn't!) and spent a day rehearsing together with the rest of the band in the racquetball court at Graceland. On the second day Elvis came in and greeted everybody. He and the band then did about a third of the show, maybe ten songs at the most, then Elvis said something like, "These guys are ready, man. I love it!" and left.

Another episode I enjoyed reading was what Shane calls "probably the most embarrassing moment of my life." It happened during the concert in Cincinatti, when Elvis did his "Teddy Bear"/"Don't Be Cruel" medley.

The cue for Shane Keisker to start playing the intro to "Teddy Bear" was Elvis punching his right hand out, but this time Charlie Hodge was standing in such a way that Shane couldn't see Elvis. About 10 seconds went by before Charlie stepped out of the way and "there's Elvis lookin' at me. And, man, he could have melted a battleship with that gaze." (Shane later found out Elvis had thrown out his arm three times waiting for him to start the intro.)

The above story reminded me of when Glen D. Hardin plays the wrong intro on the Lost Performances video, choosing "I Can't Stop Loving You" instead of "Release Me" (from April 9, 1972). He too, earns himself a withering stare from Elvis!

Still, Elvis was happy with Shane Keisker and wanted him on the next tour as well. Due to family reasons, Shane had to turn him down. But that one tour with Elvis in March 1976 "was probably the highlight of my live career." I would imagine so.