Elvis Disco

On March 9, 1999 RCA/BMG released Elvis - The Home Recordings, as a gift to the true fans and collectors. Soundwise the contents are of a quality that will not attract the spoiled ears of the mass market. These recordings were made with private tape recorders and never intended to be heard by anyone outside of the Presley entourage. Let alone being released on a CD worldwide ! The CD contains 22 songs, including 15 previously unreleased performances.

Officially only 7 songs are heard before on: A GOLDEN CELEBRATION (3), A LEGENDARY PERFORMER VOLUME 4 (2) and PLATINUM (2). At first I thought that “He’s only a prayer away” was the same as the one on A GOLDEN CELEBRATION. This is not the case; it really is an alternate take. It is a shorter version. This time it is listed under its correct title of “I asked the Lord”.It is nice oppertunity for the younger generation of fans who were never able to obtain a copy of A LEGENDARY PERFORMER VOLUME 4 (1983) to finally get ahold of the songs “I’m Beginning to Forget You” and “Mona Lisa”. Of the 7 songs we had before, only 1 has a longer playing time (”Write to me from Naples”; +20 seconds). The other six have the same running time or less. (”Dark Moon”, has been cut down from 6:15 minutes to 2:16). A plus is though that the sound of the GOLDEN CELEBRATION songs is upgraded.I am not a big fan of Peacock Design because of their many mistakes made in previous booklets, but this time they have produced a good booklet. The liner-notes are written in a joint venture between Colin Escott and Ernst Jorgensen. Whereas the latter informs us of the source of the tape, and Colin gives us some musical background. It is a very informative read.

Here are titles that we never have heard before officially by RCA/BMG. Yes, some titles have been released on bootlegs and on the Time Life series in the USA, but it can be difficult to obtain these items. I want to give RCA a fair chance with this CD to supply the fan (collector). So finally here we are with a bunch of ‘new’ songs.

Bear in mind that all the songs featured have an acoustic guitar or a piano as backing. That gives the CD a very ‘basic’ sound. I don’t mind that the CD has a running time of 49:25 minutes. The danger of using the full 74 minutes would be that of getting bored. Fortunately Ernst and Roger have come up with a good balance in their choice of songs. Because of that the CD remains enjoyable to listen to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is interesting to see that Elvis rehearses 3 songs that he would record later on in his career (”Hands off”, “What now my love” and “After loving you”). The most notable one of these songs is “What now my love”. Personally speaking it is the highlight of the CD. Elvis, Red and Charly must have rehearsed this song a few times before they recorded it. The harmonies are perfect and the men stay close to the original version of the song which was a big hit in 1966. On the other hand it shows Elvis’s skills of moulding a song and making it his own like he did with it in 1973. It is a powerful song and I like both versions a lot.

Another thing that I thoroughly enjoyed are the three songs that Red West wrote (”I’ve been blue”,”Mary Lou Brown” and “It’s no fun being lonely”). At the time of the recording Red West was into songwriting, and he had installed two stereo tape desks to produce professional demo’s. Therefor the sound quality of the songs is very good, and because I don’t recognize these songs I wonder if they are recorded by other artists. Listen out for “It’s no fun being lonely”, where Charlie is singing lead, and Elvis is providing the backing vocals. In the beginning Charlie is giggling, but Elvis is singing his heart out. He really goes for it. Bellowing in a style that is close to contemporary Christian music. A style Elvis used while recording his He Touched Me album. It is obvious that Elvis really likes this song, and at times it is like he is testing his voice. He passes this test with an A plus !

But what a waste to see his potential being thrown away at the time when he was recording his ultimate low in sound-track recordings. The only glimpse of hope was his How Great Thou Art recording at that time. It comes as no surprise to hear a Gospel song like “Show me Thy ways, O Lord”, on this tape of 1966. It is interesting to see that the last 15 songs all date from 1966. A time when English beat groups were sweeping America. Music wise Elvis carreer was coming to a dead end. I can imagine that Elvis wanted to sit down in private and tape songs, in order to find out what songs would work out. Instead of playing beat songs, our man falls back on old-fashioned harmony singing. Probably one of his greatest love. In some songs it is hard to pick out Elvis’s voice, as he is a member of a quartet/trio. Elvis merges into his own Blackwood Brothers Quartet…

The thing about this CD is - after listening - is that I was left with an Italian feeling. That is strange because all songs are sung in English. I guess it had to do Italian influenced songs (”Write to me from Naples”,”Mona Lisa”), some opera styled singing (”Make Believe”, “It’s no fun…”), his vibrato and the beautiful harmonies. Listening to these songs made me singing… It’s better than that karaoke CD !

Elvis - The Home Recordings is an enjoyable CD, it definitely deserves a place in the collection of the serious Elvis fan. Bear in mind that these recordings were never intended for commercial release and that the sound quality varies. Overall you can compare the quality to that of The Million Dollar Quartet. In other words; if you enjoyed The Million Dollar Quartet, you surely like this one too.

I am left with only two questions. The first one is for Ernst. Printed on the inlay of the jewelcase and on the CD itself is a picture of a tape reel. Written on this reel are the words “Elvis Greetings #1″. Is this really a tape that was used for this CD ?
The second question is for everybody out there in the Elvis world. I have read an awful lot of things about our man, but I cannot find any documentation about a question that is bugging me for a long, long time. Even Guralnick didn’t handle the subject. But does anybody know who taught Elvis to play the piano ? The Presleys were so poor that they couldn’t afford a piano, until Elvis started to make some big money around 1955. Though Elvis can be seen on pictures playing the piano around 1956. Later on that year he is the one behind the keyboard at 706 Union Avenue, December 4.
His style is very basic. At times he is only “hammering” his chords. But on other private recordings I hear him play a little bit boogie as well. Now Elvis wasn’t the guy to go out to the bookstore to buy a book like “Piano for Beginners”. Somebody must have sat down with him to show him the basics. It must have taken some time to teach him the chords, let alone playing with both hands. Now who was it ?

Emiel Maier

RCA/BMG 07863 67676 2
Review published: Elvis Unlimited
Issue 3 - 1999 | page 28 - 30