Tracks like ‘Your Love’s Been A Long Time Coming’ and ‘Shake A Hand’ benefit from the fuller gospel feel added by the backing vocals. There is a point to the fact that some studio tracks like the 1975 ‘Today' session were only recorded with the male backing vocals and the later vocal overdubs from the Holladays etc actually did improve some songs. I personally doubt that Parker and Elvis ever had the same debate over Felton Jarvis’ smothering of Elvis’ studio recordings, band and all, with those excessive syrupy orchestral overdubs in the seventies. However his complaints against Col Parker who wanted Elvis’ vocal raised above the band were from the past and the early sixties. These 'Pure Elvis' albums however are definite favourites amongst Elvis vinyl collectors and the 2010 Bootleg Victrola release proved that they deserved a proper re-release.Īs the FTD sleeve notes state, it is doubtful that Elvis himself would have approved of the concept as he always liked his vocal to be part of the overall sound. Once RCA started work on their 'Elvis Aron Presley' box-set the 'Pure Elvis Sound' idea was then dropped. While they sold relatively well, without a big hit single they didn’t even chart in the US Top 100. If anything indicated that this might be a 'rip-off product' using their picture rather than Elvis’ almost confirmed fans’ suspicions! One crucial marketing mistake was NOT using a photo of Elvis on the first album cover but using a picture of Colonel Parker & Vernon. These tracks were almost never the 'Undubbed Masters' that are now being released on FTD.īoth 'Our Memories Of Elvis' Volume 1 and Volume 2 were released in 1979 and even then the LP cover announced a new 'series' of releases. Sometimes backing vocals were left in but usually the backing vocals that were recorded at the original studio session with Elvis were faded out.

Most of the selected tracks were Elvis' Master versions with some but not all of the overdubs removed. RCA audio engineer Dick Bogert was the responsible for the remixes and he later also worked with Joan Deary on the 'Elvis Aron Presley' Silver box-set. After Elvis died and with producer Joan Deary still in control at the label RCA was still trying to find 'new' Elvis product to release to his adoring fans.Īpart from the 'A Legendary Performer' series, Joan Deary also came up with the idea of removing Felton Jarvis' excessive overdubs giving fans a chance to hear a more purer Elvis sound with a focus on his voice.

Elvis lives king country vol.2