| Release: 1998 | BMG 07863 67672 2 | Australia | 22 € | |
| Release: 1998 | BMG 07863 67672 2 | EU | 17 € | |
| Release: 1998 | BMG 07863 67672 2 | USA | 17 € | |
| Release: 1998 | BMG 07863 67672-2 / D125926 | BMG Direct Marketing | USA | 17 € |
| Release: 1998 | BMG BG2 67672 | Columbia House | USA | 25 € |
| Release: 1998 | BMG 07863 67672 2 | Taiwan | 22 € | |
| Release: 1999 | BMG BVCM-31012 | Japan | 28 € | |
| Release: 2003 | BMG VMP CD-1537 | China | 18 € | |
|
Part of the "Essential Elvis Presley" series |
The fifth volume of the Essential Elvis series, like its
predecessors, consists of previously unreleased alternate takes of
recordings issued during Elvis Presley's lifetime. In this case, the
selections are drawn from two recording sessions, held in July and
December 1973, at the Stax recording studio in Memphis, TN. 1973
was, according to co-producer and annotator Ernst Mikael Jorgensen,
"the last significantly successful year in Elvis' career, " and the
Memphis sessions, held in his hometown, were notable for opening up
a broader range of songs for his consideration following the
shuttering of Hill & Range, the publishing company he had drawn upon
previously. One could make a case for the importance of access to
material as crucial to the quality of Presley's recordings (the last
time he had strayed from Hill & Range, the result was "In the
Ghetto," among other hits), and the appearance of titles by the
likes of Dennis Linde (author of "Burning Love"), Tony Joe White,
Tom Jans, and Danny O'Keefe ("Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues"),
not to mention Chuck Berry's "Promised Land," ups the ante on these
sessions notably. The results were released on the modest-selling
albums Raised on Rock/For Ol' Times Sake, Good Times, and Promised
Land, and on the chart singles "Raised on Rock," "For Ol' Times
Sake," "I've Got a Thing About You Baby," "Take Good Care of Her," "If
You Talk in Your Sleep," and "Promised Land." The alternate takes of
some of these tracks, included here, do not improve on the master
takes (which were not the best of Elvis to begin with), but it is
interesting to hear the variations, as well as the asides from the
singer that give some of the flavor of the sessions. (AllMusic
Review by William Ruhlmann
) |