Liner notes:
When the first volume of OUR MEMORIES OF ELVIS was released in February 1989, it
was received with great acclaim from many die-hard Elvis fans. At the time, in
was considered by many fans that extensive overdubbing and subsequent 'sweetening'
of Elvis' seventies arrangements detracted from the overall time of voice and
instrumentation. In essence, the intimacy and dynamic of both song and
performance wert somehow lost in the mix.
Therefore when RCA executive Joan Deary, devised the 'Pure Elvis' concept it was
greeted with geiat enthusiasm. For Deary, it served as an opportunity to rectify
what she felt has been wrong with Elvis' seventies productions. A frustration
she had taken seriously within RCA by trying to get Elvis' producer Felton
Jarvis fired. This was a battle she lost.
Ironically, it's doubtful that Elvis himself would have approved of the
treatment. The less is more view was certainly in line with Colonel Parker's
view (Parker was still acting as Elvis' manager at this point), who as far back
as King Creole and the June '58 sessions had complained that Elvis' couldn't be
heard properly over all the instruments. For this reason, he whole-heartedly
embraced Joan's new concept OUR MEMORIES OF ELVIS that stripped carefully chosen
songs back to basics. Both Elvis' father Vernon and the Colonel gave their
consent and even endorsed the project by having their Photo adorn the cover art.
With sales of 200,000 (Volume 1) and 150,000 (Volume 2) copies in the U.S. the
series certainly made financial sense RCA. Despite the healthy sales, the
records didn't have true mass appeal and peaked on the Billboord album charts at
#I32 & #137 respectively. Volume 3 had been prepared by Deary but it was shelved
as other projects materialised that had more mainstream commercial potential.
This extended package includes the original alburns, the unreleased Volume 3,
and several extra tracks that were mixed but not used for the third volume.
Print note::
Also seen with matrix:
CD1: IFPI L558 d:centia 506020-975038 A0101917409-0102 18 A00 IFPI 94K8
CD2: IFPI L551 d:centia 506020-975038 A0101917409-0202 21 A01 IFPI 94K7
