Elvis At Stax
Here we have it at last, all of Elvis’ stax masters together in one place, and it feels as if this set has been 40 years in the making. Back in 1973 after the success of the aloha worldwide telecast Elvis wanted more control over his music, so a new publishing deal was put together freeing Elvis of the old hill and range restrictions, this is where the stax story begins.
Elvis arrived at stax for the first nights recordings on July 20th Reggie Young who hadn’t seen Elvis since 1969 was shocked by his appearance ‘he looked totally different, his hair was long and his hands were swollen I couldn’t believe the difference in him’.
That night they had three finished masters in the can, if you don’t come back, three corn patches and take good care of her. On the second night Elvis was in much better spirits, another three tracks were cut, find out what’s happening, I got a thing about you baby and just a little bit. The following night the Mark James song raised on rock was recorded as well as Tony Joe white’s for old times’ sake.
On July 24th James Burton and Ronnie Tutt had to leave town and then Elvis was told his own personal hand mike had been stolen after recording only one song ‘girl of mine’ Elvis left the studio and never returned.
On the last two nights backing tracks were laid down for another Mark James song ‘colour my rainbow’ and the Jerry Chesnut penned ‘the wonders you perform’. Felton Jarvis planed for Elvis to put down vocals on these tracks at a later date but it was never to be.
Elvis was back at stax in December, feeling fit and well after a few months rest. Two of Elvis’ favourite Nashville players, Norbert Putnam and David Briggs were on hand alongside Burton and Tutt from the road band and this time they meant business, just listen to take one of the funky ‘I got a feeling in my body’ the first song cut on December 10th,just brilliant.
Elvis really dug into the heartfelt ballad it’s midnight and only after 19 takes was he happy with his performance.
The next night the Waylon Jennings song ‘you asked me to’ was recorded as well as the dark and menacing red west classic ‘if you talk in your sleep’.
Elvis At Stax
Here we have it at last, all of Elvis’ stax masters together in one place, and it feels as if this set has been 40 years in the making. Back in 1973 after the success of the aloha worldwide telecast Elvis wanted more control over his music, so a new publishing deal was put together freeing Elvis of the old hill and range restrictions, this is where the stax story begins.
Elvis arrived at stax for the first nights recordings on July 20th Reggie Young who hadn’t seen Elvis since 1969 was shocked by his appearance ‘he looked totally different, his hair was long and his hands were swollen I couldn’t believe the difference in him’.
That night they had three finished masters in the can, if you don’t come back, three corn patches and take good care of her. On the second night Elvis was in much better spirits, another three tracks were cut, find out what’s happening, I got a thing about you baby and just a little bit. The following night the Mark James song raised on rock was recorded as well as Tony Joe white’s for old times’ sake.
On July 24th James Burton and Ronnie Tutt had to leave town and then Elvis was told his own personal hand mike had been stolen after recording only one song ‘girl of mine’ Elvis left the studio and never returned.
On the last two nights backing tracks were laid down for another Mark James song ‘colour my rainbow’ and the Jerry Chesnut penned ‘the wonders you perform’. Felton Jarvis planed for Elvis to put down vocals on these tracks at a later date but it was never to be.
Elvis was back at stax in December, feeling fit and well after a few months rest. Two of Elvis’ favourite Nashville players, Norbert Putnam and David Briggs were on hand alongside Burton and Tutt from the road band and this time they meant business, just listen to take one of the funky ‘I got a feeling inmy body’ the first song cut on December 10th,just brilliant.
Elvis really dug into the heartfelt ballad it’s midnight and only after 19 takes was he happy with his performance.
The next night the Waylon Jennings song ‘you asked me to’ was recorded as well as the dark and menacing red west classic ‘if you talk in your sleep’.
The following night produced some often overlooked songs including ‘mr.songman’ ‘thinking about you’ and ‘help me’. On December 13th Felton pressed Elvis to give him more on the Richard harris classic’my boy’ but three takes was enough for Elvis.
Again only three takes were needed for the outstanding ‘loving arms’ we all agree this should have been a massive hit at the time. Despite the nature of the lyrics Elvis has fun working on ‘good time Charlie’s got the blues’ and the finished master is a
classic.
Legend has it on December 14th Elvis wanted to record the Dobie Gray song ‘we had it all’ Norbert Putnum told fans at Elvis week this year ‘I remember we worked through the song in the studio we had the arrangement nailed but when we started recording it Elvis wasn’t happy, he just felt he couldn’t improve upon dobie’s version’.
Only one other song was finished that night the Jerry Reed rocker’ talk about the good times’. By the sixth night of recording Elvis had really hit his stride he blows Chuck Berry out of the water with his version of promisedland and he never sounded more soulful on ‘ your loves been a long time coming and ‘ there’s a honky-tonk angel.
On the final night Elvis’ voice is just soaring, listen to the outtakes of ‘if that isn’t love and ‘ she wears my ring’ Elvis is having a ball. The guys at rca/legacy have done a fantastic job with this set the packaging is top-notch and the sound is the best ever. No Elvis fan should be without this collection Go out and get it. Now.