Elvis Presley Recording Sessions

May 26 1966

(+ means you need both ~ means same material °° means stereo or binaural ° means mono)
(SFS = Short False Start | FS = False Start | LFS or BD (Breakdown) = Long False Start | PB (Playback) or Complete = Complete Take)

RCA Studio B - Nashville, Tennessee

Producer : Felton Jarvis

Engineer : Jim Malloy

Musicians:		Backup Vocals:
Guitar:	Scotty Moore	The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray
Guitar:	Chip Young	Walker
Drums / Tympani:	Murrey 'Buddy' Harman	The Imperials: Armond Morales; Jake Hess; Gary McSpadden; Sherril
Drums:	D.J. Fontana	'Shaun' Nielsen; Henry Slaughter (6.00pm - 9.30pm / 10.00pm - 1.00am)
Piano:	Floyd Cramer (Not 6.30pm - 9.30pm)	Millie Kirkham; June Page; Dolores Edgin
Bass:	Bob Moore
Steel Guitar:	Peter Drake
Saxophone:	Homer 'Boots' Randolph
Saxophone:	Rufus Long
Piano:	Henry Slaughter (1.00am - 7.00am)
Piano / Organ:	David Briggs (6.30pm - 1.00am)
Bass / Harmonica / Guitar:	Charlie McCoy

Stand By Me				TPA4 0910	May 26 1966 (1.00am - 4.00am)
Take 1	FS+FS	0:20		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Count-in & 2nd FS only)+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1°
Take 2	Complete	2:44		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Count-in)~So High (FTD)°°~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in)
Take 3	FS+FS +LFS	1:02	(Also announced again as take 2)	Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)° ~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in)
Take 4	LFS	1:14		Unsurpassed Mast. 3-11°+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in)
Take 5	LFS	0:45		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)° ~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1°
Take 6	FS+FS	0:28		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Count-in)~Easter Special (FTD)°° (Listed as Take 2)+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in)
Take 7	Complete	2:35		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~Easter Special (FTD)°° (Count-in - Listed as Take 2)~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°~Stand By Me°+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)° (Not Listed)~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in)
Take 8	Reh'sal +LFS	1:36		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Dialogue only - Not listed)+You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Vol. 1° (Count-in)
Take 9	LFS	1:33		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°+You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Vol. 1° (Count-in & extra dialogue)
Take 10	FS+Comp	2:40		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~Close Up 3°°+Unsurpassed Masters 3-11° +You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1°
Take 11	M	2:38		Comp. Elvis Presley Mast. 13 (Sony)°°~Hymns From The Heart (Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 34)°°~I Believe - The Gospel Masters 2°° ~How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°°~Peace In The Valley 1°° ~Amazing Grace°°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Vol. 1° (Count-in only)

Where No One Stands Alone					May 26 1966 (1.00am - 4.00am)
Take 1	Complete?	2:40	(Incomplete - Tape Cut)	How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Spliced with ending of Take 4)~You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1°
Take 2	LFS	0:32		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°+You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Extra dialogue)
Take 3	LFS	2:36		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Count-in)~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11° +You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)° (Not Listed)~Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in)
Take 4	(M)	3:15	(Used for composite master)	How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Spliced with Take 1)+Where No One Stands Alone (Reeltrax)°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Count-in - Part used for Master cut from tape - 0:57)+Tape°° (Count-in & Comp.)

Where No One Stands Alone (Work Part)					May 26 1966 (1.00am - 4.00am)
Take 1	FS+Comp	1:50		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°+You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)° ~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1° (Extra dialogue)
Take 2	FS+FS	0:29		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°° (Count-in & 2nd FS only)+You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)°~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1°
Take 3	Complete	1:21		How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~You'll Never Walk Alone (Reeltrax)° ~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 1°
Take 4
Take 5	Complete	0:44	(Announced as take 2)	How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°
Take 6
Take 7	(M)	0:48+	(Used for composite master)	Tape°°

Where No One Stands Alone (Composite)				TPA4 0911		May 26 1966 (1.00am - 4.00am)
Spliced	M	2:44	(Spliced from Take 4 & Work Part Take 7)	Complete Elvis Presley Masters 13 (Sony)°°~Hymns From The Heart (Franklin Mint Complete Masters Collection 34)°°~I Believe - The Gospel Masters 2°°~How Great Thou Art (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°°~Peace In The Valley 1°°~Amazing Grace°°

Down In The Alley				TPA4 0912	May 26 1966 (4.00am - 7.00am)
Take 1	Complete	3:27		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~60's Box 5°° (Count-in)+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°° (Extra dialogue - No Count-in)
Take 2	FS	0:14		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°° (Count-in)~There's Always Me Volume 4°°
Take 3	LFS	2:12		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°° ~There's Always Me Volume 4°° (Extra dialogue at end)
Take 4	FS	0:36		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°° ~There's Always Me Volume 4°° (Extra dialogue)
Take 5	No Take	1:23		How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°°~There's Always Me Volume 4°° (Announcement only - Not Listed)
Take 6	Complete	2:50		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°° ~There's Always Me Volume 4°°~So High (FTD)°°
Take 7	LFS	2:28		How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°°
Take 8	LFS	0:27		How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°°
Take 9	M	2:58		Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 13 (Sony)°°~Rhythm & Blues (Franklin Mint Complete Masters Collection 9)°°~Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°° ~Tomorrow Is A Long Time°°~Spinout (FTD)°° (Repaired)~60's box 3°° (Cut)+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°° (Count-in & Dialogue at end only)

Remix		3:04	(Screaming Girls Version)	The Complete Spinout Sessions°°

Tomorrow Is A Long Time			TPA4 0913	May 26 1966 (4.00am - 7.00am)
Take 1	FS	0:24	Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 3°° ~There's Always Me Volume 4°°
Take 2	FS+Comp	5:52	So High (FTD)°°+Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 3°°~There's Always Me Volume 4°° (Count-in)
Take 3	M	5:21	Complete Elvis Presley Masters 13 (Sony)°°~The Nashville Sessions (Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 27)°°~Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight 3 (Legacy)°°~Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~Tomorrow Is A Long Time°°~Spinout (FTD)°°~60's box 3°°+A Valentine Gift For You°° (Remixed)

No Selections Recorded						May 26 1966 (6.30pm - 9.30pm)

Love Letters				TPA4 0914	May 26 1966 (10.00pm - 1.00am)
Take 1	FS	0:29		How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°
Take 2	Complete	2:58		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~Today, Tomorrow & Forever 3°° ~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2° (Count-in)
Take 3	FS+FS	0:50		Collectors Gold 2°° (1st FS - Not listed)~Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Vol. 2° (Count-in+FS+FS)
Take 4	FS	0:38		Collectors Gold 2°°~Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2° (Count-in)
Take 5	LFS	0:54		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2° (Count-in)~There's Always Me Volume 4°
Take 6	NA	0:08+	(Playback of Demo)	Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°° (No Announcement)+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°~There's Always Me Volume 4° (Announcement only)
Take 7	Complete	3:02		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~Collectors Gold 2°°~How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2°
Take 8	Complete	3:15		Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~So High (FTD)°°+How Great Thou Art Sessions Vol. 2°~There's Always Me Vol. 4° (Count-in)
Take 9	M	2:58		Complete Elvis Presley Masters 13 (Sony)°°~The Ultimate Love Songs (Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 25)°°~Elvis 75 CD2°°~Elvis Sings Guitar Man (FTD)°°~Gold Records Vol. 4°°~From The Heart°° ~Tomorrow Is A Long Time°°~60's box 3°°~Unsurpassed Masters 3-11°° +The Definitive Love Album°° (Edited) (Master Only)+How Great Thou Art Sessions Volume 2° (Count-in)

Some of the mono sessions as released on the "2001" Bootlegs "The How Great Thou Art Sessions - Volumes 1, 2 and 3" sound heavily compressed, as if they were taken from an MP3 source. The stereo sessions on the same releases however, actually sound better than the same takes released by BMG, as they are clipped, and too loud, on some of the BMG releases.

6 drum beats of the intro of Down in the Alley were missing on the '60's Box'. When rectified on the CD "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", a remastered intro with better ambience was spliced onto the 60's Box master rather than remastering the entire song again. It is possible that the intro was cut from the multichannel tapes in the first place. The FTD Soundtrack release of 'Spinout' has the song severely clipped.

It is unknown why a remix with overdubbed screaming girls was made by RCA, but it was never released officially. This remix can be found on the bootleg "The Complete Spinout Sessions".

From this session BMG's remasters as released on the '60's Box' and 'Tomorrow Is a Long Time' are more conservative and far better than 'Amazing Grace' or 'Peace in the Valley'. However, Love Letters has better ambience on 'From the Heart' or the first CD version of 'Gold Records Volume 4'.

An edited (2:00) version of Love Letters, with omitted verse ("I memorize ev'ry line, and I kiss the name that you sign, And darlin, then I read again right from the start, Love letters straight,from your heart."), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release 'The Definitive Love Album'.

Thanks to Adrian V Stokes regarding the edited versions of songs on the BMG Ariola set of 'Definitive' albums.

In March of 2007, Sony decided to go through all of Elvis' masters. They retransferred everything and remastered all tracks including repairing as many clicks, pops, bad edits and dropouts as they could. They have used these newly mastered recordings on their new releases since 2007 including budget soundtracks, 'Legacy' releases, the 30 disc 'Complete Elvis Presley Masters' collection and the Franklin Mint package.



Recording Information May 26 1966	Recording Information May 26 1966