The undubbed masters on 'Our Memories Of Elvis'
weren't really the pure undubbed masters. They
were the fully overdubbed or regular masters but
with certain instruments and backing vocal channels
removed or stripped down.
The Japanese 24-Bit release of 'That's The Way
It Is' runs slow all the way through at differing
speeds between tracks, as opposed to the same
tracks on the Special Edition box set (BMG - 2000)
and FTD's 'That's The Way It Is' Classic Album.
The differences between tracks on the 24-Bit CD
are as follows:-
I Just Can't Help Believing (-1,3%)
Twenty Days And Twenty Nights (-1,6%)
How The Web Was Woven (-2,0%)
Patch It Up (-2,3%)
Mary In The Morning (-2,5%)
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (-2,9%)
You've Lost That Loving Feeling (-0,9%)
I've Lost You (-1,2%)
Just Pretend (-1,7%)
Stranger In The Crowd (-1,5%)
The Next Step Is Love (-1,9%)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (-2,5%)
On the Sony/BMG set 'Elvis 75' You Don't Have
To Say You Love Me is listed as being the
live performance from Madison Square Garden on
June 10 1972, but it's actually the studio version
from this session that is on the set.
Elvis can be heard fooling around with Mother
In Law before Take 2 of It Ain't No Big
Thing on ''A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'',
but this was edited in and is not actually part
of take 2.
It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)
is not listed in 'Sessions III' as having Backup
Vocals overdubbed on June 22 or September 21,
but the Master contains female Backup Vocals as
well as Brass and Strings overdubs. June 22 would
be a likely date for Backup Vocal overdubs as
The Jordanaires were present on September 21 but
are not present on the final overdubbed master.
Although not listed on the cover or in the booklet,
the count-in for Take 8 and a brief Rehearsal
(Take 10) of This Is Our Dance can be found
on FTD's 'Love Letters From Elvis' Classic Album.
On FTD's 'Love Letters From Elvis' Classic Album
there is what is listed as being Heart Of Rome
- Take 3 'Undubbed Master', but what we get in
fact is the unedited Take 3 along with the unlisted
Workpart Take 1. The (Spliced) 'Undubbed Master'
does not appear on this release.
The "Undubbed Masters" of some songs
that appear on 'Pure Diamonds Volume 1' and 'Rough
Cut Diamonds' (along with Heart Of Rome
on 'Tiger Man Volume 2' - not listed as source)
are all probably just the left channel only (centred)
of a stereo acetate of the fully overdubbed master.
By eliminating the right channel on the same tracks
on BMG releases I was able to get the exact same
results. This is possible because backing vocals
(and occasionally strings) tend to be panned 100%
right on the original mixes from these sessions,
so you can often eliminate them by cutting out
the right channel, with no discernable bleed.
Just Pretend possibly had overdubs on
June 9.
'Sessions III' lists July 18 as being the date
when Brass & Strings were overdubbed to
It Ain't No Big Thing, You Don't Have To
Say You Love Me, Just Pretend, This
Is Our Dance and Life but I doubt this
date is correct for these overdubs. In the Session
Logs there is a listing dated July 7 that lists
all musicians used for these overdubs (as listed
in 'Sessions III'). At the bottom right hand corner
of the Session Log there is a date of what looks
to be "06/30" indicating a date of June
30 1970 for this overdub session.
'Sessions III' also lists the date as being October
28 when additional Brass & Strings were overdubbed
to It Ain't No Big Thing, This Is Our Dance
and Life but this is the date of the listing of
the Session Log. At the bottom right hand corner
of the Session Log there is a hand written date
"10/27/70" indicating a date of October
27 1970 for this overdub session.
The original mono single version of Life
had as slightly different ending to the same master
found on CD, but this is probably down to a slightly
different mix.
The original title of the 'Love Letters From
Elvis' album was entitled 'Festival' and was going
to include the following songs - Hence the inclusion
of The Sound Of Your Cry and Sylvia
on FTD's 'Love Letters From Elvis' Classic Album:-
The Sound Of Your Cry
Cindy, Cindy
Got My Mojo Working / Keep Your Hands Off Of It
I'll Never Know
It Ain't No Big Thing
This Is Our Dance
Heart Of Rome
When I'm Over You
If I Were You
Sylvia
Love Letters
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.
