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February 19 / 20 1969
(+ 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)

American Sound Studio - Memphis, Tennessee
Producers : Felton Jarvis / Chips Moman
Engineer: Al Pachucki
Technician: Roy Shockley

Musicians:    
Guitar: Reggie Young  
Drums: Gene Chrisman  
Organ: Bobby Emmons  
Bass: Tommy Cogbill  
Piano: Bobby Wood  

Kentucky Rain
XPA5 1271
  Feb. 19 1969 (Wed: 7.30pm - 10.30pm)
Take 1 FS+LFS
3:53   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°° (3:26
- LFS only)+The Joan Deary Tapes Vol. 2° (2:55 - LFS - different mix)
+The American Way Volume 1°~Finding The Way Home (2-1-1)°
Take 2 4xFS 0:41 (piano intro of 'The Fair's Moving On'
after 1st FS)
American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°° (1st
3xFS)+The American Way Vol. 1°~Finding The Way Home (2-1-2)°
Take 3 PB 3:32   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°
+Suspicious Minds - The Memphis1969 Anthology°°~The American Way
Volume 1°~Finding The Way Home (2-1-3)°
Take 4 FS 0:22   The American Way Volume 1°~Finding The Way Home (2-11-1)°
Take 5 FS+LFS 2:31   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°° (LFS)
+The American Way Vol. 1°~Finding The Way Home (2-11-2)° (listed as
Take 7)
Take 6 FS 0:05   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°~The
American Way Volume 1°
Take 7 PB 3:38   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°~The
American Way Volume 1°~American Crown Jewels° (listed as Take 8)

Kentucky Rain (remake)
XPA5 1271
  Feb. 19 1969 (Wed: 11.00pm - 2.00am)
Take 8 FS+PB 4:24 (preceded by rehearsal - slightly
slower)
60s Box 5°° (PB only - listed as Take 9)+American Sound 1969 5°°
~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°~The American Way Volume 1°
(FS+PB)~Finding The Way Home(2-11-3)° (FS only)
Take 9 3xFS+PB 4:03   Memphis Sessions (FTD)°° (1st FS+PB)+From Elvis At American Sound
(FTD)°°~American Sound 1969 5°° (count-in+1st 2xFS+PB)+The
American Way Volume 1° (3xFS+PB)~Finding The Way Home (2-11-3)°
(3xFS+PB)
Take 10 (M) 4:19 Undubbed master American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°
+Memphis 2°° (remixed / faded - 3:20)
         
Overdub (M)   String overdubs on March 18 (aft)  
Overdub (M)   Brass overdubs on March 18 (eve)  
Overdub M 3:20 Backup vocals & harmony v.o,
along with piano & tambourine
overdubs on March 20

(SPA1 4140)
Complete Elvis Presley Masters 18 (Sony)°°~Songs Of The Sixties
(Franklin Mint Complete Masters Collection 2)°°~Elvis 75 - Good Rockin'
Tonight 3 (Legacy)°°~Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°~Country (DSD)°°
~From Elvis In Memphis (2000)°°~Great Country Songs (DSD)°°~Comp.
Single Collection 6°°+Suspicious Minds - The Memphis 1969 Anthology°°
+60s Box 5°°+Second To None°°+Gold Records Vol. 5°°+The Memphis
Record°°+From Elvis In Memphis (Legacy)°~The Mono Masters CD4
(Venus)°
         
Re-Recording 4:00 Re-recorded backing track The Wonder Of You°°

Only The Strong Survive
XPA5 1272
  Feb. 20 1969 (Thur: 2.30am - 5.30am)
Take 1 LFS
3:12 (followed by rehearsal)

American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis In Memphis (FTD)°° (LFS only)
~The American Way Volume 2°(LFS+rehearsal)~Finding The Way Home
(1-12-1)° (LFS only)
Take 2 4xFS+LFS 1:56   The American Way Vol. 2° (4xFS+LFS)~Finding The Way Home (1-12-2)°
(1st & 4th FS+LFS only)
Take 3 PB 2:47   The American Way Volume 2°~Finding The Way Home (1-12-3)°~A Leg.
Performer Vol. 8°
Take 4 3xFS+LFS 2:50   The American Way Volume 2°
Take 5 3xFS 0:54 "Fuck me man..." The American Way Volume 2°~Finding The Way Home (2-10-1, 2-10-2,
2-10-3)°
Take 6 PB 3:07 "Dear Georgie" The American Way Vol 2°~Finding The Way Home (2-10-4)°~American
Crown Jewels° (faded)+A Legendary Performer Volume 9°° (see note)
Take 7 FS+LFS 2:20 "Let's do one more for me..." The American Way Volume 2° (FS+LFS - LFS listed as Take 8)
~Finding The Way Home (1-4)° (LFS only)
Take 8 LFS+LFS 2:07   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°+The
American Way Vol. 2° (listed as Takes 9 & 10)~Finding The Way Home
(1-7)° (faded)
Take 9 LFS 2:11   The American Way Volume 2° (Listed as Take 11)~Finding The Way
Home (1-9)°
Take 10 FS+FS      
Take 11 LFS 0:48   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°°
Take 12 FS+PB
3:04   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis At American Sound (FTD)°° (PB
only)
Take 13 FS+LFS      
Take 14 PB      
Take 15 FS   (preceded by rehearsal)  
Take 16 LFS+FS      
Take 17 FS+LFS 0:38   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis In Memphis (FTD)°° (LFS only)
Take 18 FS+LFS      
Take 19 2xFS+LFS      
Take 20 2xFS+PB      
Take 21 3xFS 0:36 (preceded by rehearsal) American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis In Memphis (FTD)°° (2xFS only)
Take 22 PB 3:18   American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis In Memphis (FTD)°°~Memphis
Sessions (FTD)°°
Take 23 LFS
     
Take 24 2xLFS+FS      
Take 25 LFS+FS      
Take 26 PB      
Take 27 LFS      
Take 28 PB      
Take 29 (M)   Undubbed master  
         
V.O. (M) 3:21 Vocal repair on February 22 ?
(0:00-2:27 & 2:41-2:56 used for
final master)
American Sound 1969 5°°~From Elvis In Memphis (FTD)°°
+Memphis 2°° (remixed / faded - 2:21)
         
Overdub (M)   Brass overdubs on March 18 (eve)  
Overdub (M)   Backup v.o's on March 20  
Overdub (M) 3:17 String overdubs on March 21
(SPA1 4122) Unedited master
The Memphis Record°° (faded - 2:38)
Edit M 2:42 Master edited From Elvis In Memphis (FTD)°°~Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 18 (Sony)°°
~The Memphis Sessions (Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 33)°°
~Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight 3 (Legacy)°°~From Elvis In Memphis
(Legacy)°°~From Elvis In Memphis°°~Suspicious Minds - The Memphis
1969 Anthology°°~60s Box 5°°+The Other Side Of Memphis°°

Notes

'Kentucky Rain' is listed twice in the session logs. It's also listed as a "Remake" (10.00pm listing probably meaning 11.00pm), but I think this is a simple issue of just paperwork explanation for a recording that took longer to record than just one session. The most likely reason is that Elvis went out, arrived late, or studio time was spent just talking. At least with this explanation, the musicians got paid for two sessions, as is listed in the session logs!

The long false start of Take 5 of 'Kentucky Rain' is incorrectly listed as Take 7 on the bootleg Finding The Way Home. The false start from Take 8 along with the three false starts and complete take of Take 9 were also incorrectly listed as being Take 10 on the bootleg Finding The Way Home. Take 7 is incorrectly listed as being Take 8 on the bootleg American Crown Jewels. All are presented in their correct order on The American Way Volume 1.

Take 8 of 'Kentucky Rain' on the 60s Box has left and right channels swapped.

The original mono version of 'Kentucky Rain' is 3:20 and the same mix and length of the song in stereo was released on Elvis' Gold Records Volume 5 in 1985. This would be the definitive stereo version.

The original Mono version of 'Kentucky Rain' can be found on the Legacy edition of From Elvis In Memphis.

When the 60s Box set came out, Ernst insisted it was the stereo mix that Chips Moman had made, even though it was instantly obvious it was a different mix to the original master.
From then on, in constantly varying lengths, the song bounced around on various dubious compilations.

Different remixed stereo versions of 'Kentucky Rain' can be found on Suspicious Minds - The Memphis 1969 Anthology, The Memphis Record, Second To None and Elvis' Gold Records Volume 5, among others.

'Kentucky Rain' is very "cinematic". If ever a song needed a long fade, this is it. In the original version he sings "...in the cold Kentucky rain" nine times (the last time being the absolute end of the song), but on some compilations it's over by the sixth. Plus, starting with the above-mentioned 60s Box, they discovered a counter-melody in the background and turned it way up to add to the confusion!
The 1999 Suspicious Minds - The Memphis 1969 Anthology 2-CD set had one of the worst versions of all. First, it was much too short (another 3:14 version), and second, Elvis' voice was way out in front in what I understand he used to call "The New York mix". The version on Second To None was very good and virtually as long as the original. Now with the new remaster as heard on Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight, the 30 disc Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection and the Franklin Mint set it sounds tampered with again!

The re-recording of 'Kentucky Rain' can found on the 2016 album The Wonder Of You, which contained Elvis' original vocals but with new backings by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and which actually went to number one in the UK album charts.

A remixed version of of 'Only The Strong Survive' can be found on The Memphis Record.

Although the Madison bootleg A Legendary Performer Volume 9 lists Take 6 of 'Only The Strong Survive' as being in stereo, it isn't in fact true stereo. It seems to be just Take 6 in mono but it has been manipulated to try and create a stereo effect, much in the same way Memphis Recording Service (MRS) are creating stereo concerts from mono recordings!

By taking out two of the four channels from the rare Japanese Quadraphonic LP of From Elvis In Memphis is how the "previously unreleased versions" were created on the bootleg The Other Side Of Memphis (Bilko).

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.

Thanks to Glen Johnson for comparisons on different releases of the song 'Kentucky Rain'.

Session Logs
Recording Information
February 19 1969
February 19 1969
Acetate
Kentucky Rain
Kentucky Rain
From Elvis In Memphis
& Back In Memphis
From Elvis In Memphis

 
Tape Legends
Overdubs
Tape Legends (Thanks to Follow That Dream)
 


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Kentucky Rain
Kentucky Rain
Music Sheet
Only The Strong Survive
Only The Strong Survive (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
 

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