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March 10 / 11 1975
(+ 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 C - Hollywood, California
Producer: Felton Jarvis
Engineer: Rick Ruggieri

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar: James Burton Voice : Donnie Sumner; Sherrill Nielsen; Tim Baty; Tommy Hensley
Guitar: Charlie Hodge  
Guitar: John Wilkinson  
Clavinet: David Briggs  
Bass: Duke Bardwell  
Drums: Ronnie Tutt  
Piano: Glen D Hardin  

Fairytale
EPA3 1594
  March 10 1975 (Mon: 9.00pm - 12.00am)
Take 1 LFS 1:30   Today (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 3:05   Today (FTD)°°~Great Country Songs°°
Take 3 (M) 3:37 Unedited undubbed master Unedited Masters - Hollywood To Nashville 72-80 (Venus)°°~Christmas
Today°°~Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°° (faded - 2:49)+Yesterday / Today°°
(faded -2:49) (different mix - see note)
         
Overdub (M)   Fiddle overdub on April 8 (morning)  
Overdub (M)   Bass part re-recorded on April 8 (aft)  
Overdub (M)   Backup vocal overdubs on April 9  
Overdub (M) 3:37 String overdubs on April 14
Unedited master
 
Faded M 2:43 Master faded Complete Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~Country Legend (Franklin
Mint Comp. Masters Collection 18)°°~Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°°~(20 Bit)°°

Green, Green Grass Of Home
EPA3 1595
  March 11 1975 (Tue: 12.30am - 3.30am)
Take 1 FS+Comp
4:21   Christmas Today°° (FS+comp.+extra dialogue)~Today (FTD)°° (comp.)
~Great Country Songs°° (complete)
Take 2 FS 0:32   Christmas Today°° (count-in)~Today (FTD)°°~6363 Sunset (FTD)°°
Take 3 Complete 3:51   Christmas Today°°~Today (FTD)°°~6363 Sunset (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS 0:24   Christmas Today°°
Take 5 (M) 3:50 Undubbed master (JPA5 6061) Christmas Today°° (count-in)~Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°°+Yesterday /
Today°°+Our Memories Of Elvis°°~Our Memories Of Elvis (FTD - 2)°°
(see notes)
         
Overdub (M)   Bass part re-recorded on April 8 (aft)  
Overdub (M)   Backup vocal overdubs on April 9  
Overdub M 3:35 String overdubs on April 14 Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~Country Roots (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 8)°°~Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°°~(20 Bit)°°
~Country (2006 - DSD)°°~70s Box 2°°+The Definitive Country Album°°
(edited)

I Can Help
EPA3 1596
  March 11 1975 (Tue: 12.30am - 3.30am)
Take 1 2xFS+
Reh'sal
0:33 "Okay, we're rolling, this'll be one"
"Billy Swan my ass..."
Christmas Today°° (not listed)~Unedited Masters - The Next Generation
(Venus)°°
Take 2 2xFS+(M) 4:37 "Ready? Ready, two"
Undubbed master (JPA5 6064)
Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°°+Yesterday / Today°°+Our Memories Of Elvis°°
~Our Memories Of Elvis (FTD - 2)°° (see notes)+Christmas Today°°
~Unedited Masters - The Next Generation (Venus)°° (2xFS+complete
+extra dialogue - see note)
         
Overdub (M)   Bass part re-recorded on April 8 (morning)  
Overdub (M)   Backup vocal overdubs on April 9
(not used)
 
Overdub M 4:03 Brass overdubs on April 10 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~The Ultimate Love Songs
(Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 25)°°~Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°°
~Today (20 Bit)°°~70s Box 4°°

And I Love You So
EPA3 1597
  March 11 1975 (Tue: 4.00am - 7.00am)
Take 1 Complete
3:56 "Step up here Sheila, let me sing
this to you"
Christmas Today°° (count-in)~Today (FTD)°°~6363 Sunset (FTD)°°
~50 Greatest Love Songs°°+The Joan Deary Tapes Vol. 1°°
Take 2 Complete 3:39   Today (FTD)°°~Platinum 4°°
Take 3 Complete 3:43   Today (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS      
Take 5 (M) 3:51 Undubbed master Christmas Today°° (count-in)~Today (FTD)°° (3:39)~(Legacy)°° (3:39)
+Yesterday / Today°° (see note)
         
Overdub (M)   Bass part re-recorded on April 8 (evening)  
Overdub (M)   Backup vocal overdubs on April 9  
Overdub (M)   Brass overdubs on April 10  
Overdub M 3:35 String overdubs on April 14 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~The Ultimate Love Songs
(Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 25)°°~Today (FTD)°°~(Legacy)°°
~Today (20 Bit)°°~Love Elvis°°+The Definitive Love Album°° (edited)

Notes

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.

An edited (2:10) version of 'Green, Green Grass Of Home', with omitted intro and verse ("The old house, is still standing, though the paint is cracked and dry..." to "It's good to touch the green, green grass of home..."), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Country Album.

An edited (2:00) version of 'And I Love You So', with omitted last two verses ("And you love me too, your thoughts are just for me..." to "All but love is dead, this is my belief..."), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Love Album.

The Venus bootleg Christmas Today has what is listed as "FS, Take 2" (track 6) of 'I Can Help', but in my opinion this is Take 1 too, as you can hear Felton say at the start "Okay, we're rolling, this'll be one", and then there is a false start and a brief rehearsal. We then get Take 2 consisting of two false starts and a complete take, and which strangely also includes some later overdubs, meaning this isn't the pure undubbed master but a stripped down version of the master as was done with the songs on Our Memories Of Elvis. Also during this track (track 6) on Christmas Today at the 19 second mark you can hear tape cuts that shouldn't be there. They are identical to what can be heard at the 3 second mark of track 14 before Take 4 of 'Green, Green Grass Of Home'. Very strange! This exact same edit of 'I Can Help' can also be found on the promo CD - Unedited Masters - The Next Generation, which accompanies the book/DVD release Tearing 'Em Up, also by Venus.

An artificially extended (4:20) version of 'I Can Help' can be found on the 1983 UK Maxi single RCAP 369 (PB 60125).

Duke Bardwell's bass parts were removed, and re-done by Norbert Putnam (Mike Leech - 'I Can Help') on April 8.

Backup vocal overdubs (April 9) were removed from 'I Can Help' before release.

By taking out two of the four channels from the rare Quadraphonic LP of Elvis Today is how the "previously unreleased and undubbed versions" were created on the bootleg Yesterday / Today (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 Adrian V Stokes regarding the edited versions of songs on the BMG Ariola set of Definitive albums.

Session Logs
 
1983 Maxi Single
I Can Help
I Can Help - Single
 


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Fairytale
Fairytale (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Green, Green Grass Of Home
Green, Green Grass Of Home
Music Sheet
I Can Help
I Can Help (Thanks to Christopher Brown)

 
Music Sheet
And I Love You So
And I Love You So (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
 

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