From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
MusicHound | [2] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [3] |
Rough Guides | [4] |
From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters is a box set five-disc compilation of studio master recordings by Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1960s, released in 1993 on RCA Records, catalogue number 66160-2. In its initial format as a long box issue, it included a set of collectable stamps duplicating the record jackets from every release LP, and those from the singles pertinent to this box set, on RCA Victor. It also includes a booklet with an extensive sessionography, discography, and lengthy essay by Peter Guralnick. It was certified Gold on 11/30/1993 and Platinum on 1/6/2004 by the R.I.A.A.
Contents
The box comprises every master recording made by Presley during the decade and released in his lifetime, with the exception of those made at sessions for movie soundtracks or for television broadcasts, with one exception in the latter case. The set also excludes Presley's gospel recordings and live performances, but does include songs that had been recorded at non-soundtrack sessions, but which were released on soundtrack albums in order to bring the album running-time to an acceptable length, such as the sessions of May 26 and May 27, 1963. As a result of these criteria, only two of Presely's 1960s original albums are represented in their entirety in the set: Elvis Is Back! and From Elvis in Memphis; all other Presley albums of the decade, with the exception of two gospel albums, included at least one film-derived recording, or in the case of From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis, live recordings.
The first four discs and the first nine tracks of the fifth disc present the studio masters in chronological session order, with the above noted exceptions. The opening eighteen tracks of the first disc contain Elvis Is Back! and its three attendant chart-topping singles: "Stuck on You," "It's Now or Never," and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?;" along with their b-sides. The remainder of disc one and discs two and three include the highlights "Surrender," His Latest Flame," "Little Sister," "Suspicion," "She's Not You," his cover of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time," and "U.S. Male." Disc three includes two previously unreleased recordings, an unreleased alternate take, and three unedited masters including a long version of the "Guitar Man" single that segues into "What'd I Say."
Disc four and the first nine tracks of disc five cover the entire released output of the Memphis sessions at American Sound Studio, yielding the albums From Elvis in Memphis and the studio disk of the double album From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis, along with various hit singles including his latter-day signature song, "Suspicious Minds." The remainder of disc five contains nine previously unreleased alternate takes, a version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis Tennessee" from an earlier session, an unreleased recording from the Memphis sessions, an undubbed version of his 1960 #1 hit single "It's Now or Never," and the duet medley of "Love Me Tender" and "Witchcraft" between Presley and Frank Sinatra, broadcast on Sinatra's ABC television special to welcome Elvis home after his service in the army ended by the spring of 1960.
RCA issued two similarly configured companions, a box set for the 1950s and another one for the 1970s. A separate two-disc set surveys highlights from the 1960s soundtracks. The two non-soundtrack studio albums from the 1960s whose contents do not appear on this box, His Hand in Mine and How Great Thou Art, were released in a similar two-disc set for the gospel recordings in 1994, Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances.
The Sinatra/Presley duet was recorded at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, Florida. All other recordings were made in Tennessee at either RCA Studio B in Nashville, or at American Studio in Memphis. Original recordings produced by Steve Sholes, Chet Atkins, Felton Jarvis, and Chips Moman.
Collective Personnel
Track listing
Chart positions for LPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; positions for singles from Billboard Pop Singles chart. Certain tracks listed as unreleased on the insert card of the jewel cases are unedited masters of issued tracks; those are indicated with an asterisk and listed with the original issue information for the released master. By late 1968, Billboard discontinued charting b-sides.
Disc One
Disc Two
Disc Three
Track | Recorded | Original LP Issue | Catalogue | Release Date | Chart Peak | Song Title | Writer(s) | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 5/27/63 | Kissin' Cousins | LSP 2894 | 4/2/64 | #6 | (It's A) Long Lonely Highway | Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman | 2:20 |
2. | 5/27/63 | Speedway | LSP 3989 | 5/1/68 | #82 | Western Union | Roy C. Bennett and Sid Tepper | 2:09 |
3. | 5/27/63 | Fun in Acapulco | LSP 2756 | 11/1/63 | #3 | Slowly but Surely | Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman | 2:13 |
4. | 5/27/63 | 47-8740b | 12/3/65 | #95 | Blue River | Paul Evans and Fred Tobias | 1:32 | |
5. | 1/12/64 | Elvis for Everyone | LSP 3450 | 8/10/65 | #10 | Memphis Tennessee | Chuck Berry | 2:08 |
6. | 1/12/64 | 47-8840 | 9/22/64 | #12 | Ask Me | Domenico Modugno, Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye | 2:05 | |
7. | 1/12/64 | 47-8307b | 2/10/64 | #29 | It Hurts Me | Joy Byers and Charlie Daniels | 2:27 | |
8. | 5/25/66 | Spinout | LSP 3702 | 10/31/66 | #18 | Down in the Alley | Jesse Stone | 2:48 |
9. | 5/25/66 | Spinout | LSP 3702 | 10/31/66 | #18 | Tomorrow Is a Long Time | Bob Dylan | 5:20 |
10. | 5/26/66 | 47-8870 | 6/8/66 | #19 | Love Letters | Edward Heyman and Victor Young | 2:50 | |
11. | 5/26/66 | previously unreleased | Beyond the Reef | Jack Pitman | 3:03 | |||
12. | 5/28/66 | unreleased alternate take | Come What May | Frank Tableporter | 1:58 | |||
13. | 5/28/66 | 47-9056b | 1/10/67 | Fools Fall In Love | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | 2:04 | ||
14. | 6/10/66 | 47-9056 | 1/10/67 | #33 | Indescribably Blue | Darrell Glenn | 2:47 | |
15. | 6/10/66 | Spinout | LSP 3702 | 10/31/66 | #18 | I'll Remember You* | Kui Lee | 4:05 |
16. | 6/10/66 | 47-9056 | 11/15/66 | If Every Day Was Like Christmas | Red West | 2:42 | ||
17. | 3/20/67 | previously unreleased | Suppose | Sylvia Dee and George Goehring | 3:01 | |||
18. | 9/10/67 | 47-9425 | 1/9/68 | #43 | Guitar Man / What'd I Say* | Jerry Reed / Ray Charles | 2:57 | |
19. | 9/10/67 | 47-9341 | 9/26/67 | #38 | Big Boss Man | Luther Dixon and Al Smith | 2:50 | |
20. | 9/10/67 | Speedway | LSP 3989 | 5/1/68 | #82 | Mine | Roy C. Bennett and Sid Tepper | 2:35 |
21. | 9/10/67 | Clambake | LSP 3893 | 10/10/67 | #40 | Just Call Me Lonesome | Rex Griffin | 2:05 |
22. | 9/11/67 | 47-9425b | 1/9/68 | Hi-Heel Sneakers* | Robert Higginbotham | 4:46 | ||
23. | 9/11/67 | 47-9341b | 9/26/67 | #44 | You Don't Know Me | Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold | 2:27 | |
24. | 9/11/67 | Clambake | LSP 3893 | 10/10/67 | #40 | Singing Tree | A.L. Owens and A.C. Solberg | 2:17 |
25. | 1/15/68 | Elvis Sings Flaming Star | PRS 279 | 10/68 | Too Much Monkey Business | Chuck Berry | 2:29 | |
26. | 1/16/68 | 47-9465 | 2/28/68 | #28 | U.S. Male | Jerry Reed | 2:42 |
Disc Four
Disc Five
Track | Recorded | Original LP Issue | Catalogue | Release Date | Chart Peak | Song Title | Writer(s) | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 2/18/69 | From Elvis in Memphis | LSP 4155 | 6/17/69 | #13 | After Loving You | Janet Lantz and Eddie Miller | 3:05 |
2. | 2/18/69 | Memphis to Vegas | LSP 6020 | 11/69 | #12 | Do You Know Who I Am | Bobby Russell | 2:47 |
3. | 2/19/69 | 47-9791 | 1/29/70 | #16 | Kentucky Rain | Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard | 3:14 | |
4. | 2/19/69 | From Elvis in Memphis | LSP 4155 | 6/17/69 | #13 | Only the Strong Survive | Jerry Butler, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff | 2:40 |
5. | 2/20/69 | From Elvis in Memphis | LSP 4155 | 6/17/69 | #13 | It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin' | Johnny Tillotson | 2:36 |
6. | 2/20/69 | 47-9741b | 4/14/69 | Any Day Now | Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard | 2:58 | ||
7. | 2/20/69 | Let's Be Friends | CAS 2408 | 4/70 | #105 | If I'm A Fool (For Loving You) | Stan Kesler | 2:43 |
8. | 2/21/69 | 47-9747b | 6/17/69 | The Fair Is Moving On | Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett | 3:07 | ||
9. | 2/22/69 | You'll Never Walk Alone | CALX 2472 | 3/22/71 | #69 | Who Am I? | Charles Rusty Goodman | 2:07 |
10. | 2/17/69 | previously unreleased | This Time / I Can't Stop Loving You | Chips Moman / Don Gibson | 3:50 | |||
11. | 1/20/69 | previously unreleased take | In the Ghetto | Mac Davis | 2:46 | |||
12. | 1/22/69 | previously unreleased take | Suspicious Minds | Mark James | 3:14 | |||
13. | 2/19/69 | previously unreleased take | Kentucky Rain | Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard | 3:10 | |||
14. | 9/10/67 | previously unreleased take | Big Boss Man | Luther Dixon and Al Smith | 3:36 | |||
15. | 5/25/66 | previously unreleased take | Down in the Alley | Jesse Stone | 3:11 | |||
16. | 5/27/63 | previously unreleased | Memphis Tennessee | Chuck Berry | 2:12 | |||
17. | 6/25/61 | previously unreleased take | I'm Yours | Hal Blair and Don Robertson | 2:17 | |||
18. | 6/25/61 | previously unreleased take | (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame | Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman | 2:00 | |||
19. | 6/25/61 | previously unreleased take | That's Someone You Never Forget | Red West and Elvis Presley | 2:38 | |||
20. | 10/30/60 | previously unreleased take | Surrender | Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman | 1:50 | |||
21. | 4/3/60 | previously unreleased version | It's Now or Never | Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold | 3:14 | |||
22. | 3/26/60 | previously unreleased | Love Me Tender / Witchcraft | Vera Matson and Elvis Presley / Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh | 1:42 |
References
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters at AllMusic
- ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 891. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "Elvis Presley: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ^ Simpson, Paul (2004). The Rough Guide to Elvis. London: Rough Guides. pp. 156–57. ISBN 1-84353-417-7.