In another post I had referred to getting my hands on a bunch of Elvis Presley outtakes. I was on a radio tour with country singer Stephen Cochran, driving around Pennsylvania or somewhere, when his radio promo guy informed us that he had this collection. He asked us if we wanted to take a listen, to which we both enthusiastically said, “Does Dustin Hoffman wish he had another role like he did in Rain Man????”
It was amazing that we both said those exact words at the same time. I was actually going to say John Travolta ala Pulp Fiction, but I am glad I chose Dustin Hoffman instead.
So we end up listening to nothing but those Elvis outtakes for the rest of the trip. If memory serves, the entire tour took a few days… we were smashed in a sedan… these cds really helped the time pass by. I’m a big fan of Elvis, and totally dug the music on these discs… it was great to hear Elvis in a more natural state. He messed up, he swore, he joked, he laughed, he rehearsed… there were three discs in all, and each of them held multiple takes of certain songs like “Treat Me Nice,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Heartbreak Hotel.”
For those of you that are asking yourselves, “Who’s this Elvis Presley guy?”
There’s the door. Please close it on your way out. I’m not even going to open the door for you… just throw yourself out… and leave me some money to pay for a new door.
Elvis Presley just happened to be the lead singer of Dread Zeppelin, a Led Zeppelin cover band that did Zeppelin songs Reggae style.
Anyhow, before Elvis’ career with Dread Zeppelin, he had pretty decent solo career. He racked up a good amount of gold and number one records, and is considered to be the “King of Rock n’ Roll,” or just simply, “The King.”
Elvis has one of the most versatile voices in music, being able to cross over from R&B to blues, to gospel, to country, to Vegas-style, to cheesy (remember “Clambake?”) to well, anything else you can think of. I’ve never heard him rap, but I can probably guess he’d kick ass in it. Elvis could probably throw a pretty wicked curve ball as well…
So what I’m gonna do here is start slowly posting these Elvis outtakes. I don’t know how many of you have heard these recordings, but even if you have, they’re worth listening to again.
The coolest thing about these recordings is to realize that they were all done live. There were no overdubs, no “comping” of solos, no Pro Tools, no nothing. If someone messed up, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) had to redo the take.
Some of the songs go up to take nineteen. Man alive, I’ve been in the studio before… nineteen takes of the same song… WOW. That’s gotta hurt.
I will post these as I get them uploaded into the server. I can’t promise that I’ll get them all done in a row… but I do promise that I’ll get to them all. I really hope you all enjoy these because they are priceless… a true piece of Rock n’ Roll history.
Do me a favor and let me know what you think of these recordings! And if you dig them, go pick up some Elvis records and compare the final product to the outtakes. That’s always a fun time!!!
Buy It: Elvis Presley
Your Dig-It Downloads:
Download: That’s When Your Heartache Begins (take 2 stereo)
Download: Blueberry Hill (take 9 stereo master)
Download: Have I Told You Lately That I Love You (take 15 stereo master)
Download: It Is So Strange (take 12 stereo)
Download: Jailhouse Rock(take 6 stereo master)
Download: Treat Me Nice (take 19 movie version)
Download: Treat Me Nice (take 13 movie version)
Download: I Want To Be Free (take 12 movie version)
Download: You’re So Square (take 1 stereo)
Download: G.I. Blues (take 6)
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I am rather excited about this post. I have heard some great Elvis outtakes from you before and they were so interesting to listen to. To hear him in a different setting, thinking about the fact that they had to ALL do these takes every single time. Amazing.
I might just have to get my mom to visit your site. She would love this article. We grew up with Elvis, needless to say my mom was a fan.
Louis
I LOVE these outtakes! I can’t wait to hear more! Elvis has always been a part of my life. Listening to him as I grew up and watching his movies and I still enjoy watching him and listening to him. I have one of his videos on my myspace page. My brother was such a huge fan of Elvis’, I wish he could hear these. He would love them!!
These recordings are AMAZING!! Keep ‘em coming Louis!!
One of my favorite jobs was working in a recording studio. I loved hearing different takes. Screw-ups were fun for me (maybe not so much for the bands). This was great, thanks!
These are great. Man, the fact that if someone screwed up, they would ALL have to do it again is pretty cool (to me, not them, I’m sure). Nowadays people don’t even have to be in the same country to record music together. How times have changed.
These are great; i’m 59 years old and grew up listening to ELVIS in 1956 when my mom would daily iron my father’s work clothing. She would dance and keep on ironing without a care in the world… man they were nice days. Thank you!