Yes, he still recorded a ton of concerts, but for all intents and purposes, this 4 disc set has Elvis The King at his last “great” studio session. It’s the 50s anniversary of this session that resulted in his classic Elvis Country album as well as having tunes included on Love Letters From Elvis, Elvis Now and That’s The Way It Is.
Riding on the high tide of his successful Back In Memphis album where he had a relaxed session with local cats, Elvis repeated the same idea in Nashville, surrounding himself for a 5-day marathon with even long term sideman James Burton joining in on guitar, along with Chip Young and Eddie Hinton. Filling out the band was Norbert Putnam/b, Jerry Carrigan/dr, David Briggs/p, Charlie McCoy/org-harm and Charlie Hodge/voc with Elvis strumming on acoustic guitar.
The results have Elvis delving into every part of his repertoire, ranging from big and bold arias of ballads, bel canto romance, raucous boogie, casual back porch folk, straight-ahead rock and of course a dash of gospel.
The band itself shows off its chops on a handful of jams that you wish would never end, as on “Mystery Train” and “Tiger Man”. Elvis preaches it on the corner for a hard hitting “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” takes you to the swamp on the bluesy The Fool” and yee haws at the hoedown on “A Hundred Years From Now”. The team twangs through a vintage VFW read of “It’s Your Baby, You Rock It” and takes you to the dusty back roads with Elvis and McCoy’s harp getting down and dirty on “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water” that has Elvis sound absolutely convincing as if he were sitting next to you after you picked him up in your old Ford. Elvis sound absolutely comfortable here, relaxed enough to take vocal chances with his range and little ad libs, like it was a night at the Moose Lodge. Just take a listen to Elvis sounding like he couldn’t even get into a Vegas nightclub as a janitor as he shuffles the blues on a bona fide juke joint jumping “Faded Love”.
For the ladies, Elvis works up a romantic sweat on tear in the beer specials like “Tomorrow Never Comes” , “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Snowbird” going the extra mile on an agonizing and definitive read of “Make The World Go Away” while he shows up in his faded blue jeans for the muscular men, with Burton in a fiery mood, and rocks out on a fist pumping “Patch It Up,” a torrid and maniacally piano’d “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and a gritty “Got My Mojo Working/Keep Your Hands Off Of It”.
There’s a collection of outtakes and studio chatter; most interesting is the C&W version of “Faded Love” and the casual mood during the rehearsals or extra takes of “You Love Me” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Through it all, even on the cover photo, Elvis comes across as just one of the boys, and possibly trying to hang on to that last part of his life.
There’s also a great 28 page booklet that has notes by producer Mikael Jorgensen as well as some nice work by essayist David Cantwell. The last time at home before Vegas took him for the last time.