Half a century after the release of "Elvis Presley" Sony's own collector's label Follow That Dream Records issued a special editon of the album. It's a set of two cds, presented in a 5" digi-pack and accompanied by a booklet with background information, pictures, etc. The discs include the original album, bonus tracks, outtakes and an interview. The dsd (direct stream digital) transfer was handled by Andreas Meyer at the Sony Studios in New York, Kevan Budd was responsible for the mastering. In 2007 Vic Anesini remastered the complete catalogue of the king, further work was done in 2016. But I have to admit that this FTD release doesn't sound any worse than "The Complete Elvis Presley Masters" (2010) or "The RCA Album Collection" (2016). For unknown reasons Follow That Dream Records sticks to the nearly extincted cd format and doesn't release their products digitally via the streaming platforms.

In this review I will only deal with the tracks that cannot be found on the original album. To read about "Elvis Presley" as released in 1956 tap HERE.

The specials of the special edition start with the masters that could have been on the album, but were left out for release on singles. Here we talk about the 45s "Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was The One", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" / "Shake, Rattle & Roll" and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" / "My Baby Left Me".

"Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was The One" was released on January 27, 1956, held the number one spot of Billboard's "Top 100" for seven consecutive weeks, sold four million units and was awarded with Platinum (1992) and Double Platinum (1999) by the RIAA. RCA Victor also released the track on the ep "Heartbreak Hotel" (1956), the albums "Elvis' Gold Records - Volume 1" (1958) and "A Legendary Performer - Volume 1" (1974) as well as on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970). Live performances can be found on the albums "Elvis" (1968) and "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972). The song was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden. Because Axton wanted to do the young singer a favor, she credited him as a writer and therefore gave him a third of the royalties. In the song the narrator was left by his girl and lives at Heartbreak Hotel, just down the end of Lonely Street. Elvis' vocals mirror the somewhat morbid mood of the tune, the echo also adds a special note. Elvis recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" on January 10, 1956 and chose take number 7 as the master. Producer Steve Sholes wasn't too happy about the track, because up to that point the young singer had been most successful with hyped-up versions of well known country songs. Besides that nobody at RCA Victor seemed to like "Heartbreak Hotel". It's not known weather Sholes trusted the instinct of the Hillbilly Cat or if he thought the first 45 would bomb anyway and he had better control of his artist if he could be made responsible for the flop. Whatever his thoughts might have been, after "Heartbreak Hotel" turned out to be a massive hit discussions of that kind were a thing of the past.

The ballad in mid-tempo was written by Aaron Schroeder, Claude DeMetrius, Hal Blair and Bill Peppers. Elvis recorded it on January 11, 1956 within ten takes. Because Steve Sholes mixed up the numbering and announced the takes 2, 3 and 7 twice, the master take was labled as "take 7b". The singer was left by his girl and now approaches her new partner. Obviously he once had found the girl completely untouched and taught her how to kiss, to caress and to get the tears flowing if necessary. And now, after his magnum opus is finished, it's gone. Shit happens! RCA Victor released the song on the ep "Heartbreak Hotel" (1956), the album "For LP Fans Only" (1959) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970).

Lloyd Price had written and recorded the song in 1952. On February 3, 1956 Elvis put 12 takes on tape at the RCA Studio 1 in New York and selected number 10 as the master. I like the song very much, RCA Victor released it in 1959 on the album "For LP Fans Only". Live performances can be found on "Elvis" (1968) and "Elvis As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974). In the movie "Change Of Habit" (1969) Dr. John Carpenter (Elvis) plays a few bars of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" on the piano, a complete version could be seen in "Elvis On Tour" (1972).

This one is a cover version, too. Joe Turner recorded "Shake, Rattle & Roll" in 1954, the composer is named Carles Calhoun. The rock'n'roll pioneer Bill Haley had the biggest hit with the song, even though he alleviated the lyrics a bit. In his version the lady is in the kitchen instead of the bed and the see-through dress is substituted by a nice hairdo. Elvis also left out the raunchy dress, but the lady was back in the bed and the verse with the one-eyed cat and the seafood store (at the time extremely suggestive paraphrases of the male and femal genitals) was also used. This recording was made on February 3, 1956 and take 12b was chosen as master take. On the same day Elvis, Scotty, Bill and D.J. overdubbed the backup vocals.

In early 1955 Ray Charles had stormed the R&B-Charts with a song called "I've Got A Woman" and a very young Elvis had included it in his live show almost immediately. The song was based on the gospel "It Must Be Jesus" and was written by Renald Richard and Ray Charles. The Hillbilly Cat recorded it on January 10, 1956 at the RCA Studio in Nashville/Tennessee and needed eight takes to do so. RCA Victor also releaded "I Got A Woman" on the extended player "Elvis Presley" (1956), the double-ep "Elvis Presley" (1956), on a single with "I'm Counting On You" (1956) and on the album "Pure Gold" (1975). Elvis himself obviously loved the song because he kept it in his live show until the very end. It's also featured on "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974) and "Elvis In Concert" (1977).

Follow That Dream Records changed the order of the tracks completely. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" / "My Baby Left Me" was released in May 1956, while "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" / "Shake, Rattle And Roll" was issued in August. Besides that, "I Want You..." was the a-side. Compared to "Heartbreak Hotel" Elvis' second single release was not too successful. It moved only 50% of the copies sold of Elvis' previous single and made it "only" to number 3 on the Billboard Charts. RCA Victor released "My Baby Left Me" on the ep "The Real Elvis" (1956), the album "For LP Fans Only" (1959) and the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2" (1971). A live version can be found on "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974). The song was written by Arthur Crudup and is basically a copy of his own "That's All Right". To me "My Baby Left Me" is better, because D.J. Fontana's drums provide a lot of drive and Elvis sings with more energy. The studio version was recorded on January 30, 1956 at the RCA Studio in New York.

This schmaltz was recorded on April 14, 1956 at the RCA Studios in Nashville/Tennessee. Because no satisfactory take could be archived, Steve Sholes created a master by splicing takes 14 and 17. The song was written by Maurice Mysels and Ira Kosloff, RCA Victor released it on the ep "The Real Elvis" (1956), the album "Elvis' Golden Records" (1958) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970). Take 15 was released on the album "A Legendary Performer - Volume 2" (1976).

The recording was started in the middle of a performance. The second attempt is hampered by timing issues, at some point Elvis looses track.

We really get nothing else than fragments. One of eight, the other one of twentyfour seconds.

Scotty Moore obviously has problems with the intro of the song and needs several attempts to get it going. Unfortunately the recording is faded soon after the performance was underway. The next take works well, although nobody seems to know which take it is. Now we get to hear take 13, which means we are deep into the session. This must also have been the case regarding the unknown take, because both sound very similar. The only glitch is a break shortly before the two minute mark. Take 14 works well, here the recording is faded ten seconds before the end of the song. Maybe the tape was damaged.

The first take is nothing but a few bars of the intro. I guess Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon (the producers of this set) simply wanted to release every bit they had. The second attempt is also finished after a few bars, but this time because the musicians had stopped. The producer regards this as a false start and keeps take 2 going. The performance works quite well, even though Elvis still has some problems with the bridge and doesn't sing as snappy as on the master take. The 3rd try starts with Scotty Moore messing up the intro, but once again Steve Sholes doesn't regard the mistake as a separate attempt. Once again the recording is faded for unknown reasons. The track ends with a complete alternate performance of "I Was The One".

The "dry reverb tape" was a tape that was used to record Elvis' vocals. The technicians of RCA tried to imitate the echo effect of the SUN recordings. The first take is just the intro, the second one is faded after 1.5 minutes.

Scotty Moore rehearses a bit on the guitar, Elvis also tries to figure his vocals out. Take 1 sounds a tad reserved, obviously everyone tries to warm up. After a snippet of something that must have been on the original analogue tape we get to hear take 3. Elvis sounds more secure and Scotty's guitar solo is more dynamic. Instead of "goodbye Tarnell, darling" Elvis sings "goodbye, goodbye, baby". Take 4 offers a variation of the intro, this time Elvis sings "goodbye little darling". The fifth attempt is marked by variations. The rock'n'roll king tries some new accentuations, Scotty Moore changes the guitar solo, which doesn't work too well. On take 6 the singer tries to suppress his laughter shortly before the song ends. Now the pianist starts before the engeneer has done the count-in and is interrupted by him. He "answers" by playing a few bars of "The Yellow Rose Of Texas". The recording attempt works well (Elvis is back to sing "goodbye Tarnell, darling"), until there is a technical distortion. On take 8 Scotty Moore is trying out another guitar solo, but it doesn't work at all and the attempt is canceled. The 9th take works well, this time Elvis again leaves out the name (Tarnell) of his loved one. Take 10 would later be chosen as master, therefore we get to hear the well known version plus the count-in. Attempt number 11 is nothing but a messed up piano intro, take 12 once again is a complete performance without any improvement of what was archived before. Elvis and his team obviously thought the same and continued the session with "Shake, Rattle And Roll".

We hear musicians talking, then there's the count-in. But we don't hear all that much of take 1, because just a few seconds have survived on the old tape. Take 2 is complete and it's obvious Elvis and the band have performed this song quite a lot. By the way, the verse with the see-through dress is still there and we also hear a piano solo. The next few attempts are no more than false starts. At one point Elvis misses his cue (he apologizes and claims to have learned the words), at another he has to laugh. Take 7 is a complete performance again. Now the future rock'n'roll king asks "Same lyrics?" That's the case and so we have the see-through dress, the one-eyed cat and the seafood store. The piano solo is also back again. The next two tries are nothing but false starts, take 12 is a long false start. After 1.5 minutes the performance collapses and D.J. Fontana plays a little solo. Even though Steve Sholes had regarded this false start as separate take, he doesn't announce a new one. The next attempt works perfectly and will be selected as master take. Later backup vocals will be added and Sholes would shorten the take a bit.

Of the first take only the count-in has survived. On attempt number 3 Elvis still doesn't know how to emphasize certain words and at one point even comes to a halt. Now D.J. Fontana tryes to play with the brush, his boss still hasn't got the timing right. Take 5 is not really there, we hear just the count-in. Jumping ahead to take 13 the whole scenario has changed. By now everybody knows what to do and Elvis can focus on his performance. The singer makes some funny remarks, then take 14 follows. Unfortunately we don't hear the complete recording. Later Steve Sholes used a part of this track for the master. On the 15th attempt Elvis plays a little bit with the melody and sometimes sings "I need you, I want you, I love you". The same happens during the next take. Finally the session is closed with the 17th try. Once again Elvis is playing around with the melody. This take would also be used for the spliced master.

This interview took place in 1956 in connection with the show "Time Hill Frolic", which was sponsored by the Gruen Watch Company and send out to the radiostations.