Three years after the start of their series of classic albums, Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Loving You". It was the meanwhile usual set of two compact discs and a booklet. The first disc included the tracks of the original album and several bonus songs. In the middle of the 2000s Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon (the guys behind the collector's label) couldn't imagine to release special editons of the "Elvis' Golden Records" series, so they included other recordings of this period as a bonus. The second disc contained outtakes. A huge part of them are the different versions of "Loving You". The audio restauration was done by Kevan Budd, who also had mastered the tracks on the cd "Elvis at SUN". Because FTD sticks to physical formats, the compilation cannot be found on the streaming platforms.

In this review I neither deal with the tracks of the original album, nor with the bonus songs ("One Night", "I Beg Of You", "All Shook Up", "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", Tell Me Why", "Is It So Strange", "When It Rains It Really Pours" and "One Night Of Sin"). For a review of the "Loving You" album, just tap HERE.

Elvis recorded the song twice, here we get the discarded master. On January 13, 1957 the song was performed a bit slower and doesn't sound as smooth as it would on the second try.

On January 16, 1957 Elvis recorded several versions of "Loving You". In this one the king is accompanied only by a guitar, it sounds as if he's singing the song just to himself. I like this performance very much.

The king recorded the track on January 15, 1957 and approved the seventh attempt for release. In the end Paramount opted for the first take of the record version, which was taped six days later. This "alternate master" sounds tamer and at times Elvis sings different lyrics.

On January 17, 1957 Elvis produced more variations of "Loving You". We hear the master take of the "main version", which also was not used. The recording begins with some studio talk and the count-in. Compared to the released performance, this one emphasizes on the rhythm, it almost sounds a little bit like jazz.

On January 17th Elvis had also recorded a take of the "farm version". Four days later he added 14 further takes. In contrast to the "main version" this one is arranged more subtle. I like it quite well.

This version has not as much drive as the one on the album, the ending is extended by the choir and the orchestra. This "finale" was recorded on January 18, 1957 within 13 takes.

After having taped the record version on January 13th, Elvis went on to record the movie version two days later. Because it didn't work out, he recorded another seven takes on January 21st. Finally Paramount just used the beginning and the end of take 7 and added the the middle part of two other, unknown takes. Here we get to hear the complete take 7. The arrangement differs to the record version, it doesn't sound as smooth. I don't like the movie version all that much.

We hear studio talk and a laughing Elvis. What follows, is the master of the "rhythmical" movie version.

This is the master take of the farm version.

The well known recording was made on January 19, 1957. But Elvis and his crew had tried out "Blueberry Hill" the day before. The second take of this "tryout" had been released by BMG in 1997 on the boxed set "Platinum - A Life In Music". At the time the tape had not run in the correct speed, which was correced by FTD. In general Kevan Budd was able to improve the audio quality quite a bit.

At the time Paramount used the end of this take for the master of the movie version. Elvis sounds more relaxed than on the record version, which makes the rock'n'roll tune less appealing.

We hear a count-in, the rhythm is given by handclaps. Take 1 works well and is a  complete performance. Elvis starts to sing the song again, but is interrupted by the producer, who has to do the count-in. He starts again, but stops after a few bars. On the third attempt the king has to refrain from laughing, but the performance is continued. Take 4 is canceled after a minute or so, because Elvis gets lost in the lyrics. He comments "Oh shit". The next two walkthroughs are complete performances, but on the seventh take the king has a frog in his throat. Now Elvis jokes a bit and sings "blowing" instead of "loving". The next take is canceled by the producer, the following attempt is a complete performance. Now the king gets salacious again and sings "eating you". He finally decides to do another serious take, which is a success.

The first take of the "rhythmical" version sounds a bit ponderous and sounds somewhat jazzy because of the various changes of time. Elvis wants to speed the song up, but the first try fails on the intro. Take 3 is a complete performance. The gang fools around a bit, then the 4th take collapses after a few lines. However, the takes number 5 to 8 are complete performances. The 9th attempt is a false start again, but the takes number 10 to 16 work well. The changes of time are now excluded, which gives the tune a more rocking sound. It's also tried to tap the beat, but Elvis cancels the take with a remark in the direction of DJ Fontana. The next two attempts work well, meanwhile the performance almost sounds exuberantly. Take number 20 is burried after the first two words, because Elvis has to laugh. The next try isn't just a complete performance, but also the master.

During the second half of the 1950s RCA experimented with multitrack recordings. Many other labels did the same, the goal was to come up with an affordable recording technolgy and accordant record players first, to establish the own system. One of these experiments was "binaural". To feed the engineers with material, a part of the sessions was recorded in mono (for release) and binaural (for research). Some of the tapes have survived, so FTD is able to present the first 15 takes of the "main version" in binaural, too.