When Follow That Dream Records started their series of "classic albums" in 2003, "It Happened At The World's Fair" was amongst the first releases. The cd is stored in a 5" digi-pak and accompanied by a booklet with background information, photos, etc. Besides the tracks of the original album it also features several outtakes. Of course music streaming was not existant way back in 2003, but FTD still hasn't managed to distribute their releases in a contemporary way and sticks to the extingted cd format.

The recordings were remastered by Lene Reidel. Because the previously unreleased outtakes had also to be mixed, they sound much better than the masters, which had been mixed according to the specifications of MGM. Meanwhile all tracks have been remastered several times so that the current release of "It Happened At The World's Fair" sounds better than this version by FTD. But at the time this one took the lead regarding audio quality.

Here I will deal only with the tracks not featured on the original soundtrack. If you want to read a review of the RCA album "It Happened At The World's Fair", just tap HERE.

Obviously Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon (the producers of this set) wanted to present some false starts first and finish with a complete performance. Therefore they switched the chronological order of the takes. The recording starts with the musicians rehearsing their parts, Elvis jokes around and sings "I'm running out of breath". The take doesn't get old, because Elvis fails on the transition to the verse. Take 3 has a running time of 40 seconds, then the king says "excuse me, would you just play that much back...I want to hear something". Finally we get to hear a complete performance, which is take 1. Here Elvis also sings the additional verse ("hey cupid, where are you...). Obviously it wasn't meant to be especially for the movie, but simply left out after the thrid take.

For a first take this one is almost outrageously good. In contrast to the master we hear an organ playing along.

Once again the order is changed to start with false starts and end with a complete performance. On takes 2, 3 and 4 Elvis has problems with the count-in and doesn't know how to start his performance. Take 1 works very well and sounds more laid-back than the master.

The sound engineer announces the song, in the background we hear rehearsals of the musicians. On the first take Elvis sings "..hop the grass is greener" instead of "..hope the grass is greener" and stops the recording. He jokes and sings a short part of "From The Bottom Of My Heart". The next attempt works well, here the song is played at a slower tempo.

Elvis stops the first take after a few lines because he thinks the tempo is too slow. Take 2 is abandoned because of a distortion. With the fourth try we hear a complete performance which sounds very similar to the master.

After a few bars of "Surrender" the king starts the second take of "How Would You Like To Be". He emphasizes a few words differently, but in general he's already close to the master take.

The organ is now left out and Elvis sings a bit more subdued.

Elvis and his team are already very close to the final result.

The king and his musicians coordinate themselves, but then they fail on the intro and the take is stopped. The next try runs for a minute or so, then Elvis wants to hear the musicians a bit more upfront on his headphones. On take 6 one of the musicians makes a mistake which causes some laughter. With the seventh take we finally get to hear a complete performance. Elvis emphasizes several words different to the released version, which I like better.

This one is already close to the master, but the organ is mixed more upfront than in the official version.

On take 6 the pianist fails on the intro. After that Elvis claims "the bass singer is corrupting me". Take 7 is a complete performance and I have to admit, that it's a perfect one.

Elvis coordinates the performance with D.J. Fontana, but nevertheless the take is stopped after a few bars. The next try also fails, this time the tempo is too slow. The seventh take is complete, to me it sounds more laid-back than the master and has a cool nightclub feeling.

The arrangement is somewhat different to the master. Take 4 is running for 40 seconds, but then Elvis misses a note and makes fun of his mistake. The next attempt also doesn't get old, but take 6 is complete. Elvis still has some troubles here and there, he hasn't figured his performance out yet. 

Because of the flu Elvis had to cancel the sessions in August. Here we get to hear his first version of "Take Me To The Fair", which only exists on a scratchy vinyl disc. The sound really isn't all that great, but I am happy that FTD releases stuff like that.