In 2010 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "How Great Thou Art". The set includes two compact discs and a booklet, which are housed in a 7" digipak. The mastering was done by Sebastian Jeansson. Besides the tracks of the original album the new version also features the songs "We Call On Him", "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" (which were available on singles only at the time) and several outtakes. Because FTD sticks to compact discs and vinyl, this collector's edition is not available on the streaming platforms.

In this review I will only deal with the recordings, which are not available on the original album or the original singles. For a review of RCA Victor's "How Great Thou Art" album just tap HERE.

"We're rolling, this is "How Great Thou Art", take 1" announces the producer. But the first attempt lasts only a few seconds. Obviously the arrangement has been worked out in advance and I am pretty sure that the group rehearsed the song before the tapes rolled. It's just too perfect for a first walkthrough.

The first take is a failed intro, in the background someone is harrumphing. The 3rd attempt is canceled, because Elvis' voice cracks in the middle of the song. Take number 11 is close to the master.

Take one is nothing but a few bars of the intro. The next try works better, but Elvis has trouble to keep the beat.

We hear studio talk and rehearsals by the musicians. During the actual performance several instruments are arranged different to the master, Elvis sings "...life would be hopeless" instead of "...life would be worthless".

The first walkthrough is performed with less zest, which is no real surprise.

The same can be said about this take. It's good, but the exuberance of the master take is missing.

Once again everybody knows the song, but the last "kick" isn't there yet.

The words are coming fast, but Elvis masters them well. Especially considering that this is the first walkthrough. But in the middle of the song he misses his cue and the take is canceled. The second try is a complete performance, albeit it still lacks some drive.

Instead of presenting the recordings in their original form, Follow That Dream Records crafted their own alternate take by splicing stuff together. WTF?!?

Elvis says "Give me a little bit of an intro". The performance begins in a somewhat dragging way, it's obvious that the arrangement has not been worked out in detail. But the king sings with so much emotion, he virtually can't stop and ignores the planned ending of the song. The musicians are on their toes and react to Elvis' spontaneity in the best way possible. The performance is not perfect at all, but it's nothing but great. For me, this track is the highlight of this album.

Take 1 is nothing but a false start. The second attempt is a good one, already quite close to the master.

Elvis stumbles upon the line "I've been down on my bended knees" and ends the walkthrough. Take number 4 lasts longer, but this time the king gets tangled up at the last quarter of the song and says "start over again". The 5th try is just a few bars of the intro, the tempo is discussed amongst the musicians. Take 6 is a complete performance, that sounds similar to the master.

We hear some studio talk before the official recording begins. It doesn't last long, it's agreed to play the song a tad faster. After a false start, the next take is a complete performance. Here and there Elvis has problems with the timing, but in general it's working fine. Now the choir rehearses a bit, the king complains about not being able to read the lyrics. He adds "When the storms of light are raging...ok...I got it". Nevertheless the following attempt to record the song is canceled, because Elvis gets off his lyric sheet. "Give us just a little bit of light" he says. I guess the studio was darkened to generate the right mood. Now the king can read the lyrics and delivers a fine performance, that easily could have been the master, too.

The producer cancels take 2 after a while, because the intro could have worked better. Felton Jarvis is right, the piano sounded a bit too improvised and Elvis came in a tad too reluctant. The next walkthrough ends, because the king looses track and simply stops to sing. Because the performance wasn't bad up to that point, the group produces a workpart-take with the last part of the song. The first wp-take is complete, the second one is canceled and number three is complete again. The track ends with the 5th workpart-take, which is also complete.

The producer announces "We're rolling, this is "So High" take 2". After the pianist failed to play the intro, the announcement is an emotionless "three", which seems to amuse Elvis. The performance is much more loose than the first one. Because not everything is played 100% perfect, the whole thing has somewhat of a relaxed "church feeling".

Take number one is canceled after a few lines, the second one sounds really good. Unfortunately Elvis gets off the lyric sheet and has to end the attempt to record the song.

The first takes are nothing but a series of false starts, somehow the group has trouble to find into the song. When it finally works Elvis stumbles over the lyrics and sings "And we wonder why the test...wonder what the hell is that" and quits the attempt to record "By And By". Another false start is followed by another incomplete performance, this time its the pianist, who goofs it up. Once again the group has trouble to find into the song, but then we hear a complete version of "By And By".

Because the piano player misses his cue Elvis continues "I come to..." not with "...the garden", but "...the piano". The second take is another false start, followed by some rehearsals. Finally the third attempt works well and already sounds very good.

Take number 12 is a complete performance and quite close to the master. The 14th take is a false start, which is followed by another one. But this time the producer doesn't count it as a separate take, but allocates it to take 15. The group tries again and delivers a good performance. The only letdown is, that Elvis voice cracks on the word "when". The track ends with workpart-take 5, which is the finale of the song.

Some musicians are rehearsing, then Elvis leads over to the official recording by saying "ok". A false start (take 4) is followed by a complete performance (take 8), where the king again sings "...life would be hopeless" instead of "...life would be worthless". The takes number 11 and 13 are canceled by the producer. Both times the reason is a p-pop at the word "ship". Finally the 14th attempt is a complete performance again.

Once again we hear some rehearsals. The second take sounds too tame, which is criticized by Elvis after a short while. Attempt number 3 breaks down after just a few seconds, the 4th take is a complete performance, albeit still a tame one. Take number 6 is another complete performance. It still hasn't the zest of the master, but its moving in the right direction.

Here Elvis was singing to a pre-produced music track. The first take is canceled because the king has to laugh. But the second one was so good, that it was released.

Elvis comes in too hesitantly and cancels the take. The 5th attempt isn't just a complete performance, but could have also been selected as master. Take number 7 is another complete performance, but not as perfect as number 5. With take 8 the group delivers another performance, which could easily have been released.

The king has to start twice, but the producer regards this as a single take. Compared to the first attempt the second one sounds more coordinated. Take 3 is nothing more than the words "When you walk". The next two tries are long false starts. The first one is canceled by Elvis, the second one is stopped because the guitar player made a mistake. Take 8 is almost complete. The performance isn't perfect yet, the take is finally canceled after the finale doesn't work out as planned.