Follow That Dream released their collector's edition of "Love Letters From Elvis" in 2008. As usual it featured 2 cds stored in a 5" digi-pak and accompanied by a booklet. The masters are the same versions Sony Music Entertainment used on "The Complete Elvis Presley Masters", the outtakes were mixed and mastered by Lene Reidel. Until this very day FTD refuses to distribute their products in a modern way and sticks to cds and vinyl.

I will leave out all the tracks of the original album and just review what's exclusively on this special edition. For a review of RCA Victor's 1971 release just tap HERE.

Here the singer leaves his woman in the middle of the night, because he couldn't stand her crying. To me the melody is reminicent of a musical tune, maybe that's what sets it apart from other power ballads of the king. He recorded it on June 4, 1970 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee within 10 takes. On June 22nd Felton Jarvis added harmony voices, on June 30th strings and brass. The production was finalized on October 1st. The producer added more backup vocals and shortened the recording of more than a minute. Even though "The Sound Of Your Cry" was just the b-side of "It's Only Love" in 1971, RCA released the track ten years later on the album "Elvis' Greatest Hits Volume 1".

The singer yearns for his loved one, but she ignores him and doesn't call. Elvis recorded the ballad on June 8, 1970 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee and approved the nineth take for postproduction and release. The producer added further instruments (June 9th), harmony voices (June 22nd), strings and horns (July 20th) and even more strings (July 22nd). Somehow the king wasn't too convinced of the result, because it was neither released on "That's The Way It Is", nor on "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old" or even "Love Letters From Elvis". Why it finally ended up on "Elvis Now" in 1972 cannot be explained. Maybe the intension was simply to clean out the vaults before using a recent recording.

If the woman of his heart answers his love, everything will turn out to be good. At least that's the hope of the singer, who belts his feelings out to the world. The original version was released by Tony Bennett in 1953, the authors are Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Elvis recorded "Rags To Riches" on September 22, 1970 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee, the master take is a splice of take 4 and take 3 (just a single line was used). The piano intro and the backup voices were recorded on September 23rd. On December 31, 1976 Elvis performed "Rags To Riches" live on stage in Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania. RCA Victor released the studio recording in early 1971 on the b-side of the single "Where Did They Go, Lord". During Elvis' lifetime the song wasn't available on an album. In 1980 RCA Records finally included the track on the boxed set "Elvis Aron Presley".

Most fans are familiar with the version on the double album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite", but Elvis also recorded "Something" in 1970 for the "That's The Way It Is" project. The version taped during the midnight show on August 11, 1970 at the International Hotel in Las Vegas was supposed to be released on "Love Letters From Elvis", but finally cancelled. The king introduced the song with "...from The Beatles' songbook, ladies and gentlemen" and performed it much better than in 1973. The ballad was written by George Harrison and released on the flipside of "Come Together" in 1969.

The recording begins with studio talk and rehearsals. On the fist take Elvis misses many notes and has trouble to emphsize the words. He finally has to laugh and stopps this attempt with "Just hold it, man!". Take 2 is nothing but some rehearsals and a few bars of the song. The third take is a complete performance, but a very flawed one. The king seems to like the grande finale, because he repeats it endlessly. As a joke he finally sings in rather hysterical fashion.

The country rock doesn't challenge anybody, but everyone seems to enjoy it immensely. Elvis ends the song by singing "fade this motherfucker".

The king and his guys discuss the song and try to figure out an intro. Take 1 is played at a slower tempo and Elvis hasn't figured out the details yet. In-between he looses track and includes words like "goddamn" and "motherfucker". At the end he has to laugh and admits "I almost fell, leaning against this fuckin' wall".

We hear a few attempts to start the song and a long intro. As "From Elvis In Nashville", a boxed set released by Sony Music Entertainment in 2020, revealed, the recording was edited by FTD to protect the fans from some cusswords. However, the second attempt works well and features a great solo by James Burton on accustic guitar and a nice country styled piano part.

Take 1 is stopped after fourty seconds, then the musicians coordinate themselves and James Burton rehearses his guitar part. The second take is played faster than the released version and Elvis still tries to figure out how to emphasize certain lines.

There is no take announcement. The musicians are rehearsing and jamming, suddenly Elvis starts to sing. Everything sounds somewhat improvised, but in general it all works well.

The song is played faster and Elvis doesn't sound as emotional as on the master. It's the first attempt and he still needs to figure out his performance. The band ends the song quite early, afterwards we hear some rehearsals.

The king makes hysteric noises and remarks "Go apeshit". The rehearsal isn't a serious one, Elvis has to laugh and finally stopps the performance. He claims to fear to be electrocuted by his headphones and explains that he has to catch a flight in the evening. He appears to be somewhat hyped up. However, take 2 is a complete performance, afterwards he remarks "Too slow, just a hair too slow".

The second compact disc of the set starts with a radio spot for "Love Letters From Elvis".

There are some practices by the musicians, we also hear studio talk. On the fifth take Elvis sings "the clock by the bed is ticking" and that's about it. The sixth attempt is a complete performance. The king sings not as lively as on the master take, the organ is mixed a bit more upfront which sounds interesting.

The second take starts with some inarticulated singing, so Elvis stops the performance after a short while. The next try works very well, Elvis and his crew are obviously having fun and are operating at full throttle. No wonder this take was chosen as the basis for the master.

Elvis and the band are having fun in the studio. At some point Felton Jarvis realizes what's happening and records the jam session. Therefore the recording starts in mid-song. It's not a smooth performance, but everyone has fun and it really shows. At the end we hear Elvis saying "We grew up with this mediocre shit".

James Burton rehearsas his part, in the background we hear talking and laughter. Elvis jokes "Was that a take?". Of course it wasn't, the official recording starts now. But the king doesn't get far because he fails on the change of key at the line "I never thought these eyes would see..." and admits "I blew it wide open". Take 3 is complete, but still Elvis sounds insecure here and there.

The group doesn't find into the song (take 3), finally Elvis claims "That's a good intro" and stops the attempt to record (take 4). Once again the performance is burried after just a few bars (take 5). Finally everything works well and it could even have been a potential master take if the king hadn't played around with the song right before the end (take 6).

Take 6 ends after half a minute, on the next one Elvis has to laugh and asks the band to slow down the tempo. The 9th take begins with a false start, the second attempt is cancelled by Elvis in mid-song. The track ends with take number 11, which works so well that the king would select it for post-production and release.

Elvis scoffs "That goddamned thing is as long as life, you know it", but nevertheless delivers a charming performance.

The musicians are jamming a bit, then Elvis says "OK, here we go". The second take works well, but the king stops it on the last chorus. We hear the sound engineer calling out "still rolling" whereupon the band starts over once more. Even though it's a good performance (which later would be chosen as master take) the king and his band repeat a chorus and the finale.

As usual FTD couldn't overcome the urge to present a false start prior to a complete performance and therefore had to change the chronological order. On the third take Elvis' voice cracks on the word "sign", afterwards he completely gets lost and wants to do another take. But instead of take 4 we get to hear take 1, which is complete and well performed. But it just can't match the beauty of Elvis' original recording.

Elvis and James Burton are coordinating the guitar parts, then the official take starts. The king soon gets entangled in the melody and stops. As a joke he starts to sing "The Yellow Rose Of Texas". When the band joins in the singer is amused by the fact that his guys obviously can play anything anytime. The next take works better, but Elvis is still struggling and finally cancels it. While take 4 is nothing but a false start, the next attempt works quite well. Obviously the king doesn't want to spend much time on the ballad, because he considered it a master take even though his performance was not perfect. He simply left it to his producer to iron out the most obvious glitches in the post-production.

FTD presents the complete session of this throwaway. Elvis and the band are rehearsing the chorus and the finale. Obviously they have some troubles to get the song going, because we here a series of false starts. But then it suddenly works, at least to a certain degree. The song is played slower and Elvis stumbles upon the melody and the lyrics. When finally his voice cracks, he quits the take and says "Let's try again". I guess there was a little rehearsal before the tape rolled again, because on take 4 everything works much better and Elvis sounds more secure. Nevertheless he misses several notes and has some problems with the timing. Once again the king considered the first half-decent attempt a master take and moved on.

We hear some studio talk and rehearsals. Suddenly Elvis says "We try it" and therefore the first take is started. The first two takes are simply false starts, when it finally workes the song is played at a slower tempo and the king also sounds a bit reserved. In mid-song he stops the performance. On take four Elvis can't get his timing right and so he doesn't finish this one either. Now we fast-forward to take 9. By now the king knows how to handle the ballad and delivers a good, complete performance. He later approved this version for post-production and release.

The set is closed by an impressive take of "Rags To Riches". The harmony vocals are arranged different to the master and Elvis sings in a somewhat reserved style. I like this version better than the almost hysterical performance on the single.