Four decades after the original album Follow That Dream Records released a special edition of "Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas". As usual it was a set of two compact discs, housed in a 7" digi-pak and accompanied by a booklet with backgournd information, reprints of internal RCA documents, pictures of merchandising material, etc. The cover of the booklet featured the artwork of the European version of the album, which shows the king in suit and tie. That's "my" version of the album. The picture was taken in 1968 for the MGM movie "The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It)". The remastering of the tracks was done by Sebastian Jeansson, the outtakes were mixed and mastered by Vic Anesini. As usual FTD didn't release the special edition digitally.

I will only describe the tracks, that are not featured on the original album. For a review of RCA's "Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas" tap HERE.

Because Elvis wanted the song to have more drive, he recorded it again on June 10, 1971. In the end he opted for the first version, but had drums added.

The musicians coordinate themselves, Elvis sings a line of "Merry Christmas Baby". Take one fails because David Briggs doesn't get the intro right on the glockenspiel. On the second take the king comes in too early, but keeps on singing until he completely looses track and apologizes with "I'm sorry". Take three is complete, albeit there still is a lot of work to do. Elvis has problems with his timing, doesn't get the lyrics right and his voice cracks several times.

Elvis and the band coordinate themselves, parts of the song are rehearsed. The first take is a subdued affair, everybody sounds quite insecure. Nevertheless the king gives a much more focused impression than on the previous track.

Because the intro doesn't work the producer says "Let's do that one more time", at which Elvis jokingly replies "Yeah, but we just did it!". The second take works better, but halfway through the song the king looses his step. After some studio talk the third attempt is started and this time the song is performed completely. In contrast to the version on the album there are no drums and Elvis includes the verse with the kids (John, Michelle and Carey).

Take 1 is nothing but three false starts. The first two attempts are cancelled because the band doesn't find into the song. The third one is burried after James Burton makes a mistake. Something of real rarity value! The second take is a complete performance, even though Elvis has problems to emphasize certain lines and gets lost in the lyrics.

The musicians rehearse their parts, Elvis asks "Are you ready?". It's obviously not the case, because the they fail on the intro. After that an amplifier produces unwanted noises. Take 1 is a complete performance, albeit the king misses several notes.

Because Elvis wanted to inject more drive into the song, he added drums to it. The song is also played faster than in May. The first take is cancelled after a few bars, after that the musicians coordinate themselves and rehearse certain parts. The second take is a complete performance, strangely though the king once again uses the verse with the names of the children.

Now we jump back to the sessions in may, where Elvis recorded "I'll Be Home On Christmas Day" for the first time. The king suggests "Before we do eight verses, we cut it down to six". Of course this is a joke, he simply wants to leave out the verse with the names of the children. It's not a bad idea, because the kids are the offspring of the composer. In general it's a good choice, but the take itself isn't very successful. The musicians have trouble with the chord changes and Elvis misses several notes.

The second take is nothing but the intro. After that we hear discussions and some rehearsals. Take number 3 is a complete performance. Once again Elvis has some trouble with the lyrics, but in general everything is moving in the right direction.

Here the king tries out several things, plays with the melody and changes the emphasis of the words. I like this restrained performance very much, even though the ending still needs to be worked out.

The third take has the feeling of a jam. In-between Elvis gives instructions to the band and during the verse with the names of the children he has to laugh. I guess he knew how stupid it was to claim to miss the offspring of the composer. The performance is loose as a goose, I like it very much.

By mistake James Burton starts to play during the glockenspiel intro, which causes some laughter. Regarding the band take 5 works fine, but Elvis is stumbling through the song. Somehow I cannot help but thinking that he was under the influence of some kind of "medication" when he recorded "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)".

Elvis selected the first take as master take, so we hear the attempt he recorded after the well known version. Because all the overdubbed instruments and voices are missing, the performance sounds very different to the released track. The king also makes a mistake and comes in too early on "Sing, choires of angels".

It's not perfect yet. Elvis still has trouble with the timing, he also sings "...starts to say" instead of "...seems to say". In total he sounds more powerful and secure than on the earlier takes. He's definitely on the right track.

Elvis doesn't sing a serious version of "The Lord's Prayer". He goofs around and the musicians don't really seem to know what to do. It's nothing to write home about, but it's fun.

Elvis cancels take 5 after a few lines, but the following attempt turns out to be a complete performance. There are still a few glitches here and there, but in general it works well.

There's a false start, but the producer doesn't regard it as a separate take. Then we get to hear a complete, somewhat subdued performance, which I like very much. At one point Elvis skips the timing, but the band compensates the mistake very skillfully.

Before another attempt is started, parts of the song are rehearsed. But Elvis fools around instead of getting his part right. His behaviour soon results in another weak take. He messes up the timing and his voice overturns at times.

The cover claims that this take was not edited, but it's obviously false. There are two clearly audible cuts and the version also features the guitar part of Eddie Hinton, which was overdubbed later. But I guess this is all Sony has in their archives, because some of the old tapes are missing. Nevertheless we hear a considerably longer version of "Merry Christmas Baby" with some discussions and rehearsals upfront. As written in the review of the original album, this track is a joy to hear. Elvis and his guys are having fun and deliver a powerful, free-spirited performance.

On the fourth take Elvis comes in too early, on the fifth one he turns it into a joke and doesn't sing at all. He claims the intro was played too well and there was nothing to criticize, because nobody had done anything. Take number 6 is killed after a few lines because the king has to laugh. The next try is wrecked by Elvis on purpose by making noises with the ice cubes in his glass. He also mentions, that he likes his earlier recording of "I'll Be Home On Christmas Day" better. After another false start we finally get to hear a complete performance, once again including the verse with the children's names.

Once again Elvis sings "...never really starts to say" instead of "...seems to say" and also has trouble with the phrasing at one point.

Take 5 is nothing but two false starts. The first one is just a few bars of the intro, the second one is stopped after the first two words. The sixth attempt is cancelled by Felton Jarvis for no hearble reason. Take 7 once again is a false start. Finally everything works out well and we get to hear a complete performance. It's already very close to the master, in fact I like this simpler and more intimate sounding version better than the released track. To me all the overdubs are a tad too much.

We hear some studio talk and jokes. Regarding his old buddy Elvis says "Reverend Joe Espositio will speak a few words of inspiration" and suddenly yells "What the fuck do you want". When I heared this for the first time I had to laugh out loud. Very funny, indeed. Take 7 sounds very rough, the band gives a rather uncoordinated impression and Elvis is swallowing whole words. When he fails on the chord change on the line "in the meadow we can build a snowman" he stopps and admits "I'm gettin' tired of that damn song". Several parts of the tune are rehearsed and at the end the king says "Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't".