In 2011 Follow That Dream Records gave "Promised Land" a collector's edition treatment. As usual it's a set of two compact discs, housed in a 7" digi-pak and accompanied by a booklet with background information, pictures of memorabilia, etc. Also included is an article by Sandi Pichon, who enjoyed the previlege to observe a part of the sessions. Of course this release is stricktly a  physical one since FTD refuses to distribute their products in a modern way. The material was compiled and mastered by Jean-Marc Juilland, the mixing of the outtakes was done by Vic Anesini.

Three things dampen the pleasure this release is giving me. First there is the term of "undubbed masters" which is pure non-sense. A master is the finalized product, everything else is a master take. Second is the kind of handicraft the producers enjoy so much. Instead of presenting the recordings to the fans as they are, FTD uses incomplete takes to splice new, complete performances. The third problem is leaving out certain stuff. In this case I am talking about silencing harmony singers, who were present at the sessions. WTF?!?

As usual I only describe the tracks, that are not part of the original album. For a review of "Promised Land" tap HERE.

The intro is already shaky, but the group continues for twenty seconds or so. Finally Elvis stopps the recording and makes some remarks. The next attempt is a complete performance, but the king and his crew will have to invest some time to get it right.

Elvis is fooling around during the intro and blames his father. Jokingly he claims that Vernon was laughing too loud. This sequence (take 4) is followed by some bullshit from the FTD workshop. Instead of presenting the recordings in their original form, a complete version of "There's A Honkey Tonk Angel" was spliced together.

The first attempt was the master take, this collector's edition includes the false start. Without Sherrill Nielsen's overdubbed harmony vocal it's quite obvious that Elvis' performance isn't perfect. In his earlier years he would have tried until a flawless take was taped, but in 1973 it was enough to archive something that could be polished in post-production.

In contrast to "Help Me" this early take works very well. At one point Elvis messes up the lyrics and sings "...let me hold you in my arms again" instead of "...let me hold her in my arms again" and therefore implying he has feelings for the jukebox.

Once again the king delivers an almost flawless first attempt. It's especially astonishing, because the ballad isn't easy to sing and includes some interaction with the harmony singers.

Before the official recording starts Elvis rehearses his part. But still his performance leaves a lot to be desired. He has some trouble with the phrasing and misses several notes. Unfortunately FTD once again does some historical forgery and deletes the harmony singers. At least they tried, because they were in the same room as Elvis and their voices bleed in his microphone.

Here we get to hear the take after the master take. Even though the tenth attempt could have also been released, Elvis selected take 9 for post-production and release.

This performace also works well, but lacks the coolness of the master take.

I don't know why the king recorded four further takes. This one is perfect!

Felton Javis labeled two takes with 2 and 3, so there are takes 2b and 3b. Before the official take starts Elvis asks the pianist to give him the key. David Brigs plays several notes and the king jokingly claims to be confused. The following performance is great and could have been released, too.

After Elvis got lost in the words and the take is unusable anyway, he simply repeats samples of the lyrics and the musicians let themselves go a bit, too. The result is certainly not suitable for release on a regular album, but fun to hear.

Take 3 is cancelled by Elvis because his voice is too loud on the headphones. The next attempt fails because Norbert Putnam makes a mistake, which he turns into an improvisation and triggers some laughter. Now Elvis sings "Surrender" in a hysteric way and claims to go nuts each night at four o' clock. On the 6th take the king makes a mistake and stops the performance with a blues-ending.

After all the joking we finally get to hear a serious, very well performed take of "Love Song Of The Year". Unfortunately the pianist makes a little mistake, so another take is necessary.

Elvis still has some problems with the timing and misses several notes. It's obviously a challenge to get it right.

It appears the group was experimenting a bit, because here we suddenly get to hear a guitar intro. The track itself has been copied from the BMG release "Essential Elvis - Rhythm & Country". The choir and the harmony vocals of Charlie Hodge are silenced, so the recording doesn't mirror what happened in the studio.

The first take doesn't last long because Elvis is unsure of the melody. Before he continues the king curses Lamar Fike, who had brought "It's Midnight" to the session. Jokingly Elvis now sings in comic voice (sounding like Duffy Duck) and ruins another take. He claims not to care if a song becomes a hit or not, because he's rich since he was 21 years old. Once again FTD creates the feeling of a continuous scene. In fact they have added a false start that took place later in the session.

After all the jokes and false starts we now get to hear a complete and serious performance of "It's Midnight". Once again the harmony singers, who were present at the session, were silenced by FTD.

This one is pure fun. Elvis accentuates the lines "I used to laugh" and "I used to cry" with accordant noises and also pants after singing about the "golden breath of air". Of course he can't resist to switch the word "love" to "sex". It's no serious rehearsal at all, but very entertaining.

The king once again doesn't take the rehearsal too serious and the musicians add a jazzy touch before it all falls apart. Take 2 is not much more than a rehearsal of the intro.

After all the joking Elvis and his team deliver a solid version of the song.

Take 1 runs just a few bars. Elvis comments "I can't hear Charlie...but it's probably best". The second attempt sounds different to the master, because the choir is arranged in another way. Even though it's far from perfect, the song works quite well for a first walkthrough. At the end the king sings "fade this sonofabitch right now" instead of "let the world call me a fool".

After the guitarist made a mistake Elvis changes the lyrics from "yes, here in my arms I knew I had found a reason that I'm living for" to "...I knew I had found the lost chord on that damned guitar". The third take ends after the king gets lost in the lyrics and sings "do" instead of "be". He turns it into a joke and sings "dobedobedo" like Sinatra did on "Strangers In The Night".

The musicians rehearse their parts, Elvis facetiously sings "the first time I seed you" (instead of "..I saw you"). The fourth take is so good, that it also could have been released.

While the band is rehearsing, Elvis sings "Softly As I Leave You". The official part of the recording begins with a false start. The second try works well and we get to hear a complete performance. Because the musicians are continuing to play, the king finally remarks that there are no verses left.

We hear some rehearsals and studio talk. For a first walkthrough the performance works very well, there are just a few minor glitches here and there.

Once again FTD has silenced the choir, that was present at the session. Maybe Ernst Jorgensen (the producer of this set) thought the track would sound even more unfinished without the harmony voices. I can't understand all this mumbo jumbo.

While the musicians rehearse Elvis sings a few bars of the "Mule Skinner Blues" and "Find Out What's Happening". The sixth take of "If You Talk In Your Sleep" is cancelled after the first verse, because the king dropped his headphones.

FTD labels this take as "undubbed master", but it's simply the master take in its original form. In this case it runs 15 seconds longer than the released version.

The king sings a few bars of "Tomorrow Never Comes". The 10th attempt of "It's Midnight" is worth to be heared, unfortunately FTD has silenced the harmony singers, who were present at the session.

Take number 5 is stopped because Elvis has caused a distortion with his microphone. The next attempt is a complete performance and quite close to the master take.

Before the official recording starts Elvis sings a few bars of "Rags To Riches" and "Why Me Lord". In general "Love Song Of The Year" doesn't appear to be a challenge to anybody, nevertheless the king makes to major mistakes regarding the timing. At the end the harmony singers clown around a bit.

"How dare you say, I stink. I use deodor." says Elvis. Take 3b is a good performance, quite similar to the master take.

Elvis stopps the sixth take because something bothers him regarding the choir. The singers turn it into a joke an sing wrong on purpose. Jokingly Elvis asks the drummer if he's playing in the right key. Take 7 doesn't last too long, because the king echoes the line "I love you" in squeaky voice.

The rough mixes are produced during or shortly after the sessions to present the results to the decision makers. Take 8, which is the master take, explains why Elvis paused after "I love you" and turned it into a joke on the previous take. Obviously he had the idea to include a short break to create a little more drama. On take 8 he does it for the first time and it works extremely well.

The band plays a few bars of "Memphis, Tennessee" before the next attempt of "Mr. Songman" starts. Take 3 just lasts for a few seconds, because the pianist makes a mistake. Elvis complains about the mix the engineers give him on the headphones. Take 5 is quite close to the master and also could have been accepted for release.

Once again FTD presents an "undubbed master". Elvis sings a few bars of the "Columbus Stockade Blues", then we hear the well known version of the Cuck Berry tune, of course without the later added elements.

After half a minute the bass player makes a mistake. Instead of the original lyrics the king sings "...and I lost the music, all of them quit, I saw them walk out the door".

The set closes with another "undubbed master". When Felton Jarvis announces the take with "nine", Elvis claims that this was German (the word "nein" is pronounced the same and means "no"). The master take runs a minute longer than the released version and doesn't feature the overdubbed elements.