In late 2019 Follow That Dream Records released "The ELVIS IS BACK! Sessions". While the artwork of the first two installments, namely "The VIVA LAS VEGAS Sessions" and "The FUN IN ACAPULCO Sessions", had mirrored the look of an old tape box, this third one offered a photo, made during the singer's only professional shoot while stationed in Germany. The backside went in accordance with the previous releases. Inside the slipcase there was a digi-pak with four compact discs and a booklet of 28 pages.

The audio restauration was done by Sebastian Jeansson and I have to admit, that the man once again did a tremendous job. Everything sounds crystal clear and the mix doesn't leave anything to be desired. The stuff even sounds better than on FTD's collector's edition of "Elvis Is Back!" or the remastered original album, which can be found on the various streaming platforms. Speaking about music streaming: Of course Follow That Dream Records doesn't offer this collection through the streaming services and sticks to the old compact disc format.

But now let's move on to the sessions. On March 20, 1960 Elvis Presley entered a recording studio for the first time in almost two years. A lot of things had improved since 1958. After several years of experiments with multiple tracks and quarrels about a generally accepted standard the industry finally had agreed upon a format named "Stereo". Accordingly RCA Studio B in Nashville was equipped with the latest 3-track recording machine as well as Telefunken U-47 microphones. Technically everything was ready for the comeback of the rock'n'roll king. The only question was, if the artist was up to the game. First and foremost the management of RCA Victor expected a new single. They even had pre-produced the covers, so the sound carriers could be brought into the stores as soon as possible. As it turned out, all three single releases with material from these sessions made it to the top of the charts, "It's Now Or Never" / "A Mess Of Blues" even turned out to be the most successful 45 of the whole decade! However, the album "Elvis Is Back!" stalled at number two of the hitparade. Nevertheless it sold well and is considered to be one of the king's best longplayers. A review of the original album can be found HERE.

The first disc of this set offers the master takes in the same sequence as on the original "Elvis Is Back!" album from 1960 as well as the three singles. The other three compact discs contain the complete sessions in chronological order. Just tap on the links to go to the details:

CD 1 (Masters)    CD 2 (Sessions)    CD 3 (Sessions)    CD 4 (Sessions)