Review by Piers Beagley - Elvis Information Network
FTD’s From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee Classic Album features a large number of officially unreleased ‘Jungle Room’ outtakes, and it comes with the usual twelve-page booklet featuring “Behind The Scenes” and memorabilia.
From Elvis Presley Boulevard was first released in April 1976, but only reached #41 in the US album charts.
Originally, it only featured ten tracks, recorded at Elvis' Graceland home, among them 'Hurt', 'Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain', 'For The Heart' and 'Solitaire'.
BUT if Elvis was "Raised on Rock" then why was From Elvis Presley Boulevard such a middle-of-the-road quagmire of syrupy overdubs and tepid songs? When released in early 1976, this really wasn’t the album Elvis fans had been waiting for.
The Today album released the previous year had given fans some positive hope that Elvis might release a worthy follow-up. The two previous 1976 RCA albums Elvis - A Legendary Performer Volume 2 and The Sun Sessions, released only two months previously, also gave fans a taste of how creative Elvis’ studios sessions could be.
Unfortunately, back in 1975 pop music was taking a major middle-of-the-road turn before it would be re-enlivened with Punk and New Wave in 1977/78. The charts were filled with middle of the road bands like The Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Donny and Marie Osmond and, worst of all, the dreadful ‘Feelings’ by Morris Albert!
While it is true that the inspiring David Bowie was in the charts, but so were The Eagles, John Denver and Elton John. Perhaps the only creative groove were the soul/funk bands like Al Green, Grand Funk and Stevie Wonder.
Country Music also had it major successes and in fact 1975’s Best Vocal Country Grammy went to ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’, by Willie Nelson.
The Original Album
Released in April 1976 with only ten tracks From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee clocked in at thirty-four minutes and featured no credit at all for producer Felton Jarvis. Instead, the major credit was for the orchestral arrangements by Bergen White (arranger with George Jones, Kenny Rogers etc). He is credited for six songs on the album - all of which were completely ruined by his excessive, syrupy, over-the-top arrangements!
‘Hurt’/‘For The Heart’, the lead single had been released two months earlier so most fans would have already bought the best tracks on the album. Even then, the single ‘Hurt’ would have been better as a spliced edit since Elvis wavers badly on the final note of the master take.
Of the others songs ‘Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall’ with its wonderful first line, "I told her to leave me alone, that’s what she’s done" was Elvis’ first selection for the Jungle Room sessions but any poignant feeling of emptiness was buried under a pile of syrupy violins.
‘Never Again’ and ‘Love Coming Down’ were fairly mediocre songs at best but again they are completely ruined by Bergen’s slushy string arrangements. And what was Elvis doing recording such middle of the road rubbish such as ‘The Last Farewell’ and ‘Solitaire’?
Unlike the Today album there were no rockers here, nor any gospel selections which Elvis could always do well.
In the end this left only two worthy songs on the album (without the messy overdubs) which featured any emotional feel of the real Elvis. These were ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’ with a cool arrangement and great J.D. Sumner vocals, plus the heartfelt ‘Danny Boy’. Even then, Felton added a pile of unnecessary echo to Elvis’ vocal - man, he couldn’t help himself!
‘Moody Blue’ and ‘She Thinks I Still Care’ were also recorded but unfortunately held back as future single and album tracks. With their addition, making From Elvis Presley Boulevard a twelve track album, it would have certainly been a better overall album and might have received more recognition.
In hindsight we now understand more about Elvis’ depressed emotional state at the time and the difficulties involved in getting him enthusiastic enough to record at all. As the fabulous FTD The Jungle Room Sessions best-of album showed us back in 2002, the original recordings without any overdubbed orchestra have some true emotional impact where fans could get a glimpse of Elvis’ fragile state and the somewhat sad emotion he could put into a lyric at the time. A further six tracks were released on the 2006 Made In Memphis FTD compilation.
So if the single ‘Hurt’/‘For The Heart’ was supposed to be the promo for the album, then fans were surely disappointed. Even the front cover logo "Recorded Live" with an onstage photo implied it was actually a live concert album. The Colonel and RCA must have been desperate.
It is certainly one of Elvis’ worst albums.
To be honest, it was an album I couldn’t bear to listen to until FTD’s The Jungle Room Sessions and Ernst Jørgensen’s book A Life In Music revealed all.
Cover and Design
The cover and twelve-page booklet luckily features plenty more from Ed Bonja’s June 10 1975 Memphis concert photos. This was the dramatic photo from the album cover, but of course did not actually show what Elvis looked like in 1976. (Note - 1975 was the last year Ed Bonja photographed Elvis, hoping that "I’d just hang on until he lost some weight.")
The booklet features two photos of Elvis looking okay in his police get-up from January 1976 and thankfully avoids using any March 1976 concert photos.
There is some interesting memorabilia including a note stating "make sure there is "NO" producer credit." We also get the original front sleeve photo without Elvis’ jumpsuit bulges being removed!
There is the usual list of “In And Outtakes” plus the story of “Behind The Scenes” including...
“... Various musicians remember that Elvis and the whole group also worked on Morris Albert's ‘Feelings’ during these sessions and that he sang several songs originally recorded by The Platters. However, no tapes of these songs have ever surfaced, and they are definitely not on RCA's session reels.”
This is probably the saddest tale of all. Elvis spent hours singing "Every Platters’ song he knew" but no one left the tape recorder running! What a disaster!
From my personal point of view I am, however, glad that ‘Feelings’ was never put on tape.
How I learned to enjoy this album!
Listening to the original album again one understands that Felton Jarvis’ real job was to try and hide Elvis’ weaknesses by using overdubs. However, all he really achieved was to drown out most of the feeling and emotion and in the end create an album that was hardly worth releasing.
BUT we all love Elvis and a lot of fans love these untampered with Jungle Room sessions for the insight into Elvis’ final attempt at recording.
There are two distinct ways to approach this album.
One is to solely think of it as the overblown, overdubbed mess, that was released as the original album.
OR secondly, one can think of it more as a kind of MTV un-plugged jam session with Elvis and his musicians hanging out in the Graceland den. Imagine it more like the boxing-ring Comeback Special jam.
With this approach one can imagine Elvis sitting around with his friends trying out some songs that have been selected for his album such as ‘For The Heart’. Similarly, Elvis loved Larry Gatlin’s song ‘Help Me’ and was already interested in the follow-up ‘Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall’.
Then perhaps the band might have asked Elvis to sing some of his favourite oldies with him pulling out ‘Danny Boy’ and perhaps Roy Hamilton’s song ‘Hurt’.
You can also imagine Elvis joking with the group about Neil Sedaka’s recent Vegas comeback and with Charlie Hodge throwing in a line about his recent chart hit single ‘Solitaire’ - and then Elvis grabs the ball and gives the song a try-out, "I’ll show you Neil Sedaka!"
Similarly, Willie Nelson’s recent hit ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’ might have caught Elvis’ ear.
Perhaps somebody mentions his friendly rival Tom Jones with Elvis attempting to show off his vocal range and give the US Top Ten song ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ a go.
Thinking along these lines of this recording as being purely a "jam session" and rough at the edges, then the whole scenario becomes more interesting. You can get a real appreciation of some fun happening at times, with some real emotion showing through at others - all of which could have led to something better.
After all, if this was a newly discovered Elvis rehearsal tape, it would be a magnificent find.
What you really don’t want to think about is how much this easy jam session was messed up with excessive overdubs!
Luckily, only six of the forty-two tracks here on this packed double-set FTD are "blessed" with Bergen White/Felton Jarvis’s orchestral layers and so the "real Elvis" jam predominates. These versions not only reveal a pile more of Elvis’ emotional performances but also the interaction between him and musicians sitting together in the Graceland den.
In fact this is where is this FTD stands out as “The Alternate Album” version is what really should have been released. And if ‘Moody Blue’ and ‘She Thinks I Still Care’ had been also added, then the overall appeal of the album would have been far greater.
Interestingly, it seems that audio engineer Jean-Marc Juilland has selected the tracks for the Alternate Album compilation rather than Ernst Jorgensen, since some of these "best ofs" are previously unreleased.
These outtakes are purely Elvis, his core band plus backing vocals by Kathy Westmoreland and Myrna Smith, with J.D. Sumner and The Stamps.
The Alternate Album
‘Hurt’ (Takes 1 and 2) - Unreleased Take 1 falls apart quickly as Elvis’ vocal wavers and cracks after a minute. Take 2 is the fine version at a slightly slower tempo than the master originally released on the Platinum - A Life In Music box-set, but sounding much better here. No added reverb and less backing vocals - a far cleaner mix.
‘Never Again’ (Take 11) - It‘s hard to believe that Elvis would try so hard on this pedestrian song recording over fourteen takes. However, this is without the strings and wind/flute overdubs and listening to the "I hope I never ever love, anyone this much again. I can’t take it anymore" line you can imagine what might have been going through Elvis’ mind. "What will become of me?" Elvis sings, the emotion was all but drowned in the master.
‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’ (Take 4) – One take before the master, Elvis adds some throwaway additions "broken hearted" @1.27 and urging the band on "All right!". The ending kicks on over four minutes with some nice J.D. Sumner and Bobby Emmons (from the ‘69 Memphis sessions) providing some excellent piano.
The master doesn’t feature any orchestra but the whole track was layered in reverb sounding like it was recorded in an echo chamber.
Other "country" composers - B.J. Thomas, Waylon Jennings and Ronnie Milsap, had all worked with Chips Moman and maybe Elvis should have been recording more of their southern-country material.
‘Danny Boy’ (Take 9) - Another track released on Platinum - A Life In Music but sounding beautiful here. Interestingly, the earlier Platinum release did not feature the backing-vocals which are included here making it sound very different. One take before the master, despite Elvis’ voice quavering at times, this is full of emotion.
‘The Last Farewell’ (Takes 3 and 2 composite) - Nice to hear Elvis laughing at the start and also listen out for him humming along. A MOR song that was unlistenable in its overdubbed original form but now captures something more as this rhythm section only version. Elvis’ vocal slides easily across the melody and this composite has more assured vocal interaction overall.
‘For The Heart’ (Take 1) - Interestingly, Ernst chose Take 2 over this unreleased first take for his Platinum release. This version has a rougher rehearsal feel and is at a slightly slower tempo. The ending - as it all falls apart - is fun.
The original release had Dennis Linde guitar overdubs, as well as a moog synthesiser sounding like an electric-piano. This has more Elvis vocal, and Elvis also comes in late after the piano solo.
‘Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall’ (Take 6) - Previously unreleased. With Elvis’ vocal sounding similar to the master take which followed. This take is delicious for Elvis’ poignant vocal "she caught me lying" with his wavering voice imbuing an emotion into the lyrics which are hidden by all those overdubs of the final release. Listen to the lovely ending with the quaver in his very final note.
‘Solitaire’ (Take 3) - Not my favourite! However, knowing Elvis’ state of mind "there was a man, a lonely man" sure sums up Elvis’ isolated life in 1976. Originally selected for the The Jungle Room Sessions this take has a delightful vocal and simple arrangement creating a much more listenable track than the overdubbed master. All the song needed was the simple background backing-vocals as recorded in the Graceland den, as opposed to the bombastic original release. Here Elvis sings "there was a man, a lonely man" alone as it should be, yet on the album release there were a pile of violinists overdubbed to destroy the emotional effect.
‘Love Coming Down’ (Take 3) - Again another lyric that means so much more looking back at Elvis’ last years of his life. With its charming light arrangement this is far better than the master which was ruined with heavy overdubbed orchestration, even before Elvis’ first lyric! Listen out for "That couldn’t see love coming down, Oh Lord.." @ 2.55, Elvis sure sounds like he means it.
‘I'll Never Fall In Love Again’ (Takes 4 and 5) - Elvis’ master version too closely repeats the bombastic nature of Tom Jones’ 1967 original with the slushy overdubs similarly very outdated. Luckily the rhythm band original here has far better appeal, although Elvis does over-try his vocal at times. Take 5, however, was no doubt the best, with a light piano arrangement (Glen D. Hardin) and the slight trembling of his voice gives it a very special edge. Elvis sings .. "Please don't make me, please don't make me fall in love again - I mean it, I mean it" - and you know he really does.
The Alternate Single
‘For The Heart’ - Takes 3b and 4b are fun fluffed intros (so wouldn’t be on the Alternate single!). Take 5b is the last on tape before the master. With a different feel and guitar duelling and taken at a slower tempo, this doesn’t kick on with the same vibe as the original single that benefited from Dennis Linde’s extra guitar as well as the extra vocals creating more of a gospel feel. However, Elvis’ vocal is much higher and cleaner in the mix here.
‘Hurt’ (Takes 4 and 3 composite) - At last a brilliant single version without the overdubs, vocal fluffs and Elvis’ reaches the final note! Great concept and edit by Jean-Marc Juilland. This is the edit Felton should have used back in 1976!
The first disc runs the full eighty-minutes. The album was mastered by Jean-Marc Juilland and Vic Anesini, and the sound quality is marvellous, especially compared to the original album/CD releases.
Overall Mini Verdict: From Elvis Presley Boulevard (as released originally) is a very hard album to enjoy - and, as Ernst Jørgensen said, any expanded version with multiple outtakes would be a "very low-key record". However, FTD has done the best it can with the material and presents not only a delightful and interesting "Alternate Album", but also a opportunity for fans to eavesdrop on what would be Elvis' penultimate studio session. The packed second disc of outtakes offers an even greater look at what happened down in the Jungle Room and Elvis' troubled emotions at the time. With a good booklet, and two CDs for the price of one, it is certainly more "Jungle" than most fans will ever need.
Let’s take a closer look at the outtakes and studio interaction on the second CD ...
Disc 2 - "The Making Of"
The Venus bootleg label recently released the (near) complete Jungle Room sessions including every scrap of audio they could find. To be honest I find listening through all eleven takes of ‘Solitaire’ and fourteen takes of ‘Never Again’ a little torturous, as so little is achieved and each take is so similar until Elvis messes up.
This FTD release, in fact, does feature some material not on the extensive Venus releases such as the excellent Take 4 of ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’.
Here FTD have chosen the best of the remaining February 1976 outtakes, all packed into a very full eighty-minutes. We of course, get all the takes of the most creative tracks such as ‘For The Heart’ and ‘Hurt’ while we are spared several similar takes of tracks like ‘Solitaire’ and ‘Never Again’.
The tracks are not presented chronologically, but spread out in a more enjoyable selection.
I am surprised however that Disc 2 doesn’t start with ‘Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall’ which was the very first song recorded for the Jungle Room session and kind of sets the scene. With the phone ringing and Graceland dogs barking in the background, "Shoot the dogs and the phone! Shoot the yellow dog!" Elvis joked - this would have been a nice introduction.
‘For The Heart’
This was the first song on the fourth day of the sessions and one of the better days. Written by composer Dennis Linde (‘Burning Love’) all the remaining takes are featured here.
On Takes 2 and 3a, Elvis quietly sings two lines of The Stamps’ ‘Give The World A Smile’ before the band kicks in. Without the enjoyable edge of the first take these are a little smoother.
Take 4a - Previously unreleased, Elvis is digging the song, "yeah" he notes at the start as James Burton and Bill Sanford trade guitar riffs. The take doesn’t quite have the punch of the following take.
Take 5a starts with a nice hum from Elvis leading into a smooth version but with the tempo up and the band rockin’. The mix is very different from both the earlier versions with more acoustic guitars and less electric lead. There’s some nice interplay between Elvis and J.D. Sumner @3:10 and this seems to push Elvis onto a longer version and to a delicious final fadeout. One of my favourites.
‘Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall’
The very first song of the session.
Take 1 - Previously on the FTD Made In Memphis. Elvis’ first comments at the session are. "Men, you guys don’t hold back. On the chord changes, emphasise them so we know where we are." Great to have the first take of this song but for a "first take" this is surprisingly similar in sound and arrangement to the next take. Elvis’ vocal is a little higher here and, no matter what, Elvis’ sincerity drips from this compared to the overdubbed master. Listen to the lovely ending with the quaver in his very final note.
Takes 3, 4 and 5 - This features the fabulous "You guys don’t desert me" comment, as well as the recording stopping for the ringing phone and barking dog outside. A lovely fly-on-the-wall moment looking at Elvis and the band jamming in the Graceland den. Everyone laughs and they all sound in good humour.
Take 5 has some nice interplay with Elvis and the backing vocals 03.20 and listen out for Elvis humming along between lyrics. "Now it’s over and I’m done, She left me once and for all" Elvis sings at 03.50, and he sure sounds like he means it.
'I'll Never Fall In Love Again'
This song was the first attempted on the third day but Elvis stopped after five takes to move on to ‘Moody Blue’. It was returned to in the early hours of the morning with another attempt, of which Take 9 became the master. (Note: Elvis did another two complete takes after the master which were not kept on tape!)
Takes 1 and 3 - Take 1 is a false start. Elvis tried to push his vocal too hard on this Tom Jones’ song which ended up sounding very flat.
“Master Rough Mix” - Sometimes Felton would produce a rough mix tape before finalising the album. This version does have the orchestral overdubs but sounds FAR BETTER than the master, as the orchestra is at a much lower level and there has been NO extra reverb added. Even the backing-vocals are clearer, making it infinitely preferable to the album release - even with overdubs.
‘Hurt’
From the same day as ‘For The Heart’ and ‘Danny Boy’, and once again we get all the remaining session takes here.
Take 3 begins with a delightful false start where Elvis cracks on the first notes and with everyone in good enough humour to laugh! Released on FTD’s The Jungle Room Sessions, this is a delightful work-through towards the final master.
Take 6 - Unreleased, but again Elvis fluffs the beginning, "God damn it" he jokes; it’s fun eavesdropping on it. Take 5, which follows, is another fine version (previously on the Today Tomorrow And Forever box-set) that drifts off at the very end.
‘The Last Farewell’
The last song recorded on the first night of the session. All the session takes are included.
Take 1 - Previously unreleased, this is actually enjoyable for being more of a rough run-through. Elvis is unsure of the tempo and the take falls apart three quarters of the way through, "Oh shit" he remarks, before breaking up in laughter. Again this is nice eavesdropping on the session, as everyone genuinely laughs at the mess up.
Take 2 - Previously on The Jungle Room Sessions this undubbed version perhaps reveals why Elvis was recording this terrible MOR song. The "Alternate Album" composite is definitely a better version.
Take 4 and Undubbed Master - Take 4 is only a short false start. Take 5 (spliced with the ending of Take 3) has the most assured vocal and is worth including solely for showing how the Bergen White overdubs could actually take away anything of interest.
‘Never Again’
Recorded on the penultimate night of the sessions.
Takes 1, 2 and 3 - It’s such a mediocre song that it is the eavesdropping on the session that is the most interesting part. There’s some amusing chat and Elvis trying out the melody before he starts. He says, "Pay attention; you guys been in the studio too long" adding, "Get loose. I can get drunk now. Bring out the booze Grandma!"
Take 9 - Early repetitive takes are missed out before a very similar Take 9, in which Elvis fluffs the last few lines.
“Master Remix” - This version, without the Bergen White overdubs, has a better guitar mix. Kathy Westmoreland’s soprano is held back while some echo has been added to Elvis voice, making it an interesting variation to the simpler Take 11.
‘Danny Boy’
Recorded in the early morning hours after ‘For The Heart’ and ‘Hurt’, Elvis and the band worked on these three songs for seventeen hours through the night.
Take 6 and 7 - Previously unreleased. Elvis struggled through various key changes before getting the right one for his voice. He quits halfway through noting, "Still not high enough, take it up to E."
Starting in the higher key, Take 7 isn’t any better, as Elvis still tries to find the right match. He calls a halt after his voice cracks trying to reach the high note, saying, "I liked it in C better. That’s how I’d like to do it."
Sadly, Elvis actually confided in the musicians and told them - in an amazingly honest way at the time - "I can’t make it. I’ve got too much shit in me, man." Ernst Jørgensen noted this revelation in his book A Life In Music and this comment was released on the Venus bootleg version, but has been edited out here.
It is probably a good thing that the first few takes were taped over.
Take 8 - Previously on The Jungle Room Sessions, this is truly beautiful. At last, after struggling to record the song in a higher key, in the early hours of the morning, Elvis gets it right (apart from the little falter @1.23) with his voice quavering, full of emotion and so understated that's it's almost a capella. This is brilliant.
“Master Rough Mix” - This is VERY similar to the final release (it’s hard to spot any variation) the only noticable thing being a slight variation in backing vocals mix.
‘Love Coming Down’
Recorded on the last day of the February sessions.
Take 4 - Released on the Made In Memphis FTD, this is similar again to the “Alternate Album” Take 3, however this does feature a richer mix and a more complicated piano arrangement. Elvis’ vocal is more assured here and it is a fine take of an otherwise mediocre Jerry Chesnut (’T-R-O-U-B-L-E’) song.
An uninspiring earlier Take 2 remains officially unreleased.
‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain'
This was final song for these sessions as a large part of the evening was taken up with attempts at ‘America’.
Takes 1 and 2 - Take 1 is a previously unreleased false start that falls apart after thirty seconds - "I jumped on rain" says Elvis. Take 2 is from The Jungle Room Sessions and reveals a nice potential - though Elvis’ voice wavers badly, and sounds very sad at times - but, then again, this is what the lyric is all about.
After recording a possible master with Take 5, the sessions concluded and Elvis decided to cancelling any further recording dates at Graceland at this time.
As Ernst Jørgensen noted to me over ten years ago, "Everyone is screaming for The Jungle Room Sessions Volume 2. The problem is that there will be no fast songs on it… it would have to be a very, very low-key record and there’d be quite a few takes of ‘She Thinks I Still Care’. But there are still good unreleased performances and we will find a way."
Sometimes less is more and this “Best of” selection of the February Jungle Room sessions fulfils Ernst's prediction of a "very, very low-key record".
Overall Verdict
The original album of From Elvis Presley Boulevard is a very hard album to enjoy. However, if one goes in with low expectations and wanting to know more about Elvis’ last two sessions in the Graceland den then this is a great selection of tracks from Elvis’ penultimate album.
FTD has done the best it can with the material and presents not only a delightful and interesting "Alternate Album" but also an opportunity for fans to eavesdrop on Elvis and the band taking a fairly emotional ride. The packed second disc of outtakes offers an even greater look at what happened down in the Jungle Room, although several of the takes are all too similar.
Of course, if you enjoyed The Jungle Room Sessions and wanted more - or you were a fan of the original album - then this is for you. In some ways this compilation shows what a fabulous and important release the original FTD The Jungle Room Sessions really was.
Of course, if none of these tracks had been released at the time and this session had just been suddenly found - as a sort of rehearsal tape - then it would be a massive seller. As it is though, that is not the case, but we can welcome this release for what it now offers us - a good booklet, and two interesting CDs for the price of one!
