The Elvis Presley-approved mixes

Was watching the DVD of Elvis by the Presleys (missed the CBS broadcast) and there was a comment about the release of Suspicious Minds. IIRC, Jerry Schilling said Elvis "went berserk" when he heard the song on the radio, because it wasn't the mix he heard in the studio before it was shipped out to RCA. According to the commentary, the original mix really kicked! I know this had happened many times, where Colonel Parker would demand that Elvis's voice be brought up in the mix, so much so that Elvis would refer to a "typical New York mix" when he disapproved of the final product. For you hardcore Elvis fans out there, has there been any CD release that had mixes that reflected what Elvis wanted, such as The Memphis Record or some of the recently remixed albums of the early 1960s and mid-1970s? If not, a release called The Elvis Mixes would be pretty interesting.

 

I'm sure after it went to #1, Elvis complained a little less.....

 

There's one mix I think Elvis would have liked- the tough-sounding mono mix of Return to Sender I posted about here a while ago.

 

Also, remember, Elvis was the de facto producer on most of his sessions. Put in that position, how would you feel if the mixes you approved were futzed with?

 

BTW, as this DSD Elvis remastering campaign proceeds to the stereo era, I hope someone from Sony/BMG considers such a project.

 

Hey Joel,
Elvis was listed as Executive Producer...a title given to him by the Colonel to extract more money from RCA. He actually had very little input on what session takes were released, what songs to record or who would produce the sessions. It IS well known that he would keep recording until he was satisfied with his own vocal performance, but as far as dictating which version would ultimately be issued....well that would be Steve Sholes, Felton Jarvis, Joan Drury, Chips Moman et al... I've heard a few alternate versions of Suspicious Minds and none are significantly different (other than mixing out the background singers, or bringing out Ronnie Tutt's drums, or using alternate horn pieces)...certainly none are more powerful than the released version. I have no reason to doubt Elvis may have voiced his displeasure with the mix, but I don't think there is an "Elvis Mix" of this song in the archives. Ron

 

Weren't the horns for this song recorded "live" while the mix itself was being done? I seem to recall that they literally ran out of tracks to add the horn section, so they decided to add the horns at the mixing stage. That would mean the horns on every mix are technically different. Was there a dedicated mono mix done for this, or was it a fold-down?

That also always made me wonder how they did the looped repeated ending of the song. What stage were the edits performed? Presumably after the mix was done, which would have required dubbing the mix (and creating multiple copies of the end, then splicing them all together) and losing a generation in the process.

I have to admit, the production on this song always kinda baffled me, and it seems like the more I've learned about it, the more confused I get!

 

Here's Marty Lacker (from the Memphis Mafia)'s comments about the song on the alt.elvis.king NG. Marty and Schilling do not get along, and this isn't the first time their memories differ. Marty strikes me as the more reliable source:

It sounds as though it was Chips Moman, not Elvis, that was mad about this particular song. I've read in other places that Chips felt that Felton Jarvis messing with the song was simply his way of "p*ssing on it to make it his" because he resented having the producer's role taken away from him for those sessions. I've read that Chips complained when Jarvis was co-credited as producer in Billboard.

 

Elvis also complained about the released mix of Elvis Today (1975).

 

When Elvis heard the rough mix of "Today" on acetate, he complained and it was remixed.

Original session bass player Duke Bardwell was expunged from the released mixes, with the bass being overdubbed by another player.

BMG will release a 2 CD set on July 1, which includes the never before heard original session mixes with Bardwell.

Here's the info: http://www.elvisnews.com/Presentation/Functional/Page/news.aspx?command=show&id=6527

 

By the way, the "Today" session (March 1975) finds Elvis in relatively good voice for 1975. Since the early 70's his vocal performances had grown spotty and inconsistent. Perhaps he was in good voice in March 75 due to a recent drug detox at Baptist Memorial in Memphis. For whatever reason, this was probably the last time the "King" sounded relatively healthy on record.

Listening to his final sessions at Graceland recorded a mere year later--1976--it's hard to believe how quickly his health was declining. He is slurring all over the place and breathing heavily. The bizarre change in his voice was more than just weight gain--it sounds like effects of depressants. Elvis was known to be heavily abusing Dilaudid, Demeral and Codeine around this time. It's amazing that he lived as long as he did!

But, getting back to the point of the thread, I do think Elvis was a perfectionist and had very strong opinions about the way his songs were mixed. He preferred the rhythm section to be loud in the mix to give it some balls. He disliked a vocal heavy mix, with the rhythm section too low.

 

It doesn't work on radio today... With all that processing , it would even start to fade!!

 

...I'm sure sooner or later this will come to fruition! I'll buy it!

 

Speaking about the Elvis Today album, at the very end of "Woman Without Love", I get this really bad squealing, severe distortion, like the signal is clipping in the track. This was on my original Elvis Today CD that I bought in the early 1990s. Does anybody know if this was on the original recording or a problem with the digital master? I hope they fix this with the new issue cd.

 

I remember when I bought "Elvis: The Essential Collection" in the 90s that I was very disappointed with the mix of "Burnin' Love" (Is it a modern remix or what? It's totally different than the one I am used to from the 70s). The bass guitar part is practically inaudible and the bass line is probably the best part of the song!

 

This link explains it better than I could. You've got the basic story right. Evidently the horns were recorded twice, once for the mono mix, once for the stereo mix, and there is a slight difference as a result:

http://www.elvisrecordings.com/s690807.htm

The stereo version was unreleased until after Elvis' death. Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits -- on vinyl, cassette and 8-track -- contained "Suspicious Minds" in mono.

 

I've heard some of a live and professionally recorded Dallas concert from late in '76, and there couldn't be a greater contrast from the February and October Graceland sessions. Elvis is on fire! He's loose, funny and in exceptionally strong voice. He redoes the end of Hurt just to impress the crowd, and the operatic climax is a wonder of nature. I guess Elvis had his good days, even at that late date. He was almost as powerful in this instance as in 1970. Even See See Rider, which had been receiving perfunctory performances, was punchy.

 

Slightly off topic, but what's the opinion on this set, anyone -

Suspicious Minds - Memphis Anthology 2CD

 

Going in for Elvis for about 25 years now I must confess I've never heard this story about Suspicious Minds. Everything you mentioned - especially the "New York mix" and Elvis complaining that his voice was mixed way up above anything else in the recording - pretty much reminds me of an incident that took place with his 1966 Gospel recordings for his How Great Thou Art album. But I've never heard or read anything like this about "Minds".

I don't think that The Memphis Record is a particularly good example for mixes like Elvis might have wated them since nothing on that record has anything to do with decisions probably made by Elvis or his producers. It has "80ies" written all over it and has in fact nothing to do with the nature and feel of Chip Moman's original 1969 Memphis mixes. Also, to my knowledge none of the "early 1960s and mid-1970s [albums]" have been "recently remixed". Remixes were made for 30 #1 Hits but those remixes stayed close to the original.

There has in fact been one moment that let prick up my ears. That was when I first listened to the Ultimate Gospel compilation last year. This one also had not been remixed but probably (obviously?) used different master tapes. Since IMO Elvis can hardly be heard on some of the 1966 recordings (esepcially on So High) this could be the master tapes how Elvis might have intended them to sound.

 

I suppose this might be obvious, but is it available on CD anywhere?

I'd also be curious how they managed to do what, to my ears, actually sounds like a discrete surround mix of this song on the #1 DVD-A. Haven't listened to it in awhile, though, so I could be wrong...

 

This is just on the US version, if you find a Japan pressing it's not there.

 

Ron, I have to respectfully disagree. Elvis chose nearly all the songs he recorded. In their 20+ year association, the Colonel only asked Elvis to record one song: Are You Lonesome Tonight. The rest of the songs were either brought to the session by Elvis (he always had some favorites he wanted to record) or publishers (re: usually in pre-arranged deals with Freddy Bienstock, the Colonel's right hand man) who would submit demos for Elvis to listen to.

While it is true that the Colonel & Freddy always tried to get Elvis to record songs where they could either totally control the publishing or get a piece of it, Elvis had the ultimate say. In the case of the 60's soundtrack songs, he had pretty much given up and wanted to get the sessions over with as quick as possible so he recorded whatever was presented to him.

The reason why Lieber & Stoller fell out of favor with the Colonel is that they were submitting songs to Elvis directly (and they were usually always top-shelf) and after Elvis recorded them, the Colonel couldn't get a piece of the publishing for Elvis Presley Music or Gladys Music because Jerry & Mike knew hits were in the can and they would be foolish to give up anything.

In the case of production, Elvis was the producer of his sessions. Besides early in his career (Sam Phillips's Sun sessions and a couple of the early RCA sessions under Steve Sholes) and a few other examples (Mike Stoller producing the Jailhouse Rock sessions and Chips Moman the American Studio sessions), Elvis called the shots. After his initial RCA session or two, Sholes sat back or would go home after things were under way. Felton Jarvis was the closest thing Elvis had to a real producer, but Elvis was the one who decided when the master was in the can and approved overdubs and mixes for the majority of his releases. Even as late as 1975, Elvis had Felton hire Norbert Putnam to overdub all the bass parts for the Elvis Today album (with the exception of T-R-O-U-B-L-E which was rush released as a single) because he was unhappy with Duke Bardwell's playing.

Elvis' downfall was that he didn't care how RCA compiled his recordings. The only exception I know of is 1970's Elvis Country where he insisted on the track listing and crossfading snippets of I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago between every track. RCA's/The Colonel's 1972 decision to place his then-current hit of Burning Love on a Pickwick budget album with 60's soundtrack rejects was an asinine move when a decent album could have been released with tracks recorded around the same time (Always on My Mind, Separate Ways, Fool, etc.).

 

They used digital kerblinkety to "extract" the horns from the rest of the track so they could do a surround mix and the stereo remix... similar to what was done to extract Mike Love's voice to create the stereo Wouldn't it Be Nice. I haven't heard it, but the word is it's pretty phasey sounding.

 

It's not a disc I listen to very often, if only because just a handful of the songs are genuine "surround" mixes, as opposed to fake wrap-around versions. Heck, half of the songs are in mono. But I don't seem to recall having a huge problem with "Suspicious Minds" in particular. I'll have to listen again...

 

supicious minds on 30#1 hits is horrid. flanging artifacts. absolutely horrid. how BMG actually ok'd this digital work station experiment gone wrong and actually issued it for commercial release defies logic.

using alternate takes for a couple of the tracks is also bizarre--as this is a collection of hits--not outtakes.