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May 1 1957
(+ means you need both    ~ means same material    °° means stereo or binaural    ° means mono)
(SFS = Short False Start | FS = False Start | LFS or BD (Breakdown) = Long False Start | PB (Playback) or Complete = Complete Take)

MGM Sound Stage - Hollywood, California
Soundtrack Session for MGM's Treat Me Nice (Jailhouse Rock)
MGM Producer : Jeffrey Alexander
Engineer : Fred Mulculpin
(10:00am - 12:00pm / 2:00pm - 5:00pm)

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar: Elvis Presley The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Hugh
Guitar: Scotty Moore Jarrett
Bass Guitar: Bill Black  
Drums: D.J. Fontana  
Piano: Dudley Brooks  

I Want To Be Free
2007 May 1 1957 (Wed: 2.00pm - 3.15pm)
Take 1 FS   "NG"  
Take 2 Complete 2:09    
Take 3 FS   "NG"  
Take 4 Complete 2:12 "No Prints"  

Young Hearts
  May 1 1957 (Wed: 3.15pm - 4.00pm)
PB     Playback of demo
(not used / not recorded)
 

Notes

The original title of this movie was called The Hard Way.

As the session log and Daily Music Report (below) clearly shows, the running title of this movie at this time was Treat Me Nice instead of Jailhouse Rock. The title of the movie was changed to Jailhouse Rock by May 7 1957.

It appears that all session tapes recorded by MGM at their Sound Stage, were discarded once the masters were chosen, and the only session tapes existing today are the tapes recorded by Thorne Nogar at Radio Recorders.

An often repeated story of how Elvis left the studio after lunch on this date, after management told The Jordanaires to stop singing spirituals with Elvis, as it was holding up the planned sessions, has been found to be false.

A recently discovered recording log from this day reveals that Elvis at least attempted to record 'I Want To Be Free' (2007) in the afternoon, recording four takes before giving up, after only rehearsing in the morning.

The demo of 'Young Hearts' was also played to Elvis and the band before the session finished at 4:00pm. Although originally intended to be recorded at some point during these sessions, 'Young Hearts' was eventually not used at all in the movie.

All timings in the 'Musical Breakdown' below are taken from the DVD release of the movie.

Thanks to David English for extensive research on these sessions.


Session Logs
Recording Information
April / May 1957
Jailhouse Rock
Master Tape
Jailhouse Rock
Jailhouse Rock - Master Tape
MGM Session Log
May 1 1957
MGM Session Log - May 1 1957 (Thanks to David English)

Movie Scene Sheets
Jailhouse Rock
Scene Sheets - Reel 1 (Thanks to David English)
Jailhouse Rock
Movie Song Index
Jailhouse Rock - Movie Song Index
Daily Music Report
May 1 1957
Daily Music Report - May 1 1957 (Thanks to David English)

 
Musical Breakdown
Jailhouse Rock
Musical Breakdown
 


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