Although slightly edited, the definitive release of these sessions can be found on Follow That Dream's limited edition The How Great Thou Art Sessions 5xCD set, where everything has been compiled and remastered from scratch, from the original 3-track tapes, and all masters and outtakes are presented in the best possible sound.
Some of the mono sessions as released on the
2001 bootlegs The How Great
Thou Art Sessions - Volumes 1, 2 and 3 sound
heavily compressed, as if they were taken from
an MP3 source. The stereo sessions on the same
releases however, actually sound better than the
same takes released by BMG, as they are clipped,
and too loud, on some of the BMG releases.
The re-recording of 'How Great Thou Art' can found on the 2015 album If I Can Dream, which contained Elvis' original vocals but with new backings by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and which actually went to number one in the UK album charts.
The takes of 'Stand By Me' on the Memphis Recording Service book and 6xCD set Back In Living Stereo are actually mono but have been manipulated to create a strange stereo sound effect.
six drum beats of the intro of 'Down In The Alley'
were missing on the 60s Box. When rectified
on the CD Tomorrow Is a Long Time,
a remastered intro with better ambience was spliced
onto the 60s Box master rather than remastering
the entire song again. It is possible that the
intro was cut from the multichannel tapes in the
first place. The FTD extended soundtrack release of Spinout has the song severely clipped.
It is unknown why a remix with overdubbed screaming
girls was made by RCA, but it was never released
officially. This remix can be found on the bootleg
The Complete Spinout Sessions.
From this session BMG's remasters as released
on the 60s Box and Tomorrow Is a Long Time are more conservative and far better than Amazing
Grace or Peace In The Valley.
In March of 2007, Sony decided to go through all of Elvis' masters. They retransferred everything and remastered all tracks including repairing as many clicks, pops, bad edits and dropouts as they could. They have used these newly mastered recordings on their new releases since 2007 including budget soundtracks, Legacy releases, the 30 disc Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection and the Franklin Mint package.
