The TV Special album masters from the June 20-24
sessions on BMG's remastered 2-CD set Memories from 1998 are interesting, as the bass is a bit
boosted, a little midrange is perhaps missing
in the equalization and the pitch is about 1.5%
too slow, but these are minor, reversible details.
With the release of Memories - The '68 Comeback
Special in 1998 we finally got the full version
of the Gospel Medley, however, different edited
releases of the Gospel Medley are as follows:-
Elvis - NBC-TV Special Original Release (1968)
(edited - 6 minutes 38 seconds)
'Where Could I Go But To The Lord / Yes, Yes, Yes
/ Up Above My Head (intro)' - (Gospel - section
1)
'Up Above My Head / I Found That Light / Saved (intro)'
- (Gospel - section 2)
'Saved (part 1) / Preach For The Sky (edited) /
Saved (part 2 - edited)' - (Gospel - section 3)
Elvis - NBC-TV Special CD Release (1991)
(edited - 7 minutes 32 seconds)
'Where Could I Go But To The Lord / Yes, Yes,
Yes / Up Above My Head (intro)' - (Gospel - section
1)
'Up Above My Head / I Found That Light / Saved
(intro)' - (Gospel - section 2)
'Saved (part 1) / Preach For The Sky / Saved (part
2 - edited)' - (Gospel - section 3)
Memories - The '68 Comeback Special (1998)
(complete - 9 minutes)
'Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child / Where
Could I Go But To The Lord / Yes, Yes, Yes / Up
Above My Head (intro)' - (Gospel - section 1)
'Up Above My Head / I Found That Light / Saved
(intro)' - (Gospel - section 2)
'Saved (part 1) / Preach For The Sky / Saved (part
2 - complete)' - (Gospel - section 3)
The original LP edit of 'Save'd runs slightly
faster compared to the master on Memories and Peace In The Valley, and is edited as follows:-
0:00-1:54 (Original NBC-TV Special LP) = 0:00-1:57
(Memories)
1:55-2:35 (Original NBC-TV Special LP) = 2:17-2:59
(Memories)
2:35-2:53 (Original NBC-TV Special LP) = 3:40-3:58
(Memories)
The master of 'Saved' that appeared only
on the LP version of Elvis Sings Leiber &
Stoller has a different intro edited in. "I
used t..." from "I used to smoke" is edited in before "Drink".
The full length Gospel Medley on the Venus release Singer Presents Elvis has a count-in
and additional dialoge at the end, but doesn't
have the extra ending as the full length version
on Memories and Peace In The Valley has.
On the CD Elvis Chante Leiber & Stoller are two versions of 'Saved'. One is the regular
edited master (but with left and right channels
reversed) that appeared on the original NBC-TV
Special album, and the other is the longer master
with encore ending that was released on Memories.
What is listed as being an alternate take of
'Saved' on the Venus release Singer
Presents Elvis is what’s left from
Take 6 after the parts used for the spliced master
were physically cut from the tape. The master
appears to be spliced from Take 5 (around 30 seconds)
/ Take 6 / ending of Take 5.
All originally released versions of 'Trouble'
(WPA1 8030) and 'Guitar Man' (WPA1 8047)
were assigned the same matrix numbers.
Sessions III indicates that the master of 'Trouble'
(used with 'Guitar Man') is Take 19, but
the master is listed as Take 21 in A Life In
Music.
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.
