Elvis Presley Recording Sessions

June 23 1968

(+ 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)

Western Recorders Studio 1 - Hollywood, California

Soundtrack Session for NBC-TV Special Elvis

Producer : Steve Binder

Engineer: Bones Howe

(2.00pm - ?)

Musicians:		Backup Vocals:
Guitar:	Tommy Tedesco	The Blossoms: Darlene Love; Jean King; Fanita James
Guitar:	Michael Deasy	Julie Rinker; B.J. Baker; Frank Howren; Bill Lee; Gene Merlino;
Guitar:	Alvin Casey	Thurl Ravenscroft; Bill Brown; Joe Eich; Elaine Black; Dean Parker;
Bass / Keyboards:	Larry Knechtal	Jack Gruberman; Sally Stevens; Jackie Ward; Ronald Hicklin; Tom Bahler;
Bass:	Charles Berghofer	Mitch Gordon
Drums:	Hal Blaine
Piano:	Don Randi	Orchestra:
Percussion:	John Cyr	Conductor: Billy Goldenberg
Percussion:	Elliot Franks	Arrangers: William Goldenberg / Jack Elliot
Bongos:	Frank DeVito	Violin: Leonard Atkins; Leonard Malarsky; Sidney Sharp; Thelma Beach;
Harmonica:	Tommy Morgan	_Marvin Limonick; Joseph Stepansky; Alexander Murray; Ambrose Russo
Keyboard:	Bob Alberti	Cello: Eleanor Saltkin; Paul Bergstrom; Christine Walevska; Emmett
Keyboard:	Tommy Wolfe	_Sargeant; Richard Noel; Frank Rosolino; Ernest Tack
		Trombone: Francis Howard
		Trumpet: Oliver Mitchell; John Audino; Manny Stevens; Anthony Terran
		Saxophone: Anthony Ortega; Peter Christlies; John Kelso; Gene Cipriano
		French Horn: Dick Perrisi; William Hinshaw

Electronic Karate (instrumental)					June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take 1	FT		"Boys"
Take 2	FT		"Boys"
Take 3	FT		"Boys"
Take 4	FT		"Boys"
Take 5	FT		"Boys"
Take 6	FT		"Boys"
Take 7	FT		"Boys" "Print"
Take 8	FS		"Boys"
Take 9	FS		"Boys"
Take 10	FT		"Boys"
Take 11	FT		"Girls" "NG"
Take 12	FS		"Girls"
Take 13	FT		"Girls" "NG"
Take 14	FS		"Girls"
Take 15	FS		"Girls"
Take 16	FS		"Girls"
Take 17	(M)	1:43	"Girls" (used for 'Road Medley') (filmed playback on June 27)	Memories°°

Guitar Scratch, Bridge (instrumental)			June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take 1	FS
Take 2	FS
Take 3	(M)	0:47

Guitar Scratch, Bridge (instrumental - dubdown)						June 23 1968 (Sun)
# 1	(M)	0:47	Mono dubdown of Take 3 (not used)	Acetate°

The Scratch (instrumental)						June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take NA	(M)	0:20	(used as ending for "TV Soundtrack Opening Medley")	The '68 Comeback (Deluxe DVD)°~The '68 Comeback (2000 DVD)°

Road Medley (composite)
Spliced	M	15:40	Composite of:-	Memories°° (full length)~Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 16 (Sony)°° (6:40) ~Singer Presents Elvis (Venus)°° (6:47 - not faded)(edit)~The Complete '68 Comeback Special (Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 7)°° (6:40) ~Comp. '68 Comeback Special CD1°° (6:40)~NBC-TV Special ('91 CD)°° (11:47)~(24 Bit)° (6:40)~NBC-TV Special (FTD)°° (6:40)~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 1°° (6:40)
		1:51	Nothingville /
			Guitar Man (part 1) ("Guitar Man's Evil" section 1) (not on original master)
		1:59	Let Yourself Go (part 1) ("Guitar Man's Evil" section 2) (not on original master)
		1:22	Flicker Routine / (not on original master)
			Let Yourself Go (part 2) / (not on original master)
			Alley Pickup ("Guitar Man's Evil" section 3) (not on original master)
		0:28	Guitar Man (part 2) ("Escape" section 1 remake) (not on original master)
		0:13	Calliope Carnival ("Escape" section 2) (overdubbed announcer on original master)
		1:04	Big Boss Man ("Escape" section 3)
		1:41	It Hurts Me ("Escape" section 4) (not on original master)
		1:43	Electronic Karate (not on original master)
		0:47	It Hurts Me ("After Karate" section 1) (not on original master)
		1:53	Guitar Man (part 3) / Little Egypt ("After Karate" section 2)
		2:34	Trouble / Guitar Man (part 4) ("After Karate" section 3)

If I Can Dream				WPA1 8029	June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take 1	FT/Comp	3:14		Platinum 3°°~If I Can Dream (2007 Single)°°+NBC-TV Special (FTD)°° ~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°° (count-in)
Take 2	FS	0:21		NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°°
Take 3	FS	0:30		Let Yourself Go (FTD)°°+NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°° (count-in)
Take 4	FT/Comp	3:28		Let Yourself Go (FTD)°° (count-in)+NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°° (count-in & additional dialogue)~Collection Volume 4 (CD)°°~He Walks Beside Me°°
Take 5	M	3:08	Record version (3:28 with count-in) (playback & lip-synch on June 29 - 6pm & 8pm)	Complete Elvis Presley Masters 16 (Sony)°°~The Comp. '68 Comeback Special (Franklin Mint Complete Masters Collection 7)°°~Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight 3 (Legacy)°°~Elvis 75 CD2°°~I Believe - The Gospel Mast. 4°°~The Comp. '68 Comeback Special CD1°°+Memories°°~Comp. Single Collection 6°°+NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 1°°+Gold Records Volume 5°° (diff. mixes) +The Mono Masters CD3 (Venus)°+Singer Presents Elvis (Venus)°° (count-in) & different mix) +NBC-TV Special (FTD)°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 1°~The Complete '68 Comeback Special CD1° ~NBC-TV Special (24 Bit)° ("Thank you goodnight" from June 30 vocal overdub & overdubbed applause)

Re-Recording		3:10	2014 re-recorded backing track	If I Can Dream°°~Elvis Forever (USPS Special Product)°°
Re-Recording		3:10	2019 re-recording with Post Malone, Shawn Mendes, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton & Carrie Underwood	The Best Of The '68 Comeback Special°°

If I Can Dream (dubdown)				WPA1 8111	June 23 1968 (Sun)
# 1			Mono dubdown of Take 5 - Elvis' vocals removed
# 2	(M)	3:05	(used for filmed vocal overdub on June 30)	Complete Dressing Room Session°~The '68 Comeback (LP)° (acetate)

Memories (track)					June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take 1	FT
Take 2	FS		"Hold Intro"
Take 3	FS	0:28		NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°°
Take 4	(M)	3:18	(Vocal overdub on June 24) (filmed vocal overdub on June 27 - 6pm & 8pm)	NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°° (with vocal overdub #1)

Memories (short track)			June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take 1	FS
Take 2	(M)	2:35

Let Yourself Go (closing instrumental)				June 23 1968 (Sun)
Take 1	FT	1:13	NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°
Take 2	FT
Take 3	FT
Take 4	FT
Take 5	(M)	1:09	NBC-TV Special (FTD)°°~'68 Comeback Special - 50th Anniversary Edition 5°°

Let Yourself Go (closing instrumental - dubdown)				FRA1 8104	June 23 1968 (Sun)
# 1			Mono dubdown of Take 5
# 2
# 3
# 4	M	1:02	(used for filmed playback - June 30)	Burbank '68 (FTD)°~The '68 Comeback (LP)° (acetate)

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 Road Medley, however, different edited releases of the Road Medley are as follows:-

Elvis - NBC-TV Special Original Release (1968) (edited - 6 minutes 40 seconds)
'Nothingville' - (Guitar Man's Evil -section 1)
'Calliope Carnival (instrumental)' (with overdubbed announcer) - (Escape - section 2)
'Big Boss Man' - (Escape - section 3)
'Guitar Man (part 3) / Little Egypt' - (After Karate - section 2)
'Trouble / Guitar Man (part 4)' - (After Karate - section 3)

Elvis - NBC-TV Special CD Release (1991) (edited - 11 minutes 47 seconds)
'Nothingville' - (Guitar Man's Evil - Section 1)
'Calliope Carnival (instrumental)' (with overdubbed announcer) - (Escape - section 2)
'Big Boss Man' - (Escape section 3)
'Let Yourself Go' (spliced - part 1-07 & part 2-07)
'It Hurts Me' (spliced - part 1-07 & part 2-11)
'Guitar Man (part 3) / Little Egypt' - (After Karate - section 2)
'Trouble / Guitar Man (part 4)' - (After Karate - section 3)

Memories - The '68 Comeback Special (1998) (complete - 15 minutes 40 seconds)
'Nothingville / Guitar Man (part 1)' - (Guitar Man's Evil - section 1)
'Let Yourself Go (part 1)' - (Guitar Man's Evil - section 2)
'Flicker Routine / Let Yourself Go (part 2) / Alley Pickup' - (Guitar Man's Evil - section 3)
'Guitar Man (part 2 - Slow) - (Escape - section 1 - remake)
'Calliope Carnival (Instrumental)' (with no announcer) - (Escape - section 2)
'Big Boss Man' - (Escape - section 3)
'It Hurts Me (part 1) - (Escape - section 4)
'Electronic Karate' (instrumental)
'It Hurts Me (part 2)' - (After Karate - section 1)
'Guitar Man (part 3) / Little Egypt' - (After Karate - section 2)
'Trouble / Guitar Man (part 4)' - (After Karate - section 3)

The Road Medley on the Venus release Singer Presents Elvis is the original master of the Road Medley (without 'It Hurts Me' and 'Let Yourself Go' etc...) but has the full unfaded ending.

Take 1 of 'If I Can Dream' on Platinum - A Life In Music has left and right channels reversed.

The re-recording of 'If I Can Dream' was first released on the US Postal Service special products release Elvis Forever, and can also be 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.

Take 2 of 'A Little Less Conversation', when first discovered on acetate and released on the BMG CD Memories in 1998, was originally thought to have been recorded in June 1968 as part of the recordings for the NBC-TV Special. When the March 7 1968 session tapes were eventually rediscovered, this mistake was realised.

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.



	Music Sheet If I Can Dream