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December 12 / 13 1973
(+ 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)

Stax Studio - Memphis, Tennessee
Producer: Felton Jarvis
Engineers: Mike Moran / Dick Baxter
(9.00pm - 12.00am / 1.00am - 5.00am)

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar: James Burton JD Sumner & The Stamps: Bill Baize; Ed Enoch; David Rowland
Guitar: Charlie Hodge Voice : Donnie Sumner; Sherrill Nielsen; Tim Baty; Per Eric "Pete" Hallin
Guitar: Johnny Christopher Mary Holladay; Susan Pilkington; Kathy Westmoreland; Mary 'Jeanie'
Greene
Piano / Organ: David Briggs  
Bass: Norbert Putnam Harmony Vocal:
Drums: Ronnie Tutt Sherrill Nielsen ('Help Me')
Piano: Per Eric "Pete" Hallin ('Help Me' & 'Love Song Of The Year')

Mr Songman
CPA5 1621
  December 12 / 13 1973 (Wed / Thur)
Take 1 Reh'sal+ 1:14   Promised Land (FTD)°°
  Complete 2:15   Promised Land (FTD)°°+Elvis At Stax 2°° (different mix - listed as Take 2)
Take 2 Complete 2:07   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 3 LFS 1:27   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 4        
Take 5 Complete 2:15   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 6 (M) 2:18 Undubbed master Our Memories Of Elvis Volume 3 (Victrola)°° (track 20)~Our Memories
Of Elvis (FTD - 3 Bonus)°°~More Pure Elvis°°~Stax Trax°° (no backing
vocals)
         
Overdub M 2:07 String overdubs on January 11 1974 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 25 (Sony)°°~Heartache (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 6)°°~Promised Land (FTD)°°~Complete
Single Collection 8°°~Elvis At Stax 3°°~Promised Land (20 Bit)°°+(2000)°°
~70s Box 2°° (different mixes)~Our Memories Of Elvis Vol. 3 (Victrola)°°
(track 11)+The Joan Deary Tapes Vol. 1°° (different mix)

Thinking About You
CPA5 1622
  December 12 / 13 1973 (Wed / Thur)
Rehearsal 1:52 "The Christmas Song" Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 1        
Take 2 FS 0:45   Promised Land (FTD)°° (dialogue & count-in)~Made In Memphis (FTD)°°
(not listed - 0:20)
Take 3 FS+Comp 4:31   Promised Land (FTD)°°~Made In Memphis (FTD)°°
Take 4 Complete 5:05 (preceded by rehearsal) Essential Elvis Vol. 5°° (faded)+Promised Land (FTD)°°+Elvis At Stax 2°°
(listed as Take 3 - different mixes & additional dialogue - 4:07)+On A
Jet ToThe Promised Land°° (rehearsal & complete - listed as Take 3)
Take 5 FS 0:13   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 6 Complete 4:26   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 7        
Take 8 (M) 4:40 Unedited undubbed master By Special Request - From Louisiana To Tennessee°~Tiger Man - An
Alt. Anthology Volume 2° (faded - 3:58) (with backing vocals)
Edit (M) 3:02 Edited undubbed master
(JPA5 6068)
Stax Trax°°+Our Memories Of Elvis°°~Our Memories Of Elvis (2 - FTD)°°
(3:32 - see note)+Our Memories Of Elvis Vol 3 (Victrola)°+Acetate° (all
with no backing vocals)
         
Overdub (M) 4:53 String overdubs on January 11 1974
Unedited master
Unedited Masters - Stax 1973 (Venus)°° (count-in & unedited)
Faded M 3:02 Master faded Complete Elvis Presley Masters 25 (Sony)°°~Heartache (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 6)°°~Promised Land (FTD)°°~Complete
Single Collection 8°°~Elvis At Stax 3°°~Promised Land (20 Bit)°°+(2000)°°
~70s Box 2°° (different mixes)

Love Song Of The Year
CPA5 1623
  December 12 / 13 1973 (Wed / Thur)
Rehearsal 3:43   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 1 Complete 3:39   Elvis At Stax 2°° (faded - 3:13)+Promised Land (FTD)°°~On A Jet To
The Promised Land°° (extra dialogue)
Take 2 Complete 4:02 "Rags To Riches" Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 3 LFS 0:39   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS 0:13   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 5 LFS 0:39 "Five" Promised Land (FTD)°° (not listed)
Take 6 Reh'sal+ 0:53 "OK this is six" "Surrender" "OK this
is Five"
Promised Land (FTD)°°
  LFS 0:53 "Six" Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 3:39   Promised Land (FTD)°°
Take 8 (M) 3:59 Unedited undubbed master  
Edit (M) 3:15 Edited undubbed master Live Live Live Volume 2°° (backing vocals)+Our Memories Of Elvis Vol 3
(Victrola)°°~Stax Trax °°+Tape°° (backing vocals mixed out - faded)
         
Overdub (M)   Band overdubs on January 2 1974  
Overdub (M) 3:59 String overdubs on January 11 1974
Unedited master
Unedited Masters - Stax 1973 (Venus)°° (count-in & unedited)
Faded M 3:18 Master faded Complete Elvis Presley Masters 25 (Sony)°°~The Ultimate Love Songs
(Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 25)°°~Promised Land (FTD)°°
~Elvis At Stax 3°°~Promised Land (20 Bit)°°+(2000)°°~The Joan Deary
Tapes Vol. 2°° (different mixes)+Tape°°

Help Me
CPA5 1624
  December 12 / 13 1973 (Wed / Thur)
Take 1 FS+(M) 2:48 Undubbed master Promised Land (FTD)°° (no backing vocals)+Memphis 3°° (remixed - with
backing vocals)
         
V.O. (M) 2:29 Harmony vocal overdub Our Memories Of Elvis Volume 3 (Victrola)°~By Special Request - From
Louisiana To Tennessee°~American Sound - From The Acetates
(Madison)°+Tiger Man - An Alternate Anthology Volume 2°~Stax Trax°°
(different mixes)
         
Overdub M 2:25 String overdubs on January 11 1974 Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 25 (Sony)°°~Moved By Faith (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 13)°°~I Believe - The Gospel Masters 3°°
~Promised Land (FTD)°°~Complete Single Collection 8°°~Inspirational°°
~Ultimate Gospel (DSD)°°~Elvis At Stax 3°°~Promised Land (20 Bit)°°
+The Mono Masters CD5 (Venus)°+(2000)°° (different mixes)+Unedited
Masters - Stax 1973 (Venus)°° (2:50- including count-in & false start)

Notes

The undubbed masters on Our Memories Of Elvis weren't really the pure undubbed masters. They were the fully overdubbed or regular masters but with certain instruments and backing vocal channels removed or stripped down.

'Thinking About You' was edited for release. The complete unedited master, with overdubs can be found on the Venus bootleg release Unedited Masters - Stax 1973 where it contains Elvis doing the chorus again another twice, which was faded on the release of the master by RCA.

Take 4 of 'Thinking About You' can be found on the Sony 3xCD set Elvis At Stax although it is listed as being Take 3 on the cover and listed as being Take 6 in the booklet!!!

Unedited Masters - Stax 1973 also contains the unedited overdubbed master of 'Love Song Of The Year' and the overdubbed master of 'Help Me', with false start before the master take.

'Mr Songman' and 'Thinking About You' were remixed when used on the 70s Box and the BMG 2000 release of Promised Land.

'Love Song Of The Year' and 'Help Me' were remixed when used on the BMG 2000 release of Promised Land.

Elvis fooling around with 'Surrender' before Take 6 of 'Love Song Of The Year' was edited in before Take 3 of 'If You Don't Come Back' (July 21) on Essential Elvis Volume 5.

The live backing vocals were mixed out on the undubbed master of 'Help Me' as presented on FTD's classic album release of Promised Land.

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.

All outtakes and masters used on the Sony 3xCD set Elvis At Stax have been completely remixed and remastered from scratch.


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Mr Songman
Mr Songman (Thanks to Piotr Stefaniszyn)
Music Sheet
Thinking About You
Thinking About You (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Love Song Of The Year
Love Song Of The Year

 
Music Sheet
Help Me
Help Me
 

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