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December 16 / 17 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  
Drums: Ronnie Tutt  

If That Isn't Love
CPA5 1632
  December 16 1973 (Sun: 9.00pm - 12.00am)
Take 1 Complete 3:34   Good Times (FTD)°°+Elvis At Stax 2°° (count-in)+Essential Elvis Vol. 5°°
(diff. mixes)+Stax '73 - Unedited Masters (Venus)°°~Unedited Masters -
The Next Generation (Venus)°° (intro clipped - "Softly As I Leave You" &
"The Christmas Song" - 4:04)
Take 2 Reh'sal + 0:54   Easter Special (FTD)°°
  FS 0:13   Easter Special (FTD)°°
Take 3     (not announced - omitted by mistake)
Take 4 (M) 3:40 Undubbed master Good Times (FTD)°°+Memphis 3°° (count-in - remixed)
Take 5 LFS 2:39+   Good Times (FTD)°° (spliced with ending of Take 7)
Take 6 FS 0:13   Good Times (FTD)°° (FS)+Easter Special (FTD)°° (count-in & FS)
Take 7 FS+Comp 4:22   Good Times (FTD)°° (complete)+Easter Special (FTD)°° (FS+complete)
+Good Times (FTD)°° (ending spliced with Take 5)
         
Overdub M 3:29 String overdubs on Jan 11 1974 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~Moved By Faith (Franklin
Mint Comp. Masters Collection 13)°°~I Believe - The Gospel Masters 3°°
~Good Times (FTD)°°~Inspirational (DSD)°°~Good Times (20 Bit)°°
~Peace In The Valley 2°°~Elvis At Stax 3°°

Spanish Eyes
CPA5 1633
  December 16 1973 (Sun: 9.00pm - 12.00am)
Take 1 FS 0:25   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 2:51   Essential Elvis Vol. 5°°+Elvis At Stax 2°°+Good Times (FTD)°° (count-in)
Take 3 FS 0:53   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS+(M) 2:44 Undubbed master (HPA5 6383) Good Times (FTD)°° (FS & comp.)+Memphis 3°° (remixed)+Elvis Latino!°°
~Our Memories Of Elvis°°~Our Memories Of Elvis (FTD - 1)°° (no backing
vocals - see note)
         
Overdub M 2:21 String overdubs on Jan 10 1974 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~In The Mood (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 24)°°~Good Times (FTD)°°~(20 Bit)°°
~Elvis At Stax 3°°

She Wears My Ring
CPA5 1634
  December 17 1973 (Mon: 1.00am - 5.00am)
Take 1 FS 0:24   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 2 FS 0:08   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 3 FS 0:32   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 4 LFS 1:20   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 5 FS 0:33   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 6 FS 0:16   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 7 LFS 1:41   Good Times (FTD)°°
Take 8 Complete 4:26 (preceded by rehearsal) Good Times (FTD)°° (comp. only - 3:22)+Essential Elvis Vol. 5°° (3:50)
(no backing vocals)+Elvis At Stax 1°° (rehearsal, count-In & complete)
Take 9        
Take 10 (M) 3:25 Undubbed master (JPA5 6063) Good Times (FTD)°°+Memphis 3°° (remixed)+Our Memories Of Elvis°°
~Our Memories Of Elvis (FTD - 2)°° (no backing vocals - see note)
         
Overdub M 3:23 String overdubs on Jan 11 1974 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 26 (Sony)°°~Country Legend (Franklin
Mint Comp. Masters Collection 18)°°~Good Times (FTD)°°~(20 Bit)°°
~Country (2006 - DSD)°°~Elvis At Stax 3°°+The Definitive Love Album°°
(edited)

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.

Elvis can be heard singing a couple of lines of 'Softly As I Leave You' before Take 2 of 'Loving Arms' on Essential Elvis Volume 5 and Elvis At Stax but it is edited in from before Take 2 of 'Promised Land' (December 15). Also edited in after Take 1 of 'If That Isn't Love' on the Venus bootleg Stax 73 - Unedited Masters is Elvis singing part of 'The Christmas Song' from the rehearsal of 'Thinking About You' (December 12).

An edited (1:48) version of 'She Wears My Ring', with omitted verse ("This tiny ring is a token of tender emotion.
An endless pool of love that's as deep as the ocean. She swears to wear it with eternal devotion. That's why I sing, because she wears my ring. She swears to wear it with eternal devotion, That's why I sing, because she wears my ring"
), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Love Album.

The live backing vocals were mixed out on Take 8 of 'She Wears My Ring' as presented on Essential Elvis Volume 5 - Rhythm And Country and FTD's classic album release of Good Times, but they are present on Elvis At Stax.

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.

Thanks to Adrian V Stokes regarding the edited versions of songs on the BMG Ariola set of Definitive albums.

Session Logs
Tape Box
If That Isn't Love / Spanish Eyes
If That Isn't Love & Spanish Eyes - Tape Box
Tape Box
She Wears My Ring
She Wears My Ring - Tape Box
Recording Information
Multi-Track Tape Log
Multi-Track Tape Log


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
If That Isn't Love
If That Isn't Love
Music Sheet
Spanish Eyes
Spanish Eyes (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
She Wears My Ring
She Wears My Ring (Thanks to Christopher Brown)

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