Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain - From First Take to the Master

Elvis recorded "Kentucky Rain" on 19 February 1969 at American Sound, and was one of only two tracks recorded on that day, with the other being "Only the Strong Survive". It took ten takes before Elvis and producer Chips Moman were satisfied that they had achieved a take worthy of being the master, and of the previous nine, four other complete takes had also been achieved.
It seems that take seven, recorded at the end of the first part of the day's recordings between 1930 and 2030, was originally intended to be the master, but possibly on reflection Elvis decided to remake the track after a brief recess, and between 2300 and 0200 a further three takes, all complete run throughs, of which the last - take ten, was chosen to be the final master. Throughout there is considerable chatter between takes on the song's arrangement, the playing of the musicians, and Elvis on his own vocal, all adding a great insight into the recording process.
Unlike many of the tracks recorded at these Memphis 69 sessions, Elvis did not see any need to do a vocal repair, and so the only post production needed was therefore for backing vocals and orchestral backing. The orchestral backing was recorded first on 18 March 1969, with the strings in the afternoon and the brass in the evening to an arrangement by Mike Leech and Glen Spreen. The string orchestra consisted of seven violins (one of which played by Glen Spreen), five violas and two cellos with the brass being two trumpets, two trombones, two french horns and a saxophone. Vocal overdubs are presumed to have been added exactly a week later with vocals by Sonja Montgomery, Dolores Edgin, Hurshell Wiginton, Joe Babcock and Millie Kirkham.

As wonderful as the studio master is, it is completely eclipsed, in my opinion, by one particular live version, from Elvis' Las Vegas dinner show of 16 February 1970.
In February 1970, halfway through Elvis' second Las Vegas season, RCA had arranged to make some live recordings, presumably to cash in on the success of the 'In Person' album recorded the previous August. These recordings were done as professional reel to reel recordings, as opposed to the soundboard recordings which we are now so used to. Soundboard recordings in the main of course, were never really intended for public release.
Recordings took place in nine shows through five consecutive nights from 15 to 19 August, and segments of shows were recorded, rather than complete shows as it was likely that each particular song to be recorded had been previously arranged with Elvis beforehand. The exception seems to be the first show, the Midnight show of the 15th, which was recorded almost in it's entirety and has been officially released by FTD titled 'Polk Salad Annie'.
In all, leaving the first show apart, sixteen different songs were recorded many with many recorded more than once, and from these only half made it onto the 'On Stage' album, complemented with two from the previous August. Ironically, the only song which was recorded most, at all but one of the nine shows, is one which was omitted from the final album - Kentucky Rain. This live version, recorded during the second of the shows at which RCA were present, gives a clue that recordings were taking place.
The clue is that Elvis plays it absolutely straight, the norm was for him to change "Showed your photograph to some old grey bearded men" to "some old grey bearded fools" plus the intro to this one seems smoother than other live versions, usually with some chuckling by Elvis.
Having included it in his setlist for his second Vegas season, there were a few subtle tweeks from the studio master. Firstly, there was a subtle lyric change in the chorus ("And up ahead's another town, that I'll go walking through" became "And up ahead's another town, that I'll be walking through") and there was a heavier percussion influence, both after the pause at the chorus' end, and at the songs finale. The heavier percussion and more prominent piano intro, paints a far more vivid musical picture of the "Kentucky Rain" in the title, and in conjunction with Elvis' perfectly judged vocal combined with the live arena, also adds to the desolation felt by the protagonist.
Originally released on the 1980 silver box set, Elvis Aron Presley, and was a real treat at the time as live selections outwith the previously released concert albums, were extremely rare. It took until 2010 for it to reappear on another album, as a bonus track on the On Stage Legacy Edition.
Included at the end for reasons of completeness is the 2016 re-recording with backing from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

As with all of these videos, to get the most out of the re-edited audio, I highly recommend you use ear /headphones and turn the volume up as much as you dare!

Видео Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain - From First Take to the Master канала The Ultimate Elvis Channel by Leon