Elvis Presley - Gentle On My Mind - The RCA Master with lyrics

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It was surely in 1970, when Elvis Presley reached the point of being the complete entertainer. and whilst the sum of the parts were always there, it was at this point that they all seemed to align. His voice had matured and his live repertoire now incorporated all of his musical influences and also had a significant contemporary contribution. As far as his studio work was concerned, he was now tackling mature themes and lyrics in his song encompassing Elvis as the superstar, who could now master any material of any genre or style.
If all of this is true, then his legendary 1969 Memphis sessions were surely the final stop on that particular road, and a real watershed moment in Elvis' career. Whilst the four day "Nashville Marathon" had a wide range of material, the 1969 sessions in American Sound certainly produced material which was consistently higher, with possibly only a couple of recordings which could be considered in the sub-standard variety.
These Memphis sessions were also the final time where Elvis recorded under a producer, Chips Moman, who truly acted completely impartial and pushed Elvis like no producer, perhaps Sam Phillips apart, ever did, and subsequently the final time he was significantly guided by a producer. During subsequent recording sessions under Felton Jarvis, Elvis was in complete control and in some ways the recordings suffered as virtually any recording artist, regardless of talent or status, requires a firm hand to guide them in the right direction. These sessions would also be the final time where material could be sourced from various places, because it would transpire that almost all of Elvis' 1970 material would originate from Hill and Range or material of which the rights had been secured and registered by The Colonel in Elvis' Gladys Music Company.
A song which showcased the master interpreter that Elvis had become, was with his version of "Gentle On My Mind". which had been a multi award winning (including two Grammy's) song with versions by both the song's composer John Hartford and the the best known version by Glen Campbell, himself a former session musician for Elvis.
Whereas the previous versions were pure country, Elvis added elements of soul and gospel, mainly through the backing vocals, and the result is a much heavier sound and a fabulous performance which is one of my personal favourites from these sessions. It is therefore no surprise that it was one of the tracks chosen for the first album to come from these sessions, "From Elvis In Memphis".
For those interested in such things, the song was first recorded by Elvis on 15 January 1969, but it is unclear how many takes Elvis took to record the song as no alternates exist, and all of his vocals were removed from the original recording and Elvis re-recorded his vocal five days later, on 20 January before then adding a harmony vocal too.
Instrumental overdubs were added on three consecutive nights between 18 and 20 March 1969, which were arranged by Mike Leech and Glen Spreen and unlike the actual recordings which were produced by Chips Moman, the overdubs were produced by Felton Jarvis. The first to be added was the brass on 18 March, consisting of two trumpets, two trombones, two French horns and a saxophone played by arranger Glen Spreen himself.
Unsurprisingly, the strings followed the next day consisting of seven violins, five violas and two Cellos before some band overdubs on the final day. This consisted of some instruments, such as bass and left channel organ effect (perfectly isolated), of the basic track being replaced on March 20. Most or all of the harmony vocal is thought to have been provided by Ronnie Milsap, on the March 20 overdub session, but there is a possibility that they were overdubbed by Joseph Babcock on March 25.
It is with the back up vocals where most intrigue is to be found as there is some doubt as to the actual dates on which they were recorded. According to Keith Flynn's wonderful website :
" The date is unknown when the backup vocal overdubs were added to 'Gentle On My Mind'. Sessions III lists 'Gentle On My Mind' as having backup vocals overdubbed on January 23, but the session log shows that as of February 4 (date of the job number) no backup vocals had been overdubbed".

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 - Gentle On My Mind - The RCA Master with lyrics канала The Ultimate Elvis Channel by Leon