Elvis Does the Blues

Elvis actually was a great blues singer. In addition to the astonishing range of his voice, he could really get down and dirty with some powerful blues songs.

You've all probably heard his hit Reconsider Baby. Here are a couple of slightly lesser known blues numbers from the King. In 1969, Elvis went into the American Studios in Memphis with Chips Moman producing. The day Elvis showed up at the studio, he had a cold (that later worsened) and the rough early studio takes highlighted here definitely show the hoarseness in Elvis' voice. Still, these sessions were fantastic and yielded Elvis' first number one hot since the early sixties (Suspicious Minds)

The first song is Stranger In My Own Hometown a nice bluesy number. Here, I have featured the undubbed master which obviously sounds much rougher and unpolished than the final released version. The second is a beautiful country-blues number called Long Black Limousine with really nice "story" lyrics that end with a nice twist. This again, is an early take (Take 6) that shows Elvis having some trouble with his voice. Still, these sound fantastic. If you happen to be familiar with the released versions, you'll notice two problems. First, the artificially added echo (missing in the takes here) drowned out Elvis' powerful voice. Second, the addition of overdubs and strings changed the tone of some of the songs from raw blues to more syrupy ballads. Enjoy these rare gems here.

Both these outtakes are from the FTD release Memphis Sessions. If you are even slightly an Elvis collector, I very strongly recommend these releases. FTD (Follow That Dream) is a legal Elvis collector's label run by Sony/BMG. The contain rare and unreleased studio and live material that is meant for collectors. The CD runs tend to be smaller than commercial releases, but contain high quality, beautifully remastered rarities. I think this is a model for how music companies should treat fans. If you can provide fans with carefully researched, high quality rarities, why would I ever be interested in a bootleg?

You can find the album on Amazon here. Most of the other FTD releases are also available on Amazon here. Although Memphis Sessions is not available, you should also look for FTD releases on http://www.shopelvis.com/ as they're cheaper than Amazon.

1. Elvis Presley - Stranger In My Own Hometown (4.5 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Elvis Presley - Long Black Limousine (3.93 MB; 128 kbps MP3)