Elvis Presley Final Studio Recordings Coming

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The final studio recordings that Elvis Presley made are being released as a new 2-CD and 2-LP collection from RCA Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment. Way Down In The Jungle Room, described in the announcement as “the most complete and comprehensive collection of Presley’s final studio recordings ever assembled in one anthology,” is scheduled for August 5.

In the mid-1970s, Presley became one of the world’s first major recording artists to create fully realized professional level records in the intimacy of his own home studio.

With original recordings executive-produced by Elvis Presley with producer Felton Jarvis (who’d helmed most of Elvis’ records from 1966-1977), Way Down In The Jungle Room brings together fmaster recordings and rare outtakes laid down during two sessions (February 2-8, 1976 and October 28-30, 1976) in Graceland’s den – known as the “Jungle Room” – which was converted into a professional caliber recording studio for the purpose of capturing these indelible performances. The outtakes have been newly mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN.

For these sessions, Elvis was backed by many members of his longtime touring band including: James Burton (guitar), Ronnie Tutt (drums), David Briggs (keyboards), Glenn D. Hardin (keyboards), Jerry Scheff (bass), Norbert Putnam (bass) and J.D. Sumner & the Stamps (vocals).

In 1976, when the tracks for Way Down In The Jungle Room were cut, Elvis Presley had been with RCA for 20 years. That same year, the label released The Sun Sessions, its first official collection of the 1954-1955 recordings that launched his career.

Having entered his 40s, Presley was looking for new ways to express himself musically. Needing to create new sounds for a new era, Presley – who’d been charting on Country and Adult Contemporary radio stations -decided to convert the Hawaiian-themed “Jungle Room” into an informal home studio, where he could lay down tracks the way he wanted, outside the budget and scheduling pressures of the professional studios he’d worked in previously. With the help of RCA’s mobile recording truck and longtime producer Jarvis and engineer Mike Moran at the board, Elvis tackled a far-ranging mix of country and pop covers (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Danny Boy,” “Solitaire”) and late-period classics of his catalog, such as “Moody Blue” and “Way Down.”

Ten of the “Jungle Room” master takes first emerged on From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee in the spring of 1976, including the Top 10 hit “Hurt.” More tracks from these sessions were later paired with live material and released in July 1977 (a month before Elvis’ death on August 16) on the Moody Blue album. The title track would top the country charts that month; “Way Down” would follow. These were the last studio albums released during Elvis’ lifetime.

According to the album’s producers, Way Down In The Jungle Room has been resequenced to “bring a fresh perspective to the material.” The material on Disc 2 – The Outtakes also includes in-the-studio dialog, providing a “fly-on-the-wall experience of what the sessions were like.” With the exception of track 13 (“She Thinks I Still Care”), the performances on Disc 2 have been sequenced in the order they were recorded.

Way Down In The Jungle Room CD Track Listing:

DISC 1 – THE MASTERS
01 Way Down (2:38)
02 She Thinks I Still Care (3:51)
03 Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall (3:17)
04 Pledging My Love (2:51)
05 For The Heart (3:22)
06 Love Coming Down (3:07)
07 He’ll Have To Go (4:32)
08 Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain (3:41)
09 Hurt (2:07)
10 Never Again (2:51)
11 Danny Boy (3:56)
12 Solitaire (4:40)
13 Moody Blue (2:49)
14 It’s Easy For You (3:27)
15 I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (3:44)
16 The Last Farewell (4:02)

DISC 2 – THE OUTTAKES
01 Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall – take 1 (5:15)
02 She Thinks I Still Care – take 10 (6:30)
03 The Last Farewell – take 2 (4:15)
04 Solitaire – take 7 (5:37)
05 I’ll Never Fall In Love Again – take 5 (4:04)
06 Moody Blue – take1 (3:53)
07 For The Heart – take 1 (3:55)
08 Hurt – take 3 (2:30)
09 Danny Boy – take 9 (4:02)
10 Never Again – take 9 – 3:56
11 Love Coming Down – take 3 (3:17)
12 Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain – take 4 (4:59)
13 She Thinks I Still Care – (alternate version) take 2 (4:26)
14 It’s Easy For You – take 1 – (5:24)
15 Way Down – take 2 – 3:50
16 Pledging My Love – take 3 (5:34)
17 For The Heart – take 4 (4:13)