The Complete Recording Sessions
By Ernst Jorgensen (1998)
Review:
I read in different places comments like " this book is really disappointing and Joe Tunzi's book is far better ", well I think it's an unfair statement. Both books have their merits and are also different in many ways, for instance " Elvis Sessions I & II " deal with everything that has been recorded by Elvis, which include " soundboard recordings " and stuff that MGM filmed and/or recorded too. Mr. Jorgensen book on the other hand deals only with the " recording sessions ", and the soundboard recordings mentioned in his book were officially catalogued by RCA back then as there was a need for these specific ones, a good example of this would be the live version of " My Way " used on the " Platinum box-set ", which was recorded on May 2nd 1977 in Chicago. There were no reasons either for Mr. Jorgensen to go into details of what MGM filmed, these aren't " recording sessions " and had to be left out, after all RCA is not a film company but a recording company.
Having said the above, Mr. Jorgensen has many things to offer in his book that wasn't detailed in any ways and in any other books for that matter, indeed he went into giving a lot of details of what happened during each one of the recording sessions, things like several of the songs that were considered for being recorded during a particular session, a good example would be that " Baby What You Want Me To Do " was a considered selection at the September 10-11, 1967 sessions in Nashville, but " Big Boss Man " was selected instead, the song " Saved " heard in the '68 Comeback Special was a possible choice on the " Easy Come, Easy Go " sessions two years before, he would return to the song for his comeback special later. I'd be able to go on and on with example like this but it would spoil the fun for peoples who intend to read it. All the different manipulations between Colonel Parker and many other peoples for publishing rights, which prevented Elvis to get more better songs at a certain stage of his career, and finally how Elvis was entirely controlling his recording sessions, this is certainly a fascinating read from beginning to end.
Given the above, more fascinating is the fact that the information on every songs recorded is more precise, " Elvis Sessions I & II " had several informations missing on the master takes and here we have almost every details on every songs recorded, great details too on the different splices done for obtaining the master. We are also getting an extensive list of " Home Recordings " discovered at Graceland, some were used on the " Platinum Box-set " but there are quite a few left in the vaults, titles like : What Now My Love (1966), It's A Sin To Tell A Lie (1966), Apron Springs (1959), etc....
On the other hand I was a bit disappointed that ' no surprises ' were given on the recording sessions itself, Mr. Jorgensen already mentioned a few times that he wasn't in a position for giving some informations that are basically being kept secret by the company, this is understandable and the author must have in mind that he's also working for BMG/RCA as co-producer of all the Elvis catalog. Who knows ? Perhaps Mr. Jorgensen will let everything go when he retires!!!!???? I'd like to add also that I don't necessarily agree with Mr. Jorgensen on ALL his views on some of the sessions, especially the ones from the seventies, nevertheless this is very interesting to read different views and each reader could make his own mind on what is in there, remember that this is about music and what you feel is what it counts in the end, for the same reason I think that Mr. Jorgensen has produced an excellent book and certainly one of the best I read in years.
In closing I'd like to say that I highly recommend that book to
all the fans interested by the music that Elvis produced during his career, keep also in
mind that " A Life Is Music " doesn't have to be chosen over " Elvis
Sessions I & II ", and neither the latter over Mr. Jorgensen's piece of work,
both are just simply essentials so 
.
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