Elvis Presley
From Elvis In Nashville
(RCA/Legacy/Sony)

9/10

By Decibel Report - Nov 19, 2020

Among the many ‘what ifs’ and ‘if only’ that proliferate the hive mind of artists fans and commentators in the music business, Elvis and Nashville were a dream pairing of voice and style that should have ventured further down a long and winding country road evidenced on this simply stunning collection of recordings laid down live at RCA Victor Studio B in Nashville. Whilst most of these recordings formed the core content of his That’s The Way It Is, Elvis Country and Love Letters From Elvis, this is the first time that the master recordings from these sessions are collected together, without any overdubs, and in a sumptuous package.

Recorded over an intense five days/night run, with a later extra session, backed by the crack country group of players The Nashville Cats, Elvis supernaturally delivers these songs as though he is still in the room with the listener. Anybody who has visited Studio B will appreciate the down to earth, comfortable and warm atmosphere of this legendary place to visualise these sessions taking place as track after gloriously arranged, played and sung track rolls by on this collection of 2 1/4 inch canister tapes from a golden decade of so much possible hope and promise for this countrified King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll.

What if he revisited this style of music during the 70s instead of becoming a living Las Vegas museum piece generating money for a manager, who had scant regard for his credibility and supreme talent, we can only imagine for ourselves listening to these seminal recordings created back in the studio where he recorded his early hits.

Observing how universally massive the Country genre and Country stars have become, the niggling thought of how Presley could have preserved his musical integrity and legacy by expanding on this crossover genre with his immense influence is another great imponderable of modern music. Any fan will marvel at the pervasive stature of Elvis and Country music of which during five or so epic days and nights in June 1970 a legend and a musical style collided and birthed a whole new universe of possibilities. If only...