I got the CD recently out, "Elvis In Memphis."These are songs I already have, on the '60s box set as well as on the original records. They also put the "Back In Memphis" album together with it, since they're all the recordings Elvis made at American Recordings in Memphis in 1969.
The "Back In Memphis" album was originally together with a live record of Elvis at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.
At the time when these came out, I wasn't buying that many Elvis records, although I've had them now for decades. I was definitely noticing them somehow. I must've seen them in record stores. I was actually confused by it all. "Back in Memphis," "In Memphis," "From Vegas to Memphis," "From Memphis to Vegas," etc. I don't know if there were any other variations.
I couldn't really see the difference it made as to where he was and why they were making such a big deal about it. Just so they don't lose him. Since I never personally ran into him, whether he was in Memphis, Vegas, or Nashville didn't make any difference.
I can see the point now, that he was in a rut, then went back to his hometown to this legendary studio (at the time very successful) and put down some great tracks. Even so, I wasn't tuned in, so I didn't really realize how great the tracks were till a few years ago when I got the '60s box set. Now I love the songs.
And I'm very happy that Elvis had this high point -- some stuff to be really proud of.
This set is nice. The songs are in the order they were released on the LPs, plus there's bonus tracks, to give at least one take of each of the songs he recorded. It seems, though, that something's missing. Like the stereo versions of some of the songs, like "Suspicious Minds," "Kentucky Rain," etc. These are represented only by the mono versions. I'm no expert in these things, but I believe the versions on the '60s box set would be stereo. And I'm also thinking the versions on the "Elvis #1 Singles" box set are also the stereo versions. Don't hold me to that.
The pictures are nice in the "Memphis" CD set (2 CDs), the booklet has some good notes, there's a nice plastic slip case to put the cardboard set in. I like it. It was $13.88 at Walmart.
