Elvis in rehearsal

Taped at the RCA studios in Hollywood in March 1972 this new Follow That Dream release features a selection of Elvis Presley's rehearsals for his upcoming tour (which would also be covered by the "Elvis On Tour" rockumentary). Elvis with his stage band (minus bass player Jerry Scheff, unfortunately replaced here by Emory Gordy) and JD Sumner and the Stamps run through their standard live repertoire of that moment, adding a few of the recently recorded studio cuts ("Always On My Mind", "Separate Ways", "Help Me Make It Through The Night"). A spontaneous version of "Young and Beautiful" is the only rarity.



The absence of the orchestration used for the concerts gives mixed results. Some songs sound better, others just don't, while actually none on this release surpass the master takes. Although Elvis seemed extremely focused in these rehearsals with very little fooling around and no audience to distract him, the quality of his voice is variable and he hardly ever sings full out. But, hey, these were only rehearsals anyway.



Sound quality and mix are excellent, yet the artwork is amateurish and the CD with 19 songs runs barely over a meagre 51 minutes.



Amazon's listing of this CD under "Rehearsals" make it extremely hard to find. "Elvis On Tour" is far preferable.

Elvis in top form, destroying the myth

As a long-time Elvis fan, I've found this CD to be one of my all-time favorites. Full of rehearsals recorded during the making of the "Elvis On Tour" documentary, it contains optimum versions of many of his circa-1972 songs.



Two songs make this CD a must-have:

"Young And Beautiful" - a full-length version of the 1957 classic, given an updated treatment for 1972. This is not just a line or two (unlike "El Paso," unfortunately).



"Always On My Mind" - although this performance was previously released on "The Great Performances" CD (and as an overdubbed, edited performance on the "This Is Elvis" album), the version here for "Elvis On Tour: The Rehearsals" has far better sound quality. For me, this is the best recording of the song by anyone. This version is my second-favorite Elvis song, next only to "If I Can Dream."