A Hundred Years From Now

Product Description:

Personnel: Elvis Presley (vocals, guitar); James Burton, Chip Young (guitar); Charlie McCoy (harmonica, organ, guitar); David Briggs (piano); Norbert Putnam (bass); Jerry Carrigan, Kenneth Buttrey (drums).

The Imperials: Jim Murray, Greg Gordon, Terry Blackwood, Armond Morales, Joe Moscheo (background vocals).

Compilation producers: Ernst Mikael Jorgensen, Roger Semon.

Recorded at RCA's Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee between June 4, 1970 and June 8, 1971. Includes liner notes by Ernst Mikael Jorgensen and Roger Semon.

This is part of RCA's Essential Elvis series.

Fans who complain that Elvis' recordings from the '70s are too lavishly produced would do well to check out A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW, a collection of undubbed masters and alternate takes from the King's five-day June 1970 recording session. Those sessions produced material for the albums LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS and ELVIS COUNTRY, records that contain great performances but that, to many, suffer from excessive overdubbing. A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW allows listeners to hear these tracks as Elvis heard them during those all-night June sessions, before strings, background vocals, and extra instruments were added.

What he heard sounds pretty darn good, more organic than the final product RCA released at the time. Elvis sounds loose and enthusiastic, laughing at flubbed lyrics, goading the band on and singing with a mastery that would abandon him just a few short years later. The album also makes clear what all the fuss about Elvis' backing bands is about: soloists James Burton (electric guitar) and Charlie McCoy (harmonica) sparkle, and supporting musicians Jerry Carrigan (drums), Norbert Putnam (bass), and David Briggs (piano) provide rock-solid support. Not all the ESSENTIAL ELVIS albums live up to their name, but this one does, in spades.