Review Elvis At Home in Germany

Hot on the heels of the Deluxe ‘Soldier Boy’ set from the Follow That Dream collector’s label, we get ‘Elvis At Home in Germany’ on the JAS International budget label. Does it add anything to the set we already bought?

Design

The CD comes housed in a slimline CD-single jewel case with an AI cover. Usually that’s bad news, but here I must admit that the end result hits all the right marks. If you’re going to use Artificial Intelligence for a cover, this is how to do it.

The artwork itself features everything we hear on this CD: on the front, "Elvis" playing acoustic guitar, and on the back a photo of Elvis playing piano with his Alden electric guitar lying on top.

Content

As stated in the introduction, the question is whether this 14-track compilation adds anything to the big FTD set we just bought. And the answer is "yes" because this set does not simply duplicate the complete songs from the two CDs with home recordings from the big set, no, it creates complete songs and adds a third dimension with the newly created stereo mixes.

In our recent interview with Anthony Stuchbury, the audio engineer behind the material on both the FTD and JAS releases of these recordings, he stated that he decided not to create Stereo versions while restoring and remastering them for the official archival release, purely because they were recorded on a single microphone and should be preserved “as recorded.” 

And when a Stereo version was taking it one step too far for that release, on his own label, he had the option to take that step, building on the foundation he had already created.

Doing so he opened up the “flat” Mono presentation, adding depth and a sense of space, allowing us to take our place on the couch at Goethestraße 14 in Bad Nauheim, joining Elvis and his friends. Listening to these songs like this, I was really surprised that the new Stereo mix worked so well with so few elements available - Elvis, a piano, a guitar and some of his friends harmonizing - to create this full audio presentation.

Highlights such as ‘Earth Angel’, ‘The Fool’ (a personal favorite) and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ place Elvis’ voice firmly at the center, revealing just how focused and committed he already was during these informal sessions. Red West’s backing, placed on the right side, nicely complements him, making rough home recordings feel surprisingly intimate.

Other tracks that benefitted from this new presentation are There’s No Tomorrow’, ‘Soldier Boy’ and ‘Titles Tell’, which all sound clearer, while ‘I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You)’ was reconstructed from damaged source material into a complete performance, fitting in nicely here. On ‘I’m Beginning to Forget You’ I discovered Elvis trying to add a little beat with his foot. Some of the simpler moments are equally rewarding; songs like ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘Send Me Some Lovin’’ showcase Elvis’ versatility as a singer and as a musician.

The work by Stuchbury on these songs fixed most of the distortion and repaired the balance on those that sounded out of balance. ‘There’s No Tomorrow’ and ‘Titles Tell’ now have cleaner vocals, allowing us to enjoy a charming falsetto on the last song. On the aforementioned ‘Soldier Boy’ the piano is less dominant, bringing out Elvis’ performance and intonation. 

That said, these recordings aren’t perfect, but given the raw source material the producer had to work from, perfection wasn’t to be expected. On ‘It’s Been So Long Darling’ for example, we still hear some distortion, but at a much more tolerable level, making the song enjoyable.

Conclusion

Listening to these recordings in Stereo adds a genuine sense of space and presence, that "third dimension". With only Elvis, a piano, a guitar, and a few friends around a microphone, Stuchbury has managed to create a surprisingly rich listening experience, bringing us closer than ever to those relaxed evenings in Bad Nauheim.

The fact that he chose to use only complete performances, cutting away everything else, makes these performances very easy to listen to. And that by itself is something to applaud, as the original tapes, historically significant as they are, aren’t everybody’s cup of tea.

So yes, this new ‘Best of the German Home Recordings’ really offers something new for both collectors and the casual fan who would normally skip this raw material. 

These new versions, released in a limited run of 300 copies, deserve a release on a big label, as they offer something most fans have probably never heard, since the original versions were way too rough to be enjoyed on a mainstream Sony compilation.

Until then, be quick if you want a copy, because this CD is nearly sold out. The good news is that a 10-inch vinyl version is due from the Memphis Mansion label soon.