Elvis Presley – Stereo ’57 (Essential Elvis Volume 2)

A January in the studio, preserved on two tracks

Stereo ’57 takes us to Elvis Presley before a finished master has displaced the other possibilities within a song. In January 1957 he was working at Radio Recorders in Hollywood with musicians whose names belong to the foundations of his recording history: Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D. J. Fontana, together with the Jordanaires and the participating pianists. This collection brings together alternative takes from those sessions. It has particular appeal for listeners interested in the work behind a familiar record: a fresh approach, a different emphasis or a passage that needs another attempt before everyone is satisfied.

The survival of this material in two-track form is central to its story. A second tape machine ran alongside the mono recording. According to Analogue Productions, the safety reels had already been marked for erasure when Bones Howe, then a tape operator at Radio Recorders, saved them from disposal. The later release therefore makes available a source that was never originally intended to become an album in its own right. Howe also appears among the research credits for the RCA compilation. The rescue account comes from the publisher; it need not be expanded into an unsupported claim about every surviving Elvis tape.

Here, “stereo” refers to the surviving two-track recordings, rather than spatial processing subsequently applied to mono. The session discography identifies the relevant takes as stereo or binaural. That makes this an unusual document of recording history. It returns to a period when Elvis’s releases were still substantially shaped by mono and provides another perspective on the same working environment. This does not establish blanket superiority over the familiar mono masters. The attraction lies in different surviving performances and a different source, with their own relationship to the sessions that produced the records people already know.

Those January sessions were not dedicated to one eventual album. The work supplied gospel recordings for Peace in the Valley, material associated with Loving You and other releases. The takes selected here come from 13 and 19 January, while the broader sequence of sessions had begun on 12 January. That distinction matters: a date in the overall project does not necessarily mean a performance from that day appears on this particular double LP. Stereo ’57 has its own selection and sequence, assembled to illuminate the working process rather than reproduce a contemporary release programme.

Elvis and the musicians answering his voice

Elvis is credited with vocals and guitar. Scotty Moore provides further guitar work, Bill Black plays double bass and D. J. Fontana plays drums. This line-up places rhythmic responsiveness and direct interaction with the singer at the centre of the music. One rewarding approach is to follow something other than the unmistakable lead voice for a while. When does the guitar answer a vocal phrase? How is the next entrance prepared? What do bass and drums do to the weight of a line? Such questions suit a collection of working takes because they direct attention towards the shared construction of a performance.

The Jordanaires here are associated with Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews, Hoyt Hawkins and Hugh Jarrett. The edition’s credits list their backing vocals across most of the programme, with the two “Blueberry Hill” entries excluded. They are not an anonymous addition to be assigned indiscriminately to every track. Particularly in the gospel material, the relationship between a solo voice and a vocal response belongs to the structure of the song. It connects Elvis’s individual phrasing with a tradition of communal singing, while allowing the supporting singers to remain active musical participants rather than a background effect.

The keyboard parts also deserve individual names. Gordon Stoker is documented on piano for the 13 January session, and Dudley Brooks for 19 January. Hoyt Hawkins plays organ on “It Is No Secret”. These details explain why one general piano credit for the entire album would be too crude. A related session fact belongs outside this tracklist: Elvis’s piano playing on take 1 of “Peace in the Valley” does not justify assigning him that role on the takes included here. Information about a session must always be matched to the actual selection of performances on the record.

Steve Sholes produced the sessions and Thorne Nogar handled the recording. The publisher recounts Nogar’s memory of the arrangement in the room: Elvis and the Jordanaires faced one another, each side using its own directional microphone. It is an evocative reminder of how much a recording depends on where people stand and how they respond across a shared space. Our illustrations nevertheless remain freely interpreted portraits, not purported photographic reconstructions of that moment. The music and documented credits carry the history; the images accompany them and retain their own stated reference periods.

Familiar songs, different attempts

The repeated titles in the tracklist are the substance of this release. “I Beg of You” first appears as take 1, then returns in further attempts reaching take 12. “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” is represented by take 2, take 6 and takes 12 and 13. In an ordinary greatest-hits programme these might seem like duplications. For a collector, they offer access to the work within a song. The title remains familiar while attention moves towards smaller decisions: the opening of a line, the transition into a refrain or the balance between the singer’s delivery and his accompaniment.

For the opening entry of “Is It So Strange”, this presentation follows the take-1 identification supplied by the publisher and the original RCA documentation. A conflicting take-2 entry in a Discogs listing of the AP edition remains recorded as a source discrepancy. Such details may appear minor, but in a collection of alternative performances they form part of the record’s identity. A track carrying several take numbers does not necessarily contain several complete performances. The fifteen programme entries distribute individual versions and grouped attempts across the four sides of the two records.

“That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” reaches further back. Elvis had already recorded it at Sun in 1953 on a self-financed acetate. The January 1957 versions therefore return to a song that belonged to his repertoire before the major RCA success. Alongside that continuity are different songwriting traditions: Scott Wiseman’s “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”, Faron Young’s “Is It So Strange” and “Blueberry Hill” by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock. The young singer encounters each of them from his own musical present, rather than treating the programme as a single, uniform style.

Thomas A. Dorsey’s “Peace in the Valley” and Stuart Hamblen’s “It Is No Secret” give gospel its own place. “Mean Woman Blues”, written by Claude Demetrius, appears as take 14. The collection gains from these different kinds of song sharing the same working context: religious music, ballads and rhythmically assertive material. There is no need to memorise the take numbers to enjoy the record. They are useful signposts, however, for anyone wishing to look more closely at a creative process whose finished results have long since become part of recorded music history.

The Analogue Productions double LP

This edition carries catalogue number AAPP 057-45 and spreads the programme over two LPs running at 45 RPM. Ryan K. Smith cut the release at Sterling Sound, with the two-track masters identified as the source. Quality Record Pressings manufactured the records, and the presentation includes a gatefold jacket. These details distinguish the specific AP release from the original RCA compilation and from other Elvis editions. A reference to historical tapes becomes genuinely useful to a collector when it is connected to the identity of the edition actually being described.

The four sides divide the recurring material into manageable listening sections. Turning a record can provide an opportunity to replay one take or look forward to another version of the same song in the next section. That is a practical feature of this particular 45 RPM programme, rather than a claim that rotational speed alone guarantees a given listening impression. The source, the specific cut, the pressing and the playback system all remain relevant. Above all, this is a record offering an unusual view of musicians working with songs that became familiar in other forms.

Different production descriptions should be kept separate. The 2013 AP release is documented at 200 grams, while the publisher now describes the edition as 180 grams. The physical stock batch has not been inspected here. For the original compilation, a 1988 release listing also sits alongside a later 1989 phonographic copyright statement. Neither changes the securely documented recording year of 1957. For this collection, the exact selection, the surviving two-track source and the people involved matter more than an artificially tidy chronology in which every remaining uncertainty has been removed.

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Musicians

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

• Elvis Presleyvocals, guitarParticipation: Album personnel
• Scotty MooreguitarParticipation: Album personnel
• Bill Blackdouble bassParticipation: Album personnel
• D. J. FontanadrumsParticipation: Album personnel
• The Jordanairesbacking vocalsParticipation: A1–A4, B2–B4, C2, C3, D1–D4
• Gordon Stokerbacking vocals (Jordanaires); pianoParticipation: 13 January session tracks; vocals: A1–A4, B2–B4, C2, C3, D1–D4
• Dudley BrookspianoParticipation: 19 January session tracks
• Hoyt Hawkinsbacking vocals (Jordanaires); organParticipation: A4 (It Is No Secret); vocals: A1–A4, B2–B4, C2, C3, D1–D4
• Neal Matthewsbacking vocals (Jordanaires)Participation: A1–A4, B2–B4, C2, C3, D1–D4
• Hugh Jarrettbacking vocals (Jordanaires)Participation: A1–A4, B2–B4, C2, C3, D1–D4

Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 1957; selected takes from 13 and 19 January. Producer: Steve Sholes; engineer: Thorne Nogar. Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews, Hoyt Hawkins and Hugh Jarrett. Stoker: piano at the 13 January session; Dudley Brooks: piano on 19 January; Hawkins: organ on It Is No Secret. Elvis’s piano credit on the excluded take 1 of Peace in the Valley is not applied to this programme. AP: Ryan K. Smith, Sterling Sound; Quality Record Pressings.