The story of 'Memphis': How new Elvis box set brings listeners closer than ever to the King

During the course of a 20-year recording career, Elvis Presley would cut at the top studios in New York, Nashville and Hollywood, but his most uniquely powerful work was captured in his hometown of Memphis. RCA Records and Legacy Recordings will celebrate that body of work with a new Elvis box set titled, fittingly, “Memphis.”

Set for release Aug. 9, "Memphis" includes 111 tracks spanning Presley’s recordings in the city, with 88 of those tracks newly remixed by local Grammy-winning engineer/producer Matt Ross-Spang at his Crosstown studio, Southern Grooves.

Produced by noted Elvis archivist Ernst Jørgensen, the five-CD set — which will also be released digitally and in a pared-down two-LP vinyl package — marks the first “fully comprehensive collection” of the recordings Presley made in the Bluff City. The box set chronicles Presley’s 1954 and 1955 sessions at Sun, his comeback at American Sound Studios in 1969, the music he made at Stax Records in 1973, live recordings from a 1974 show at the Mid-South Coliseum, and a final set of songs cut in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home in 1976, a year before his passing.

Aside from the iconic Sun recordings, all the tracks on "Memphis" were newly mixed by Ross-Spang, removing overdubbed strings, horns and additional backing vocals, offering a unique "fly-on-the-wall" glimpse of how the studio material sounded as Elvis was first laying down his vocals.

For Ross-Spang — who has worked on various Elvis projects, mixing live shows and de-mixing studio recordings, for nearly a decade — the "Memphis" box set allowed him to employ modern technology to bring the listener closer than ever to the King.

“On these recordings, I do a little bit of audio cleanup where I get any major tape hiss, clicks, pops or anything like that out of the way,” says Ross-Spang. “And then I've kind of developed a technique to really add a lot of presence to Elvis' voice, so you can really hear the detail. I think that's the part I'm most excited about, for the listener to really hear Elvis loud and proud with all the nuance in his voice better than ever.”

“Stripping the overdubs from the Memphis sessions only makes them more Memphis,” says author and historian Robert Gordon, who wrote the liner notes to the new box set. “Whereas Nashville and Los Angeles are all about the icing, Memphis is about the muscle, it's about the rawness and the edge. I think this box makes us feel Elvis more than has ever been possible because there's less in the way. We literally are hearing what Elvis heard in the moment and hearing Elvis' response to it. So it puts us in his shoes in a way that's never been possible before."

The magic of Elvis and The Memphis Boys

Following his historic Sun sessions with producer Sam Phillips in the mid-‘50s, it would be another 15 years before Elvis recorded in Memphis again. Presley had spent the bulk of the ‘60s in Hollywood making films and recording mostly lightweight songs for those movies.

While Presley was busy turning out his musicals, producer Chips Moman and his American Sound Studios — located on Thomas Street in North Memphis — had grown into a monster. Moman had recruited a crack unit of players from the house bands at Hi Records and Phillips Records to form the American Studio group, dubbed The Memphis Boys: guitarist Reggie Young, drummer Gene Chrisman, pianist Bobby Wood, organist Bobby Emmons and bassists Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill.

The lineup, mostly with Moman behind the board, would become a hit-making machine in the latter half of the '60s, working up a series of chart smashes for artists like the Box Tops ("The Letter"), Dusty Springfield ("Son of a Preacher Man"), Neil Diamond ("Sweet Caroline"), B.J. Thomas ("Hooked on a Feeling") and Bobby Womack ("Fly Me To The Moon"). When Elvis decided it was time to get serious about making music again, he decided to go back to Memphis and work at American.

“Imagine it's 1969 and Elvis is walking into American studio,” says Gordon. “He's spent a decade in Hollywood, been in state-of-the-art recording studios, world class facilities. And he steps into this ramshackle Memphis recording studio and he's got to be taken aback, and he's got to wonder what he's gotten into.

“But I think also he's got to be thrilled. Like, OK, I understand this — and especially as he gets to know The Memphis Boys and Moman, he realizes how basically they're just like him. Now, he's recording with Southern boys who were raised like he was raised, to understand what he understands, who share the same musical affinities. I think that there's this moment where Elvis’ heart has to soar because he's gone from the shiniest and maybe falsest situation to the funkiest situation and he feels great about it. You can hear that in his performances.”

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“One of the big takeaways for me on the American material,” says Ross-Spang, “was that these were the best music session musicians, the best producer and the best singer, and all of them were at the top of their game.”

The American sessions would prove a major comeback for Presley. Released in June of ’69, the resulting “From Elvis in Memphis” album would reach No. 13 on the Billboard album charts, while a string of singles from the sessions, including “In the Ghetto,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” “Kentucky Rain” and “Suspicious Minds,” would return Elvis to top of the singles charts.

The emotion of Elvis' Stax and Jungle Room recordings

The triumph of the American sessions would give way to the more complex period in Presley’s life and recording career. He would again record in Memphis in 1973. By then, Elvis was in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Priscilla. RCA was on him to deliver more product, but Elvis didn't want to leave Memphis and his young daughter, Lisa Marie, to record.

By then, the hottest studio in town was Stax, home of the Memphis soul label. At the time, Stax was exploding: Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" soundtrack had been released the previous summer, and Stax had entered its second golden age. Stax had stopped renting the studio to outside acts, but the opportunity to host Elvis was too special to pass up. The label's resident superstar, Hayes, even gave up time he'd already booked to let Elvis record. The choice for studio was also a logistical one: Stax had a proper security setup and guards at its gate and was mere minutes from Graceland.

Gordon notes that the Stax sessions are highlighted by moments of deep personal meaning for Presley — who was in a dark place emotionally as a result of his failing marriage — including his rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me.”

“Elvis had an image he felt he had to uphold," says Gordon. "A sense of being macho, where you can't be vulnerable. And it's only in a song like ‘Help Me’ where Elvis can imbue his need for compassion and empathy, and he can ask for the help he needs without feeling like a wimp. He can do it artfully.”

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Another stirring moment comes during Elvis’ final sessions captured at the Jungle Room in 1976, just a year before his death, with a gut-wrenching version of the traditional ballad, “Danny Boy.” While the original contained considerable musical embellishment, the new version on the "Memphis" box set is powerfully spare.

“Elvis is at the piano singing this folk song and initially might seem like a throwaway. But as you listen to it, you can hear Elvis throwing himself into the depths of the song,” says Gordon. “This is a song that has lasted generations, eons, it has lasted continents and cultures — and it's his father's favorite song. And in the new presentation we get more to the heart of darkness that's underlying Elvis' life at that moment. We feel him putting his imprint on those eons of time through this song.”

Elvis Week 2024

The “Memphis” box set will be a major focus of the coming Elvis Week festivities. On Aug. 13, the Graceland Soundstage will host an “Elvis: Back in Memphis” concert and storytelling session, which will blend live music and reflections from those who worked on Presley’s various Memphis sessions, including American drummer Gene Chrisman and Stax sessions bassist Norbert Putnam, as well as Stax veteran David Porter.

Robert Gordon and Matt Ross-Spang will be featured as part of a Q&A and listening event for the “Memphis” box set on Aug 14 at The Guest House at Graceland. Gordon will also appear as part of an “Elvis: Behind the Music” panel event at The Guest House on Aug. 17.

For more information on Elvis Week events or to purchase tickets, go to Elvisweek.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Elvis' Memphis box set showcases King's voice 'better than ever'