Studio Sessions for RCA, May 25-28, 1966

Studio :

RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee

Producer :

Felton Jarvis

Engineers :

Jim Malloy (May 25-28), Al Pachucki (May 28, 19:00-22:00)

Run On

TPA4 0908

May 25 (Wed.): 22:00 - 01:00 

Take 01

LFS

1:50

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 02

Complete

2:56

Easter Special°°/Stand by Me vol. 2°+"Stand by Me vol. 2"

Take 03

Take 04

Take 05

Take 06

Complete

2:24

Stand by Me vol. 1°

Take 07

M

2:23

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

How Great Thou Art

TPA4 0909

May 25 (Wed.): 22:00 - 01:00 

Take 01

Take 02

Complete

2:56

Platinum 2°°/Stand by Me vol. 1°

Take 03

Take 04

M

3:02

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Stand by Me

TPA4 0910

May 26 (Thu.): 01:00 - 04:00 

Take 01

Take 02

Complete

2:43

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 03

FS

1:00

Easter Special°°/Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 04

LFS

0:51

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 05

Take 06

FS+FS(?)

0:20

Easter Special°°

Take 07

Complete

2:34

Easter Special°°(released as "take 2")/Stand by Me vol. 1°+"Easter Special"

Take 08

Take 09

LFS

1:26

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 10

FS+Complete

2:40

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 11

M

2:28

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Where No One Stands Alone

TPA4 0911

May 26 (Thu.): 01:00 - 04:00 

Take 01

Take 02

Take 03

LFS

2:24

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 04

(M)

1:36+

Used for composite master

Where No One Stands Alone (workpart)

May 26 (Thu.): 01:00 - 04:00 

Take 01

FS+Complete

1:51

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 02

FS

0:13

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 03

Complete

1:21

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 04

Take 05

Take 06

Take 07

(M)

1:09

Used for composite master

Where No One Stands Alone (composite)

TPA4 0911

Spliced

M

2:43

Composite of take 4 and workpart take 7.

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Down in the Alley

TPA4 0912

May 26 (Thu.): 04:00 - 07:00 

Take 01

Complete

3:16

60's Box 5

Take 02

FS

0:07

Always Me vol. 4

Take 03

LFS

1:59

Always Me vol. 4

Take 04

FS

0:52

Always Me vol. 4

Take 05

NA

1:09+

"Always Me vol. 4"(announcement only)

Take 06

Complete

2:49

Always Me vol. 4

Take 07

Take 08

Take 09

M

2:50

Spinout LP(O)/Tomorrow Is a Long Time(repaired)(R)/60's Box 3(cut)(R)

Tomorrow Is a Long Time

TPA4 0913

May 26 (Thu.): 04:00 - 07:00 

Take 01

FS

0:21

Always Me vol. 4

Take 02

FS+Complete

5:41

Always Me vol. 4

Take 03

Take 04

M

5:22

Spinout LP(O)/60's Box 3(R)/Tomorrow Is a Long Time(R)

Love Letters

TPA4 0914

May 26 (Thu.): 22:00 - 01:00 (and 18.30 - 21.30?) 

Take 01

Take 02

Complete

2:52

24 C Gold

Take 03

FS

0:09

Collectors Gold

Take 04

FS

0:29

Collectors Gold

Take 05

LFS

0:48

Always Me vol. 4

Take 06

NA

0:04+

Always Me vol. 4(Announcement only)

Take 07

Complete

3:02

Collectors Gold

Take 08

Complete

3:00

Always Me vol. 4

Take 09

M

2:51

From the Heart(O)/ Gold Rec. 4(O)/Tom.Is a Long Time(R)/60's Box 3(R)

So High

TPA4 0915

May 27 (Fri.): 01:00 - 04:00

Take 01

Complete

2:01

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 02

FS

0:10

Easter Special°°

Take 03

Complete

2:03

Easter Special°°/Stand by Me vol. 1°+"Easter Special"

Take 04

M

1:58

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Farther Along

TPA4 0916

May 27 (Fri.): 01:00 - 04:00

Take 01

FS

0:39

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 02

LFS

2:32

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 03

M

4:05

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

By and By

TPA4 0917

May 27 (Fri.): 04:00 - 07:00

Take 01

Take 02

Take 03

FS+LFS

2:50

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 04

FS+Complete

2:13

Long Lonely Highway°°/Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 05

Take 06

Take 07

Take 08

Take 09

Complete

1:52

Stand by Me vol. 1°

Take 10

M

1:51

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

In the Garden

TPA4 0918

May 27 (Fri.): 04:00 - 07:00

Take 01

Take 02

Take 03

M

3:11

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Beyond the Reef

TPA4 0919

May 27 (Fri.): 04:00 - 07:00 (06:00-07:00)

Take 01

FS+LFS

2:41

Always Me 4 (L/R swapped)+tape(FS+dialogue)

Take 02

(M)

3:05

Master overdubbed on August 9, 1968

60's Box 3(R)

Somebody Bigger Than You and I

TPA4 0920

May 27 (Fri.): 19:00 - 22:00

Take 01

Take 02

LFS

0:43

low key

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 03

Take 04

Tryout?

1:03

Bridge only

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 05

Take 06

Take 07

Take 08

LFS

1:44

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 09

Take 10

Take 11

Complete

2:33

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 12

Complete

2:39

Easter Special°°/Stand by Me vol. 1°+"Easter Special"

Take 13

Take 14

Take 15

FS+Complete

2:50

Stand by Me vol. 1°

Take 16

(M)

Used for composite master

Somebody Bigger Than You and I (workpart, ending)

May 27 (Fri.): 19:00 - 22:00

Take 01

Take 02

Take 03

Take 04

Take 05

Take 06

(M)

Used for composite master

Somebody Bigger Than You and I (composite)

TPA4 0920

Spliced

M

2:27

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Without Him

TPA4 0921

May 27 (Fri.): 22:00 - 01:00

Take 01

Complete

3:03

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 02

Take 03

Take 04

Take 05

Take 06

FS

0:10

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 07

Take 08

Complete

2:30

Stand by Me vol. 1°

Take 09

Take 10

FS

0:12

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 11

Take 12

M

2:30

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Take 13

Take 14

Complete

2:33

Stand by Me vol. 2°

If the Lord Wasn't Walking by My Side

TPA4 0922

May 28 (Sat.): 01:00 - 05:00

Take 01

Complete

1:37

Stand by Me vol. 1°

Take 02

Take 03

Take 04

Complete

1:42

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Take 05

M

1:38

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Take 06

Complete

1:49

Stand by Me vol. 2°

Where Could I Go But to the Lord?

TPA4 0923

May 28 (Sat.): 01:00 - 05:00

Take 01

Take 02

M

3:37

How Great Thou Art(O)/Peace in the Valley(R)/Amazing Grace(R)

Come What May

TPA4 0924

May 28 (Sat.): 19:00 - 22:00

Take 01

FS+LFS

2:04

Come What May°

Take 02

Complete

2:03

Come What May°

Take 03

Take 04

Complete

1:52

Come What May°

Take 05

FS

0:31

Come What May°

Take 06

Complete

1:52

Collectors Gold°°

Take 07

Complete

1:59

60's Box 3°°/Tomorrow Is a Long Time°°

Take 08

M

2:00

Long Lonely Highway(clipped >0dB)(R)°°/Rare Elvis(O)°

Fools Fall in Love

TPA4 0925

May 28 (Sat.): 19:00 - 22:00

Take 01

Take 02

Take 03

Take 04

Complete

2:11

Long Lonely Highway°°

Take 05

M

2:06

60's Box 3(R)°°/Tomorrow Is a Long Time(R)°°/Leiber & Stoller CD(O)°°

Musicians:

Guitar :

Scotty Moore

Guitar :

Chip Young

Guitar :

Harold Bradley?

Bass :

Bob Moore (May 25-27)

Bass :

Henry Strzelecki (May 28)

Bass/Harmonica/Guitar :

Charlie McCoy (May 25-27)

Drums/Tympani :

Murrey "Buddy" Harman

Drums :

D.J. Fontana

Piano :

Floyd Cramer

Piano/Organ :

Henry Slaughter (of The Imperials, May 25-27)

Piano/Organ :

David Briggs (May 26)

Steel Guitar :

Peter Drake

Saxophone :

Homer "Boots" Randolph

Saxophone :

Rufus Long

Trumpet

Ray Stevens

Backup Vocals :

The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker

Backup Vocals :

The Imperials: Armond Morales, Jake Hess, Gary McSpadden, Sherrill Nielsen (May 25-27)

Backup Vocals :

Millie Kirkham, June Page and Dolores Edgin


Notes:

On the 1999 Japanese paper sleeve CD (BVCM-3702) and the first regular CD release of "How Great Thou Art" the original two-channel album masters were used. Generation loss is more than compensated for by the full ambience and natural sounding vocals. Neither release has noise reduction. The original RCA/BMG CD runs too slow (~2%) while this has been corrected on the Japanese CD. Overall the Japanese CD is normalized to 0 dB (max. amplitude) or even subjected to unnecessary hard limiting, especially noticeable on loud songs such as So High. It may still be the best choice in terms of sound.

BMG's "Amazing Grace" and "Peace in the Valley" are remastered/remixed from the original multi-channel backup tapes and both have too much noise reduction and artificial sounding vocals due to overuse of tasteless clarity improvement products, although the source and generation as such is better than the original album masters used previously. The more recent "Peace in the Valley" has added high-end noise that continues after the songs are finished, but also slightly improved high-end compared to "Amazing Grace". The fact that noise can be identified as added afterwards suggests that the record company is aware of some of the problems with these remasters. Avoid releases derived from this bad early 1990's attempt that is released over and over again. Unfortunately they will need to go back to the tapes again to get it right, unless the basic transfer was kept somewhere.

6 drum beats of the intro of
Down in the Alley were missing on the 60's Box. When rectified on the CD "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", a remastered intro with better ambience was spliced onto the 60's Box master rather than remastering the entire song again. It is possible that the intro was cut from the multichannel tapes in the first place.

From this session BMG's remasters as released on the 60's Box and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" are more conservative and far better than "Amazing Grace"/"Peace in the Valley". However,
Love Letters has better ambience on "From the Heart" or the first CD version of "Gold Records volume 4". On later BMG releases such as the "60's Box" and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" this sounds a bit dull and flat. The best source of this master may be the reel-to-reel "Golden Records vol.3 & 4" (ST 713-P-DP), but it would take a Dolby A (B?) decoder to find out for sure.

The long lost stereo master of
Come What May was severely and audibly clipped when finally released on the BMG/FTD CD "Long Lonely Highway". The same goes for the alternate Fools Fall in Love and By and By. The latter also suffers from DAT jitter (at 1:32). Similar jitter can be found on the CD "Come What May" (Come What May take 1, at 0:52-0:53 of track 1) implying a similar source in spite of being released in mono...