Studio Session for Sun Records, August 19, 1954

Studio :

Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee

Producer / Engineer :

Sam Phillips

Blue Moon

August 19

Take 01

Complete

2:57

"1."

50's Box 5 [Tape Box #7]

Take 02

Complete

3:14

"2."

Platinum 1

Take 03

FS

0:15

"3. 2 False Start 2:20"

Sunrise

Take 04

FS

0:23

Sunrise

Take 05

Complete

2:26

"3. 2 False Start 2:20"

Sunrise

Take 06

M

2:41

"4. Master WP. 2:39"

F2WB 8117

50's Box 1/Sunrise

Tomorrow Night

August 19?

Take 01

UN [Tape Box #7]

Take 02

Take 03

Take 04

Take 05

Take 06

Take 07

M

3:00

F2WB 8115

Sunrise/50's Box 1

I’ll Never Let You Go

August 19?

Take 01

UN [Tape Box #7 (continued)]

Take NA

M

2:26

Probably on tape boxe #7

F2WB 8116

50's Box 1/Sunrise

Musicians:

Guitar :

Elvis Presley

Guitar :

Scotty Moore

Bass :

Bill Black


Notes:

Perhaps the master take of Blue Moon should be take 6 instead of 4. Again, tracks on the tape have been considered takes. Sun Box #8 is reproduced on page 7(US release) of 'The 50's Box' booklet.

In the Outtakes section of Ernst Jorgensen's book, 'A Life in Music', the '50's Box' version of Blue Moon is listed as take 2 and the 'Platinum' version as take 3. The '50's Box' booklet says take 1 so at least one of the notes are wrong. There's no doubt that the two false starts and the complete outtake released on 'Sunrise' are equivalent to track 3 (not take 3) on the tape box notes. This is the only complete take that comes close to the original time note of 2:20. So the only question is which one is take 1 and which is take 2 of the 'Platinum' and '50's Box' versions. It ought to be more likely that typing errors occurred in just one place rather than two. If this is the case, take 1 is on the 50's Box and take 2 is the version released on 'Platinum'.

The masters of Tomorrow Night and I'll Never Let You Go were found on the same RCA tape copy, made in 1956, meaning that both are likely to have been copied from Sun box #7. These are usually believed to have been recorded in September, 1954, but Lee Cotten's assumption based on aural evidence seems more likely. Cotten writes in the second edition of the book 'All Shook Up-Elvis Day By Day' from 1998, that these three songs share the same tape delay echo that are not found on other recordings at this time.

The version of Tomorrow Night (PPA5 2671) that was released on the 'Reconsider Baby' album was an edited version of the original master where the solo was cut and a small part repeated. It was spliced from 0:00-1:28, 1:49-1:54, 0:10-0:25 and 1:47-2:58 of the original version. The originally released version was overdubbed and slowed down on March 18, 1965.