Elvis Presley - Follow That Dream - The Nashville Marathon

About the Follow That Dream Collectors Label

To explain what the Follow That Dream collector's label is, following is an updated adaptation of the original 1999 announcement from BMG/RCA to introduce the label from the official Elvis Presley website:

To serve the dedicated Elvis collector, RCA Records and its parent company, Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), created an officially endorsed collectors label. Repertoire is issued on behalf of RCA/BMG by Follow That Dream Records (FTD).

Its mandate is to complement the commercial and artistic level of RCA's retail release schedule by issuing repertoire that is considered of interest to serious Elvis fans and collectors, material that is generally not part of mainstream RCA label releases to the public at large. This special material is being marketed directly to fans and collectors through fan clubs, specialist magazines, specialist retailers and dedicated mail order companies. In America, Elvis Presley's Graceland is the exclusive distributor through its retail stores at Graceland and through its mail order operation. The releases are also available from Amazon.com through the links on the shop section of this site.

This goals of the Follow That Dream label are:

1. To make artistically and historically important material available for the dedicated collector. This will allow RCA's main retail focus to be maintained and ensure that the general public does not confuse Elvis' actual masters for general release with his substantial outtake material and other specialty material.

2. To create and promote product that satisfies the insatiable appetite of fans for material. It is also appreciated that the extraordinary maintenance of Elvis' dedicated fan base by committed individuals needs commercial support to ensure survival.

3. To steer fans away from buying illegal (bootleg) product. The volume of unofficial audio product in the marketplace reached a level which BMG and Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) could no longer tolerate. BMG Entertainment International, the RCA Records label and EPE vigorously prosecute any company or individual who violates their copyrights, trademarks and other rights. Bootleg products are seized and all conventions, record fairs, mail order operations and other activities are monitored closely.


The Nashville Marathon FTD CD


Elvis was again at the top of the charts and on a high when he returned to the studios on June 4th 1970. Having fallen out with Chips Moman & American Elvis was back in Nashville. At the earlier Memphis Sessions Elvis was striving at his artistic edge recording in the run-down ghetto area of Memphis and hoping to re-establish himself once again as a creative force. Sixteen months since his last sessions he was now back in the far more genteel surroundings of Nashville and RCA’s Studio B where he had recorded the majority of his 1960’s classic songs. ‘Kentucky Rain’ & ‘The Wonder of You’ had already charted Gold in 1970 and he had 2 sell out seasons of Las Vegas shows under his belt as well. He was now also used to playing live concerts with full orchestral backing.

By moving back to Nashville Elvis also left the musical "soulful stew" of Memphis behind for an obviously lighter country feel. Even within this very different environment Elvis was still extremely motivated and recorded an astounding 40 songs in 6 days. The original plan was just to record a follow up album to ‘Back In Memphis’ but on the fourth night of recording Elvis himself steered the band towards some fascinating country tunes.

These recording sessions have been explored before on the excellent “A Hundred Years From Now” and this new CD should be viewed as a part 2. However nine of the tracks have never been released as alternate takes before and the versions of ‘Mary In The Morning’ and ‘Twenty Days and Twenty Nights’ alone are reason enough to buy this CD. I have also always enjoyed listening to ‘first takes’ of Elvis’ recordings and Nashville Marathon features eight of those, including the sensational ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. Unfortunately (as Ernst explained at the FTD conference) most of the fast numbers were recorded in single takes or any available alternates have already been released. This forces this CD to be very ballad orientated. However the absolute beauty of the undubbed raw studio tracks once again makes this one of FTD’s very best.

Released: 2002/08/16 by FTD
Rating: Probably one of the best CD's released on the FTD-label.

Tracklist:

Mystery Train (1970 jam)
Tiger Man (1970 jam)
Twenty Days and Twenty Nights (take 3)
I've Lost You (take 1)
The Sound of Your Cry (take 3)
Bridge over Troubled Water (take 1)
How the Web Was Woven (take 1)
The Next Step Is Love (take 10)
I'll Never Know (take 1)
Life (take 10)
Love Letters (take 1)
Heart of Rome (take 1)
Mary in the Morning (take 4)
Sylvia (take 9)
It's Your Baby, You Rock It (take 3)
It Ain't No Big Thing (but It's Growing) (take 6)
A Hundred Years from Now (take 1, 2)
Tomorrow Never Comes (take 2)
Snowbird (take 1)
Rags to Riches (take 2)
Where Did They Go Lord (take 3)