Elvis Presley - A Big Hunk O' Love - From First Take to the Master

Elvis’ final recording session of the fifties yielded five songs from within RCA’s Studio B in Nashville on 10 June 1958. None of the five were ballad, all rock ‘n’ roll and all at a medium to fast tempo and almost none of the songs were completed quickly. The second of the five was “A Big Hunk O’ Love” which was the only song which Elvis did not manage to complete a single take master. It was also the song which Elvis and the band used the least amount of takes. After just four takes, all complete, the decision was taken to create a master by splicing parts of takes three and four. The slice however was unusual in that it was not different parts of Elvis’ vocal that were chosen. Instead, all of Elvis’ vocal from take four was used with the instrumental break replaced with that of take three. The final master is very distinct in that Elvis uses a style of vocal almost unique to this recording and makes for a superb performance. Despite the success of the single, it was almost fourteen years before the song was performed live on stage by Elvis. This is of course mitigated by Elvis’ national service and Hollywood contracts curtailing his live appearances, with none for almost eight and a half years. This first live rendition, included in this compilation, is one of the finest pieces of live rock ‘n’ roll by Elvis in the seventies. It sees him almost spit out the words at times – who said Elvis in the seventies couldn’t do rock ‘n’ rol!!? As with all of these videos, to get the most out of the re-edited audio, I highly recommend you use ear /headphones and turn the volume up as much as you dare!