Late last month FTD released Elvis’ third gospel album, next to His Hand In Mine and How Great Thou Art, in the classic album series.

Design

The design in this series is known by know. Extensive background information decorated with many pictures and memorabilia.

Content

As usual the first CD is filled with the original album and early takes. From the three gospel albums this one was my favourite (neck to neck with His Hand In Mine). Mainly because of the up tempo songs: they have a certain pop feeling – especially Seeing Is Believing and I’ve Got Confidence - that wasn’t present on the earlier gospel albums.

During the early takes we get some one-liners from for instance You’d Better Run and Oh Happy Day. It is obvious Elvis exactly knew what he wanted, since the early takes are all very close to the masters.

CD two is filled with outtakes, sometimes it is clear why they are outtakes because the backing vocals are out of line, if not out of tune. More often you wonder why he wanted another take. I really can’t name any highlights, since they are all done with a sincerity and offer tons of listening pleasure. The most (obvious) remarkable thing is the inclusion of a very lazy, laid back version of Johnny B. Goode (which we got already on bootleg not so long ago).

Conclusion

All together FTD delivered another great classic album, in superb sound quality, and both CDs will be found in my player often.