Lost In The Jungle?

In Autumn '76, Elvis' health both physically and mentally was spiralling into
an oblivion. With a tiresome tour schedule, any time away from touring was spent at Graceland, with Elvis becoming more reclusive and isolated from both his
personal and professional life. Visually apparent was the now routine show performances and repertoires to his fans and critics, perhaps less to those living a daily life with him. With so much progression in the music industry, RCA were eager to have Elvis back in the recording studio to record new songs and release new material. Despite the invites of RCA, Elvis regularly failed to attend the studios blaming ill health usually. And so came RCA to Graceland. With the setting up of a mobile studio in the Jungle Room at Graceland, Elvis would record greats to include "He'll Have To Go", Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Its Easy For You", and "Pledging My Love" to later feature on his last album "Moody Blue", and the eventual release of "The Jungle Room Sessions" under the Follow That Dream Label. While the tracks to feature on the Moody Blue album would be the final take, The Jungle Room Session would give us an insight to those often speculated sessions. We could have second hand experience of being there. 

On reading a recent review of this album, to quote, "Elvis feeling deserted", as he mockingly remarks on the first track "You Guys Don't Desert Me On The Very First Part", I can't help think that the Jungle Room recordings never received the full credit of the gems produced. Yes, Elvis does show a somewhat giddy mood, joking around and fooling with the musicians, but this was something he always did. Further fooling follows with "Shoot The Telephone", as it interrupts recording to his forgetting the words in "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", or cursing in "Moody Blue", but that was Elvis, as he was... Listening to it, you would not think of him in bad health, as he records an own personal favourite of mine, as "Solitaire". 

Interestingly, I wonder what the common opinion of fellow fans is, and I welcome your reviews...

To help, I list below, the tracklisting, and samples as posted on YouTube.

Track Listing:

1. Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall (alternate takes 2-5)
2. She Thinks I Still Care (alternate take 2A)
3. The Last Farewell (alternate take 2)
4. Solitaire (alternate take 3)
5. I'll Never Fall in Love Again (alternate take 5)
6. Moody Blue (alternate take 3)
7. For the Heart (alternate take 2 & 3)
8. Hurt (alternate take 3)
9. Danny Boy (alternate take 8)
10. Never Again (alternate take take 11)
11. Love Coming Down (alternate take 2)
12. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (alternate take 2)
13. Its Easy for You (alternate take 1)
14. Way Down (alternate take 2)
15. Pledging My Love (un-edited master)
16. He'll Have to Go (rough mix-master)
17. Fire Down Below (instrumental) 

Author: Darren Clinton. Image (C) EPE.