ELVIS PRESLEY Import LP HOME RECORDED White Vinyl (1958 private home recordings)

	£		18
	$		21

One of a few original ELVIS "import" LP's being offerered

"HOMERECORDED" - Recorded at the home of Eddie Fadal, Summer 1958, Waco, Texas

This was an iconic underground Elvis album when released in the mid 1980s. I found the synopsis below of the LP on the internet by Ernie Boyes Jr.

I've been buying and selling on ebay for years and have set up this account purely to sell my ELVIS records - so please bid with confidence

Cover M- (see scan). Record visual inspection looks VG - no evidence of scratches etc

Discount on postage for multiple purchases

“ Homerecorded Elvis ” on the TO 300 label contains the summer 1958 Eddie Fadal home recording.  This material was first released on the LP “Forever Young and Beautiful” circa 1978 on the Memphis Flash JL-92447 label.  The “ Homerecorded ” LP has no date, and the only reference to a label is on the upper right back corner of the LP sleeve.  Given that Cotten and DeWitt do not list it in their “Jailhouse Rock ” book, it was probably released after 1983. <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />

The black and white cover features three photos of Elvis apparently hanging out with friends at someone’s house, though the photos are pre-Army induction as Elvis still has his long hair. The back cover has a black and white photo of Elvis looking surprised at being embraced from behind by a female who looks like a young Natalie Wood. 

The LP labels are text less and have the same black and white circa 1956-57 photo. The packaging also includes a photo sleeve with black nd white 1950's photos of Elvis to each side.

Side A contains the most interesting material as far as I am concerned. After some dialogue, Elvis plays piano and sings “ I Understand Just How You Feel ”, complete with one of the Fadal children crying in the background; one or more of the children can be heard throughout most of the LP crying in the background. This selection is the only officially released track from these informal recordings as it appeared in 1999 on BMG’s “ The Home Recordings ” CD.  Elvis goes into a version of The Tune Weavers’ song “ Happy Birthday Baby ”. Then Elvis coaxes his then girlfriend Anita Wood to sing “ I Can’t Help It ”, and after finding a comfortable key for her to sing in, she gives the highlight performance of the LP in my opinion, with Elvis providing background vocals. Then comes and interesting discussion as apparently Anita had signed a recording deal and was about to record her first record. Elvis is worried that the songs she will be given will be “ a little too pop-lar ”.

Elvis continues on accompanying Anita twice in a row on the Connie Francis song “ Who’s Sorry Now? ”  To finish off side A, Elvis does vocal accompaniment singing to the record version of “ Happy Birthday Baby ”. Side B opens with vocal accompaniment six more times with The Tune Weavers record version of “ Happy Birthday Baby ”. “ Tumbling Tunbleweeds ” is an excerpt that leads into vocal accompaniment with Fats Domino’s 1955 record “ Baby Don’t Ya Know ”. The vocal accompaniment extravaganza continues with Elvis doing bass thumps and falsetto parts to LaVerne Bakers’ “ Tomorrow Night ” and the Diamond’s “ Little Darling ”.  The record closes out with Elvis back at the piano leading a sing-a-long of the gospel song “ Just A Closer Walk With Thee ”…complete with a Fadal child crying through the entire performance. 

Elvis playing piano and providing backing vocals for his girlfriend proves two things: 1) Elvis could play piano rather well and 2) he wasn’t a spotlight hog who was above allowing someone else the lead vocal spotlight. I can listen to Anita sing “ I Can’t Help It ” over and over again. These intimate performances are worth the price of admission alone, though the drudgery of the “ vocal accompaniment ” portions, which occupy over half the LP, are a “ listen to once and never again ” affair.  Too bad the whole album wasn’t Elvis playing, singing, and accompanying on songs along the lines of the “ Million Dollar Quartet ” Jam Session. But this is an intimate glimpse of a superstar relaxing at a friend’s house and there is no use in complaining because after all, it is “ Homerecorded Elvis ”.