Things weren’t all sunshine and peanut butter and banana sandwiches for Elvis Presley. He had his ups and downs and personal struggles. This was especially true near the end of his life.
Before Elvis Presley died in 1977, he began to isolate himself from the outside world. In fact, he didn’t even want to go to the studio to cut a new album. RCA, on the other hand, really wanted him to press some new music. So, they compromised. The record label brought all of the recording equipment Elvis would need to make a new record to Graceland.
From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee was the result of that bold move by RCA. The King and a handful of musicians piled into Graceland’s fabled “Jungle Room,” and set to work recording what would be one of Elvis’ final albums. On the sleeve, it says the album was recorded live. This is true. However, it wasn’t in front of any audience. They just played the songs together in the room and the recording equipment, as well as the producer, did the rest.
However, they didn’t just go into the room and start jamming. First, they had to make some modifications to Elvis Presley’s favorite room in the house. They needed the sound quality to be top-notch. After all, they were about to release the album to millions of waiting fans. So, everything had to be right.
Earlier today, the Elvis Presley estate gave some insight into what they had do to to get the room ready to make the record.
Preparing The Jungle Room For From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
In the photo, we can see a big red RCA truck parked outside of Graceland. That was one of the most important modifications. According to the photo’s caption, they connected the RCA truck to the equipment inside the house. The truck contained the mixing board and the actual tape recording equipment. All of the microphones and other things you’d find in a recording booth were inside Elvis Presley’s mansion.
Elvis Presley required a pile of gear and a gang of musicians to bring his album to life. So, they had to make room. They moved furniture around to free up space. In fact, they even removed some furniture from the room completely.
Then, to make sure the sound quality was as good as possible, they put moving blankets on the walls. This helped to remove any echo from the final recordings.
In the end, the work paid off. From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee was a killer album. On top of that, the King was able to cut it in the comfort of his own home.
