Culled from the leftover tracks from the magnificent Elvis Country sessions, this album has its own moments and still stands as a pretty good effort from our boy. That said, let’s look at the tape versions and see how they stand up to the vinyl release.

First let’s look at the Reel to Reel tape. I think the graphics department of RCA were having fun, housing it in a pink box instead of the standard red. It’s very appealing and makes it stand out as the last tape released by the parent company RCA. Future releases will be licensed to Magtec.

The first thing you notice is the sides have been reversed from the vinyl version. The reason for this is simple, tapes need to be separated mathematically by time. If side one was shorter, then dead space would be on the first side which makes getting to side two frustrating. Now the tape can reverse at just the right moment leaving the dead space for the end of the album.

The analog sound is superb. Remember, many times when cutting for vinyl, the bass and volume needed to be lowered to prevent needle jump on vintage players. This is why I find the sound of tape to be more true to the original masters, adding more detail and excitement. See if you can hear the difference.

The sequencing on the 8 Track is my favorite, and where I feel the 8 Track has the advantage.

Again, the songs need to be separated mathematically by time, only now by 4 instead of 2. It starts out strong with the title track, then follows with Cindy Cindy and Heart of Rome keeping it upbeat. Track 2 keeps grooving along with “Life”, the low key ‘I’ll never Know” and the playful “It Ain’t No Big Thing”. 3 Starts with the rousing “Got My Mojo Working” followed by the perfect “This Is Our Dance”. 4 starts with “Only Believe” , into “When I’m Over You” and ends with the incredible “If I Was You” (I know I’d love me too). It has a nice flow which makes it very playable and one of my favorite car tapes.

My transfer on the 8 Track has a few flaws you might hear, but I make no apologies. This tape gets played often and may show signs of wear, but being my original still sounds fine to me.

Cheers!