Elvis FTD From start to finsh

First of all thanks for keeping this thread going, it has the potential to be a great resource.

With regard to this title, there is a jarring and inexcusable error on the intro of Loving Arms, which along with Guitar Man, is surely one of the best and most effective tracks on the whole album. The evocative opening guitar intro has been extended by being needlessly repeated twice. This upsets the timing and spoils this track imo.

As this was a primary reason for me buying this album, I was very disappointed.

 

Thanks for continuing this thread! I have been busy. Also been busy listening to these FTD's as well.

'Long Lonely Highway' is one of my favorites. IIRC it's the only CD to contain the stereo version of "Come What May". I also prefer this version on "Stay Away"

"Tuscan 76" is a fine show for that year. I just think it strange they decided to release this as the first show..... With the '69 shows just sitting there.... It's a very rare occasion i'll bust out a soundboard
but I can say that I didn't hate it. I was always a fan of "Hurt" and am always trying to find the best version. Not on this one unfortunately.

'Too Much monkey Business' didn't even get touched by me, in fact, I left it out to sell. Just a useless CD.

 

Isn’t Come What May stereo on the 1999 Tomorrow is a Long Time CD? I don’t have it to hand to check, but it’s one of my favourite Presley compilations. Great cover and very good sound for the late 90s.

I did the same with the Monkey Business FTD. Absolutely horrible stuff.

 

This title was a big deal when it was released because it was FTD's first soundboard release and the first official release of an individual soundboard by RCA/BMG/FTD (the only other soundboard material that had been issued was the 1975 performances on 1980's Elvis Aron Presley box set). Of course, after the initial excitement and upon closer examination, it is a pretty terrible concert recording. Elvis' vocals are in a clear state of deterioration and impairment. The band is on cruise-control. The obvious reason this was chosen for release is due to the ultra-rare, "Danny Boy." And as neat as it is to hear Elvis perform this off-the-cuff rendition, he sings it in a challenging key, is pitchy, and has issues with breath-control -- it is not a good performance. Clearly there were superior 1976-era concerts to choose from; FTD easily could have added "Danny Boy" to the end of a better show as a bonus track. Granted, fans then would have demanded to hear the entire Tucson show because of its uncirculated nature and also presuming it was a better-than-average show because of "Danny Boy," so under the circumstances, FTD made a reasonable decision. Interestingly enough, the Odessa concert that was used to plug in the missing parts of the Tucson show is a much stronger concert, but it doesn't have "Danny Boy." Still, I think if FTD wanted to release a 1976 concert, something like the 7/3/76 Ft. Worth show released as part of "Rockin' Across Texas" or the surprisingly strong (for 1976 standards) 9/5/76 concert from Jackson released as part of "Spirit of Jackson, MS" would have been better options for FTD's initial soundboard release, with "Danny Boy" and other rarities added as bonus tracks.

 

The concept wasn't terrible circa 1980, but the execution was not effectively done. Jarvis pulled it off for the title track, "Guitar Man," but most of the remaining results were substandard and as the outtakes prove, even unprofessional. It was appropriate that FTD released this project, but it is certainly not a highlight in the FTD catalogue.

 

Why wasn’t it a terrible idea in 1980? Who else of great stature, dead or alive, has had their stuff tampered with in such a derogatory and ham-fisted way? It was hideous in 1980 and still is.

Nice FTD artwork though.

 

I can see that. I do remember being excited to hear an Elvis soundboard officially released at the time. I think just after all these years of soundboard from the latter years, I just got sick of them. I do see the importance of having them released in full though. I wouldn't mind a cut and paste CD of lesser preformed live tracks form soundboards, but I can make one myself sometime. There's others I liked more and we'll get to them. His voice is losing it's flame here but I still enjoyed re visiting it. There's energy still there.

Elvis' releases in the 80's are interesting to look back on. They did this "Guitar Man" album and "I Was The One". I recently dug out my old IWTO LP and hated it. Then I put on "Always on my Mind" witch also had different mixes (maybe even new drum tracks??), and I loved it! I even played again as it flowed very well and was a fine album of mellow 70's tracks. "Guitar Man" and the other is just too much...... monkey business for me to be involved in.

 

It really depends. A lot of Elvis' live work from 1975-1977 was mediocre-to-substandard and his complete shows contained a lot of concert bloat, from the stale See See Rider opener (missing on a number of soundboards), to the Amen/Dive-Bomb sequence, to toss-away versions of his 50's classics, to odd covers of Olivia Newton-John tracks, to excessively long band-intros. A viable argument can be made that compilations like "Southern Nights" from April-June 1975 or "Spring Tour" (sourced from mulitracks) from the March-April 1977 are a much better listening experiences because they highlight individual performances and cut out the concert bloat. FTD could have produced more compelling releases from a number of 1976 tours through the creation of compilations, rather than releasing entire shows, which for the most part are very uneven. That said, there is a faction of fans who like collecting complete concerts, and prefer that FTD release complete shows.

 

I agree that the concert is mostly terrible and that "Danny Boy" could have been added to a better show as a concert track. But while the live "Danny Boy" is technically imperfect, it is a good performance indeed; one of Elvis's last great live performances. Elvis might not have been fully up to the challenge of the key, but he gave all he could with all the passion he could muster--a passion undoubtedly derived from the depression of his later years and yearning for some sort of escape--and that is more moving than a display of technical perfection.

 

I disagree strongly that the concert is "mostly terrible." Fans enjoy concerts for more reasons than vocal performance alone. After all, if this was the case hardly anyone would attend live shows in the first place, as they will almost always hear a technically better performance on their records back home. It seems to me that fans attend concerts in large part for the atmosphere and general vibe as well as the odd surprise from the songs featured in a live show. In this regard this show is a great success because Elvis is in good voice for the period, puts obvious effort into his performance, as well as feeling motivated later to take audience requests.

Moreover his voice is not sufficiently impaired to detract in any significant way from his performance, in my opinion, and in fact improves as the show progresses for some inspired and very good performances of non-standard songs (for the period) later on. Listen to the energy of Burning Love for example as well as his commitment in an off-the-cuff Help Me Make It Though The Night. This is before we get to Danny Boy which receives a sincere and passionate reading resulting in an enchanting performance, besides its obvious value as a rarity.

As for the band being 'on cruise control,' that may to some extent be inevitable on a predictable set-list. The same cannot be said about Elvis who is totally engaged for this show, instructing his band to 'pick it up' during You Gave Me A Mountain and interacting with his audience with some genuinely amusing banter.

Regarding an earlier assertion that Odessa was a stronger concert, there is no evidence from the songs 'flown in' to complete this recording to suggest that this was the case. For a start both songs (See See Rider and Love Letters) come from two different shows according to the notes on the cover. Neither feature a significantly stronger vocal performance and we perhaps have cause to be thankful that the show from which See See Rider was taken was not issued in full because the electric clavinet is way too prominent in the mix and would quickly become tiresome for a whole show. Likewise the version of Love Letters runs far too slowly which makes it a contender for the worst performance on this recording.

To sum up, I am glad that this show was issued in full, as it helps us to enjoy the context for the inclusion of Danny Boy, which is part of the fun and the relaxed and committed vibe prevalent throughout this show makes for an entertaining listen.

 

Today I thought I would compare the sound for the shared tracks between the FTD Jungle Room Sessions and the recently remixed Way Down In The Jungle Room title.

5 of the 14 alternate takes on the FTD title are featured on both. For those interested, they are:

The Last Farewell (take2)
I'll Never Fall In Love Again (take 5)
Hurt (take 3)
It's Easy For You (take 1)
Way Down (take 2)

Although you could argue the FTD tracks have a purer sound, I was very impressed with the sympathetic remix on the Legacy release. Basically they seemed to have narrowed the sound stage, so that it now has a fuller sound and boosted the bass drum so that some tracks have more punch. But these alterations have been done with subtlety and care, with individual tracks treated differently.

On balance I prefer the remixed tracks but that doesn't mean the FTD title is in any way redundant, as the mix is different rather than inferior. In addition it contains 9 different alternate takes as well as two undubbed masters (Pledging My Love + He'll Have To Go), the Fire Down Below instrumental and 18 seconds of the studio version of America The Beautiful.

In this instance, we're lucky to have both.

 

Regarding the Too Much Monkey Business title, there are five tracks which are very well done in my opinion. These are:

Guitar Man
After Loving You
Loving Arms
You Asked Me To
I'll Be There
In The Ghetto

Guitar Man immediately grabs your attention and absolutely rocks. This was the opening track of the original album and I think it would have been better to have had it as the opener here instead of Burning Love, which is not in the same league. After Loving You and You Asked Me To are also very good arrangements. Loving Arms is a bona fide masterpiece in my opinion. Once you have heard this version, there is no going back; the original recording pales in comparison. All the more reason why this title should have been reprinted and replacements issued.

The remaining two tracks on my list were previously unreleased. There are also well done and it is a shame they were not on the 1980 release.

Does anyone know who the musicians were for these remixes as I seem to recall that Jerry Reed was involved?

 

8.


Now that's more like it. One Night In Vegas is Elvis live in 1970 performing as you saw him in the "That's The Way It Is" film so you can't really go wrong, can you? This disc is now OOP as it was included in the huge "That's The Way It Is" boxed set. Obviously, Elvis is still in top form. He just sounds invincible.

At the time of this release I had recently just bought the 3-CD "That's The Way It Is" deluxe set and the "That's The Way It Is" DVD, so I may have been a little burned out at the time. But this is a sizzling show, there is no doubt.

I must admit I prefer the '69 shows to the 70's shows, not due to Elvis' performance in anyway, just his selection of material. I wish Elvis would have performed more, you know, Elvis songs rather than so many popular tunes of the day (Bee Gees, Neil Diamond). And I'm not a fan of some of these new songs ("The Next Step Is Love" baking cake and all that crap). I wish he'd had sung "How The Web Was Woven" instead.

But I digress. This is the King of Rock and Roll completely dominating and this disc is one of the gems of the FTD series.

 

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I think it is a terrible concert. For most of 1976, Elvis was barely functional on stage and this particular concert is a showcase for poor vocals, uninspired musical execution, and embarrassing arrangements. Without the ultra-rare "Danny Boy," this concert would be irrelevant in every way as far as I am concerned, and probably would have never been a candidate for release. And the Odessa concert, which was later released by FTD, is a superior concert with a lucid performance from Elvis. I get it, some fans enjoy these 1976 concerts and dissect them for redeeming qualities that most people would probably never hear or pick up on, but I find most of Elvis' live work from 1976 to be very substandard, sad, and even embarrassing. However, with so many 1976 soundboard releases from FTD, we will have ample opportunity to continue this debate.

 

This is a very good release. Loved it when it was first issued. It doesn't contain the greatest mix and mastering, but the sound quality is more than adequate. It is a focused, committed performance by Elvis in a period where he was still at the top of his craft. The set-list is interesting in that it includes a lot of adult contemporary recordings/covers and is a bit light on his own hit material, which would reappear the very next night on August 11, 1970. Whether that is a good thing is up for debate. Elvis is performing for the MGM cameras and clearly is trying to present enough contemporary period material for the producers to use in the "That's The Way It Is" documentary. The CD edit of the band intros was a curious creative decision in that it altered the completeness and historically accurate presentation of the concert, but it can certainly be forgiven. The bonus tracks consisting of rehearsals from August 4, 1970 are mildly interesting, but hardly essential. This show doesn't quite top the more diverse concerts from August 12 (particularly the midnight show) and none of the August 1970 multitracked concerts have matched the stellar mix and mastering of Vic Anesini's "The Wonder of You" FTD release, but this one is still a keeper. The concert sans rehearsals was also available on the the "That's The Way It Is" box set via Legacy.

 

Great cover shot but uninspired title, as the song One Night is not performed. Mixing and mastering of the concert was by Dennis Ferrante and sounds pretty good, but is not up to the standard he would achieve on the August 11 and August 12 midnight shows on the Live In Las Vegas box and That's The Way It Is 30th anniversary release respectively. The rehearsal content was mixed and mastered by Lene Reidel.

Once more there are digital errors present. This time in the song You've Lost That Lovin Feeling (around 40 secs in and 4.04 for those interested), demonstrating a continuing lack of quality control and sadly indicating that efforts to produce a quality product were not a high priority.

As mentioned, the band intros were edited out, presumably to make more room for further unreleased rehearsal content, which rather unsatisfactorily peters out during Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Still a good release though.

 

Sorry a bit late to this thread. I was fortunate in that I was an Elvis The Man The Music subscriber at the time FTD started so I got the first 30 odd releases as they came out. Ordered from Now Dig This or Elvis The London Shop (both excellent at mail/internet order). Burbank 68 was a great start and I shall keep it and all my FTD stuff until it is time to shuffle off upstairs.
PS fortunately I am only missing a handful of the cd 5inch and 7 inch releases and they are all at the moment still available. I only have about half the vinyl ones and they now go for money.

 

The Jungle Room Sessions is my favourite FTD release (and fortunately one I also got a vinyl version). Absolutely wonderful release. I always loved the 2 albums that were made from these sessions and I still play this FTD cd a few times a year.

 

The Elvis Shop London Home :: J.A.T Books & Special Products :: Elvis Sessions III

The Elvis Sessions 3 book has details I think of the overdub folk.

 

At £74.99 that seems an expensive answer to the question.

Thanks for the reply in any case, it's also nice to see someone else contributing to the thread.

 

I started a similiar thread over on FECC but 'I just got bored'. Well, not really it's just I couldn't keep up and a few other members wanted to steam ahead through the releases and I got left behind and just gave up in the end. So I'll follow this thread with great interest. I'm still on 'Jungle Room Sessions' yet but I'm not too far behind. It would be okay but FTD keep bringing out new product and I just gotta keep buying 'em and listening to 'em which puts me behind again. Oh yeah and work. And family...
Thanks again though. Nice thread...

 

Yes it is probably out of print now and maybe ebay or Amazon market place might be cheaper. Elvis books by J.A.T. Books do tend to sell out though as I guess they are limited in number.
Below is the link to Keith Flynn's excellent site with the Guitar Man overdubs details.

Recording Sessions 1980s

 

Out In Hollywood is a great CD. Burbank 68 and The Jungle Room Sessions. Too Much Monkey Business/Guitar Man not so much ...

What's up next?

 

Great to see you here. I followed your thread over at FECC and was disappointed you couldn't continue updating it.

As a longtime purchaser of FTD titles and a keen contributor over at that other site, I look forward to reading your views here.

 

Now that's a great link with some useful info. - thanks.

It was certainly news to me that so many other songs were tried out. Indeed there would appear to be enough for an updated two disc album if they were all finished tracks. For anyone interested, I have listed the titles that have not been issued below:

And I Love Me So
(That's What you Get) For Lovin' Me
Funny How Time Slips Away
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Bitter They Are, The Harder They Fall
Shake A Hand
For Ol Times Sake
Susan When She Tried
Help Me
The Fool
You Don't Know Me
I Really Don't Want To Know
Help Me Make It Through The Night