"Best" sounding Elvis on vinyl?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by dirtymac, Feb 19, 2010.

  1. dirtymac

    dirtymac Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Exile, MN
    Not sure if there is a single "best" pressing for each of the categories I am looking for, but am curious to see what folks have to recommend in the way of Elvis on good-sounding vinyl, specifically:

    1. Sun material
    2. self-titled RCA debut
    3. "Elvis Is Back!"
    4. 1969 Chips Moman/American Studios sessions (represented, as many of you know, by "From Elvis In Memphis" but I'd love to know if there is more from those sessions on good vinyl).

    I have the three 5-disc sets, all kinds of FTD releases and the complete 1969 sessions on disc, but have recently been a convert to vinyl and, considering the plethora of releases by The Big E, am not sure where to turn to find, if not the best, then at least "excellent & affordable" LP releases for the items listed above. Seems all the non-soundtrack stuff from the 60s was recorded very well, the CDs sound great, but I would love to listen to The King on vinyl. Thanks for any insights/recommendations.
     
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  2. Barry Wom

    Barry Wom New Member

    Location:
    Pepperland
    DCC

    then search the archives.
     
  3. SCOTT1234

    SCOTT1234 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scotland
    'Elvis is Back' is the easy one. Get the SH mastered DCC or Speaker's Corner (same stampers). From 'Elvis in Memphis' on Speaker's Corner is also highly recommended. Speaker's Corner issues should still be available from retailers, DCC is long OOP.

    Sorry, I can't suggest anything for earlier Elvis. I'd love to have some good sounding 1956/57 Elvis on vinyl but I haven't found anything that fits the bill yet.
     
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  4. The original USA RCA vinyl (orange labels on thick vinyl) of FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS and BACK IN MEMPHIS (as part of the two LP set FROM MEMPHIS TO VEGAS/FROM VEGAS TO MEMPHIS) are my preferred vinyl pressings of this material.
     
  5. GroovinGarrett

    GroovinGarrett Mrs. Stately's Garden

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    Can't emphasize "original" enough: stiff, heavy pressings wtih orange RCA labels. Avoid all "Dynaflex" repressings like the plague.
     
  6. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Are those semi-recent vinyl pressings of #1's and #2's any good? I've got sealed copies of these I bought when I first got into vinyl and bought way more than I was ever listening to.
     
  7. I've compared the Dynaflex to the rigid vinyl and the Dynaflex holds up very well sound-wise. I give the edge to the rigid vinyl but if you see a Dynaflex for a few dollars in nice shape, IMO it's worth checking out.

    The weakest pressing of this material is on the mid/late 70's tan and black label RCA's; IMO those are the ones to avoid.
     
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  8. KipB

    KipB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bethel, CT, USA
    I just got this great sounding Elvis LP recently: "The Sun Collection" -- RCA Limited, London, NL 42757 -- from 1979. This is the one with the dry mixes not the reberb.

    Also, the recent wonderful Elvis at Sun release is available on LP. This is a big time source upgrade for much of the Sun material.
     
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  9. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    I agree. No CD reissue of the '69 Memphis sessions comes close to the sound of the original RCA thick pressings of From Elvis in Memphis.

    We've had a thread about it, but Dynaflex can actually sound great. I never would have believed until I bought some Dynaflex records and actually played them, but it's true.
     
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  10. dirtymac

    dirtymac Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Exile, MN
    'Elvis is Back' is the easy one. Get the SH mastered DCC or Speaker's Corner (same stampers). From 'Elvis in Memphis' on Speaker's Corner is also highly recommended. Speaker's Corner issues should still be available from retailers, DCC is long OOP.

    Sorry, I can't suggest anything for earlier Elvis. I'd love to have some good sounding 1956/57 Elvis on vinyl but I haven't found anything that fits the bill yet.

    Thanks to you and the others. It's got me off and searching. Anybody else have a thought?
     
  11. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    I recently got an original "long play" mono pressing of the 1956 Elvis album from forum member quicksrt.

    I had previously known the album from the 18-track 1990s CD reissue, which is remixed. The original mix is radically different from the modern CD remix - it really foregrounds Elvis's voice, at the expense of all of the other instruments - except for the drums, which are also really upfront. The Guralnick biography mentions how Elvis would often get upset with RCA, because he would get a reference acetate of a song from the recording session that he liked, and then RCA would jack up his voice on the final release. The theory apparently was that Elvis was the star, and people wanted to hear him sing more than they wanted to hear Scotty and Bill.

    From my personal experience, RCA had really good quality control and put out good quality pressings back in the 50s. I live an hour from Memphis, and an hour and ten minutes from Tupelo, so Elvis was obviously popular in my neck of the woods, and I have managed to find a good number of his 50s RCA 45s at yard sales and places like that. The problem is finding a copy that wasn't trashed by overenthusiastic teenage fans playing the record to death on cheap record players. I see so many Elvis 45s where the black RCA label is literally worn down to almost white and the grooves are shredded. But if you can find clean copies, they sound great. The original 45s often have a unique reverb sound that is just not present on CD reissues. I'm sure they try to use the original masters as much as they can on modern reissues, but I suspect that the real original 45 cutting masters have long since been lost for some songs.

    The best-sounding earlier Elvis albums that I have are mono pressings of Blue Hawaii and His Hand in Mine.
     
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  12. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    The 45's sound fabulous in their original issue or Gold Standard reissue series
     
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  13. johnnypaddock

    johnnypaddock Senior Member

    Location:
    Merrimack Valley
    Record shop nearby has a few of these... anyone know how they sound?


    [​IMG]
     
  14. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    Yes, the Gold Standard reissues are a good way to pick cleaner copies of Elvis's 45s.
     
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  15. My Dynaflex Michael Nesmith vinyl will kick your a$$, it has so much punch.


    - - - - - -

    I have had good luck with UK pressed vinyl Elvis hits compilations from the seventies and eighties.
    First time I heard "Marie's The Name" on the UK RCA, I was pretty much floored.
     
  16. Do you mean the 45's?

    Speaking of, to the OP - as you're getting in to Elvis vinyl I highly recommend getting some of the 1950's singles. It sounds crazy, but there's just something special about putting on an original 45 of "Hound Dog", "Teddy Bear" or "All Shook Up". And this is regardless of sound quality.
     
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  17. Brian_Svoboda

    Brian_Svoboda Senior Member

    Location:
    Virginia
    I second these. To the Sun pile, I would also add "Good Rockin' Tonight" (Bop Cat 101, with a blue cover).
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Best Elvis on vinyl? Haven't read this thread but the old RCA-Victor "Gold Standard Series" 45 RPM reissues are some of the best sounding records I have in my collection.

    Also, the original stereo cutting of Elvis' Golden Hits volume 3 is pretty killer, consisting of all original stereo mixes of those great Nashville, BILL PORTER engineered songs. Also the original Bill Porter stereo cutting from 1960 of "ELVIS IS BACK" on Living Stereo can't be beat. Clean copy might send you back a few bills though.. Make sure you get a Nashville cutting and not the LA or NYC recut. Less processing.
     
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  19. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Steve, was curious if you felt the Gold Standard's sounded actually better than the originals?
     
  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Yes, in most cases. However, it's neat to see those originals spin around on your machine.
     
  21. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    I have a pristine Gold Standard "Return to Sender" 45 that just kills, although that particular track also sounds fantastic on the modern Vic Anesini CD mastering.
     
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  22. dirtymac

    dirtymac Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Exile, MN
    Thanks much. Anyone know how I could determine if a given "Elvis Is Back" on Living Stereo was cut in Nashville? I've looked around, can't find out how but if anyone knows....
     
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  23. I'm not sure if this is what Steve was referring to, but RCA used three pressing plants that can be identified by looking for the following alpha characters in the dead wax:

    I = Indianapolis
    H = Hollywood
    R = Rockaway

    These can be found almost directly across from the matrix number.
     
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  24. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    For the Sun material, the original UK 1975 version of "The Sun Collection", also cat no. HY-1001. Boppin' Bob Jones and Roger Semon used only the least processed least echoed tapes they could find at the time and Jones mastered as best he could.

    The US version is a disaster--apparently after the UK LP was a hit there, US used the tracklist, created a new anachronistic front cover drawing, used the same back cover and decent liner notes, but just slapped together the usual horrible versions they were using for US LPs then.

    "The Complete Sun Sessions" 2LP set is also a disaster although it was the first ever release of some Sun outtakes. It also includes some Sun outtakes copied off bootlegs, complete with stereo ticks and pops from the bootlegs.
     
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  25. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Agree with those old Gold Standard 45 singles sounding superb. They're often better than nice originals, easier to find in better condition, and have the breath of life. On the Bill Porter engineered Nashville LP copies, the Nashville cuttings can't be bettered anywhere else. The other pressings sound less hi-fi.
     
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