Quick question, I can hear digital glitches on the last track of CD 2 of 'A Date With Elvis' and the last track of CD 1 of 'Elvis In Atlanta'. I've tried them on three different machines, the fault is still apparent. Anyone else?
I didn't have the Atlanta, but no problems with the date CDs here. But in general, i never had problems with digital clicks and CDs that doesn't run correctly, except with ftd CDs.
It's specifically on the last track 'It's Been So Long Darling', admittedly the track is distorted anyway but then over that is a digital click/glitch sound. I was wondering if I had a bad pressing or they are all like that...
I did. I used EAC. The results from accurip were 7 out of 7... If I can establish if there's a bad pressing and a good pressing, I may even take another punt just to see...
I don't have any of them but you probably have a bad pressing. There have been mastering errors/glitches on a few ftds in the past.
It's little (and not so little) things like this that make the '77 shows interesting and enjoyable to me. They're different. More stripped down. After several years of exhausting monotony and boring sameness, these shows at least offer something different. Yes, often times a "train wreck" too -- but still different. A few years earlier, Elvis wouldn't have taken the time to sit down and deliver a painful and heart-wrenching reading of Unchained Melody. He was in-and-out, gone too fast. I've mentioned on here before that I enjoy the pacing of the '77 shows (the few that I have, that is). While the pacing may have been influenced by Elvis' worsening condition -- so what -- I gives me the impression he was taking pride again in his music. Forgotten words and all. I realize that's a tough position for many to comprehend -- but that's the impression I often get. The irony of a sloppy jumbled, low-key performance actually being more interesting than a tossed-off, burned-through, emotionless, wham-bam-thankyouverymuch-m'am performance. Bad shape and all, I still find a humbleness in it. Perhaps that opinion could change as more shows come out and reveal different things to me, but that's where I stand today with the few 77 shows FTD has made available.
I asked the same question on the FECC boards and it appears I'm not the only one. Shame, no point in a repurchase then. Mind you, 'Elvis in Atlanta' is now deleted by all accounts...
I don't hear it. I think Elvis put no effort into his 1977-era live show. There were no rehearsals, no attention to detail, no commitment to the material. It was mostly a recycling of the 1976 formula with dive-bomb routines, toss-away versions of many of his classics, and lengthy band intros to eat up half the customary hour-long stage time. Elvis put aside his pride in his craft years before. 1977 showcased a burnt-out star who no longer cared about the quality of his craft. The bar was set very low and he did enough to get by.
Do not agree. With songs such as :"Unchained Melody", "My Way", "How Great Thou Art" he did not do enough to get by. He gave it all he had, and then some.
Rising to the occasion for two or three songs out of an hour long show is hardly "giving it all he had." The bar was low, the audience continued to accept the low bar, and Elvis essentially mailed it in for nearly an hour. Putting effort into a couple of tracks doesn't suggest Elvis was giving it his all, it suggests he was doing the very minimum to get by.
He saved or withheld the little energy he had to be able to give all. Impossible for him to keep it up for the whole hour or so for many shows, not all. And it was more than a couple of tracks. So my take on it stands. No laziness there. His health and state of mind, body, was far from well.
Medically-speaking, the physical condition his body was in was alarming. Without going into details, I imagine it was the final stages of heart failure and a digestive track shut-down. On top of that, I would guess he was sober very rarely. And in constant, intense pain. The strongest sleeping pills weren't working. And this wasn't a party-lifestyle he was trying to maintain by this point, it was his survival. A man slowly drowning in quicksand. And giving nightly concerts to loving fans. Honestly... I imagine a normal conversation was a task -- much less an animated one. Much less a musical performance. Whether we choose to brush his condition aside based on our demands of a professional performer or because he brought it all on by himself or for some third reason -- is fine. But I don't believe it is reasonable only proclaim Elvis was "doing the very minimum to get by" and to so casually dismiss the possibility that he was giving everything he could. Based on one's perch, at a minimum both views have truth in reviewing the quality of product and/or one's remaining ability to make that product. It likely depends more on one's personal level of empathy that they choose to offer. And for those on the low-side of that scale, everyone with more to offer appears to have a lower bar.
yeah, i don't know. i used to feel that way about the '76 graceland sessions. now they're stubbornly among my very favorite recordings. there's something about the guy, in all eras, that's just capable of having an effect on people. who knows? just wish the story had had a happier ending. smitquest
The jungle room recordings are not my favourites either, but still a totally different level of singing, compared to the 77 live recordings. But anyway, i get your point, but i can't imagine that anyone would have listen to elvis, if he would have sung like 77 all his life. So my guessing is that some hardcore fans are just searching desperately for a glimpse of greatness, and they are listening so often and so intensely that they convince themselves that they have found it, because they have a need for finding at least something in this recordings, a meaning, honesty, whatever. ...but the truth is, it's only terrible music by a man who has ruined his health, voice and timing (sense for rhythm) with drugs.
No, other artists are touring way more, with less comfort, more promotion activities and longer and more recording sessions in between. Elvis was not working hard by any stretch. Maybe it was hard to "be elvis", i don't know and i dont want to judge over elvis (walk a mile in my shoes. ..) but elvis never worked to hard as an adult.
Stress and depression are hard work even for an anonymous and strong teenager with no drug or other health problems, and no concerts to play, no being at the centre of a tragic, miserable maelstrom. He was lost long before he died IMO, and shouldn’t have been on tour at all by 1977. I can’t understand why anyone would want to listen to or watch those concerts, but it’s IMO unfair to imply Presley made no effort at all in his last year.
I agree, I'm only saying that it was not the hard work /touring that killed him. There were other problems. For a not depressive, not addicted singer, the touring route of elvis (with only one hour shows) would have been easy money. Maybe the whole problem was the opposite one, to much time to waste, killing time with stupid books about searching for a "meaning " that's impossible to find and to much time to be stoned. He wouldn't be the first one ..... but that's only an guessing.
Terrible music is only a small part of the truth. No different than me summing up your opinion as simply "what have you done for me lately Elvis?" -- which I don't believe tells the full truth of your opinion either. Without repeating myself, there is both a human connection and also a cumulative aspect to any well-loved artist's impact. The good ones anyway. There's also the very real possibility of relating one's own experiences to the music, and respecting any story and its human elements. Perhaps knowing and valuing the full arch of any figure is a goal and to do less is incomplete. As well, Art has a long history of tortured souls and the snapshots they provide while in these extreme conditions is not only intensely valuable data for understanding the human experience, but quite a moving one too. What else are they doing? What else does an artist actual do, if not that? To put it more simply -- You, a fan of Elvis, likes more of his music than someone who isn't. And this someone who isn't a fan, still might like "Hound Dog" but nothing else.
I would have none of that. I ripped the VHS at high rez (the laser disc wouldn't sync right because of side change) and slapped it on the bluray. Pure stereo with it on dolby pro IIx processed surround...I weep like a little girl with a skinned knee when I hear Trilogy proper. The bluray mix just sucks...especially without Johnny B. Sad as it is, there are a lot of bluray sound mix screwups. I ripped the original Xanadu 4.0 to replace the craptastic bluray 5.1 mix that takes out sweeping surrounds. Getting back, the unedited Johnny B. On the FTD blows the pants off In Person to me. As for crying about the quality of bluray and supporting streaming? Say what?? Frankie and Johnny dropped my jaw. It was like a new movie on bluray. Clambake while not as good, beat the crap out of the non-enhanced DVD. And what is this about no specisl features....and the DVD and VHS had what again?? Last time I checked, quite a few Elvis blurays have special feature...but the real special feature is amazing sound and picture...save for a few exceptions Kid Galahad and Follow That Dream and Flaming Star looked really good, and better than what came before. Thats the Way It Is Special Edition was a true treat (barring key songs cut from original releases, but that is not blurays fault). I don't know what some people expect, but Elvis on bluray so far has been well worth collecting. FTD releasing them is a pipedream. Get with the imports and watch the catalog grow. Tickle Me is another that looks really good in a shorts bending over kind of way. The independent companies are getting the rights, and that is a good thing, not bad.
There are objective evaluation criteria, not only the subjective, emotional points you are talking about. And if you judge his vocal performances from that year, and that's the only thing I'm judging, then one have to admit that he delivered performances that where unacceptable.
I don't know why WB couldn't have postponed the On Tour blu-ray until they got the rights to use Johnny B. Goode. To use Don't Be Cruel simply is not right. Other than that the quality is very good and I don't care about special features. The German import of Tickle Me, while better than the dvd, is heavily DNR'ed.
