Elvis Presley Master Tapes to be cut and sold

Can they REALLY be Serious?

Reading something like this really makes me angry......this is 2004 and the powers that be should KNOw not to sanction something as stupid as this.

Make me very very angry!!!!


Media Advisory for Tuesday, January 27th

Witness the Official First Cut of the Original Sun Sessions Master
Recording Tape of Elvis Presley

Two-Inch Segments from the Original 1954-1955 Studio Recording tape,
beginning with "That's All Right," the Song that Propelled Elvis's
Career, to be Cut, Certified, Numbered and Mounted on Commemorative
Plaques and Sold to the Public

* * *

Music Industry Artists and Veterans will witness this First Ever Cut
of a Certified Elvis Presley Original Master Source Tape Recording.
Graceland's Elvis Presley Enterprises to Receive Plaque Number (1)

WHAT: The official first cut of the original 1954-55 Sun Sessions
master recording tape made by Elvis Presley and his band. Master
Tape Collection, which unearthed and preserved this initial original
source recording of Elvis and his band, will officially cut, certify,
number and mount each 2-inch segment of this Sun Sessions Master Tape.
Each segment will comprise an authenticated collectible limited edition
plaque licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprises. The master tape has been
authenticated by recording industry experts, and historians Tony
Bongiovi and Jim Czak, and is licensed by Graceland's Elvis Presley
Enterprises. Those attending the invitation-only news conference in New
York will bear witness to the very first cut of this master tape and
will hear, first-hand, the off-the-record conversations between
Elvis, his band members and engineers from this historic recording.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: NOLA RECORDING STUDIOS 111 West 57th Street - 17th Floor
Penthouse (bet. 6th & 7th Aves)

WHO: Mike Esposito, President, and Master Tape Collection
Tony Bongiovi, Record Producer, Authenticator
Jim Czak, Owner and engineer, Nola Recording Studios
Joe Franklin, radio personality
Cousin Brucie, CBS FM radio personality
Joey Reynolds, radio personality
Pete Davidson and Todd Morgan, Graceland's Elvis Presley Enterprises
Representatives from the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and Christie's
Rock musicians and personalities to be named later

 

That is really bizarre. It's hard to believe that they'd destroy the ORIGINAL master tape.

Steve - youv'e touched those tapes - is there any chance that RCA (or whoever) would ever let them out of their site for a nanosecond?

 

Who, exactly, will be getting the profits off this butcher job? Graceland Enterprises? Do they own the tape?

Surely this is some sort of safety copy.

 

Re: Can they REALLY be Serious?

Isn't this one of the Memphis Mafia?

mud-

 

do they actually have the original master tape of That's All Right?

 

There are so many so-called "master tapes" that who knows what they're selling: The original multitracks, the original mixdown master, the original vinyl cutting master, a safety master, a submaster?

And regardless of what "master" they're talking about, they never said it was a playable master. Could be a deteriorating master that either can't be used at all, or that they got one last pass on before it came apart.

I wouldn't lose too much sleep worrying that they're destroying "THE" original master recording.

Kwad

 

I believe they already did that about 45 years ago.

 

Jeeze, never mind "Save the Beatles Catalog", this is friggin' unbelievable...

Please tell me when they chop up the Mona Lisa, I'd like a piece...

As Bob Dylan said "Nothing much is really sacred."

 

kwadguy........there are no "Multis" or 'Mixdowns" of the 1955 era Sun Material. those were all 1/4 MONO full tracks. I'm hopingf that this is just a safety master for which they have a BETTER sounding tape. One would think that the powers that be are not really telling the truth about what this is....I hope so. If this is a first generation Sun Master, i'm gonna puke.

 

This almost sounds like a rejected scene from The Magic Christian. Anything for money...

Hopefully mikey is right, that it's just a safety copy they're hacking up. Of course, if that's the case then they're conning the public by selling them something that really isn't what they claim it is. And the whole concept is so perverse to begin with that it's hard to regard these people with anything but contempt.

 

Re: Re: Can they REALLY be Serious?

I believe you are thinking of Joe Esposito?

Bob

 

Ludacris.

To purchase such a thing defies the whole notion of being a music lover.

It's like "Hi, I'm an animal lover. I'd sure love to buy up little carved up pieces of bunnies framed with a certificate!"

 

Re: Re: Re: Can they REALLY be Serious?

Thanks, Bob!

mud-

 

That's as sick as the Beatles "Bed Sheet Pieces" for sale back in the 60's!
Don't they make enough from the Elvis Catalog? There's a catch to this I'm sure...Probably a legal play on words...staring with "Original"

 

I'm guessing the reason Steve has no comment is because he can't let the cat out of the bag to all those people willing to pay BIG MONEY for what is more than likely not the TRUE master tape. If it were, I would have to believe that Steve and people like him in the industry would be lobbying to stop it. Now it would be scary if the powers that be for the Elvis estate felt that they have a "perfect" digital copy and decided to REALLY cut up the master. Didn't several of the big companies do that when digital arrived on the scene? They began to clear out their vaults (was it Alantic Records?) to make space since they now had "perfect" copies.

Naw, I can't believe Steve would not be outspoken about it if he believed it was truly the original master tape.

 

It's a con job. No one will know what they are cutting up. Even if they show/play something first on a tape recorder there will be a "bait and switch".

I'm trying to imagine how a true Elvis fan could feel good about buying one of the 2 inch segments and hang it on the wall for all to see. Weird.

 

I'm hoping this is a LSP(e) electronic (fake) stereo tape - those should have been destroyed long ago . Otherwise, someone should be hung drawn and quartered for doing something like this. I'm in absolute, total shock that someone would even *think* about doing something like this, let alone follow through with it. Even if the real master died years ago, I would hope that they're not doing this to the best available source (if that's what this indeed is - hopefully not). What is the point in doing this? Elvis has been making a lot of money lately - I'm sure someone isn't starving that they feel the need to do this. I would miss meals before I would ever allow something like this. Someone should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Sam.....i can tell you that SONY music, when Digital recording came in, started to copy all their Vault Analog Tapes to digital......and then they realized they would need double the storage space...so, once a tape had been copied to digital, , they started cutting the originals with band saws.
Its enuff to make you sick.

Fortunetly, someone at Sony stopped this insane practice. The worst part? Some of those 1982 Digital copies are UNPLAYABLE due to data error.

 

I'm pretty sure that happened at pre-Sony CBS Records. No matter - still a disgrace. There were even some instances where the fake stereo tapes were intentionally saved instead of the real mono masters to some non-stereo recordings. Of course those fake-stereo tapes are useless since no one in their right mind would ever consider using them now.

 

They have to be safeties or sub-masters. It's unfathomable to imagine that someone is incredibly that stupid (or insane) enough to do something like that.

 

If it is THE absolute master, this is SICK! It's greed taken to a whole new level. If it's really NOT the absolute master, we have nothing to worry about. If it is, i'm sure someone had the brains to back it up many ways.


Well, i'm not going to waste time speculation on why Steve has no comment.

 

Yes, it was Sony that did this, not Atlantic. But, most of the majors, and a lot of smaller companies destroyed tapes for some of the stupidest reasons! One woman who worked in the Sony library decided she didn't like "little records", so she had them destroyed. She was let go.

I only hope *someone* kept records of exactly what was destroyed. It makes you wonder why some things never came out on CD, and why some things are mastered from vinyl.

All 'n all, this is still a very sensitive subject in the record industry.