The Complete Million Dollar Quartet - 50th Anniversary Edition

This 2006 re-issue has been discussed before:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=91993

However, since that thread is no longer active I thought I'd start a new one for those who may not know about this release.

For years I have wondered how it was that the original 1990 CD from BMG sounded so poor (not much better than the grey market releases around at the time) while the previously unavailable snippet of "Reconsider Baby" that appeared on the 1992 The King Of Rock 'n' Roll - The Complete 50s Masters box set sounded like it was from a source very close to the 1st gen master.

I figured that if BMG had the great sounding tape for "Reconsider Baby" in 1992 they probably had the same quality for the rest of the session material. After years of waiting for a release of this historical session from this better source that I was sure they must have I eventually gave up and forgot about the whole business......

Until today

I searched the forum to see if anything had happened in recent years and, lo and behold, I discovered that in 2006 a 50th Anniversary Edition had been released purportedly from a better tape - and with another 12 minutes of previously unavailable material!

So, I popped into my local HMV after dropping the kids off at school in the unlikely event that they might have one in stock (these days you are lucky to find anything you are looking for in store ). To my delight they had one - and I am listening to it right now......

It's WONDERFUL

Finally being able to listen to the session without the horrible distortion on previous editions it is like being a fly on the wall at one of the most important impromptu jam sessions in history.

During my search of the forum this morning I read that Bear Family put out a 2-LP set some years ago that was also from a better source than was used for the other releases up until then. I'm not sure how good that sounds but I doubt it would be any better than this 2006 release.

Anyway, I just thought it would be worth bringing this up again in case anyone had totally missed this release like I had.

This is truly one of the best re-issues of recent years - there's still no sign of Johnny Cash though.......

 

Thanks for the info, Mal. I'd seen this release at my local Border's and had considered getting it but was reluctant. I've got the original RCA disc from 1990 and was never too impressed with the sound. I guess I'll go ahead and take the plunge on this one.

 

This release is the way to go for these recordings and is the version I have.

 

I bought the Charly cd which was a very big step up sound/completeness from 2 different vinyl lp's (MDQ had bad reverb and was mostly the gospel stuff, R&R was cleaner and fit in the "middle" of MDQ). What/where are the extra 12 minutes? Is it at the beginning?

 

The extra 12 minutes is at the beginning and consists of impromptu instrumental Christmas song jams with Jerry Lee, Carl and his band, which changes to an instrumental of "Love Me Tender" when Elvis enters the room. Then comes "Reconsider Baby" when Elvis starts singing offmike and everyone quickly joins in.

Apparently they have some extra material recorded after Elvis left of just Jerry Lee playing some of his songs, but they left it off the reissue due to time constraints.

The 2006 BMG CD is the definitive version IMHO, the sound is great and it's all in the proper running order

How anyone could not have a huge smile on their face listening to the Million Dollar Quartet session is beyond me


(Oh yeah, there is also an extra verse in one of the gospel songs, "Jesus Walked That Lonesome Valley" that was edited out of the old versions)

 

Two words: Kevan Budd.

His masterings of early Elvis have really raised the bar for how the King should sound.

 

Would somebody please explain to me the difference between the two versions of this album (RCA and Charly) from 2006? The RCA has just one disc with 47 tracks: http://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presle...mplete-Million-Dollar-Quartet/release/2424600. The Charly has two discs, the first with 41 tracks and the second with 32 tracks: http://www.discogs.com/Million-Doll...h-Anniversary-Special-Edition/release/4592913. If the RCA is the best and most complete version, why the Charly version has more tracks?

 

The second disc of the Charly release is NOT Million Dollar Quartet recordings, it is just the regular original versions of those tracks by each artist solo.

As noted, the 47-track 2006 RCA/BMG release is the most complete version of the MDQ recordings, and also the best-sounding. No need to look elsewhere.

 

Does this RCA version comes with a booklet describing the story behind the recording, explaining what went on there and how it went on, plus photos?