Elvis at the International Hotel Las Vegas 1969 Box Set

The 2019 RSD was pressed flat and on quiet vinyl. I did find the vocals to be a bit "blurred" towards in the inner grooves. I guess this record was lathe cut in such a way that a line contact stylus is needed to overcome the inner groove sibilance cutting flaws.

 

Hundreds? Dear lord. I had no idea.

I have all of the official releases including the big RCA CD box (the red one with all the albums) all of the deluxe and legacy editions as well as most of the various box sets, I guess I’ll enjoy those.

 

That would have required a level of then-contemporary touring sophistication that Parker did not possess. Frankly, I think the choice of Las Vegas as a venue was a mistake from the start, but that is another topic of discussion altogether.

 

An extended Vegas hotel residency allowed Col Parker to stay in one spot for a month and feed his gambling addiction while gorging on hotel buffet food.

When Parker drew up his infamous multi-year Vegas napkin contract with the hotel, he was underserving Presley and laughing all the way to the bank.

 

There is no sibilance on my copy but it did have non-fill issues.

 

What other release is there of the Richmond show?

 

Parker underbid Elvis' services for the 1969 Las Vegas engagement from the very start. $500,000 for 4 weeks of work, 2 shows per night. That was roughly $9,000.00 a show, a paltry per-concert sum for an artist of Elvis' stature (Elvis could have commanded at the very minimum $50,000.00 per night playing auditoriums and arenas through traditional touring in 1969 -- he likely could have filled Madison Square Garden as early as 1969). Elvis still had to pay his band, his management commission, and agency commission out of his own pocket. Parker got the fee bumped up to a cool million after opening night, but then he locked Elvis into the same fee structure for the next several engagements with no sliding scale or increase. The International's Alex Shoofey was baffled that Parker agreed to such a poorly negotiated deal. As the 1970's progressed, rumors started to surface that Elvis' discounted rate was a concession by Parker so that the casino wouldn't call his markers.

 

Well said @PacificOceanBlue

Yeah, for an artist of Presley's stature and audience drawing capability, he should have been in the driver's seat from a contract negotiating standpoint.

A real, professional artist manager would have hired a team of the best lawyers to draw up an airtight contract to maximize Presley's earnings and squeeze the hotel for maximum concessions and value.

Instead, "Col. Sanders" negotiates a deal on the back of a napkin which underpays Presley and works him seven nights a week for month. A better manager could have even easily negotiated one show per night for only five nights a week. That's how badly all the hotels wanted Presley in 1969. Instead, he was underpaid and overworked on his "treadmill to oblivion." And wasn't the "Colonel" dragging an outrageous percentage for himself -- like 40% of the deal?

 

I’m intrigued by Col. Parker gorging on hotel buffet food. I can’t imagine he would have had to pay for that each night, that’s a perk, right? And I wonder if there was Royal Pineapple on that buffet?

 

I agree, the size of the drums has always looked small in that pic. Guessing it’s due to how the photographer took the photo. This is Ronnie’s silver sparkle Premier kit with 20” and 22” bass drums.

 

Sorry folks but what is WDITJR?

 

Thanks that is interesting to know and fits in with other acts like Dylan. The time when an archival release - think Zeppelin How the West Was Won or the first Beatles BBC radio recordings - had people queuing into the street are over. These are niche market releases now and if a tape costs too much to buy then it becomes uneconomic to do so if you are expecting to recoup the outlay by releasing it. My opinion of course but I do believe sales have collapsed for these archival release and not just Elvis.

 

About Ronnie Tutt's kit : what's the use having two bass drums of different size ?

 

'Way Down In The Jungle Room' the recent-ish Sony Legacy CD/LP/Download compilation featuring the (in?)famous Jungle Room session masters and a disc worth of out-takes.
Took me a minute to work out that acronym too. More please, gets me ol' brain juice flowing!

 

FTD first released it as “48 Hours To Memphis” a year or two before the Legacy addition came out.

 

Use the binaural source tape instead of the Deary/Bogert mono EQ prep tape, and I'm definitely in.

 

Different sounds. I've used two different bass drums at times for that very reason. Lead with the 22" on your right foot, use the 20" with your left foot for a punchier, higher accent, for example.

 

I'm in agreement with you all, TTWII is a far better or more definitive live Elvis than the 68 Special. That makes at least 4 of us now! It is the true pinnacle of live Elvis. The problem I have with 68 is the dated tv show set pieces. Sure, the sit down sets are a lot of fun but they were only a very small part of the original special and as a result they didn't need much footage so there is a lot of light hearted larking about and not taking the performances seriously during each set. The sit down sets are therefore quite repetitive and hardly demonstrate the power of Elvis' voice at that time or his commitment to the development of his sound and performance like TTWII does.

 

Too many. You think 25 is not enough? Well, to rationalise my collection for starters I didn't want ANY soundboard recordings or bitty compilations of random multitracks where full concerts weren't available. That alone takes out massive swathe of FTD titles. Then, reduce further by omitting earlier sets which have a) been remastered and better consolidated in subsequent releases and / or b) been remastered for Legacy.

I applied these filters to a list of FTD titles on the Australian Elvis site and it shows you what's left.

In reality most of my FTDs are "Classic Albums" presentations, from Elvis Is Back to Elvis Now, omitting all film soundtracks inbetween. For the latter I have the complete Legacy box. For 50s and mid to late 70s albums I have Legacy sets as well. A fair amount of Japanese remasterings fill in the gaps too (often sounding sweeter than Anesini's work and DSD) along with the better Ferrante remixes from late 90s / 2000. ie. Promised Land.

FTD is great for giving attention to albums that Legacy ignores due to lack of public recognition.

 

Perfect analogy and a great way for me to approach any future FTD purchases.

 

I only recently started collecting FTDs. I just went for the albums I liked the most. Getting the outtakes has been great. For live stuff I went with the advice of people here.

 

What was the original title of that particular FTD ? I can't believe I don't know this ...

 

I want to know this too!

 

Anesini mastered the Richmond show on both albums. Do they sound the same? Any differences in EQ or compression?

 

I think what you're referring to is James Burton's legendary and innovative style of "Chicken pickin" ...