Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt3 The Seventies

If I'm not mistaken I had those 2011 downloads albeit not in hi- rez (still do, thanks to Amazon!) and those two 1959 albums together with 'Elvis For Everyone' didn't use the same masterings for the later 60 Album boxset - they switched the Sun tracks for more 'authentic' yet inferior sounding masters on the 1959 albums and gave us the reverb laden 'Memphis Tennesse' and the old master of 'Santa Lucia' on 'Elvis For Everyone'
The first download version of 'For LP Fans Only' turned up in a 2011 blues boxset on CD which some kind person on eBay sold off separately and the first download version of 'Elvis For Everyone' was included in the '20 Albums Box set'.
At any rate, it's still annoying to moi...

 

Yes they did use the same sources. I remember being disappointed with the hi-res versions of the three albums you mention because they sounded so inferior to what we had at the time.

To me, the Album Collection seems like an afterthought. The majority of the work went into the replicas of the album cover and the stickers. The major sonic upgrades were released on The Complete Masters a few years earlier.

 

If I recall correctly the 'The Complete Masters' mentioned in its blurb or the promo vid that it was mastered from original tapes in 24/96 thingummybobs, not that that made a terrific difference in the translation to the compact disc format per se, I suppose. 'Tis a great set though. I must listen to it all again in the near future...

 

Getting back on topic though, I've been holding off on this one. I still don't know what I make of 'Elvis in Concert' the album. I first heard it before I knew some of the history behind it, I thought then some of it sounded mumbled and half hearted. Vernon's message was always hard going too.
My lasting impression is always 'And I Love You So' fading to the end on side 4. I mean, how many really knew the summer that was recorded what was to befall the man in just a few months time and it's always a bittersweet listen.
I wouldn't do without the CD version or my LP, I would've liked it included in the 60 album box set as @mark winstanley mentioned above but that said, it's not one I listen to very often...

 

Ignoring the possibility of a dvd release, a remastered cd of EIC excluding the fan comments would be most welcome.

 

If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
This album gives this song another place on an Elvis seventies album. This version is ok, I am neither here nor there about it really.

 

O Solo Mio/ It's Now Or Never
I am not much of a fan of the opening vocal, it's a wobbly falsetto that doesn't really appeal to me. Elvis seems to do a pretty decent job of It's Now Of Never.
This may well be the most well known Elvis song, and being seventeen years old, it is nice to hear it get a run.
I think Elvis does a very good job of the song, even though in the middle he has a vocal excursion that almost gets lost, but just makes it home.

 

Trying To Get To You
I find the intro to this quite charming in a typically Elvis style ... it's on the end of the IT's Now Or Never clip.
I think Elvis does a good job of this also. Sure it isn't the 68 special, but that was nearly ten years prior, so that isn't surprising.
But I don't hear anything wrong with this.

 

Hawaiian Wedding Song
With this track Elvis tries to sing it as sweetly as he did on the soundtrack, but in a few spots he doesn't quite get on it.

 

Fairytale
It kind of starts off like On Top Of The World.
We put on our ten gallon hats and start boot skootin' here. This is ok, but certainly a lesser vocal on this track. Even so it is for the most part pretty decent.

 

I think the EIC "My Way" is an excellent version with a great understated backing. The Aloha "My Way" version's violin reminds me of "Young Frankenstein" film, and the scene of the little girl playing to the monster.

 

I do not think it would have been released had he lived. Much like there wasn't a soundtrack to Elvis On Tour". It wasn't even recorded for a live album per se. For there wasn't an RCA mobile recording unit for this. Felton Jarvis used a portable 4 or 8 track tape recorder. Thus the "need" to do overdubs that weren't captured because of lack of tracks. IMO, only Elvis's death made this into an album project.

 

God, I hate that Sherrill Nielson opener, but Elvis does his part pretty well,I think. So long as you don't compare it to the original.

 

This is just plain good, regardless of the year, it's a fine performance.

 

I do not do downloads, but the masters used on For LP Fans Only, A Date With Elvis and Elvis For Everyone on The Album Collection are definitely inferior to the same material found on The Complete Masters. And yes, Elvis For Everyone in the 20 CD box set and For LP Fans Only in the Blues box are MUCH better than what is in The Album Collection. I have yet to find a release of A Date With Elvis that has the better masters.

But it seems that few people who own The Album Collection are bothered by these three albums got the short end of the stick as it comes to sound quality. I am not sure if they do not notice or do not care. Or maybe they have not heard or compared them to the superior masterings of this material?

 

In contrast to the splendid, joyous version on Moody Blue, this performance of If You Love Me (Let Me Know) doesn't do much for me. It's just missing the magic from that earlier performance. Plus, Elvis' intro ("If you don't, then move it") really irritates me for some reason.

O Sole Mio/It's Now Or Never is another track that could benefit from some editing. It still wouldn't be a great track, or even a particularly good one, but it would be a lot easier to sit through without Nielsen's part.

Trying To Get To You is ok, I suppose, but it seems like a lesser version of the Memphis arrangement/performance, which I already wasn't terribly wild about.

Hawaiian Wedding Song is the clear highlight of the album's second half, imo. I might even prefer it to the studio master, if only because the arrangement on this version (or perhaps more accurately, the lack of an arrangement) doesn't distract from Elvis' wonderfully tender vocal performance.

Elvis' intro to Fairytale is another one that grates on me, though not as much as If You Love Me (Let Me Know). I'm listening to it now, and the performance itself isn't as bad as I remember it being, but it's still quite a few steps down from the near-perfect studio master.

 

The basic tracks sound like they were recorded on 4 or 8 track, and it was said that Felton did not record the orchestra, but I noticed on Keith Flynn's site a photo of a tape log with these notations:

Box 3, Omaha - Show 1, R-3
Box 1, Rapid City - Show 2, R-1
Box 2, Rapid City - Show 2, R-2

All are marked 2" 24tr.

Would this be the recordings made at the shows, or were they bumped to 24-track at Soundmaster for overdubs?

 

I agree with you on the first part of your statement as far as the superiority of the Moody Blue version of If You Love Me (Let Me Know), but Elvis's verbal warning before singing the song, "If you don't, then move it," makes me laugh out-loud every time I hear it.

I actually prefer his live version of Hawaiian Wedding Song over his very pretty studio version as well. His vocal is just beautiful and the very last way he modulates his voice on the single word, heart, is simply delightful, but my favorite cut on the second part of the album has to be Trying To Get To You, which Elvis and the band always seemed to poor every ounce of energy into it, no matter the circumstance or the venue.

 

I never understood the appeal of TTGTY from the EIC reels. Elvis’ vocal is very unsteady as he bellows and shouts through the performance. He deserves credit for the effort, but it is hardly a strong performance.

 

Yes. That's the way it was done. Bumped up to 24 tracks for overdubs and final mixing.

 

There really isn't a great deal to get excited about on EIC, sadly, although the overdubs certainly help - just as they did with the Spring tour cuts on Moody Blue.

For me, one of the best tracks is That's All Right - which, ironically, probably has the best arrangement of all its live incarnations from 1969 onwards. Previously, it had been too fast, but here it is given care and attention, and Elvis's vocal is perfectly decent - and that's the most we could expect at this stage.

Beyond that, I Really Don't Want to Know is very nice - although it's a shame Elvis only sings of it. Hurt is fine, although I could do without it. My Way is also fine vocally, but the band arrangement by this point was banal and dull, whereas in Aloha there was that lovely counterpoint from the solo violin.

Outside of those, it's either passable or horrendous. Mountain by this point had a lumbering arrangement that, again, wasn't a patch on the 1972/3 incarnation. How Great Thou Art is ridiculously over the top - although Elvis gets marks for trying. Trying to Get to You is fine, but doesn't bear comparison to the same arrangement from three years before in Memphis. Elvis comes over worst, though, on the quiet numbers that require vocal control over long notes. Hawaiian Wedding Song is bad enough, but the final And I Love You So was one of the worst performances issued officially. With a vibrato as wide as a garage door, Elvis is unable to bring any finesse to the performance, and often the long notes wander out of tune. Heaven knows who's idea it was to make this the final track.

 

Good points... But given the fact Elvis was in breach of contract (regarding quantity of albums delivered yearly) and RCA was desperate for new Elvis material at that point, it seems unlikely the Colonel wouldn't have taken the easy route of using this material for a soundtrack album... even in the almost certain event the broadcast was a critical disaster.

 

No way! 'The King' 'Just the King' He's the King','He's the King', 'He's a good clean fella' etc. Best track on the album! Now that needs to be in Dolby Atmos with the fans comments coming atcha from every direction!
To quote a phrase 'It is what it is'. An artifact from a different time, one that should just be left as is for me...

 

Actually I would love to mix that ....
Have each "He's The King" come from a different speaker, and slide into the centre, bouncing off each other with reverb and creating a vortex of sound that swirls and runs around all the speakers ... and then dry and centre "He's a good clean fella"

Someone get me the tapes

 

Any way for him to get up here? Any way for him to get up here?