Greensboro was a nice listen although still think it's a little wonky. Elvis' vocal seems more pushed back than the first 2 concerts. Seems like Matt Ross-Spang really is smitten with Glen D's piano; to the point where it's distracting at times. And it's a shame that John Wilkinson is overlooked again. Was really hoping Ross-Spang would've heard his great contributions and highlighted them in this set. I jumped over to the Gospel section in the rehearsal disc and it was fantastic.
Very strange that they are using the imperfect I Got A Woman from Hampton Roads for the vinyl set. Very lazy.
I love the Until It's Time For You To Go from the Greensboro show, but I agree the vocals are mixed very weird in the live shows across the set. But I don't know what they had to work with either. I am saving the rehearsals for the physical set.
Early yet for me as am unfamiliar with the shows. Just sampling all the mixes and what I can hear or tell for myself of the 'sound' of things. What are the thoughts on San Anton? Been reading bits and pieces of the thread. Seems to be more on the neutral, or uninspired side, or unimpressed side, at times, with the concert sound. Elvis sounds to me like maybe he is in best voice at San Anton. His voice has got more depth and body to it, imo. It's not so thin, as arguably at times at other shows. His lower register has more presence. Just better tone, overall, imo. The bass guitar has a nice full round tone too. I think it helps fill the space in the center without trampling on the vocal, but complementing it. Of the four shows I've been trying bits and piece of, it's the one that perks my ears up. He sounds good. His vibrato seems to have more muscle to it. I might get the set if the price comes down.
I don't do streaming or pay for downloads, so until physical release day on 27th January, I'm sat in anticipation enjoying everyones thoughts and opinions on what they've heard.
Me too. Even though I pre-ordered from Amazon and already have the release as an auto-rip somewhere in the amazon cloud libray, I have neither downloaded nor streamed it. I'm holding out 'till the 27th, gonna be quite a day (and an expensive day!!) as the Dylan box set is released the 27th too...
I'm very intrigued by the "El Paso" fragment on Disc 5. Really wish Elvis and the TCB Band had run with that!
Nice I forgot this is streaming already and dived in this morning. Box will show up when it shows up, outside the blu ray I’ll look at the book once and put it on the shelf with my other Elvis stuff.
Thankfully my partner has pre ordered the Dylan set for me, and it's the 10 LP edition can you believe aren't I a lucky chap.
Not to spoil the party, but an honest conclusion. Last week listened to all four concerts. The worst of all is Greensboro where the fabulous drummer Ronnie Tutt isn’t audible, but just his bass-drum, which are on all four has the prevail. Lots of boom-boom (bass-drum), Elvis voice pushed back. Furthermore, dull, muffled. Like there is a “blanket” over it. The question, with what Matt R-S had to work with? As it’s been said, he used the RCA tapes and not the MGM tapes who doesn’t have the technical problems during “I Got A Woman”. This could be the reason for its limitations, hearing the result. The imports from labels like Triangle, Madison, Amiga, and Black Diamond, features better, if not crystal clear sound, with all the instruments audible in a proper mix, and the most important issue of it all, Elvis’ voice.
I dunno if it's that simple to say those import versions are totally better than this. Jumping back and forth between Madison's Richmond tape and then the Hampton Roads boot, everything there seemed squeezed into a narrow space there. At least with this new set you get a wider full scope of the music. Yes, things become questionable after that but there are still some improvements here.
How many different sets of tapes are we actually talking about here? Aren' there just 2: RCA's tapes and MGMs? I assume the tapes that have leaked over the decades that appeared on boots were RCA's tapes, no? We're not saying that perhaps it was MGM's tapes all along that we had access to all this time?
They could have said no. Or, more likely, they wanted an exorbitant amount that would have sunk the project. Where do you think all the bootleg video came from?
Compared to the other three shows, Greensboro is definitely different. If I just heard Greensboro by itself, I would think it sounded great. In fact, I would say that any shortcomings are relative to the other shows. I wouldn't call it muffled, but compared to the others it is a bit veiled. I do find it to be less lively. I don't think it sounds bad though.
One thing I noticed on all the live shows is a considerable amount of tape hiss. Thankfully they didn't apply "no-noise", but it may be an indicator that maybe the best tape was not used. Or perhaps they aren't in the best shape after 50 years.
The more I listen to this the more I'm reminded of the mix on the original MSG album. Could these have been RCA doing a dry run-thru before then?
When the filming for "Elvis On Tour" began I don't think MSG had even been booked yet. I believe they were still considering the "Standing Room Only" project which was allegedly planned as a hybrid live/studio concept. Of course, they already had the fabulous masters from the February '72 Vegas season in the can at that point. So, to answer your question...I don't know, but I doubt it.
For sure there is a technical problem of some kind on the MGM tape too. When listening to the On Tour movie clip of I Got A Women it's clear a vocal fix of some kind was overlaid on the multitrack to try and repair that section of the performance to salvage it for the movie. Listen to the lack of clarity and how there's a "doubling" of Elvis' voice on "never grumbles or fusses" as it transitions to the proper recording of his voice: This is right where Elvis voice comes in on the new release. Afterwards his vocal is clearer and cleaner. It sounds like for the movie they "flew in" some audio from another, less than perfect source, perhaps a camera feed of some kind, for the first minute or so of the performance. You can hear noise along with it, a high pitched "whine" when he goes "wellllll now", before the song starts.
Actually, Standing Room Only was initially supposed to be comprised of live recordings. The studio/hybrid story/theory came later.
What the exact final content of the album would have been is not known and a sequenced track listing never formally existed although a selection number was issued: LSP 4762. Standing Room Only' was the tentative title for a new ocumentary that M.G.M. started filming at the end of arch 1972 and when it was finally released in November, it premiered as “Elvis On Tour”. “After several photos were submitted for the draft artwork, a front cover for the album was chosen, but an internal memo dated June 12 informed the art department of RCA that, 'the art originally [planned] for LSP 4762 is being used for LSP 776 Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden'. At this time the album was slated for an August release, but the rush release of the Madison Square Garden concert pushed 'Standing Room Only' back to October. However, on August 11, RCA executive George Parkhill, on behalf of Colonel Parker, cancelled the album altogether. It can be argued that it would have been purely a live album taken from the tour that M.G.M. filmed and recorded. It's also easy to assume its cancellation was logical by RCA as both the concept and the repertoire would have been duplicated on the 'Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden' album.” (source: elvis.com.au)
From Ernst’s Worldwide Elvis interview circa 2000: “ERNST: I don't know. Nobody knows exactly what the album, what would have been. Joan (Deary) always told me it was meant to be a live album, not a combination of the March sessions, but when they started out recording it in Las Vegas, they actually planned to finish it as early as Knoxville on the tour. The equipment broke down in Knoxville, and then as this idea kept rolling along, suddenly came the idea of doing ELVIS ON TOUR instead, and the suddenly the idea came of Madison Square Garden, and then the ALOHA show. At no time were they ready to figure out what the hell would have been on STANDING ROOM ONLY. They only had the title and mark up art-work catalogue number, if I remember,LSP 4762, right? That doesn't mean we couldn't go in and inprincipal fabricate it. What would it have been, or what could it have been.” Elvis Presley - World Wide Elvis - The Premier Source For Elvis Presley
