I'll get it on Wednesday. It's the most pre-ordered FTD according to the Danish fanclub so they couldn't ship all of the orders at once.
Given the direction they've been going lately, I don't know why they didn't do a Jailhouse Rock sessions release. It would be a good seller for the format, I imagine. Perhaps at some point they will. As a book it's a non-starter. For FTD book-fans though, it should be nice.
It's inexplicable that they didn't remix the other concert. The session set price tag has (I think) thus far included a top-down remix of all the material. So this is troubling. Every FTD fan has a couple copies of the alternate Aloha concert as is. So this is just packing material -- and a cruel way to pump the price from $29.99 US, to a whopping $65.00! Pretty embarrassing for a premium label. Even if you give them $10-15 for the deluxe package (which might be a stretch) -- it's still $20-25 for the re-run alternate disc.
Interesting that this release seems to be selling well, despite the hefty price tag and the fact that it does not contain much unreleased material. Ernst and the FTD team seem to know which releases work. This is also shown by the expensive book projects, which are always hotly debated in advance but seem to sell out within a very short time.
Good morning and a bit off topic but is there a thread on Elvis official releases box sets, albums, soundtrack albums as high resolution - 24/96 flac files. I have loads of them and do play them more than the cds or records these days.
I don’t know how big the pressing runs are for the FTD book/CD combos are, but there are pretty clearly one or two thousand deep-pocketed Elvis collectors in the world who will buy anything the label puts out.
And most fans spending hefty amounts on FTD product already have that Legacy edition so why not remix that concert as well as the main one? Exactly why I decided to pass on this one and wait for the "Clambake" complete sessions or something like that.
Apparently, they did not want to spent the money on another remix. However, they could have left off the rehearsal show and only released a 2 disc version of the remixed main show and the 3 am after show recordings at the regular FTD price.
Now I would bet Col. Parker's soul that next year we will get a 50th anniversary box set on the main Sony label with both concerts remixed, all the sessions for the extra songs, a nice book and a SD Blu-ray with Dolby atmos audio at the same price of this FTD.
Poor Colonel Parker! I don't think that's likely. If Sony was planning such a release, they would not be releasing this FTD right now. They are not stupid and know how far they can go. But I could imagine them releasing the FTD digitally on the main label next year for the anniversary. So in a way, like they did with the American Sound box, but in reverse chronological order.
This is what they should have done all along. A two-disc set and closed out the 7-inch "Classic Album" series. But that would have made sense. Clearly FTD is in that end-of-the-line, fleece-the-fans-before-they-wise-up mode. They've left the original fans behind and are rationalizing this is as a value only to new customers -- which it clearly isn't. $65 for a ross/spranger remix is not a value to anyone -- and one of the sillier moves thus far by the label.
Say what you will about The Colonel and his highly questionable decisions as they related to Elvis' career post-1960 but I always took it that The Colonel had the utmost respect for Elvis fans (examples being things like issuing all of the songs on Elvis' debut LP as singles so fans without an LP-player could hear the music, or introducing Elvis material on the Camden label to make the music affordable). I'm not sure if those behind the FTD label currently hold us in as high regard.
And still someone said earlier in the thread that the set is being preordered like hot cakes, go figure. My Dennis Ferrante mix will do for now.
I'm not sure I agree that Elvis' music on Camden was an outreach strategy. The budget lines paid far less royalties for the artist. There had to be an angle in my opinion.
There’s certainly many angles to any business decision, and whether this was a good thing for Elvis himself is certainly open to discussion, but I recall reading somewhere that The Colonel wanted all price points covered so fans at all income levels could purchase Elvis music.
I'm intrigued to hear the remix, so I get it. But even if it was $30, it would have required some rationalizing to complete transaction. Especially since I know -- even if I liked it -- I would still resort to the original mix for listening after the novelty wore off.
Think I'll wait for some sound samples before buying this set, although quite tempted as I don't have the alternate concert on disc.
I don’t have my info on Elvis’ royalty rate in 1956 but I assume what you wrote is true, if someone bought all six singles which I think is unlikely. Elvis’ 1973 contract with RCA paid him 10 cents per single sold and 50 cents per LP so - if the ratio was similar in 1956 - he’d need those ‘buyers’ to purchase all six 45’s to make more vs. the LP. But from what I remember reading/hearing the point of the singles was to accommodate fans w/out access to LP-capable record players.
I got the new Aloha set. The rehearsal show is the same mix as the Legacy Edition. The main show and the rehearsals are mixed by Matt Ross-Spang and mastered by Jan Eliasson. The mastering is louder than it should be but not completely brickwalled even though the compression is defiitely noticeable. I haven't listened to the new mix that much yet, but I'll probably stick to my needledrop of the quadraphonic mix as my preferred option. Samples: Dropbox - Steamroller.flac - Simplify your life Dropbox - You Gave Me A Mountain.flac - Simplify your life Dropbox - An American Trilogy.flac - Simplify your life
