Now Dig This has the sessions release listed for £46 and the live set is £34. Shipping expensive for those outside the UK but gives you an idea of price.
Aside from scraping the last pennies from the pockets of dedicated fans I simply do not see the point of these session sets.
To me, they’re the definitive, final word on the sessions or movie soundtracks in question. I totally get it if someone passes on a session set because they already paid big bucks for the earlier FTD 2-CD release of any given album or session: that’s precisely why I passed on the sessions set of Elvis Is Back! I already had the old FTD of that, and just couldn’t justify buying the 4-CD sessions set. I don’t have unlimited money to spend on Elvis. However, I don’t have the old FTD of the “Lost Album,” if there even is one, so this new sessions set is a no-brainer for me. Besides the sound quality and contents of the sessions sets, their booklets, liner notes, and artwork are among the best I’ve ever seen, not just for Elvis releases, but for any archival releases.
This is previous FTD which also has outstanding sound quality...... Elvis - Elvis Sings Memphis, Tennessee
If FTD would move out of the 1960-very early 1964 era for complete session sets there would be more options for ones with notably more unreleased material. Not sure why they remain stuck in this era.
Agreed. I was genuinely surprised to see the "lost album" getting a session release. It makes sense for those who missed out on the Memphis configuration -- but still, didn't expect it.
The Lost Album Not only do we get the master takes on disc one, we get them again in the sessions sequence. Great value! I'd hope that disc one at least uses the Bill Porter 3-2 stereo reductions that were used on Elvis Sings Memphis, Tennessee.
As I stated after it came out, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Fun in Acapulco sessions set, and, since it came out, I’ve easily listened to it more than I’ve listened to any other Elvis CD in my collection. Latin Elvis works for me.
FTD is near the end, most session reels have been released, and this Sessions format has allowed FTD to get some additional life out of the recordings. There remains a small niche consumer base that is willing to re-purchase 99% of previously released recordings and one or two scraps of unreleased content, all in sequential order (often with no sound quality upgrade). I can see the appeal for certain sessions, such as Elvis Is Back!, which arguably was a stretch, but now it is a bit ridiculous. That said, there are some fans that missed the classic album series releases the first time around, so these Sessions releases do provide an opportunity for those fans. I will be very selective moving forward with both sessions releases and soundboard releases.
Yeah, Acapulco was a fun surprise. It and Gallahad have been the most played session sets for me. This is why I was hoping the next session set would have been a soundtrack. They’re more in need of being refreshed and revisited. Some of those early FTD single-disc soundtrack releases are a little flat sounding. A nice remix would be fun. Painful for many I suppose, but I actually enjoy them!
These sessions sets are beautiful. I am pleased to have bought them all. I may eventually sell my classic album FTD's that have been duplicated in full. (EIB, SFE, PL, ESMT). To me, the session sets are vastly superior in presentation.
Personally, I'm really glad that these sets are available fot diehard Elvis fans. You are basically getting copies of the Elvis session reels and for an Elvis devotee, what could be better than that? The Beatles sessions should be this available! I have only a couple of the FTD sets, because I actually like Elvis better on vinyl. But the ones I have I really like. I think the FTD people should have a Labor Dale sale, where EVERY FTD CD is available via download only for $9.99. I'd spend the money and load up if that were the case!
I feel the same way. Nobody twisted my arm to buy these. I wish every artist did this. Imagine sets like these for Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, or The Rolling Stones. Their fans would be over the moon.
I’ll say it again: for those who care about packaging, liner notes, memorabilia photos, artwork, and that aspect of physical media, the Elvis Sessions sets can’t be beat.
Curious. The "For The Asking" artwork shown here on the booklet's cover is not the "For The Asking" artwork that graced the 1990 album, artwork designed by Ger Rijff. This is the correct "For The Asking" artwork: So the question is, what is on the booklet? An alternate cover design by Ger that went unused, or a 2022 re-do? If the former, that's pretty cool, but if the latter... why? For The Asking was not an original lifetime album, so what purpose is there in creating a homage to it, rather than simply using the original artwork.
I noticed that myself just today in fact, and having only the UK CD version myself, I looked on Discogs to see if the LP was any different. It isn't, it's just like the CD (but bigger, obvs!). So what we get is a more sixties looking style of an album that never existed until 1990, which as you infer, is frankly bizarre, more so as the track sequencing is not as per that 1990 album but the FTD Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee, with the tracks sequenced as they were originally released through the sixties (Although, it's a pity the Nipper logo is seemingly out of bounds these days as that would have made it look a bit cooler!)
According to a post about these releases on FECC, the two Vegas shows are soundbooth recordings and Tahoe is a soundboard.
I never knew The Lost Album even existed but I’m happy to have found out about it here. Assuming these are the last non-soundtrack sessions until the comeback?
If you mean 1968 or 1969, the answer is no. Elvis returned to studio sessions in May 1966 to record How Great Thou Art, and recorded in the studio every year after that until 1974.
Baz apparently has the reels for That's The Way It Is and Elvis On Tour and is planning to do a redux for both.
