What is the best Elvis live album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by PDMBK, Aug 2, 2022.

  1. Static

    Static Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    My aunt is a HUGE Elvis fan same with mom. I like him but never got into him as much. More of a Beatles fan. So from a non fan...I have to say Elvis Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite. When I was a kid it used to be in constant rotation at my aunt's home. Plus as a kid in the m70's I used to love the cover.
     
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  2. Vintage1976

    Vintage1976 Way Out West

    Location:
    California
    That's the 8 disc deluxe box, right? I have the double disc. I should probably upgrade.
     
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  3. MrBigFan

    MrBigFan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scandinavia
    I can`t agree with this,especially after comparing the Steamroller Blues track from this show with the one
    released on the Platinum box set,what a difference.
    Never wanna hear the FTD edition ever again
     
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  4. RoyalPineapple

    RoyalPineapple It ain't me in the photo, babe.

    Location:
    England
    Haven't heard the platinum box set!

    What I will say is the FTD of Memphis 1974 sounds like a real gig, performed in a real arena. I imagine it's a close-enough approximation of what the actual gig sounded like.

    Unlike the Legacy Edition, which sounds like it was performed in the middle of space — with essentially no ambience whatsoever.
     
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  5. Vintage1976

    Vintage1976 Way Out West

    Location:
    California
    See, I think the Legacy version sounds great from a technical stand point. There's not as much audience noise If I recall correctly. But that set list just flows really well. I have not heard the FTD version. I will have to look into the Platinum box.
     
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  6. lou a

    lou a Forum Resident

    Fans of Elvis’s seventies live releases should know that Sony will be releasing a comprehensive Elvis On Tour audio/ Video package this fall.
     
  7. paulmccartneyistheman

    paulmccartneyistheman Forum Resident

    I’m so excited I could cry.
     
  8. alchemy

    alchemy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sterling, VA
    Any have any thoughts on this?

    Elvis Presley – The Concert - 1999 World Tour


    .
     
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  9. docwebb

    docwebb Forum Resident

    It depends on what stage of Elvis career you find most enticing. The Peral Harbor concert from 1961 reveals Elvis at a peak time in his career, still a serious musician playing with a great back up band including Scotty Moore!
    Not a professional recording but MRS did a decent job with CD and vinyl with what they had. Such a Night, Reconsider Baby, I Need Your Love Tonight and A Fool Such as I were largely abandoned later in his career but he plays them with passion here.
    01. Heartbreak Hotel
    02. All Shook Up
    03. A Fool Such As I
    04. I Got A Woman
    05. Love Me
    06. Such A Night
    07. Reconsider Baby
    08. I Need Your Love Tonight
    09. That's Allright
    10. Don't Be Cruel
    11. One Night
    12. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
    13. It's Now Or Never
    14. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
    15. Hound Dog

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  10. MRamble

    MRamble Forum Resident

    It's a compilation of live tracks that were used for the stage show of Elvis's band backing Elvis's image on a screen with vocals isolated. In other words a compilation from Aloha and TTWII.
     
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  11. D-rock

    D-rock Senior Member

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    Yea good luck finding that, it's out of print. I hate these limited edition releases. Just release more or make them available digitally.
     
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  12. Paul Lee

    Paul Lee One-eyed cat in a seafood store.

    Location:
    England
    If memory serves me correctly, "Elvis Rocks Little Rock" 56 is a full show and his performance from Las Vegas 56 is a full show? Oh, and Tupelo 56 is complete. Apart from that very little of his live performances, that we know of, from the 50s were recorded. No soundboards back in the 50s.
     
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  13. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    The Legacy Edition contains a fine mix with respect to the musicians and instrument separation, but Elvis' vocals are stripped away of the vibrancy they always had on previous releases of the Memphis show. After all, Elvis should be the focal point, but on the Legacy Edition, his vocals are flat and at times buried in the mix underneath the band and backing vocalists. The only reason to keep the Legacy Edition is for the Richmond recording on disc two (if one doesn't already have FTD's Forty Eight Hours To Memphis).
     
  14. BILLONEEG

    BILLONEEG Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Elvis Presley's "Aloha From Hawaii: Via Satelite". Needs a 180g reissue.
    [​IMG]
     
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  15. MrBigFan

    MrBigFan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scandinavia
    Agree with this above…my favorite ever 3 complete shows released…due to sound and performance.
    Nothing can change this,not even the upcoming OT box set.
    Regarding The Wonder Of You FTD….I was not a fan of that release,too much orchestra in the mix for my taste.Trumpets and horns was very loud in the mix.
    I havent heard it in 15 years so I could remember it wrong…..
     
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  16. RoyalPineapple

    RoyalPineapple It ain't me in the photo, babe.

    Location:
    England

    I agree about the flow of the setlist. And although Memphis '74 might not be one of the all-time-great Elvis gigs, it's one of the most enjoyable I've heard from the later years.

    And although I love the FTD mix, I'm not sure if you will, too. Because I've noticed fans are divided when it comes to live albums:

    Some want the live album to sound like a "proper" show, and others want it to sound like a "dry" studio album.

    (Many shades of grey, of course, between these two extremes).

    So my problem with the Legacy mix of Memphis 1974 is it's just devoid of atmosphere, ambience and impact. The sound we're hearing is cleanly captured... but isn't close to what anyone in the venue would have actually heard.

    (It's also weird because the promo notes tell us that Elvis preferred a "drenched in reverb" sound — hence the "wet" mix of disc 2. But the mix of the main show is essentially bone-dry.)

    By contrast, the FTD version has Elvis's vocal up-front — with a lot of spacious reverb and ambience mixed-in.

    Is the reverb (and other ambience) a bad thing? I think not, because the original gig wasn't performed in an isolated sound-booth: it was performed in a 10,000-seat arena.

    So the FTD mix is probably very authentic to what the concert actually sounded like.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2022
  17. andy75

    andy75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I agree. What you are saying is so true. Have the "48 Hours" FTD and the Legacy disc that contains the same show. Haven't compared them, but I guess they are the same master.
     
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  18. Paulie Donutz

    Paulie Donutz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ex Long Islander
    There is also a TTWII special edition that came out in 2000. It has the 8/12/70 midnight concert, which is one of my favorites.

    Elvis Presley - That's The Way It Is special edition 3 CD
     
  19. Moonchild

    Moonchild Forum Resident

    Location:
    Coruña. Spain
    An afternoon in the Garden
     
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  20. For those albums as released in Elvis’ lifetime, MSG for both sentimental reasons (it was the first rock album I ever owned that wasn’t a hand-me-down) as well as for the band being on absolute fire! If I’m being honest I’d enjoy this album even if Elvis’ vocals were removed, those musicians are that good.
     
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  21. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I’m not an expert here but, if Elvis’s TV performances were such a hit, I’m really surprised no one thought to record some live shows. Maybe it was too early for that thinking.
     
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  22. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    I think that caught a lot of listeners off guard. But there was something very powerful about it, it was the first time the orchestra had ever been presented with such authority and domination, and on some level, it arguably presented the listener with what it may very well have sounded like in the showroom. The other awesome aspect of The Wonder of You that is so great is the dynamic mix of the band's instrumentation -- I don't think there is a better live mix of a Presley recording. The separation of the instruments is outstanding, it was the first time I remembered hearing all of the individual musicians so clearly.
     
  23. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    The original mix of the album also had Elvis' vocal up front. Elvis' dynamic lead vocal was arguably the most compelling aspect of the original album and why the album was always held in such high regard by the fans. It was not a remarkable show, it wasn't a major event like Madison Square Garden or Aloha, it was just another run-of-the-mill show from the mid-1970's, but Elvis' voice was very healthy in March 1974 (probably the last time he ever sounded that good on stage) and the mix was very well done, prominently displaying Elvis' lead vocal work. Santos and Rosenthal mixed the life right out of it on the Legacy Edition.
     
  24. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    That's a good point. How many rock shows were being recorded for a live album in the mid-to-late '50s?

    And even when lamenting that the Pearl Harbor show wasn't recorded professionally, I have to remind myself that it was 1961. Who was recording live shows then? And how many tracks would it have been recorded to? 3 or 4?

    Jazz was different, but rock 'n' roll? It might not have crossed anyone's minds.
     
  25. Tony Trout

    Tony Trout Forum Resident

    There's only one big problem with this forthcoming release: The DVD that we'll be getting is the butchered 2010 version without, "Johnny B. Goode", at the beginning.

    That being said, I will be getting this set! I just hope that the April 9, 1972 ES concert will finally include, "Never Been To Spain"! That one song has always been excluded from even the bootleg releases!! I asked my friend, Pal Granlund, if "Never Been To Spain" will be included but....I haven't gotten an answer from him as of yet.
     
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