There
are so many reviews around already that I was happy just to
sit back and let the beautiful, new, remastered sound just
flow over me. This is an attractive CD of classic Elvis songs
presented in a way that, hopefully, will make everyone buy a
copy (even though they already own “All Time Greatest
Hits”). The packaging is clever showing closely cropped
images of Elvis. These nicely demonstrate that there is no
other star who is so obviously recognisable just from a photo
of their hairline or from the waist down. The liner notes
describe each song and give the release date in the USA only.
However
from the moment I put it on I was grabbed by a force that made
me drag out my old originals (even a 78!) just so that I could
truly compare them to their originals. A new fire is burning
in these excellent mixes and I wanted to listen some more.
‘Heartbreak
Hotel’
immediately grabs you in its clarity. Elvis sounds gorgeous of
course but D.J’s drums really sparkle and there is a
fantastic richness to Bill Black’s double-bass that just
wasn’t there before. A quick comparison to “The Essential
50’s Masters” along with the second track ‘Don’t Be
Cruel’ once again proves what a travesty the remastering
was on that box set. However it does also point out what an
excellent job was done on the “Elvis ’56” CD by Paul
Brizzi but even then there was maybe a little too much noise
reduction in the high frequencies.
‘Hound
Dog’ is, at
last, given a clean mono mix (previously only available on the
Rhino Billboard CD) making it burst out of your speakers.
Interestingly the speed here has also been corrected making it
slightly faster than any CD release, including “Elvis
‘56”. It sounds perfect.
‘Love
Me Tender’
was always going to be a problem. Recorded on the 20th
Century Fox soundstage it had inherent bad tape hiss on the
Master. I even remember my original RCA 45 saying “Brand New
Orthophonic Recording” yet thinking that it sounded
hopelessly hissy! The tape hiss is of course still poor but
they have tried extremely hard and it is a vast improvement on
the brutal noise reduction of the “50’s Masters”. Elvis
was trying his best to prove that he could sing ballads and
here his vocal does have a beautiful clarity. Some fabulous
moments are highlighted that I had never noticed before. Check
out where he breathes and swallows after “Take me to your
heart” at 1:05. This ballad makes a delicious comparison to
the power of ‘Hound Dog’.
‘Too
Much’ is an
often over-looked yet fabulous number 1 which this time runs
slightly slower than previous releases, while the clarity of ‘All
Shook Up’ really makes D.J. Fontana's brush work stand
out and brings a new resonance to Elvis’ slapping on the
back of his guitar
‘Jailhouse
Rock’
disappointed me a little as the Silver Screen Stereo
version was such a revelation. By now "The 50’s Masters"
had improved on their remastering and there isn’t such a
great difference as on the 1956 tracks. The joy here is that
this version runs 2.37 with a much longer fade out than the
original single. I even compared it to my RCA 78RPM, just in
case, but that also runs the same time!
Here
I have to state that the ‘Binaural’ “S.S.S” take still
blows me way. There is something about the stereo version that
is real dynamite.
‘Don’t’
is just gorgeous while ‘Hard Headed Woman’ has a
new edge to the mix that puts a real sparkle to the brass
section on the recording.
‘One
Night’ is an
absolute gem and one of my favourites on this CD. The previous
master had some very annoying peak distortion on Elvis’
voice where he seemed to be overloading the microphone. The
original also seemed to lack some bass and treble. Here they
have cleverly corrected all of these and have produced an
unsurpassable version.
‘A
Fool Such As I’
– Take 8 and the first ‘Alternate Take’ on the CD. One
has to wonder why they decided to do this at all. Were they
trying to tempt us true collectors or were these takes
actually better than the Masters? And would Elvis agree? An
excellent copy of this was released on the Madison import
“Totally Stung” (which focussed on Elvis’ June 1958
session) but here the sound is true mono and certainly
improved upon. The emphasis of this #1's CD seems to be to
make Elvis’ vocal ability stand out above all and on this
take it is only the uncertainty of the band that stopped it
from becoming the Master. By the next take Hank Garland’s
guitar work was perfected and the Jordanaires had added
clapping to the guitar solo. (Take 9 was to become the
single). I guess the reason the producer David Bendeth chose
this take is that Elvis’ vocal is perfect and is actually
higher in the mix. A very nice bonus for us.
‘A
Big Hunk O’ Love’
- This could be the third alternate that has been referred to
since this is Take 3 (same take as on "50’s
Masters"). The original single was a splice of take 3 and
4 which means that a generation of tape quality had already
been lost.
This
sounds just fine but the CD soon changes as we enter the
sixties and the audio explodes in to stereo.
‘Stuck
On You’ –
The jump from mono to stereo is incredible. By "The
Essential 60’s Masters" the remastering was
much improved along with the original tapes that they had to
work with. However I always felt that the treble was a little
too over equalised and this version is so much smoother with a
fabulously clean mix and an expansive bass. Just delicious.
It
is interesting to compare it to the same song (Tk 1) on the
recent ‘Fame & Fortune’ FTD CD. There
the mix is amazingly dynamic but you feel that maybe Elvis’
vocal has been lifted a little too high to the detriment of
the overall sound.
On
‘It’s Now or Never’ they have managed to
eliminate the sibilance on Elvis’ vocal and managed to
create a perfect version using the original piano overdub
which cannot have been easy.
‘Are
You Lonesome Tonight?’
- I thought I had heard this old chestnut enough but here
again they have created a new master which really glows. Elvis’
vocal is so clear and is also higher in the mix while the
acoustic guitar has a clarity that I have never heard before.
Amazingly it sounds as if it was recorded yesterday!
‘Surrender’
– This must have been such a complicated song to record.
There seem to be so many layers of sound as well as tempo
changes to cope with! Here every instrument just shines. I had
to play this version again and again noticing something new
with every listen. I had never noticed the importance of the
acoustic rhythm guitar before! Fabulous.
‘His
Latest Flame’
- This was another surprise (like ‘One Night’) where I
just love what they have achieved. The mix is superb with the
acoustic guitar and percussion just perfectly placed against
Elvis’ voice. The “60’s Masters” for some reason had a
very muffled sound but this new remaster is perfect. I was so
surprised by the new sound that I had to compare it to my RCA
45 original only to realise that this really was what the
original single sounded like (apart from 4 decades of
scratches!). Elvis would have loved this mix.
Here
I have to note my personal disappointment that ‘Little
Sister’ didn’t make this collection – what an
exceptional double A side and surely a better example of Elvis’
musical excellence than say ‘Wooden Heart’?
‘Can’t
Help Falling In Love’
- Another movie song that suffered from terrible background
tape hiss. Producer David Bendeth says that this was one of
the hardest to remaster but they have done a fabulous job. The
tape hiss is removed and Elvis’ vocal really shines. Another
gem.
The
three Nashville singles ‘Good Luck Charm’, ‘She’s
Not You’ and ‘Devil in Disguise’ all show an
improvement on the “60’s Masters” with a beautiful clear
mix showing off full instrumentation of the band.
‘Return
To Sender’ is
the second movie recording, this time from Radio Recorders,
Hollywood, where the master version sounded very poor. The
original had that awful left channel bias & muffled sound
to it but here there is an amazing jump in quality. Mixed into
fabulously spatial stereo at last and it sounds fantastic. Not
only that but the awful fade out even on the original single,
where Boot’s Randolph last note was clipped, has been fixed
up with a clean fade out. I love it.
‘Crying
In the Chapel’
– Another beautiful remaster letting Elvis’ delicious
vocal really stand out. These Master tapes from 1960 captured
some very special performances (Check out another classic
‘Stand By Me’ on the FTD
Easter Special CD). Personally I would argue that
moving the acoustic guitar way over to the left channel, as
they have done in this mix, was a mistake as it has far more
prominence in the original single and now it doesn't sound
quite right to me.
‘In
The Ghetto’
– This is FANTASTIC. An absolute masterpiece. I have always
preferred the Memphis
Sessions Tk.11 which has Elvis’ moving vocal without
overdubs but here they have got the remaster just perfect.
Elvis’ poignant vocal still shines above it all yet the
backing vocals and orchestral overdubs are as clear as if they
were recorded in the studio at the same time. Another great
bonus is that despite the sleeve notes saying that it runs the
same time as the original (2:45) there is in fact an
additional 10 seconds on the fade out. Exquisite.
‘Suspicious
Minds’ –
Elvis is again beautifully lifted in the mix. It’s not as
great an improvement as ‘In the Ghetto’ but is still the
best quality Master that you will have heard. The main problem
here was that the Memphis Horns overdub had to be recovered
from the original mix. This means that if you listen on
headphones you can notice some odd phasing effect at points
especially on the high frequencies (check the cymbals around
1:35). This obviously won’t upset the regular listener but
does stop it being a perfect remaster that makes ‘Burning
Love’ & ‘In The Ghetto’ stand out.
‘The
Wonder Of You’
– There can be only one original Master version and it’s
the one that starts with Elvis edging the band along with
“Ooo-Ooo-Ooo-Ooo” before the lyric starts – and this isn’t
it! This is the Dinner Show recording from the same night and
the very first time Elvis sang it live in concert. The band
isn’t quite together, Elvis fluffs the lyric several times
and the backing singers are out of tune. (The single was
recorded at the Midnight Show the same night and the out of
tune backing vocals were removed with an overdub a few weeks
later). There is no doubt that this is great vocal by Elvis
and there is no annoying audience overdub plus he does a
lovely “Whoop” with delight at the end. However it still
doesn't have the magnificence of the single Master which makes
this a very odd choice.
It
is obviously a fabulous version for us collectors to own (along
with ‘A Fool Such As I’) so maybe these two were possible
tracks for ‘Today, Tomorrow and Forever’ which ended up
here instead!
Another
slight oddity is James Burton being mixed onto the left
channel. Since when did he stand on Elvis’ right?
It
won’t be long before this is the version always played by
radio stations as his Number One single which will see Elvis'
musical legacy incorrectly re-written.
"Burning
Love"
– This is Magnificent. It’s like revving up a new V-8
engine rather than that old 1972 Lada car that you used to own!
The mix is so powerful and Elvis’ vocal is brilliant – It
honestly feels like the song was recorded in 2002. The band
really cooks with Emory Gordy and Ronnie Tutt’s rhythm
section powering the song along. A complete revelation
compared to the original mix. Australia was very lucky to get
this as a taster single. Now can we have the rest of Elvis’
1971-72 material remastered- Please!?
‘Way
Down’ - Elvis’
final single before he left us, and a classic. The mix is a
good as can be as Elvis gets down and rocks the Jungle Room.
The interesting thing here is that oddly they have left in
Elvis’ mistake where he comes back in with his vocal too
early during the bridge (@1:59). (This was mixed out on the
Master). A great 1977 song that sounds fresh enough to lead
seamlessly into the bonus of the JXL ‘ALLC’.
I
really hope that this will sell and sell making it the classic
family CD for Christmas.
The
improvement in sound quality makes it a ‘must buy’ for all
of us, even those who already own all these tracks multiple
times over.
However
this is, of course, also only a glimpse at Elvis’ amazing
body of work which once again begs for RCA to produce a worthy
follow up that will give everyone a chance to hear more of his
essential songs in as good as quality as this.
Do
we start voting on the track listing now?
–
Paralysed, Mess Of Blues, Little Sister, I Need Somebody To
Lean On, Love Letters, Always on My Mind, Promised Land
…
There’s
only One Elvis.
(**Quote from recent BBC documentary “There’s Only One
Elvis)
1.
Heartbreak Hotel, 2. Don't Be Cruel, 3. Hound Dog, 4. Love Me
Tender, 5. Too Much, 6. All Shook Up, 7. (Let Me Be Your)
Teddy Bear, 8. Jailhouse Rock, 9. Don't, 10. Hard Headed Woman,
11. One Night, 12. (Now & Then) There's A Fool Such As I,
13. A Big Hunk O' Love, 14. Stuck On You, 15. It's Now Or
Never, 16. Are You Lonesome Tonight?, 17. Wooden Heart, 18.
Surrender, 19. (Maries The Name) His Latest Flame, 20. Can't
Help Falling In Love, 21. Good Luck Charm, 22. She's Not You,
23. Return To Sender, 24. (You're The) Devil In Disguise, 25.
Crying In The Chapel, 26. In The Ghetto, 27. Suspicious Minds,
28. The Wonder Of You, 29. Burning Love, 30. Way Down, 31. A
Little Less Conversation (JXL remix) BONUS TRACK
