The first run limited edition of The Complete Elvis Presley Masters sold out before its release earlier this month. For those who missed out, Sony is now taking pre-orders for a second run – which will be identical to the first, except it will not be numbered. The set will ship in January 2011. See the official Complete Elvis Presley Masters site for more details.
Sony
Complete Elvis masters collections put focus where it belongs – on the music
This week, fans began receiving The Complete Elvis Presley Masters – Sony’s limited edition 30-CD set containing 711 master recordings and 103 rarities (alternates, informal recordings, rehearsals, etc.). The first run of 1,000 copies sold out, but Sony reports there will be additional sets available next year. Sony’s premium release is a luxurious and finely packaged collection of Elvis’ music. It also includes a 240-page book and a display case. For the most part, songs are sequenced in the order in which they were recorded.
Still available is Elvis: The Complete Masters Collection, Franklin Mint’s 36-CD set that contains essentially the same 711 master recordings, but with none of the “rarities.” It includes a 24-page booklet, a record-player style display case, and a reproduction of Elvis’ first single, the Sun record “That’s All Right” backed with “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Songs are arranged thematically by CD, so they often appear in a non-standard order.
Perhaps the packaging and sequencing of the Franklin Mint set are chintzy in comparison with the Sony version, but it does check in at about half the price. It also includes individual sleeves for the CDs, while the Sony version has them inserted into the cardboard of the display case.
Which set is better? That depends on your preferences and your budget. No full-scale reviews of the Sony set are available yet. It is, after all, over 35 hours of music. However, I have been following several threads on the subject over at the For Elvis CD Collectors Forum. As with most message board forums for passionate fans of any subject, there is a lot of drama. If you can get past that, though, it is a great resource for learning more about Elvis.
Here are links to some of the relevant threads for the new Sony set:
- Complete Masters compared/contrasted with Franklin Mint
- The Complete Elvis Presley Masters unbox photos
- What number is your Sony Box Set?
- … and the worst about the SONY BOX is …
- … and the BEST about the SONY BOX is …
- The Complete Masters — Hear them for yourself
- Elvis Complete Masters Box How is the Lene Reidel mastering?
- Complete Masters Book Content
I have to give a special mention to frequent FECC poster ElvisSessions, who has provided in depth coverage of the box set in many of the threads above.
For me, the most important thing about either of these sets is that they shine the spotlight on Elvis’ music. Forget potato heads dressed in so-called tribute, collector plates, rubber duckies, mugs, and all of the other junk that clutters up his legacy. Elvis is about music, and that is what deserves to be showcased.
[Updated 11/9/2010 with additional thread links. The folks on FECC are hard to keep up with, boy! Also, thanks to LuckyJackson1 for his Complete Masters track reviews and for providing a link to this blog.]
New site for Viva Elvis album
Sony has unveiled a new website, www.suspicious-minds.com, to promote the November release of Viva Elvis: The Album – which features remixed versions of Elvis classics like “Suspicious Minds.” Five song samples are available there by default. You can hear more if you share the page on Facebook or Twitter. (Hint: Or you could just go to Amazon’s Elvis page and listen to all of the samples.) Two or three of the samples sound amazing, two or three sound like total duds, and the others are probably somewhere in between. We’ll have to hear the whole album to find out for sure, though. It hits stores November 9. Internationally, there will be several different variations available.
Elvis news . . . in a flash
Now that we’re starting to get back to “normal” here on The Mystery Train Elvis Blog after wall-to-wall coverage of Elvis On Tour, I thought it would be a good chance to catch up on some of the other things going on in the Elvis world.
Too much, plus tax
While I’ve got some book and Blu-ray reviews in the works, one upcoming Elvis release I’m not likely to be reviewing anytime soon is The Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection, formally announced by Sony Legacy this week and available for pre-order. This 30-CD set checks in at $749 US, plus tax and shipping.
The initial run is limited to only 1,000 units worldwide. You get 814 recordings, a new 240-page hardcover book, and a display case.
Don’t get me wrong here. This looks like a terrific set, and I’m drooling over it as we speak! $749 is simply too much for me personally, especially considering I already have all of the songs (though not always in the same sound quality as what will no doubt be included on this set).
Checking out the other Elvis blogs
Over on Elvis Today, Thomas recently reviewed the FTD edition of How Great Thou Art. He notes, “Getting a front seat in RCA’s Studio B in Nashville and being able to listen to Elvis’ new producer Felton Jarvis directing the session with his supportive comments and encouragement, offers a valuable insight into how the recordings took place and how the songs evolved.” Certainly, a must-read post and, apparently, a must-listen CD set as well.
Phil has some great coverage this week on ElvisBlog about what he calls “Two Very Rare, Weird, and Valuable Elvis Records.” Each one of those rare records will actually cost far more than the 30-CD set referenced above, by the way. One features “Doncha’ Think It’s Time” by Elvis accidentally pressed by RCA on a record labeled as “One For The Money (Part 1)” by The Whispers. How Elvis’ 1958 recording ended up on this 1976 single is anyone’s guess.
This reminded me of a similar mistake that Sony Legacy recently made – in reverse! Some editions of their 2-CD reissue of On Stage-February 1970 have an Alice In Chains album as the first CD – though it is still labeled as Elvis. Sony is offering a disc exchange, but that’s one I’d recommend keeping if you happen to have it, even if you don’t like Alice In Chains. It’s kind of a double collectible, for Alice In Chains fans may want to obtain this unique disc as well.
Continue keeping Myrna Smith in your prayers
One of the beautiful voices you’ll hear on the real version of On Stage is that of Myrna Smith. Because of Elvis, I’ve been listening to Myrna for all of my life.
I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but I want to bring it up again. If you’re going to be in Memphis during Elvis Week, be sure to attend Elvis Unlimited‘s Back In Memphis concert, which will benefit Myrna – a founding member of the Sweet Inspirations vocal group that backed Elvis in concert performances from 1969 until his death in 1977. Myrna is hospitalized with a serious illness in California and the medical bills are quickly adding up. Kudos to Elvis Unlimited for taking the initiative to bring fans together to help her.
Even if you can’t attend the show, keep Myrna in your prayers, everyone. May she recover soon.
REVIEW: From Elvis In Memphis CD Set (2009 Legacy Edition)
From Elvis In Memphis CD set (Sony Legacy, 2009)
Elvis takes it home
“Take it home, son, take it home,” Elvis proclaims near the end of his 1968 Comeback Special. Just a few weeks after the special aired, Elvis did just that. He had not formally recorded in his adopted hometown of Memphis since his last session for Sun in 1955.
By January 1969, the musical landscape had changed, the entire world had changed, and even Elvis had changed. The 20-year-old kid who last recorded in Memphis as he was on the verge of becoming an unrivaled superstar was now a 34-year-old husband and father looking to continue pounding his way out of a creative slump.
Was the success of the ’68 Special a fluke, or was Elvis truly back on the track? His January and February 1969 sessions at the American Sound Studio in Memphis would help answer that question.
Outside of the hit singles, I first heard most of these songs when my brother gave me The Memphis Record double LP set as a Christmas gift back in 1988. It collects 23 of the best tracks from the sessions, including all of the songs from the original From Elvis In Memphis album.
As an Elvis fan, The Memphis Record changed my life. As I said, I was already familiar with “Suspicious Minds,” “In The Ghetto,” and the other hits, but I remember being blown away right off the bat by “Stranger In My Own Home Town,” “Power Of My Love,” “Any Day Now,” and “After Loving You,” to name just a few.
How had I not heard these songs before? Why wasn’t the radio playing these constantly? Unlike most of the kids my age back then and their favorite music fads, I knew at that moment I was going to be an Elvis fan for the rest of my life.
As I typed those words, I have just realized that I am now 34-years-old, like Elvis during these Memphis sessions. Since I first played The Memphis Record back in 1988, the musical landscape has changed, the entire world has changed, and I have changed. I hear the words to some of these songs differently than I did as a 13-year-old. Yet, here I am, still listening to Elvis. Despite all the change, Elvis is still here.
In the early 1990s, I switched over to the CD format and eventually picked up The Memphis Record on CD and complimented it with Back In Memphis to get some of the remaining songs from the session—which I found I didn’t like as much. Even the Back In Memphis songs I was familiar with sounded “muffled” to me.
In 1993, RCA treated the Elvis world to From Nashville To Memphis: The Complete 60s Masters I, a five-disc set that included all of his non-movie and non-gospel studio master recordings from the 1960s, including the complete 1969 Memphis sessions. While this was probably the most authentic sound to date at the time (I only found out later that the mixes on The Memphis Record were slightly altered to sound more contemporary), I remember being just a touch disappointed by the 1969 Memphis sound again for some of the tracks.
For the thirtieth anniversary of the Memphis sessions, RCA released Suspicious Minds: The 1969 Memphis Anthology in 1999. The sound was improved over 1994, but still muffled and lacking to me at times. I figured that it was the best we were ever going to have, though, and I was content with it.
When I first heard about the Legacy Edition of From Elvis In Memphis, now upgraded to include Back In Memphis and all of the other songs from the sessions, I was not planning to buy it. As much as I loved them, I had bought these songs countless times over. Then, a new press release announced that From Elvis In Memphis—Legacy Edition was going to include the original mono versions of all of the singles.
There, Sony/RCA had hooked me. At first, I planned only to purchase the ten individual mono singles online as legal downloads. However, I realized that just for three or four dollars more, I could buy the entire set of 36 songs by just purchasing the CD in a store (buying Elvis music in an actual store: “it’s been a long time, baby”). I probably wouldn’t need all of those other songs, but at least the packaging looked nice.
I played the mono singles first on Disc 2, and once I heard the quality of their sound, I could hardly wait to go back to Disc 1 and play From Elvis In Memphis proper. I don’t know what Sony/RCA did differently this time, but they finally got rid of that sort of muffled sound some of the Memphis tracks had before. Crystal clear. I’m loving this release! What a great surprise!
Yet, I’m sure this won’t be the last time I buy these songs. Sony’s Follow That Dream Elvis collectors label will undoubtedly release both From Elvis In Memphis and Back In Memphis as part of their Classic Album series in the coming years. The whole world will probably have changed by then, but I’ll still be listening to Elvis.
Songs: 10 (out of 10)
Audio & Mix Quality: 10
Liner Notes: 5
Cover Art: 10
Packaging: 10
Overall Experience: 10
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