For Elvis CD Collectors

"Elvissessions," given your reputation here (in your very charitable "you can't make this stuff up" way), you've confirmed for me at least that the challenger indeed has a true axe to grind.

It's hard to miss the self-satisfied, thinly-veiled contempt, and I say that as one who like many here, is not a partisan.

May his work continue to intrigue us and challenge FTD and Ernst, et. al, (and there's plenty of evidence of that) ,but I'm inclined to believe that his passion to be the best of the best can descend into the cheap shots evidenced in "Part 1" of the interview.

Let's hope that the promised "Part 2" rises to a higher level of critique. All that said, I think most of us are keen on having the best and most faithful Elvis recordings, be they official, public domain imports, or otherwise.

Most, if not all, hard-core Elvis collectors are passionate people who have strong opinions (LOL).
At times I have heard JP get angry about another Elvis product or person - but at the same time he has personally apologised to me about previous heat-of-the-moment comments he wished he hadn't made. I am not however apologising for him, as he does state what he feels. Hopefully elvissessions you just overheard him on bad day

Part 2 of the interview was supposed to be more about the Tupelo project and how he found the film, his future projects etc - and away from the personal side of things.

Nigel & I however are happy to pass on your questions some of which are obvious from the above postings.
I don't think Part 2 will run until after Elvis Week as we have so much to do with the Tour organisation, Fan Club newsletters etc, plus JP is very busy himself.

So please post your questions here on this fine MB, or click "Comment about the interview" at the bottom of JP's interview on EIN.

Nigel is away but will update the interview with fan feedback on Wednesday.

Cheers
Piers

From the interview:-

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Put simply, MRS has the best sourced tracks on the market today. As for the future, I have to clean up the arguable mess Kevan Budd has made to the 50’s master recordings on FTD.

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The only way to take this means that he has been waiting for the 50 year rule to take effect before plagarising Elvis RCA output!

In terms of "better sources"...do they belong in your local record store?

That statement about Kevan Budd's work is pretty far out, man! I, for one, am never going to buy albums like "Elvis Presley" or "Loving You" again -- I am 100% satisfied with my FTD versions.

Keith Richards, Jr.

I've managed to track down some bargain prices on these three MRS releases and ordered them all. I'll be judging for myself what I think of them.
Piers' interview and JP's attitude speaks for itself! Now I've spent my money and the products poppin' in through the mailbox better be good!
Another thing: Before listening to the "dry" version of That's All Right Mama, do I really need it? Was this the way the record sounded when released by SUN Records back then?
And do I really need an original, damaged stamper copy of any recording I already have in much better sound quality?
And what is "good" sound quality, when the source is already below par?

I've gotta say I have all three of these releases, and in my opinion they are pretty good. I don't regret the money spent to buy them and have enjoyed them. The text offers some new insight and the pictures are nice. They're certainly no worse than any of the JAT releases. To me the audio is interesting, I think it sounds good, but call me old fashioned I will always be partial to my old vinyl. I don't know particularly what was done other than compressing the tracks and mastering them hotter along with some wideband EQ. I really don't know how you can take mono recordings and make them 5.1. If the guy's a jerk I don't really care, this is a weird little niche anyway, folks are bound to be odd. So long story short I welcome anything new MRS has to offer, I'll buy it. Just like I buy everything else Elvis related, I just can't help myself.

Here's some thoughts just about the 'Tupelo's Own' book and not the DVD footage or sound.

If you are interested enough in Elvis in 1956 to want the DVD then you should definitely get the version of this package that includes the 170 page book.

The text, written by Tupelo historian Roy Turner, is not extensive but sets the scene for the shows and includes extra background information. It’s particularly nice to learn about some of the fans who were there such as the infamous Judy Hopper and her friend Gloria Edgeworth.

However, the emphasis of the book is visual. It’s full of photos – mostly black and white but there’s also some in colour and, for those who are worried, it’s only the cover that has been colourised. Although they are not individually credited there are about 30 photos by professional photographer Terry Wood. These are the best in terms of quality presumably because MRS approached him directly. There’s also 22 snapshots taken by the aforementioned Gloria as she leaned on the front of the stage with her little camera.

The majority of the photos are of Elvis onstage for the afternoon show but even more fascinating are the ones of him meeting various local dignitaries and friends and fans backstage between shows. All of this enriches our understanding and enjoyment of this amazing day in the life of Elvis Presley, and enhances what we see on the DVD.

The 1957 show is not covered as extensively in the book but then it takes second place on the DVD so this only seems appropriate. But, even so, we get more backstage and performance photos including a series of 5 colour snapshots of Elvis meeting fans. Both the 1956 and 1957 appearances have other relevant material shown in the book such as tickets, news cuttings, ‘programmes’ etc.

Joseph Pirzada and MRS should be congratulated on the great work they have done in putting this book together and in finding new material and information.

However, in light of the comments made by Pirzada in the EIN interview [regarding photos in the first two MRS volumes] it seems appropriate to make a couple of more detailed points. A lot of the photos used here have definitely been copied straight from other books and the picture quality drops where this has happened. Most damning is the fact that several photos have been lifted from the FTD 'Flashback' book. This is most evident on pages 75 and 122 of the Tupelo book where if you look closely you can still see the binding marks where they have been copied from the Flashback book that had them running across two pages (p.102-3, 90-91 respectively). In addition, the shot used in 'Tupelo's Own' on p.42 has been cropped from a 2-page spread p94-5 in 'Flashback'. There are probably another half-dozen examples of this.

As fans, if we want the whole story of the Tupelo shows to be shown in one package, we should be prepared for the fact that the same photos etc are going to be recycled. But, at the same time, it appears Joseph Pirzada might have overstated his claim to some of the material he has used. [Although, to be fair, he doesn't specifically refer to the Tupelo book in the interview.]

Piers wrote: Nigel & I however are happy to pass on your questions some of which are obvious from the above postings.

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I have 4 questions concerning the fox news film.

1. With the many included audience shots cutting away from Elvis, even during songs, are we to assume that these were only used when the film maker stopped filming for a second then continued filming?
I find it hard to believe that they filmed in such a choppy way.

2. And to follow up, was all footage included? Is there still 5 or 10 or even 15 seconds still unreleased? Remember you are under oath here.

3. And since it is sometimes necessary to do some editing, wouldn't it be possible to include the un-edited raw footage on the DVD as well, since a DVD can hold up to 3 hours, and the amount of footage included is very minimal?

4. Was any attempt to clean up the footage done, even if we are just talking about running a tissue along the film while its running thru an editor?
This will usually clean off any old dry dirt or mildew.

Thank You!

Good questions and it would be interesting to get definitive answers.

Looking carefully at the DVD it seems safe to assume that MRS have used every scrap of footage that was available to them. The repeated cutaways to the audience must mask the fact that the film at these points is damaged in some way or filming had stopped momentarily. The 'gaps' have also been filled with amateur footage and stills, and even an odd glimpse of a chair at the side of the stage. Therefore, it's difficult to imagine there could be any "un-edited raw footage" especially as only one camera was used.

Purple, I've read that comment before about photos being copied from "Flashback." That is pretty lame - and low-down, come to think of it.



Well, I'm not too sure about that. While I have gotten riled up on some issues such as the state of BMG's catalog in recent years as well as some off-topic subjects, I also would stress that this is in an anonymous (for most of us, anyway) internet forum.

In real life, that is, the things to which you sign your born name to, I would prefer to think that there would be basic consideration and politeness when dealing with fellow collectors and fans. That the "passion" of Mr. P may have crossed into something else is what I was agreeing with.

That said, "passionate" people have historical skaken things up, so don't take this as a call for blandness and hand-holding, just a sense of basic fairness and an appreciation of allies in the same field.

Thanks for the follow-up note, Piers, and I'm glad to hear the next interview will be less inflamatory.

But this would be exactly how a silent news camera would be used, even today with the more generous length that video provides, news cameras don't film continously.

Regarding the overheard conversation:

Having been a part of some of these discussions with Stanley and Joseph my guess is that the comments about the fans were related to their frustration that most of the attendees at Elvis Week these days are more interested in hearing impersonators and buying potholders than they are with when Ernst's Sun book will be released.

I eavesdropped once...and got the whole story wrong!!!

That question is already noted and I will ask JP to explain exactly that.

I do think it a real shame that Ernst didn't buy the 'TAR' Mother Stamper from JP when he had the chance, as it would have been THE perfect inclusion with his Sun project. (BMG or whatever stopped that. If it was BMG that was their bad mistake).

I also think that something like MRS.2's longer live ‘I’m Left, Your Right, She’s Gone’ was very clever - and of course it is silly that BMG didn't do the same edit on 'Sunrise'.

From a factual point of view, I have checked with Kevan Budd and he assures me that although he did have access to JP's copy of ‘Milkcow’, it was not the one he finally used for 'Elvis At Sun'. In the end he couldn't fix up the high frequency static on JP's copy and had to use an edit of three other sources.

Cheers
Piers

Quote: I do think it a real shame that Ernst didn't buy the 'TAR' Mother Stamper from JP when he had the chance, as it would have been THE perfect inclusion with his Sun project. (BMG or whatever stopped that. If it was BMG that was their bad mistake).

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Actually it was a smart business decision on thier part.

If they pass on it and let MRS buy it and wait and let them release it first, they can just digitally copy it from thier set. With all the accusasions going around that MRS has copied from BMG, it only makes sense that BMG can copy from anyone else since they hold the copyright to the voice of Elvis Presley anyway.