New Pittsburgh Recording???

On the subject of the possibility of a soundboard- I was once told that even though nice soundboard quality recordings of shows leading up to Pittsburgh exist, Pittsburgh was not recorded.
When I asked why I was told that being New Years Eve/ New Years Day was a holiday- wages for union based people were higher than those on previous days. Never one to go overboard on spending- management opted to go with a bare neccessity type crew for the big show and not have to fork extra cash over for additional personel, and probably equipment.
Seems plausible to me based on the ever so thrifty management Elvis had.
Could be the reason no soundboard exists, and I believe Ernst looked for one and finally gave in and had to use the audience source recording.

Sorry, but this doesn't sound conclusive to me.

There had been three soundengineers in attandence (Felton Jarvis, Bruce Jackson and Bill Porter). Elvis even introduces them to the audience. What would have been a problem to plug in a simple tape recorder and hit the record button as usual???

Extra costs because of new year's eve? No way!!!

Would anyone really be surprised if this was one of the shows in Bruce Jackson's possession?

On the subject of the possibility of a soundboard- I was once told that even though nice soundboard quality recordings of shows leading up to Pittsburgh exist, Pittsburgh was not recorded.
When I asked why I was told that being New Years Eve/ New Years Day was a holiday- wages for union based people were higher than those on previous days. Never one to go overboard on spending- management opted to go with a bare neccessity type crew for the big show and not have to fork extra cash over for additional personel, and probably equipment.
Seems plausible to me based on the ever so thrifty management Elvis had.
Could be the reason no soundboard exists, and I believe Ernst looked for one and finally gave in and had to use the audience source recording.

Sorry, but this doesn't sound conclusive to me.

There had been three soundengineers in attandence (Felton Jarvis, Bruce Jackson and Bill Porter). Elvis even introduces them to the audience. What would have been a problem to plug in a simple tape recorder and hit the record button as usual???

Extra costs because of new year's eve? No way!!!

I'm with G.I. Blues here, they didn't have extra sound engineers on the tours just to record soundboard tapes. This was done by the regular crew, after all, they only had to switch on the tape machine!

Would anyone really be surprised if this was one of the shows in Bruce Jackson's possession?

Midnightx, I hope you are being serious, but that was the person, Bruce Jackson, I was thinking of that I remember reading could possibily have this show as a soundboard in his possession.

DJL

elvisjock wrote

3. Almost-professional looking chest-up film, that was synched with the Herman audio. This footage is very choppy. Not too many complete songs, but it clearly shows how "bright eyed and bushy tailed" Elvis was that night.

The amazing things about this footage is, it was also shot by Herman at the same time as recording! The original film is actually sound Super 8mm footage. I'm sure someone has added the audio from a strictly audio source at one time or another to try and enhance this, but the original is sound footage.

the reason for the choppy scenes is that Sound Super 8 was expensive to shoot and process. I believe that reels ran 3 mins or so each.

John used outdoor film stock to shoot his Elvis concert films. Many people made the mistake of buying indoor rated film as you would think that would be best- It wasn't.

Great post!

It would be so wonderful to get this kind of footage professionally released for all the fans. It's only been 30+ years!

Would anyone really be surprised if this was one of the shows in Bruce Jackson's possession?

Midnightx, I hope you are being serious, but that was the person, Bruce Jackson, I was thinking of that I remember reading could possibily have this show as a soundboard in his possession.

DJL

I am serious. Jackson apparently has a handful of soundboards of desirable shows (including Indy '77). However, it appears he has no interest in selling these soundboards to the individuals managing the official Elvis Presley catalogue.

On the Charlotte 20th Feb 77 show, as partly heard on FTD's UNCHAINED MELODY, Elvis mentions that they are recording live. I presume this means Felton was doing a four track recording like the spring tours? This release is NOT from that souce though - just a very good quality soundboard.

There is a strong possibility that some, if not all, of 12-31-76 was captured from the soundboard.

A Witness To Concert Recordings

by The Crazy Canuck

The story begins on October 21st, 1976 at the Kalamazoo, Mi. Wings Stadium where I was seated first row on the side of the stage (opposite side to back-up singers) right behind the mixing board. Before Elvis made his appearance on stage that night I noticed a huge "open trunk" beside the sound engineers, this trunk in a standing position contained a big REEL TO REEL PORTABLE RECORDER with two sixteen inches reels (approximate size) . While J.D. Sumner and the Stamps and The Sweet Inspirations were entertaining the crowd the reel to reel tape recorder was in a stand-by position, but when the first notes of the 2001 theme hit the Wings Stadium then you could clearly see that the tapes were rolling, which went on until Elvis left the building some sixty-five minutes later. Moreover after they recorded the Kalamazoo concert we were able to notice that they did not use ALL THE TAPE on the main reel, indeed we could easily presume that more than one concert might be recorded on a full reel at that time. The same set-up was in use the two following nights in Campaign, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio and further can be extended to the great New Years Eve' s concert in Pittsburgh, Pa. on December 31st, 1976.

http://crazy_canuck.tripod.com/witness.htm

Elvis Presley
"Polk Salad Annie"
Friday, December 31, 1976, Pittsburgh, PA

There is a strong possibility that some, if not all, of 12-31-76 was captured from the soundboard

It's a nice thought, and why not, Birmingham is 99% complete. Thing is John, I can imagine it being a let down. After all these many many years of being soaked up in the atmosphere of the audience recording, a flat lifeless soundboard with all the atmosphere of a Gary Glitter Comeback show would have me jumping right back to the old Bootleg double CD. Still. Be great to have the option!

And btw, the quality was in no way, shape or form close to a soundboard. It was better in some places than the Herman tape, and worse in others. The first 15 or 20 minutes of the recording are very heavy on the bass, distractingly so.

Yep, that is the recording.. And I agree it doesn't even come close to a soundboard.

That guy was largely responsible for the random songs Elvis did at the end of the show. He requested That's All Right and Reconsider Baby, and asked him to play the guitar. IIRC he also yelled out for Little Sister. During Can't Help Falling In Love, his buddy said (as if he was talking to a child) "He did ENOUGH for you!"

These dudes were sitting near John Herman, because you can faintly hear some of the audience members that are prominent on that tape. Interestingly, you can't hear these two guys on the Herman tape, though.

I just heard the Rags To Riches release for the first time, and it is not sourced from the tape I describe above. You don't hear the two guys conversing.

On the tape I used to have, for example, the guy shouts at Elvis during Reconsider Baby. Elvis sings, "We've been together so long," and the guy yells, "Twenty years!" And, during Funny How Time Slips Away, one gy tells the other how Elvis left the stage in Pontiac and returned in a different costume.

Does anyone here actually have this version?

Regarding the Rags To Riches release, it certainly presents the show in a different light. If you find the fans' comments to be intrusive, you might like this tape better. The taper was nowhere near those folks. (In contrast, the tape that I am looking for was recorded in close proximity to John Herman. You hear the same people, and there is the same party atmosphere.) R2R is also closer to the proper speed.

And btw, what was wrong with the horn players that night? They were about the worst I've ever heard them. Maybe they celebrated New Year's early.

Hi,

you are right, this is probably a third audience source. None of the talks are present on the tape A and tape B.
Where you happy with the sound of that "tape C" ? Do you remember any flaws, and was it "complete" ?
Thanks for all the infos you provided

See You

Vince

Hi,

you are right, this is probably a third audience source. None of the talks are present on the tape A and tape B.
Where you happy with the sound of that "tape C" ? Do you remember any flaws, and was it "complete" ?
Thanks for all the infos you provided

See You

Vince

Just going on memory, it was not complete. I think a fair portion of the intros were cut. The quality varied. It was very bass-heavy through roughly Fairytale. Then it got better. I just liked it because of the fans' comments. I have heard this same guy on other ARs, but don't know his identity. He was obviously a big fan. I remember hearing him on one of the Charlotte '77 tapes.

And btw, what was wrong with the horn players that night? They were about the worst I've ever heard them. Maybe they celebrated New Year's early.

Have you heard Opening Night '72? The brass section hit some clunkers that night. Just listen to Never Been To Spain or Suspicious Minds. Great show, but the brass section was bad!

Great show, but the brass section was bad!

My Daddy always told me you should never trust a brass

!	mike Edwards: Courtesy and Civility are Mandatory! Please stay on-topic. And please review our Reminder

What happened to that supposed third source?

A Pittsburgh soundboard would be incredible to have! Were there any soundboards done for the Lake Tahoe shows?

Yes and no. Another flat, lifeless, unbalanced '76 soundboard would not do the show any justice. A soundboard may not improve the listening experience, in fact, it may highlight flaws in the performance not evident from the audience source.

But it could be mixed with the audience recordings (matrix recording) to get the best of both worlds.

So now we have three known source recordings of this show and at least 4 different video angles? I have the cd releases of this show, does anyone have a complete lossless early gen copy of the third unreleased on cd that they could send me?

does anyone have a complete lossless early gen copy of the third unreleased on cd that they could send me?

For me too, please!

Gimme Atlanta..
Pittsburgh is covered well in good quality already.

Thanks.

I don't care about other dates, I wanted to make my own mix.

Some years ago someone i contacted in the US did have some very good sounding cd-rs with audience recorded shows. As i did some designing work for him he asked me to make some covers. So he did get some very good cd-rs and i did make the covers to them. These were never printed or anything (just one or two were bootlegged later). So i made the cover to Rags to Riches for the cd-r he offered me. I dont have a clue were he got those. I made the covers on teh Crown label. These were made about 10 years ago. Really asahamed of this cover now.