What number is your Sony Box Set?

[KiwiAlan]

A big thanks to elvissessions for your work.

I must say that the last sentence in the preface is a fine example of the "doublespeak" we have become accustomed to.

[elvissessions]

Unbox photos incoming here ... http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56825

[Good Time Charlie]

Once or twice in and out, no problem, but day after day, probably just unnecessary wear and tear.

That's what she said! *cough*
I got my set today as well.

What number man?

[mrbthebarber]

Hi could anyone give me dimensions please of both the package ( as arrives on doorstep ) & the set once unwrapped? I'd be most grateful.

Someone on the Insiders board told me that the dimensions of the set itself were 13.5 x 13.5 x 5 inches thick.

REALLY?? Wow! Anyone care to comment?

[elvissessions]

You can see photos with a tape measure along side everything in my unbox photos thread.

[Matthew]

What would be cool is a scan of the credits.

Clear shot in elvissessions' picture thread. Mastered by Vic Anesini except discs 28-30 which are mastered by Lene Reidel. Kevan Budd is given additional credit for restoration work and "additional mastering" on the Sun material and Sebestian is credited as the audio consultant.

[luckyjackson1]

O.k. folks, I just rushed through the book twice and dug out all of the CD's (Man, it was really hard for me to get CD 15 and 30 out!).

Some bad news:
Discs 28 - 30 mastered by LENE REIDEL

Those "damages" are on my set:
Slightly knocked box:

BOX_1.JPG

The same, just in full size:

BOX_2.JPG

Something scraped:

CD_TRAY_1.JPG

Another scraping (barely visible)

CD_TRAY_2.JPG

Also I discovered some minor to small scratches on:
Discs 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 15 (some strange dots on the outer side of the CD - see picture in my next post), 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 25, 26 & 30.
And one example of scratches:

CD_SCRATCH.JPG

Note: the other dots on that picture is only dust...

[Matthew]

Some bad news:
Discs 28 - 30 mastered by LENE REIDEL

Judgement should be reserved on this until those who have it have reviewed the audio. As evident by recent FTD classic albums, the credit "Lene Reidel" seems to no longer be an issue.

Those "damages" are on my set

A crying shame. You would be well within your rights to complain about this and seek replacements. For a set of this cost level nothing less than factory perfect would be acceptable in my book.

[elvissessions]

I'm VERY happy to report I haven't found any flaws in my set.

However, lucky, you should contact Sony IMMEDIATELY if you find any flaws unacceptable.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Once or twice in and out, no problem, but day after day, probably just unnecessary wear and tear.

That's what she said! *cough*
I got my set today as well.

What number man?

I refuse to take part in the number-fetishising sillness! But I will say that it is between 0601 and 0604.

[Good Time Charlie]

Once or twice in and out, no problem, but day after day, probably just unnecessary wear and tear.

That's what she said! *cough*
I got my set today as well.

What number man?

I refuse to take part in the number-fetishising sillness! But I will say that it is between 0601 and 0604.

Haha ok! I'm just curious if anybody here has any Elvis-landmark numbers like 0035, 0056, 0068, 0077. Or just 0001 - which obviously will add some monetary worth to your box.

[luckyjackson1]

O.k., here's the picture with the strange dots:

DISC_15.JPG

Nothing wrong with the book, it's simply beautiful.

Some little things I found in there:

Bad Nauheim is listed as "Bad Neuheim"...

On page 122 it says: "Ironically the best of the movie songs, "The Girl I Never Loved" and "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" were both cut from the actual movie."

I didn't spot one single picture from "Change Of Habit".

"I Asked The Lord" (Take 3) is from the 1999 release "The Home Recordings", so it's not the spliced version from "A Golden Celebration" (which is imo better).

The recording date of "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" is July 7, 1954 (I think it's already well-known, right?).

Another fascinating but rather sad note on page 126 (concerning the Flaming Star album):

"The material consisted of six movie leftovers, Elvis' nimble delivery of "Too Much Monkey Business" (ably assisted by Jerry Reed), and "Tiger Man", a Rufus Thomas original that Elvis had first attempted when he was on Sun (though no tape survives)."

Roger Semon is only mentioned as picture researcher (?)

I just wish they would have listed the recording date to each song individually and not only by recording sessions.

O.k., so now I'm officially one of the whiners, bitchers and complainers. Sorry 'bout that. Otherwise it's a real beauty and I love it very much (although I haven't even listened to one single CD)!!!

[elvissessions]

Lucky, I want to once again encourage you to invest in a secure ripping program if you are planning on listening to copies, which I trust you are.

Such a program is truly the only way you can have any assurances whether any minor issues with your discs are actually interfering with the playing surface.

Obviously, an exchange may be a possibility -- that option is SUPPOSED to exist in the case of damaged sets, according to the Sony rep.

However, there will always be a spot or a dot or something that there might be questions about.

You may find these little oddities have absolutely zero effect on the music, but only a program such as EAC or (my clear favorite) dbpoweramp is going to confirm that for you with the kind of precision that will give you peace of mind.

[luckyjackson1]

I refuse to take part in the number-fetishising sillness! But I will say that it is between 0601 and 0604.

To each his own fetish!!

Aw, come on, you should've said between 601 and 605 - that would have made it easier for me to figure it out.

About the defects: maybe I just dot every i and cross every t ???

[luckyjackson1]

Lucky, I want to once again encourage you to invest in a secure ripping program if you are planning on listening to copies, which I trust you are.

Such a program is truly the only way you can have any assurances whether any minor issues with your discs are actually interfering with the playing surface.

Obviously, an exchange may be a possibility -- that option is SUPPOSED to exist in the case of damaged sets, according to the Sony rep.

However, there will always be a spot or a dot or something that there might be questions about.

You may find these little oddities have absolutely zero effect on the music, but only a program such as EAC or (my clear favorite) dbpoweramp is going to confirm that for you with the kind of precision that will give you peace of mind.

Thanks a lot for your support!

I'm going to rip them as soon as possible to find out if there's something wrong.
Right now I already put the CD's in some cd sleeves, but it's just a temporary solution.

The bad thing is, it's already 11:50 p.m. over here in Germany and I have to go to work again tomorrow morning... darn, "how I wish that there were more than 24 hours in the day" !

[elvissessions]

So far all of my discs have transferred securely. I'm doing four passes on each disc and haven't encountered a problem yet. But I'm making slow progress because I keep scampering around the room ... dipping into the book, playing with the box ... updating the web ... checking other folks' posts ... This may take a while

[Sessionman]

So after reading your comments...nobody has said anything about Sony giving you access to download the 30 CDs in mp3 format as "somebody" mentioned in another thread with a Bob Dylan box set. So it seems Sony once more (being the same record company) doesn't have the same consideration to the fans as it does to Bob Dylan fans.

Just wondering....

[elvissessions]

Good lord!

Picking at nits indeed.

The two sets and their circumstances are not comparable.

The Dylan fans could just as easily complain about all the things this box has that theirs doesn't.

And that wouldn't make any sense either.

They're two very different products.

And if it's all the same to you, I'd rather do the encoding to my specifications anyhow, so I really don't care to have Sony's attempt at it.

[Matthew]

So after reading your comments...nobody has said anything about Sony giving you access to download the 30 CDs in mp3 format as "somebody" mentioned in another thread with a Bob Dylan box set. So it seems Sony once more (being the same record company) doesn't have the same consideration to the fans as it does to Bob Dylan fans.

Just wondering....

It was never implied that the set would ever come with a digital download. Who wants to download 30 CDs of mp3s anyway when they can simply rip their own. It would be interesting to see though if this set becomes a digital download collection in the future.

[KiwiAlan]

What would be cool is a scan of the credits.

Clear shot in elvissessions' picture thread. Mastered by Vic Anesini except discs 28-30 which are mastered by Lene Reidel. Kevan Budd is given additional credit for restoration work and "additional mastering" on the Sun material and Sebestian is credited as the audio consultant.

Thanks

[GregCieslik]

Just got mine - number 0096.
I looked through the pakcage - it is top notch quality. One thing I would like to point out is that why did they not also include the front AND back picture of all the singles and LPs in the book. There is enough of space. It seems that all books always focus on the front covers, and the back sleeves are always forgotten.

[Mike Windgren]

Hi there!! .

Just got mine at noon today. Mine is number 448. I quickly burned CD 27 and listened to it in my car on the way back to work. The sound is fantastic. I am quite familiar with most of these alternates/outtakes and they never sounded so good. Of particular note is "One Broken Heart for Sale" take 1. It always sounded "thin" to me, but here it seems so full -- more like the master, but with the alternate verse. Elvis is upfront and not drowned out by the Mello Men as on parts of the master. "I'm A Roustabout" sounds better than before to my ears. The outtakes that we've only had on FTD sound much better, making me think FTD doesn't get first generation tapes. Some examples where the sound is superior here is "King Creole" alternate take and "Lover Doll" overdubbed (not a noisy as on FTD).

MT

Mate, my set nº is very near yours it is nº 446 , though I placed my order on August 2nd . It is so heavy, it´s a first class release, beautiful layout . At the end they charged me the postage as well, but I can´t complain for the fast service and having paid only $9.99 . They took care in packing as it came very protected with zero chance of damage. Bye for now .

[Tornado]

I got # 287, I immediatly checked "Let's Forget About The Stars". Just beautiful, in glorious stereo and the piano is at last at his place, not drawned back like in the Double Features. Great work, sound clear, crisp and... well you can add your own qualities : it's so great to hear the quality in that huge set. The packaging was very well secured too. Except for Angel the Follow That Dream session is in Mono but again great sound. Kid Galahad is in full stereo. Couldn't listen to more for the time being.

[Justintoelvis]

My set number is 336/1000!

I started to burn my CD's into my itunes about 1:35am. Right now it's 2:53am and I am on disc 9. Disc One sounds awesome. When I played "I'm Counting On You" and "I Was The One", I felt like Elvis was recording that song right here in my living room. That was how awesome the sound quality was. The only thing I have to complain is the CD storage in this box set. I hate sliding these CD's in and out of their slot. I am going to save these CD's in my external hard drive just in case I transfer my music somewhere else.

The book was great, the pages were thick and it felt like thick construction paper every time I turned the pages. It had some unseen photos along with basic photo shots we seen in all the Elvis books and magazines. The box case looks like a big shoe box for boots. Anyway, I going to get ready to put Disc 10 into my CD drive.

[luckyjackson1]

One thing I would like to point out is that why did they not also include the front AND back picture of all the singles and LPs in the book. There is enough of space. It seems that all books always focus on the front covers, and the back sleeves are always forgotten.

Yeah, I noticed that too.

Thanks a lot to all contributors and valuable comments, I really enjoy reading it. Keep it going!

I also listened to the first few tracks on Disc 1 - they sound absolutely fantastic!