'Our Memories Of Elvis' EXTREMELY detailed review

[PiersEIN]

Hi Gang,
For die-hards amongst us, I have posted a very detailed review of "Our Memories of Elvis" with a detailed track-by-track description

'Our Memories Of Elvis Vol 1,2 & 3'
The Pure Elvis Sound
Ernst Jorgensen originally said that FTD were unlikely to release this Joan Deary 1979 "Pure Elvis Sound" concept on CD stating, "I think we have more important things to do."
However after the success of the 2010 Victrola bootleg and having discovered 18 Previously Unreleased "Pure Elvis Sound" tracks, FTD have now issued a stunning 38 track compilation gathering up all the Dick Bogert created "Pure Elvis Sound" masters. And what a great concept it is.
Most of the selected tracks were Elvis' Master versions with some but not all of the overdubs removed and were unique. These tracks were almost never the "Undubbed Masters" that are now being released on FTD.

Go here to EIN's detailed review >>>
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/ftd_review_memories_of_elvis.html

Cheers
Piers

[dennyelvis]

Wonderful review, its surprising how u miss these differences if they arent pointed out, so this is awesome, btw, which version "wins" do u think, Victrola or FTD ?

[Mike Windgren]

Hi there!! .

Ernst Jorgensen originally said that FTD were unlikely to release this Joan Deary 1979 "Pure Elvis Sound" concept on CD stating, "I think we have more important things to do."
Piers

Yeah, I remember that answer and he said the same about This Is Elvis & Elvis-A Legendary Performer series when asked about these releases . Hope he changes his mind on this as well . Bye for now .

[Steve Morse]

Many thanks for the effort you've put into this, Piers. I don't have the new FTD, yet, though I do have the Victrola 1&2 CD and the original LPs.

Steve Morse

[keninlincs]

Nice review,thanks

[KingElvis]

Great review but a real shame that the "Our memories of elvis" tracks from 24bit releases from japan isnt mentioned.
Victrola is better on some tracks compared to FTD but japan releases beats them both.

[bajo]

Piers! Your reviews have made me a better listener to my Elvis collection! You put words to details I rarely knew was there! Keep on! Best regards!

[elvisalisellers]

Thanks for taking the time to review, Piers.

Re. the OM version of Hurt and "All alternate takes have backing-vocals present so this is a treat."

Actually, the first ever alternate take to be issued of this latter day Presley classic [Take 2] was presented in stripped down form on Platinum - Disc 4 [the rather banal backing vocals were mixed out, although a little bleed-through could still be heard on the coda].

It remains my personal favourite outtake from the Jungle Room sessions.

[TCB-FAN]

Excellent review by Piers. I have both versions (FTD & Victrola). As someone mentioned earlier, some tracks sound better on Victrola than on FTD.....and vice versa.

[elvisalisellers]

Excellent review by Piers. I have both versions (FTD & Victrola). As someone mentioned earlier,some tracks sound better on Victrola than on FTD.....and vice versa.

Ain't collecting Elvis fun?!

[YDKM]

Yes its a 'great review' but just annoys me to find out some of the mistakes in sound on the FTD release......STILL i am just about glad i bought it(NOT having the other Victrola releases)

[Matthew]

A thorough and detailed review of this product. Clearly though someone's frustration has gotten the better of them. Lene Reidel is not the terrible engineer she is painted to be here. The last 3 discs of Complete Masters are not a "sonic letdown", just the same as many other FTD releases she has been involved with are not a "sonic letdown". Lene Reidel didn't master disc 25 of Complete Masters and THAT disc has a mastering fault on Promised Land's intro. Where's the aggression towards Vic Anesini for that one? That disc was never replaced (despite my opinion that is surely should have been).

I was disappointed that those last 3 discs were not mastered as per the other 27, but they are not let-downs as listening experiences.

[PiersEIN]

Thanks for taking the time to review, Piers.

Re. the OM version of Hurt and "All alternate takes have backing-vocals present so this is a treat."

Actually, the first ever alternate take to be issued of this latter day Presley classic [Take 2] was presented in stripped down form on Platinum - Disc 4 [the rather banal backing vocals were mixed out, although a little bleed-through could still be heard on the coda].
It remains my personal favourite outtake from the Jungle Room sessions.

Thanks for that.
Brilliant version indeed.
Having listened to the Master, the 'Our Memories' version, the Undubbed version, the Rough Mixes and then alternates takes of every song, possibly several times! - one begins to lose the plot!
I knew there was another remixed version of 'Hurt' but couldn't find it!

I have already added your info and given you a credit on the review.
Cheers
piers

[PiersEIN]

A thorough and detailed review of this product. Clearly though someone's frustration has gotten the better of them. Lene Reidel is not the terrible engineer she is painted to be here. The last 3 discs of Complete Masters are not a "sonic letdown", just the same as many other FTD releases she has been involved with are not a "sonic letdown". Lene Reidel didn't master disc 25 of Complete Masters and THAT disc has a mastering fault on Promised Land's intro. Where's the aggression towards Vic Anesini for that one? That disc was never replaced (despite my opinion that is surely should have been).

I was disappointed that those last 3 discs were not mastered as per the other 27, but they are not let-downs as listening experiences.

No serious agression towards her, rather ERNST for not yet answering any FTD distributor's question about this audio glitch.
If you note I was rather kind to her on my TODAY FTD review when her mistake was a stinker.
Other's have complained again and again about her shoddy work (Easter Special, etc) where I have just enjoyed them for what they are.

Never before has EIN recieved so many emails about poor quality audio on an FTD and it needed to be followed up.

for instance from Mark to EIN
- I’m curious about what you think of the sound quality on Memories. I had already dubbed my old vinyl to digital and the sound quality of that cheap vinyl transfer sounds better than the new cd and my converter is a $100 piece of equipment.

Her work on this was sloppy. The audio is pretty awful, worse than my 35 year old vinyl copy on Volume 1.
Even your best pal THE DOC recommends the Victrola version instead.

Having said all that - PLEASE NOTE that I DO actually recommend fans to buy this FTD compile!!

The last 3 discs of Complete Masters are not a "sonic letdown",.

I have plenty of friends who would totally disagree with you on that one.

There seems to be several instances, TODAY, Our Memories, Minnesota Moment,, where she hasn't actually put her headphones on and listened all the way through the test CD to properly approve it before it went to print.
That is sloppy engineering work.

Cheers
piers

[dennyelvis]

People have been wanting OMOE released for years u would think that finally they would release it and GET IT RIGHT ! thats what really annoys people , this should have been released as a Legacy project, with Vic at the mixing desk !!!!!!!!!!

[Matthew]

Whilst some may not appreciate that she mastered the last 3 discs of Complete Masters, I've have not read anything regarding any mastering errors on those discs. Indeed, they largely sound like simply compiles of other releases that are volume matched. "My Happiness" sounds the same here as it does on Elvis 75- Good Rockin' Tonight - a coincidence? She got paid to do a job, should she have said no? It's Sony who didn't bother to expend the resource for those discs to be mastered by their own engineer(s). However, there IS a mastering error on disc 25 - Promised Land, what of that? And this is a major Sony production that costs a bomb to obtain! Where were all the fan-clubs and Elvis leaders in the world for that one? And what of the tape transfer issue with You Don't Know Me (non-film version), with the annoying drop out on Complete Masters that is repaired/re-transferred on FTD's Guitar Man. The audio issues on Complete Masters exist on the discs that Lene Reidel had nothing to do with. The reason I received for the Promised Land issue was that by the time they discovered the problem the disc had already gone into production. Well, tough cheese! That's not the customers problem! Yet, it has still not been fixed, written off as not being deemed a big issue. That's easy to say when one is on the other side of the transaction and it is going to cost the company more money to sort out a problem they created.

I have not bought the Memories of Elvis FTD, largely because I think it a waste of time release but I doubt very much that what's on there is any-more than simply transfers of the old album masters, I doubt any kind of restoration work was done. Where people expecting this to be a Vic/Sebastian exercise? I would argue that if Lene Reidel had not mastered it that no one would have mastered it and it wouldn't have been released. Yes, a mastering glitch is inexcusable if it is not rectified but as far as sound quality goes, the responsibility lies with the powers that be not investing more in restoring the audio, or bothering to proof listen the work - a bone of contention that would have saved FTD the hassle of having to fix past issues. There's nothing wrong with Lene's work on Elvis Now, and the outtakes on Elvis Country and Love Letters From Elvis sound remarkably similar to the outtakes on That's The Way It Is, where she wasn't involved at all (I'm of the opinion the reverb we hear on those 1970 recordings was applied during mixing, not mastering).

Don't get me wrong, I would rather audiophile engineers be working on all Elvis releases, and yes, there are products that should have been fixed. So High was replaced, disc 2 of Fool was replaced. Too Much Monkey Business wasn't (error on Loving Arms intro) - which is probably the closest to Memories Of Elvis in relationship. Certainly in this instance a replacement disc should be issued. The lack of response to the issue reminds me of the Merry Christmas Baby fiasco that was all but glossed over but the tone of what you have written has a smell of offence to it that you have not personally been replied to by Ernst. There is a person at the end of these critiques and some of the comments laid before Lene Reidel are simply unfair.

[Matthew]

People have been wanting OMOE released for years u would think that finally they would release it and GET IT RIGHT ! thats what really annoys people , this should have been released as a Legacy project, with Vic at the mixing desk !!!!!!!!!!

No way. For a start, remixing the product would defeat the point - the music would no longer be Our Memories Of Elvis. Next, these posthumous album curiosities are certainly not worthy of any kind of Legacy Edition treatments.

[Jim Dandy]

Lene Reidel is not the terrible engineer she is painted to be here. .

Is she also Ernst's squeeze?

[Matthew]

Is she also Ernst's squeeze?

I've seen this sort of comment before, and it is inappropriate - another way of issuing a backhanded remark towards Ernst.

[dennyelvis]

Its all a matter of opinion Matt, if like me u bought the vinyl releases in 79 i think u would consider it part of his legacy, and furthermore worthy of a quality release, not a simple copy/paste job that we seem to have got ............

[Matthew]

Its all a matter of opinion Matt, if like me u bought the vinyl releases in 79 i think u would consider it part of his legacy, and furthermore worthy of a quality release, not a simple copy/paste job that we seem to have got ............

All of Elvis' original albums are part of his legacy, but they are not all worthy of Legacy Editions. When you say a Legacy project you are inferring that OMOE should have had a mainstream Sony release as a Legacy Edition, or at the very least a main retail item. There's simply no way these posthumous album experiments from the late 70s would find a retail brief that would see them through to release on the mainstream. Again, I argue that if Lene Reidel were not around, these old album tapes would never have been re-issued - period. Fix the glitch, that's about the best one can expect.

[Jim Dandy]

Is she also Ernst's squeeze?

I've seen this sort of comment before, and it is inappropriate - another way of issuing a backhanded remark towards Ernst.

How is it inappropriate if the guy producing (thus far) great albums has a special interest in his masterer? Do you disagree she does a good job and she is simply favoured? Two Elvis fans producing legitimate product, from the same camp - it can only be good stuff IMO.

[Matthew]

Lene Reidel is a mastering engineer who was employed by an audio engineering company in Denmark called Tocano, where Ernst lives. The connection is no more "sinister" than that.

[Claus]

Reidel is not at Tocano anymore amd I'm not sure the company even exists anymore. She has been working freelance for quite a few years. The Are You Sincere error should have been caught at some stage during mastering/pressing but so should the error on the overdubbed Tomorrow Night on the big Sony set, which has not been corrected yet and it's not available elsewhere in digital.

[Matthew]

but so should the error on the overdubbed Tomorrow Night on the big Sony set, which has not been corrected yet and it's not available elsewhere in digital.

And this mastering (with the fade in on the intro) first appeared on the Franklin Mint set, which no doubt was simply copied over for disc 28 of Complete Masters. So not a Lene Reidel creation.