Hits of the 70s / Soundboards - the voice of sanity

.. the 70's era Elvis still resonates and is both the image many associate him, and the music that many appreciate..

Why are so many of his 70s albums completely out of mainstream print then, at least in Europe. Are they all in print in the US, I don't know?

I hear what you say though

Why are so many of his 70s albums completely out of mainstream print then, at least in Europe. Are they all in print in the US, I don't know?

They did some work a little while ago on combining them, such as the expanded Promised Land release, which is still available, the expanded EP Blvd/ Moody Blue release, plus the legacy TTWII / Love Letters, In Person / On Stage editions,, Aloha. There are quite a few, to be fair, but I'm convinced there's an appetite for a release that positively covers the later years for casual buyers who are interested in knowing more than just the usual hits.

(1) How Sony would market a UK-only, '70s hit collection for worldwide retail?

The Hits FTD is useless to me, but I've wondered that same question on the eariler threads. A few people on here have suggested it should have come out on the main label.. a 70s compilation with THAT artwork! Whatever one thinks of Sony, that would be an insane release, and like throwing company money into the sea.

Exactly.

It does not make much sense to release this on FTD either, but at least we are used to outdated designs.

(1) How Sony would market a UK-only, '70s hit collection for worldwide retail?

The Hits FTD is useless to me, but I've wondered that same question on the eariler threads. A few people on here have suggested it should have come out on the main label.. a 70s compilation with THAT artwork! Whatever one thinks of Sony, that would be an insane release, and like throwing company money into the sea.

Exactly.

It does not make much sense to release this on FTD either, but at least we are used to outdated designs.

Haha, yes!

Too bad John can’t fathom even such a simple concept.

It's a much greater shame that you have no idea what marketing is, what my point is, and are arrogant and condescending in your ignorance of both.

Carry on, kenny!

Too bad John can’t fathom even such a simple concept.

It's a much greater shame that you have no idea what marketing is, what my point is, and are arrogant and condescending in your ignorance of both.

I know perfectly well what marketing is, but I’m not so sure that Sony do. With a couple of exceptions, they haven’t done much to market previous Elvis releases. For instance, I can’t recall seeing any advertising for the 2-CD Legacy releases. Prince from Another Planet got some attention, though. Unfortunately, that’s a limited edition. Apparently, the idea is that the Elvis CDs sell themselves. Following the same logic, a main market Hits of the ’70s package only needs to be released, hence my brilliant reply. As others have pointed out, it is rather self-explanatory. Of course, a proper TV campaign would have turned it into a major success. Guaranteed.

Too bad John can’t fathom even such a simple concept.

It's a much greater shame that you have no idea what marketing is, what my point is, and are arrogant and condescending in your ignorance of both.

I know perfectly well what marketing is, but I’m not so sure that Sony do. With a couple of exceptions, they haven’t done much to market previous Elvis releases. For instance, I can’t recall seeing any advertising for the 2-CD Legacy releases. Prince from Another Planet got some attention, though. Unfortunately, that’s a limited edition. Apparently, the idea is that the Elvis CDs sell themselves. Following the same logic, a main market Hits of the ’70s package only needs to be released, hence my brilliant reply. As others have pointed out, it is rather self-explanatory. Of course, a proper TV campaign would have turned it into a major success. Guaranteed.

Sorry Ken but are you really serious? A TV campaign for a mainstream release of the Hits of the 70s album on CD? That would be like.. manufacturing, marketing & selling transistor radios in an Apple Store: company money & time down the drain. I wish it wasn't so, but the media market has changed bigstyle, and it's never gonna change back.

Sorry Ken but are you really serious? A TV campaign for a mainstream release of the Hits of the 70s album on CD? That would be like.. manufacturing, marketing & selling transistor radios in an Apple Store: company money & time down the drain. I wish it wasn't so, but the media market has changed bigstyle, and it's never gonna change back.

I still see TV campaigns for new releases from other artists - why not this one? In terms of a video, a great video for Burning Love could be put together with footage from EOT / Aloha, same for Trilogy, or I Just Can't Help Believing to name a couple.

Do we all agree it doesnt belong on FTD?

Being sentimental about a cover design is not a good enough reason to release a project either. This selection of songs could have been released with a different art work cover for the mainstream but it wouldnt be a massive seller, but Im sure it would do reasonably well. I just dont know why they released a legacy edition of the MSG shows as well as PFAP in the mainstream. The way the concert footage is presented is rediculous and Id be embarrassed to show it to any casual or reluctant listener. PFAP should have been an FTD release as the legacy edition is there for the general public.

As for Hits of the 70s, its a pointless FTD, I have all the FTDs except this one and Ive never contimplated not buying an FTD until this one.

Too bad John can’t fathom even such a simple concept.

It's a much greater shame that you have no idea what marketing is, what my point is, and are arrogant and condescending in your ignorance of both.

I know perfectly well what marketing is, but I’m not so sure that Sony do. With a couple of exceptions, they haven’t done much to market previous Elvis releases. For instance, I can’t recall seeing any advertising for the 2-CD Legacy releases. Prince from Another Planet got some attention, though. Unfortunately, that’s a limited edition. Apparently, the idea is that the Elvis CDs sell themselves. Following the same logic, a main market Hits of the ’70s package only needs to be released, hence my brilliant reply. As others have pointed out, it is rather self-explanatory. Of course, a proper TV campaign would have turned it into a major success. Guaranteed.

Sorry Ken but are you really serious? A TV campaign for a mainstream release of the Hits of the 70s album on CD? That would be like.. manufacturing, marketing & selling transistor radios in an Apple Store: company money & time down the drain. I wish it wasn't so, but the media market has changed bigstyle, and it's never gonna change back.

Exactly.

.. the 70's era Elvis still resonates and is both the image many associate him, and the music that many appreciate..

Why are so many of his 70s albums completely out of mainstream print then, at least in Europe. Are they all in print in the US, I don't know?

I hear what you say though

Only two 70s albums are out of print: He Touched Me and The Wonderful World of Christmas - although the latter is included in many Christmas releases, and He Touched Me makes up part of the I Believe set. All other 70s non-budget albums are available either as part of Legacy editions, the Original Album Series or the 20CD (but only £30 and with the new remasters) Perfect Elvis Collection. While this means the albums aren't available as separate issues, the Original Album Series contains either 3 albums for £9 or 5 albums for £15 and so seems like a good way to get slower-moving titles into the market place.

.. the 70's era Elvis still resonates and is both the image many associate him, and the music that many appreciate..

Why are so many of his 70s albums completely out of mainstream print then, at least in Europe. Are they all in print in the US, I don't know?

I hear what you say though

Only two 70s albums are out of print: He Touched Me and The Wonderful World of Christmas - although the latter is included in many Christmas releases, and He Touched Me makes up part of the I Believe set. All other 70s non-budget albums are available either as part of Legacy editions, the Original Album Series or the 20CD (but only £30 and with the new remasters) Perfect Elvis Collection. While this means the albums aren't available as separate issues, the Original Album Series contains either 3 albums for £9 or 5 albums for £15 and so seems like a good way to get slower-moving titles into the market place.

Good point about the boxes, I forgot about those.

.. the 70's era Elvis still resonates and is both the image many associate him, and the music that many appreciate..

Why are so many of his 70s albums completely out of mainstream print then, at least in Europe. Are they all in print in the US, I don't know?

I hear what you say though

Only two 70s albums are out of print: He Touched Me and The Wonderful World of Christmas - although the latter is included in many Christmas releases, and He Touched Me makes up part of the I Believe set. All other 70s non-budget albums are available either as part of Legacy editions, the Original Album Series or the 20CD (but only £30 and with the new remasters) Perfect Elvis Collection. While this means the albums aren't available as separate issues, the Original Album Series contains either 3 albums for £9 or 5 albums for £15 and so seems like a good way to get slower-moving titles into the market place.

Good point about the boxes, I forgot about those.

It does seem ironic that, considering the amount of Christmas compilations, the one album you can't buy in its original form is the Christmas one!

It was refreshing to read the following in the latest edition of ETMAHM, CD review section.

In his review of (or perhaps, more accurately, reaction to) the FTD ‘Hits Of The 70s’ release, Gordon Minto has the following to say :

“The whole thing presents as a very strong collection and, in my view, has as much, if not more, validity as a release than some of those godawful and rancid live recordings from the 70s that simply do not compare at all with his best live work and add not one iota to his musical memory. And please don’t give me that horse-shit about being a different performance : how many versions do you/we need of a lame song performed sloppily ?”

Although I have not bought Hits Of The 70s, it’s quite possible that I will. It contains masters that I already have (many times) but, hey, should we not focus on the masters for a change ? There has been far too much released of Elvis’s work, over the last 10 years and more. It has noticeably diluted his body of work and I have bought many CDs that I have played only once. The accumulated cost has been quite staggering and, with hindsight, I wish I could have been much more selective. If I played a different Elvis CD from my collection every day next year, I wouldn't get through them all

It is regrettable that, perhaps from 1973 onwards, Elvis’s shows became increasingly sloppy in presentation and so dismissive of his early rock ‘n’ roll hits ; and whilst I love the classic LPs, overall I think I preferred the Essential Elvis volumes and the early FTD approach, using perhaps just the cream of the outtakes.

Incidentally, the latest ETMAHM is a most excellent read, especially (and, for me, surprisingly) the Ed Bonja interview.

Steve Morse

I don't believe that anyone anywhere has said that the release of this item is a bad one, or that the concept of a 70s hits package is a bad one. The argument has been that its place is not on the collectors label, because there is literally nothing here for the collector who has everything.

As a nice double album for a tenner at retail level, it would have filled a hole in the market (ie a lack of a 70s hits package), and probably would have sold better than many Elvis releases as casual fans would have recognised the cover of the album they bought 30+ years earlier on LP and were rather fond of. The continued success of It's Christmas Time shows that the public like to buy on CD the album they had on LP.

But there is nothing here to warrant the £20 price tag or the inclusion on the collectors label. Going by the logic of this release, the Legacy editions should/could have been released on FTD too as they are nothing but an album padded out with extra masters, the same as Hits of the 70s.

Well said poormadpeter

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Well said poormadpeter - I totally agree with ya bud-