Songs that should have been on the 70's box

hey carolyn,

you heard about or know of Hound Dogs Bop Shop in Victoria?

they've been excellent source of Elvis material here for many years and has
been going since 1975!

if not, i can provide you their contact details but in private o.k.!

Hi Y'all

I bought the 50's and 60's boxes, when they were released. Then came 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes' and I was so much in doubts, as to buying it or not. One one hand, it was sort of needed to complete the empty place next to the two other boxes, but on the other hand, it meant shelling out quite a few bob for something, that I knew I wouldn't be listening to.

Then I read a surprisingly positive review in my favourite music magazine at the time, the british 'MOJO', by Colin Escott I think, where it received four out of five stars. That review convinced me to buy it and actually listen to it out of curiosity. And I was totally blown away!!!

The Colin Escott MOJO review is from issue 24 of November 1995. It's surprising that this convinced you to buy the set because he's not particularly positive.

No star ratings were given in those early editions. Here's his opening and closing paragraphs:

The final chunk of the Elvis Presley boxed-set triptych charts a decline as precipitous as any in popular music. By 1977, the year of his death, the king was too often just a grotesque parody of himself. By the time the credits rolled, the voice was just a wobbly vibrato over which its owner seemed to have only marginal control.
[...]
So a tip of the hat to the reissue producers, Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon, for falling face-first into a cow patty and coming up with a quarter between their teeth. Dave Marsh's accompanying apologia is superb. The only problem will come if this beguiling combination of words and music persaudes people that the '70s Elvis really is worth further investigation. I'll keep my copy of Moody Blue as a corrective.

Not many on this MB will agree with this opinion but it does indicate why the decision was made to be selective in presenting the seventies Elvis to a general audience.

I like The First Ever I Saw Your Face with very different mix. No backup singers but with strings. Good tampering there!

The Colin Escott MOJO review is from issue 24 of November 1995. It's surprising that this convinced you to buy the set because he's not particularly positive.

No star ratings were given in those early editions. Here's his opening and closing paragraphs:

The final chunk of the Elvis Presley boxed-set triptych charts a decline as precipitous as any in popular music. By 1977, the year of his death, the king was too often just a grotesque parody of himself. By the time the credits rolled, the voice was just a wobbly vibrato over which its owner seemed to have only marginal control.
[...]
So a tip of the hat to the reissue producers, Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon, for falling face-first into a cow patty and coming up with a quarter between their teeth. Dave Marsh's accompanying apologia is superb. The only problem will come if this beguiling combination of words and music persaudes people that the '70s Elvis really is worth further investigation. I'll keep my copy of Moody Blue as a corrective.

Not many on this MB will agree with this opinion but it does indicate why the decision was made to be selective in presenting the seventies Elvis to a general audience.

Amazing how Colin's 'corrective' opinion of Moody Blue changes, when he is offered a wad of cash from BMG, to write the liner notes for said album.

Some excerpts:

"Despite his well publicized personal problems, Elvis' musical vision was remarkably intact at the end."

".....the first album (Elvis Presley) had been no less than that, MOODY BLUE held fast to that credo."

Of Moody Blue (2000) - "....it becomes a fitting coda to the greatest career in popular music."

Yeah ........... another dick. Or so it initially seems.

What he appeared to be saying before (in the portion as cited by "The Purple Gang") is ........... the 70's boxset wasn't worth owning because Elvis himself wasn't worth listening to! What makes his invective so potent, especially to the unwitting, is the way he effortlessly blurs subjective opinion (his apparent slagging off of Elvis's 70's output) with objective fact (Elvis' physical / mental decline). To the ignorant, the two become one and the same, and it's a done-deal to completely forget bothering.

But is that all?

Although this review was clearly inflected with negativity, maybe it was actually positive. Look more closely at the final paragraph: it seemed the critic actually liked the set (calling Marsh's essay "superb" and the music / presentation "beguiling"), and was merely stating that nothing beyond it was worth bothering with. Unfortunately, while there is a lot of weight to that assertion, it still amounts to a sweeping fallacy, which is something I talked about in my first response to this thread (i.e. the problem with labelling the set "Essential", particularly when it's missing major gospel and secular cuts).

By the way, Jeano, what do you think would happen if every
single seventies purist out there joined me in "knocking on
the door" of Bear Family deutch and it's owner Richard Weize
and just tried to suggest that Bear Family give a consideration
to....THE DEFINITIVE SEVENTIES MASTERS.... that quite obviously
BMG/SONY had tragically fallen short with their WAMIMS package.

That would be at least pretty interesting...

Here is BTW the design for my own complete 70´s studio masters. What do you think about it?

Kool design!! I prefer another color because it reminds me of The TTWII CD set and hated the design ala Partridge family or something! Hope you do not mind my tampering and it could be any color or colors (collectable though expensive)!!!

I think those cover designs would work better with a different shot of Elvis, without the sunglasses.

I thought the Walk a Mile In My Shoes set was disappointing. They could have left the concert out and put in all the studio tracks of the 70's. After all they did release a boxset of Las Vegas concerts later.

I think those cover designs would work better with a different shot of Elvis, without the sunglasses.

As long as it is not a performance shot...refreshing anyway.

"This thread of mine, has no beginning, it has no end" ........

Personally I think Elvis' music legacy has been in fine hands since the late 80s when a certain partnership took the reigns and steered Elvis' catalogue in the right direction. They continue to do so today, not least with the FTD label. Working for Elvis' music are also a team of dedicated audio restorers, I can rest easy.

How is Elvis' mainstream catalogue being steered in the right direction? It is a total mess. Check out some of rockinrebel's posts on the subject. There has been some fine projects scattered throughout the past 15 years, but overall things are in disarray. Until recently when Kevan Budd got involved, there was some real questionable mixing and mastering with Elvis' releases. Does the schizophrenic Dennis Ferrante or the hack Lene Reidel ring a bell? The catalogue has no understandable direction and as the CD era comes to a crashing hault, does anyone have confidence that BMG will know how to properly promote Elvis' music in the new era? They certainly haven't proven they are visionaries with the Elvis Presley catalogue.

Personally I think Elvis' music legacy has been in fine hands since the late 80s when a certain partnership took the reigns and steered Elvis' catalogue in the right direction. They continue to do so today, not least with the FTD label. Working for Elvis' music are also a team of dedicated audio restorers, I can rest easy.

How is Elvis' mainstream catalogue being steered in the right direction? It is a total mess. Check out some of rockinrebel's posts on the subject. There has been some fine projects scattered throughout the past 15 years, but overall things are in disarray. Until recently when Kevan Budd got involved, there was some real questionable mixing and mastering with Elvis' releases. Does the schizophrenic Dennis Ferrante or the hack Lene Reidel ring a bell? The catalogue has no understandable direction and as the CD era comes to a crashing hault, does anyone have confidence that BMG will know how to properly promote Elvis' music in the new era? They certainly haven't proven they are visionaries with the Elvis Presley catalogue.

They also follow The Beatles' lead,............... but it was the inverse, culturally speaking. Much irony there.