complete million dollar Quartet.

#303041

Just got this release. All I can say is this:

Get It Now!

The sound quailty FAR surpasses anything you've heard from this session. My only complaint is where they chose to separate the tracks

#303097

I agree the sound quality is amazing.

BTW, on the iTunes store you can listen to the snippets of all the tracks.

#303224

woodleyjohn wrote:Anyone know the UK release date?

Amazon has it's release date as october 9th.

#303228

I had this cd in my mail today and to me it looks and sounds great.

#303505

I agree the sound quality is amazing, but i do wonder why at the beginning just after he segues out of Reconsider Baby, when Elvis is talking about Billy Ward, the volume is so low. you can barely hear him at the beginning. its not like that on the orig.

Jth · #303550

the million dollar question: can one hear Johnny Cash sing???

#303559

the million dollar question: can one hear Johnny Cash sing???

Yes! on any number of his records between 1954-2003

Can we hear him on the million dollar quartet tape?

not on your life, and I doubt we ever will, because to me the first few tracks sound like Clement or someone else is setting up mikes. I think this is all we're left with.

#306431

Kylan wrote:I agree the sound quality is amazing, but i do wonder why at the beginning just after he segues out of Reconsider Baby, when Elvis is talking about Billy Ward, the volume is so low. you can barely hear him at the beginning. its not like that on the orig.

Glad you noticed that - i was beginning to wonder if the Australian pressings were faulty.

Anyone know why the volume is muted?

Keith F · #306465

KiwiAlan wrote:Anyone know why the volume is muted?

It isn't muted! It's from a first generation "Tape" source, as opposed to an X-Generation source used for the original release of this session.

I also heard that on the "Original" release of this session, the volume was tweaked up and down, to give a balance to the volume.

This time we get it as it was originally recorded, with no gimmicks!

#306559

Keith F wrote:I also heard that on the "Original" release of this session, the volume was tweaked up and down, to give a balance to the volume.

This time we get it as it was originally recorded, with no gimmicks!

Some tough decisions have to be made when remastering 'informal' recordings like this.

Is 'tweaking' the volume an aid to listening pleasure, or a 'gimmick' ?

The volume may be low on the tape, but the guys were probably speaking normally.

So what is 'natural' and what isn't ?

There's no definitive answer !

#306849

ColinB wrote:
Keith F wrote:I also heard that on the "Original" release of this session, the volume was tweaked up and down, to give a balance to the volume.

This time we get it as it was originally recorded, with no gimmicks!
Some tough decisions have to be made when remastering 'informal' recordings like this.

Is 'tweaking' the volume an aid to listening pleasure, or a 'gimmick' ?

The volume may be low on the tape, but the guys were probably speaking normally.

So what is 'natural' and what isn't ?

There's no definitive answer !

So you hear exactly what somebody would have heard had they stood in the place where the stationary microphone was located. Why would that be unnatural?

#306878

thenexte wrote:So you hear exactly what somebody would have heard had they stood in the place where the stationary microphone was located. Why would that be unnatural?

Well, the human ear/brain can pick up a lot more [or sometimes less] than a microphone does !

It can 'concentrate' on what it wants to hear and 'filter out' extraneous noise.

A microphone doesn't do that !

#306928

I wonder how many photos exist from this session? Can someone post them here or link pointing to a website?

#313723

Just picked up this incredible cd tonight! What a job by Mr. Budd, truly brilliant. As far as the cd itself goes, smashing as the English would say. Really loved It's So Strange as well as That's When Your Heartaches Began. I also thought Elvis' story of seeing Jackie Wilson was great, as listening EP recall how Jackie performed it, reminds me of how he performed Don't Be Cruel his final show on Sullivan. I swear I heard Johnny Cash sing a bit in Peace In The Valley. BTW, was this the first time EP met Jerry Lee? Also loved Jerry Lee's singing as well. Still, to hear Elvis in his fifties voice, with his youthful exhuberance, gave me shivers, and to be honest, I was choked up at the end when he said goodbye. Sad because of what the future held in store for him, sad because he would never know the freedom again that he had even in 56. Ernst, two thumbs up on a fantastic release!

#313805

This release really is a treasure trove, and a real treat to "sit in" on history being made. Elvis sounds very relaxed, and enjoying his time back at Sun. I also love the Jackie Wilson banter--that is incredible!

One thing I haven't done yet with this is listen to it with headphones on. I have listened only in my van and at home, and it's a bit frustrating to listen in that environment.

#315888

Picked this CD up yesterday!!! Agree with all the positive comments!
Sound great!!!

thekingisalive · #315890

I see some of you wonder about the tape they used for the Million Dollar Quartet update. The truth is that this is Elvis’s private copy, located at Graceland awhile back. One third of the tape was badly damaged but has obviously been repaired by the incomparable Kevan Budd. One third of the tape sounded amazing, and the last third sounded very good. This is Elvis’s original tape I’m talking about, used for this upgrade. I think they used Carl Perkins’s copy for the original release, but I have to check that out to be sure. You see, they all got a copy each. It is possible that more was recorded that day. If so, it’s in the possesion of Sam’s family, or whoever he might have given his tape to.

Per

#315895

thekingisalive wrote:It is possible that more was recorded that day.

Based on what? Mr. Budd tell you that?

thekingisalive · #315899

For what it’s worth, I don’t think more was recorded that day, but I wasn’t there, so I can’t be sure. On the other hand, why would Sam give Elvis and the other guys incomplete copies? Logic supports that he gave them what they recorded that day, no more, no less.

Did Ernst mention something about Elvis’s tape being slightly longer than the one they had from before? Do you recall anything about that, Doc?

Per

#315944

Anything is possible. There could be a whole other reel of tape.

Why would they not release it and not tell us?

Perhaps the first reel is terrible quality. Perhaps everyone is off mic.

I am only speculating but something doesn't seem right about this.

Reports have it that this session went on for 2-3 hours.

If so, that would mean that Sam took at least an hour to turn the tape recorder on.

Is that likely?

#315969

Maybe Sam kept a reel for himself. It could be in an attic or storage somewhere that no one even knows about.

Of course this is all speculation, but anything is possible.

RKS

#316035

If you have seen pictures of Sam in SUN studio the tapes was stacked all over the studio.
It was a big mess,maybe it got rcorded over by accident.
It is still being found undiscovered music on SUN tapes that has survived.

#316239

I have to agree with the above comment that more songs on a tape might be found, although at this point in time it is highly unlikely but I guess we could have said the same things about the alternates of "Thats All Right".

The only reason that I think there might be something out there is for the comments made by that reporter, I think his name is Robert Johnson in the article for the Memphis Press Seminar who reported on this event.

I don't have my album in front of me but I seem to remember that Mr. Johnson claimed that a number of songs were preformed at that session that was never heard on these tapes, I think 'Bluebarry Hill' was one of them.

With that said Mr. Johnson who was a reporter I am assuming does not make a habbit of getting facts in a article wrong, especially if indeed he wrote it the next day!

So how can we explain this? I think this fact does leave the door open, even though it might be a couple inches, for new tapes to be found.

Just my opinoin

Burning Love

#316244

Burning Love wrote:Mr. Johnson ... was a reporter I am assuming does not make a habbit of getting facts in a article wrong, especially if indeed he wrote it the next day! So how can we explain this?

This is the article, IIRC:

Robert Johnson wrote:I never had a better time than yesterday when I dropped in at Sam Phillips' Sun record bedlam on Union and Marshall. It was what you might call a barrel-house of fun. Carl Perkins was in a recording session, and he has one that's going to hit as hard as "Blue Suede Shoes." We're trying to arrange an advance audition for you Memphis fans before the song is released in January. Johnny Cash dropped in. Jerry Lee Lewis was there too, and then Elvis dropped by.

Elvis headed for the piano and started in on "Blueberry Hill." The joint was really rocking before they got through. Elvis is high on Jerry Lee Lewis. "That boy can go," he said. "I think he has a great future ahead of him. He has a different style, and the way he plays piano just gets inside me."

I never saw Elvis more likeable than he was just fooling around with these other fellows who have the same interest as he does. If Sam Phillips had been on his toes, he'd have turned the recorder on when that very unrehearsed but talented bunch go to cutting up on "Blueberry Hill" and a lot of other songs. That quartet could sell a million.

- Memphis Press Scimitar - December 5, 1956

The explanation here is simple -- Johnson was describing the beginning of the session, not the entire event.

The songs cited were likely played when they took the now-famous photos of the guys around the piano, with Elvis seated at the keys. A listen to the fantastic 2006 BMG MDQ CD indicates that Elvis played nothing but guitar -- no piano, giving even more credence to the notion that Johnson's article is speaking of the very begining of the afternoon fun. And it's not unlikely that a few songs went down before Sam began the tapes.

Note also that all Johnson says about Cash is "he dropped in."

Are we done now?

#316251

Can anyone say for certain if Mr. Johnson was questioned about this session years later?

The title, "my isle of golden dreams", amoung several others have always been mentioned. Did these titles come from Mr. Johnson, Johnny Cash, or Jerry Lee perhaps???