That's The Way It Is deluxe Box Set - First Impression

[Kylan]

I came to check back to see if there are any interesting observations about the material. Guess we are still arguing back and forth about board neatness. Silly me.

[Matthew]

I came to check back to see if there are any interesting observations about the material. Guess we are still arguing back and forth about board neatness. Silly me.

One day you'll craft a post that actually contributes something to a discussion.

[Johnny2523]

Okay here we go...
When it arrived in my mail 2 days ago i was so excited (you couldn't believe it) opening that big box where this LP sized box was stored in was like taking candy from a christmas tree.

The big black box with that stunning photo was the first thing that hit me, While it's nothing fany it's a great photo of elvis on a slick black backround
turning it around and reading all the info was fantastic... i mean i knew what was gonna be on there, but just seeying the tracklist with that black/and white photo of elvis next to it was just.. cool !
I Ripped all the cd's to my External harddrive immidiatly (In Wav and in Flac) While i didnt check the original album yet, the outtakes where great, and can you believe this was the first time i heard this funky rehearsal of ''bridge'' just before take 1 starts? Those outtakes where great to hear.
now to the shows.. The sound is simply stunning, clear as a whistle, the band has punch!, and the strings and trumpets.... every instrument comes together well. The same thing counting for elvis voice!!!, The only thing i noticed is that charlie hodge seems to be gone from the mix (you can hear him during some jokes). However the rest is perfect outside of a few edits here and there everything moves smoothly, and everything sounds like it was recorded yesterday. Just today i got done with the last show. and wow.. i love it honestly! this is gonna hit the play button alot of times. Yesterday i read the booklet, Great photo's and a great essay, the quotes on a number of pages by elvis his band, his daughter and the writers of the songs is simply great to read! Especially the latter one!.

How would i rate it 1 out of 10... hmmm. an 8.
Why an 8?.. The edits that where made, where unnecesarry.. The broken microphone sequence for example.. It was actually funny elvis testing all the microphones with ''Hello?... hello??..Hello??..hello?'' ''Ah in 1956 I....'' Sweets laughging... YET IT DOESN'T APPEAR HERE! now it's this way... ''I made my first movie...''' Sweets Laughing....
The joke doesnt really make sence.. what are the sweet inspirations laughing about??? The only way to find that out is to watch the original 1970 movie..
Charlie is removed and while i don't really mind it.. It's just weird not having him there.. also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.
The rehearsals don't seem to be any different then on the boxes they where released before.. aka they appear in the same sound. The fades don't work for me.. it takes the ''flow'' away
okay final.. The DVD's appear the same as they did in 2007. The same menu, the same content.. and NOT the newly remastered outtakes that are gonna be on the bluray..ironically released next week.

Verdict:
It's a great set, to have all 6 shows in multi-track in a crystal clear sound is perfect.. However the above mentioned negatives kind of take away from hitting a 10..
The booklet is greatly designed, the DVD's are useless.. why? next week we are getting a bluray with the newly remastered outtakes of the master takes.. both collector and general public would need to buy the new bluray to be able to see the better looking outtakes ( I don't know what they will think seeying the VHS-Like quality on this set ).
Anyhow.. It's a great set with it's limitations.. but i still love it. It's elvis in his prime.. elvis in 1970.. you can't go wrong with that!

[Kylan]

Thanks for the observations getting mine tomorrow. And I'm going straight to the sublime Polk Salad on the August 12 midnight. If it gives me that high sonically then ill know I'm all in for the set. Hope it won't disappoint.

[Matthew]

Sorry to hear the outtakes haven't even be edited to flow as a sequence, and merely flown in from previous, old mastering efforts.

It's a very poorly compiled disc anyway, with little in the way of rehearsal representation present.

Incidentally I put on my The Way It Was FTD last night, been a long time. What a neat little overview that disc is, with the excellent and highly enjoyable I Just Can't Help Believin' rehearsal.

If only more key rehearsal moments like this had been utilised for the new set.

[drjohncarpenter]

Okay here we go...
When it arrived in my mail 2 days ago i was so excited (you couldn't believe it) opening that big box where this LP sized box was stored in was like taking candy from a christmas tree.

The big black box with that stunning photo was the first thing that hit me, While it's nothing fany it's a great photo of elvis on a slick black backround
turning it around and reading all the info was fantastic... i mean i knew what was gonna be on there, but just seeying the tracklist with that black/and white photo of elvis next to it was just.. cool !
I Ripped all the cd's to my External harddrive immidiatly (In Wav and in Flac) While i didnt check the original album yet, the outtakes where great, and can you believe this was the first time i heard this funky rehearsal of ''bridge'' just before take 1 starts? Those outtakes where great to hear.
now to the shows.. The sound is simply stunning, clear as a whistle, the band has punch!, and the strings and trumpets.... every instrument comes together well. The same thing counting for elvis voice!!!, The only thing i noticed is that charlie hodge seems to be gone from the mix (you can hear him during some jokes). However the rest is perfect outside of a few edits here and there everything moves smoothly, and everything sounds like it was recorded yesterday. Just today i got done with the last show. and wow.. i love it honestly! this is gonna hit the play button alot of times. Yesterday i read the booklet, Great photo's and a great essay, the quotes on a number of pages by elvis his band, his daughter and the writers of the songs is simply great to read! Especially the latter one!.

How would i rate it 1 out of 10... hmmm. an 8.
Why an 8?.. The edits that where made, where unnecesarry.. The broken microphone sequence for example.. It was actually funny elvis testing all the microphones with ''Hello?... hello??..Hello??..hello?'' ''Ah in 1956 I....'' Sweets laughging... YET IT DOESN'T APPEAR HERE! now it's this way... ''I made my first movie...''' Sweets Laughing....
The joke doesnt really make sence.. what are the sweet inspirations laughing about??? The only way to find that out is to watch the original 1970 movie..
Charlie is removed and while i don't really mind it.. It's just weird not having him there.. also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.
The rehearsals don't seem to be any different then on the boxes they where released before.. aka they appear in the same sound. The fades don't work for me.. it takes the ''flow'' away
okay final.. The DVD's appear the same as they did in 2007. The same menu, the same content.. and NOT the newly remastered outtakes that are gonna be on the bluray..ironically released next week.

Verdict:
It's a great set, to have all 6 shows in multi-track in a crystal clear sound is perfect.. However the above mentioned negatives kind of take away from hitting a 10..
The booklet is greatly designed, the DVD's are useless.. why? next week we are getting a bluray with the newly remastered outtakes of the master takes.. both collector and general public would need to buy the new bluray to be able to see the better looking outtakes ( I don't know what they will think seeying the VHS-Like quality on this set ).
Anyhow.. It's a great set with it's limitations.. but i still love it. It's elvis in his prime.. elvis in 1970.. you can't go wrong with that!

It would seem pretty obvious that several minutes of Elvis going "hello ... hello ... hello ..." is unacceptable for an official audio release of the concert. It is a VISUAL moment, and that is why it was necessarily removed.

[RKSNASHVILLE]

There are numerous VISUAL moments in Elvis concerts over the years - did they delete them all from the CD releases? There are several times when we hear Elvis saying things in concert that we will never see and wonder what he is doing.

The "hello...hello...hello" segment is actually understandable even if you've never seen the original movie. Just by listening, you can tell he is having microphone trouble. What they've done on the new release is make it totally out of context by editing it. You don't know what all the laughing by the 'Sweets' is all about or why Elvis says "I'm gonna have the Supremes in here tomorrow night".

Totally Un-necessary editing.




RKS

[drjohncarpenter]

There are numerous VISUAL moments in Elvis concerts over the years - did they delete them all from the CD releases? There are several times when we hear Elvis saying things in concert that we will never see and wonder what he is doing.

The "hello...hello...hello" segment is actually understandable even if you've never seen the original movie. Just by listening, you can tell he is having microphone trouble. What they've done on the new release is make it totally out of context by editing it. You don't know what all the laughing by the 'Sweets' is all about or why Elvis says "I'm gonna have the Supremes in here tomorrow night".

Totally Un-necessary editing.




RKS

What a shame someone of your talents is not a mastering engineer for Sony/RCA.

[L Ray]

There are numerous VISUAL moments in Elvis concerts over the years - did they delete them all from the CD releases? There are several times when we hear Elvis saying things in concert that we will never see and wonder what he is doing.

The "hello...hello...hello" segment is actually understandable even if you've never seen the original movie. Just by listening, you can tell he is having microphone trouble. What they've done on the new release is make it totally out of context by editing it. You don't know what all the laughing by the 'Sweets' is all about or why Elvis says "I'm gonna have the Supremes in here tomorrow night".

Totally Un-necessary editing.




RKS

Totally agree.

[Matthew]

It would seem pretty obvious that several minutes of Elvis going "hello ... hello ... hello ..." is unacceptable for an official audio release of the concert. It is a VISUAL moment, and that is why it was necessarily removed.

I don't agree with this, not this particular element of the audio.

For example, the laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment has been issued as audio only, with no context. We fans know it from the movie, but audio only, who knows what's going on there? Or what about the "this is my first guitar. What you laughing at, I was little!" gag?

So no, I do not feel that editing out the microphone sequence, probably the most legible of all three situations, was a necessity here.

[King Volcano]

It would seem pretty obvious that several minutes of Elvis going "hello ... hello ... hello ..." is unacceptable for an official audio release of the concert. It is a VISUAL moment, and that is why it was necessarily removed.

I don't agree with this, not this particular element of the audio.

For example, the laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment has been issued as audio only, with no context. We fans know it from the movie, but audio only, who knows what's going on there? Or what about the "this is my first guitar. What you laughing at, I was little!" gag?

So no, I do not feel that editing out the microphone sequence, probably the most legible of all three situations, was a necessity here.

I agree Matthew. The Jack in the Box occurance is present on audio CD on this new set, as is the "I have to talk for a minute, there's a problem with the drums" occurrance, followed by several moments of metallic bangs & crashes, waffle, and strange noises as someone fixes them. I am glad this stuff is there, it's more historically interesting to me than the kissing sequences, although they are fine to be there too IMO.

So it seems arbitrary & odd to remove the microphone problem. It's a bit like when FTD remove cussing from one release then leave it in others.

[RKSNASHVILLE]

RKSNASHVILLE wrote:
There are numerous VISUAL moments in Elvis concerts over the years - did they delete them all from the CD releases? There are several times when we hear Elvis saying things in concert that we will never see and wonder what he is doing.

The "hello...hello...hello" segment is actually understandable even if you've never seen the original movie. Just by listening, you can tell he is having microphone trouble. What they've done on the new release is make it totally out of context by editing it. You don't know what all the laughing by the 'Sweets' is all about or why Elvis says "I'm gonna have the Supremes in here tomorrow night".

Totally Un-necessary editing.




RKS

drjohncarpente wrote:

What a shame someone of your talents is not a mastering engineer for Sony/RCA.

Why must you always make snide comments? I guess this is all you have to offer when you are proven wrong yet again.





Matthew wrote:

I don't agree with this, not this particular element of the audio. For example, the laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment has been issued as audio only, with no context. We fans know it from the movie, but audio only, who knows what's going on there? Or what about the "this is my first guitar. What you laughing at, I was little!" gag?

So no, I do not feel that editing out the microphone sequence, probably the most legible of all three situations, was a necessity here.

L Ray wrote:

I agree Matthew. The Jack in the Box occurance is present on audio CD on this new set, as is the "I have to talk for a minute, there's a problem with the drums" occurrance, followed by several moments of metallic bangs & crashes, waffle, and strange noises as someone fixes them. I am glad this stuff is there, it's more historically interesting to me than the kissing sequences, although they are fine to be there too IMO.

So it seems arbitrary & odd to remove the microphone problem. It's a bit like when FTD remove cussing from one release then leave it in others.

Great examples, L Ray and Matthew! Thanks!



RKS

[Fabbe]

...
Charlie is removed ... also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.

Is that really so???

[drjohncarpenter]

Why must you always make snide comments? I guess this is all you have to offer when you are proven wrong yet again.

Ironic.

[drjohncarpenter]

It would seem pretty obvious that several minutes of Elvis going "hello ... hello ... hello ..." is unacceptable for an official audio release of the concert. It is a VISUAL moment, and that is why it was necessarily removed.

I don't agree with this, not this particular element of the audio.

For example, the laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment has been issued as audio only, with no context.

Since you bring it up, please tell us the time differential between this "laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment" (which I do not recall), and the entire sequence of Presley grabbing mic after mic, walking back and forth to Charlie Hodge, testing out one after the other, throwing several aside, grunting and groaning, and finally coming up with one that works.

A betting man would believe the latter sequence as much, much longer. And anyone programming a major box release would be extremely foolish to believe that such a sequence would be acceptable, let alone approved by corporate.

Sometimes, being a hard core fan is a good thing. In this case, given the arguments to preserve this non-musical example, it is a bad thing.

[Johnny2523]

...
Charlie is removed ... also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.

Is that really so???

Yes it is

[promiseland]

Other music forums moderate duplicate discussion threads, trying to keep the forum clean and the discussion focus into a single thread.

I like that.

Then why waste your time posting on this one - you must have seen the subject heading. I can see various duplicate postings on TTWII Blu Ray. Pity the poor person who started the second one. It happens - it's not a hanging offence is it.

Nope luckily it only carries a 6 year sentence and 5 years probation.

[Johnny2523]

It would seem pretty obvious that several minutes of Elvis going "hello ... hello ... hello ..." is unacceptable for an official audio release of the concert. It is a VISUAL moment, and that is why it was necessarily removed.

I don't agree with this, not this particular element of the audio.

For example, the laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment has been issued as audio only, with no context.

Since you bring it up, please tell us the time differential between this "laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment" (which I do not recall), and the entire sequence of Presley grabbing mic after mic, walking back and forth to Charlie Hodge, testing out one after the other, throwing several aside, grunting and groaning, and finally coming up with one that works.

Because the whole joke now sounds out of place and doesnt make sence, once you listen to the show.
Especially when those who know.. watch the original movie (which is included on a dvd) watch that sequence.. think hey lets listen to that show.. just to find out that part was removed.
They promote ''Complete Shows'' sorry but you can't call them complete shows if you remove stuff..
Bottom line.. this edit was unneccesary.. and tears a whole joke out of place.

[Fabbe]

...
Charlie is removed ... also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.

Is that really so???

Yes it is

Thanks for answering.

Interesting - I wonder why Charlie and references to him were removed entirely.

[epf]

...
Charlie is removed ... also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.

Is that really so???

Yes it is

Thanks for answering.

Interesting - I wonder why Charlie and references to him were removed entirely.

The continious revising of the Elvis saga and different impressions keep it interesting, that is for sure.

[Johnny2523]

...
Charlie is removed ... also the ''sing it charlie'' line during don't cry daddy seems to have vanished.

Is that really so???

Yes it is

Thanks for answering.

Interesting - I wonder why Charlie and references to him were removed entirely.

Here you can hear the new audio.
..

[Matthew]

Since you bring it up, please tell us the time differential between this "laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment" (which I do not recall), and the entire sequence of Presley grabbing mic after mic, walking back and forth to Charlie Hodge, testing out one after the other, throwing several aside, grunting and groaning, and finally coming up with one that works.

A betting man would believe the latter sequence as much, much longer. And anyone programming a major box release would be extremely foolish to believe that such a sequence would be acceptable, let alone approved by corporate.

Sometimes, being a hard core fan is a good thing. In this case, given the arguments to preserve this non-musical example, it is a bad thing.

Time differential? Ha, clutching at straws.

You never heard the laughing toy sequence? It's in the film too, whatever the toy is.

It's nice you disagree on this point and feel the need to jump to the defence of another Ernst led product, and you're welcome to it. Sometimes you're onto something and I'm fully behind it.

But really, with so many other "what's happening here" moments on official live releases, removing such a known sequence from the audio is just silly. It could be on there with its own track title, like we've had "Elvis talks" in the past, "Mic troubles", or whatever.

Anyway, it's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but a silly waste of studio time for something so inconsequential.

Actually, it's interesting you mention Charlie Hodge, there does seem to be a conspiracy against the man on these new releases!

[chesay7]

I am all for having concerts edited to improve the listening experience. Having the microphone problem edited out make perfect sense. I do not understand the obsession some people have completeness.

[drjohncarpenter]

Since you bring it up, please tell us the time differential between this "laughing Jack-in-the-Box moment" (which I do not recall), and the entire sequence of Presley grabbing mic after mic, walking back and forth to Charlie Hodge, testing out one after the other, throwing several aside, grunting and groaning, and finally coming up with one that works.

A betting man would believe the latter sequence as much, much longer. And anyone programming a major box release would be extremely foolish to believe that such a sequence would be acceptable, let alone approved by corporate.

Sometimes, being a hard core fan is a good thing. In this case, given the arguments to preserve this non-musical example, it is a bad thing.

Time differential? Ha, clutching at straws.

The point you avoid with your derisive reply is that three to five minutes of Elvis doing microphone checks has no place on an official release. Period. It has nothing to do with "defending" anyone associated with the product, it's simply COMMON SENSE. And again, there is apparently someone at Sony who auditions most every Presley disc, and would no doubt veto any such inclusion. That is another reason it doesn't make it to retail.

[Matthew]

The point you avoid with your derisive reply is that three to five minutes of Elvis doing microphone checks has no place on an official release. Period.

Revisiting the scene in question, we discover the time is way, way shorter, about a minute and a half. Indeed, it is perfectly legible what's going on, and the humour translates very well, ignoring the video and just listening to the audio:

..

Even if the lead up to this point on the audio tape runs longer, it is quite obvious that editing out the entire sequence was completely unnecessary, and we actually loose a humorous little element of the show.

Oh well.