50 Years, 50 Albums: Cutting The Catalogue

[minkahed]

Peter, your post and choice of album reconfigurations was excellent!!!

Thanks for the time and effort you put into it.

I really like your tracklisting for the MY WAY Anthology...

[Keith Richards, Jr.]

The sad thing is that this discussion is kind of pointless. It's very unlikely that BMG will change their minds. Ernst has stated that in order to get Elvis albums in stores, it has to be new albums - old titles just doesn't show up there. Most stores orders new titles and forget about the old ones. That's why BMG release new love and Christmas compilations every goddamn year. Plus, of course, the market for CDs is not going to grow, exactly. In a couple of years, dowloading will be the name of the game, and we will be lucky if we get any new CDs at all.

God Bless FTD!

Keith Richards, Jr.

[buddy holly]

...I never bought the 99 upgrades. That's because some of these looked like two albums on one Cd but not quite. It didn't make sense to me and still doesn't...

Your loss, buddy holly.

But otherwise the '99 reissues (plus 2000's Promised Land and Elvis Country, etc.) were top notch in quality and value.

Why? Still don't see why I needed them when already owning the Elvis in the 90's series. Off course the sound upgrade could be a reason but then I want every master upgraded. The 99 upgrades have quite some albums that look like 2 albums on 1 Cd but in fact aren't. To me that made me wonder how to get the missing songs upgraded. Being a completist (for the masters that is) I want them all upgraded. When that's not likely to happen I don't buy them at all. At least Elvis in the 90's was complete.

I did buy the Kevan Budd remasters though, just hoping to get all the 50's masters remastered. That hope is already gone since I haven't heard anything about upcoming remasters.

[familyjules]

Speaking of albums such as Tommorrow is a long time and Burning Love I do hope that Ernst one day will make a CD with the 1971 recordings (except the xmas and gospel tunes). That would make more sense than Elvis Now and Elvis (Fool).

I'm of the opinion that Ernst intended to do this, but then got the rug pulled out from under him when the decision was made to pull the plug on the album upgrade program in order to streamline the catalogue. I feel a secular '71 project is long overdue, and preference should be given to such a project rather than another, ahem, 'historical' concert along the lines of Closing Night.

But doesn't the fact that Burning Love used a couple of 1971 masters to bolster up the 1972 material suggest that a 1971 set wan't being planned?

Jules

[familyjules]

Peter, your post and choice of album reconfigurations was excellent!!!

I agree. Well done that man!

Jules

[Mike DK]

familyjules;

You are right and in my opinion it was a bad decision to include the two 1971 songs on the Burning Love CD. And even though I hope we will someday get a secular 1971 CD I don't think it will ever happen. However, if/when we get the FTD release of Elvis Now and the Fool album we can always make a secular 1971 CD of our own on a cd-r with great sound (although its not quite the same as having one "officially").

[familyjules]

familyjules;

You are right and in my opinion it was a bad decision to include the two 1971 songs on the Burning Love CD. And even though I hope we will someday get a secular 1971 CD I don't think it will ever happen. However, if/when we get the FTD release of Elvis Now and the Fool album we can always make a secular 1971 CD of our own on a cd-r with great sound (although its not quite the same as having one "officially").

Totally agree about Burning Love, and I plan to make my own 1971 comp too!

I know what you mean about them not being official, but there is something nice about homemade compilations - it's that feeling that you got to make an album the way you wanted.....

Jules

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Why? Still don't see why I needed them when already owning the Elvis in the 90's series. Off course the sound upgrade could be a reason but then I want every master upgraded. The 99 upgrades have quite some albums that look like 2 albums on 1 Cd but in fact aren't. To me that made me wonder how to get the missing songs upgraded. Being a completist (for the masters that is) I want them all upgraded. When that's not likely to happen I don't buy them at all. At least Elvis in the 90's was complete.

I did buy the Kevan Budd remasters though, just hoping to get all the 50's masters remastered. That hope is already gone since I haven't heard anything about upcoming remasters.

What is this "Elvis in the '90's" that you keep referring to? The decade boxsets? The "Promised Land" of 2000, to cite another, is a full album plus most of another, and was done later than the '70s box, to cite one example. Be it "Pot Luck" or "Something for Everybody" or "From Elvis in Memphis," all of these offered bonus material and a running time that superceded the original time. Quite a value in fact.

If you don't care for the better sound, than you are rather alone on that, as the advances come regularly. But I see you have gone for the recent Kevan Budd versions...

And besides, in this era of internet sites where you just plug in the price you're willing to pay for whatever condition, one can easily sit back and buy any of these beauties at half-price when they come available, to say nothing of used record stores.

I do have to admit I used to like the compactness of the boxsets, and resented (briefly)the idea that the '99 single albums existed. This being the site it is, in a little time, I wanted these too.

Nice work, Peter, by the way. I will read this in full later.

[buddy holly]

What is this "Elvis in the '90's" that you keep referring to? The decade boxsets?

No, (almost) all the original albums released on Cd in the late eighties / early nineties (don't knwo exactly). These had a small white sticker with black logo and printing Elvis in the 90's.

[familyjules]

No, (almost) all the original albums released on Cd in the late eighties / early nineties (don't knwo exactly). These had a small white sticker with black logo and printing Elvis in the 90's.

I have a few of those and I gotta say that subsequent Elvis CDs make that series of issues sound like they have a veil over the sound. They really sound pretty bad next to more recently mastered CDs.

Jules

[buddy holly]

They really sound pretty bad next to more recently mastered CDs.

Maybe but is the difference that big that you have to buy all the remasters again, especially when some albums are only partially re-released on other albums?

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

What is this "Elvis in the '90's" that you keep referring to? The decade boxsets?

No, (almost) all the original albums released on Cd in the late eighties / early nineties (don't knwo exactly). These had a small white sticker with black logo and printing Elvis in the 90's.

Oh, those. A lot of those have been supplanted, but some not. I still have that 1973 "Elvis" and "Raised On Rock" for example.

But the original PROMISED LAND cd? Long gone! Traded it in when I bought the follow-up, used with bonus track from GOOD TIMES.

Alas, because of track issues, I had to keep the latter. And it's nice to have separately.

Nothing easy in BMG land. The concensus here has long been to upgrade whenever the label does, but I can understand some fans saying: "enough!"

That was me - when I was normal.

[buddy holly]

Alas, because of track issues, I had to keep the latter. And it's nice to have separately.

Exactly! So now I'm ready to admit I'm regularly in doubt to buy all the remasters after all (two days ago bought Blue Hawaii) but there's a trace of hope the 2005 remaster campaign will continue or the FTD classic albums will eventually do al the albums.

[midnightx]

Be it "Pot Luck" or "Something for Everybody" or "From Elvis in Memphis," all of these offered bonus material and a running time that superceded the original time. Quite a value in fact.

It depends on how one defines value. Most labels when reissuing titles with bonus material by their legacy artists, actually include some real bonuses. BMG just added extra tracks that were easily available on other releases. Real bonus material would have included alternate takes and out-takes. Look at Miles Davis, The Who and The Byrds reissues for example. They had real bonus tracks, not just additional songs available elsewhere. BMG's release policy with Elvis is a disaster anyway you spin it.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

The running time of a goodly number of those reach up to 50-60 minutes and expanded track listings (singles added, etc.) "Pot Luck," "Something for Everybody," "I'm 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country," "Promised Land," and "Elvis Is Back," from 1999-2000, all had about 18 tracks on a single disc. Not bad for a single album. "Elvis' Golden Records," last issued in '97, had 20 tracks. All had new liner notes (I think by Colin Escott), extra photos, and considerably more appeal than those generic '80s-style first editions.

So do I hear you, but more outtakes have probably been issued by RCA than other artists . Think FTD and boxsets.

We want every scrap!

Other artists' fans ? Not really.

[buddy holly]

Other artists' fans ? Not really.

Weel every snippet of BuddyHolly is also sought after, not just by me. Think about the What You've Been Missin'box set.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Okay, but that's pretty much an exception, and surely doesn't move the product of say, Elvis' boxsets like "Today, Tomorrow and Forever," "Platinum," etc.

Do Frank Sinatra fans like alternates? I doubt it. Fans of the "Doors"? "Crosby, Still and Nash"? The Sex Pistols ? (Were there any? )

Now jazz and blues fans, yes.

I guess RCA/BMG is way out ahead in milking every shred their meal ticket left behind.

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[familyjules]

Do Frank Sinatra fans like alternates? I doubt it. Fans of the "Doors"? "Crosby, Still and Nash"? The Sex Pistols ?

Well I'm a CSN(Y) fan and I'd love some alternates by those guys!

Jules

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Okay, one never knows. The CD era greatly increased the mileage out of such things that previously were taped over or consigned to storage or just the hard-core bootleg market. The early '90s especially were a glory time for that, in hindsight.

This is another reason I mourn the rise of downloading, et. al.
It's taking the financial incentive out of a lot of the re-issue business. I'm just glad Rhino, Hip-O, Legacy, RCA (via FTD), and others still tap into it for now.

[familyjules]

This is another reason I mourn the rise of downloading, et. al.
It's taking the financial incentive out of a lot of the re-issue business. I'm just glad Rhino, Hip-O, Legacy, RCA (via FTD), and others still tap into it for now.

Couldn't agree more.

Jules

[rockinrebel]

Most hard core fans want out takes and live shows. This is not exclusive to Elvis. Dylan and Springsteen fans are arguably just as fanatical, and the desire for material is just the same in bands with a much smaller fan base.

I think The Doors even have their own collectors label too.

And yes the Sex Pistols do have fans and they do buy bootlegs.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

You learn something every day.

Seriously, though: isn't Elvis more alone in seeing his outtakes packaged for mainstream stores? He's out ahead anyway.

[rockinrebel]

Well Bob Dylan has an official ‘bootleg series’ which are issued to mainstream stores, and as others have already pointed out, the Legacy releases often feature out takes. The latest re-issue of The Byrds’ classic “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” had a whole disc of out takes included with it, whilst The Clash’s “London Calling” had a DVD documentary in addition to a disc of out takes, and I’ve seen out takes included on albums by relatively obscure artist like Gene Clark, so they are common feature these days.

[midnightx]

Do Frank Sinatra fans like alternates? I doubt it. Fans of the "Doors"? "Crosby, Still and Nash"? The Sex Pistols ?

Doors fans have been craving for a comprehensive out-takes package. One was supposed to be released a few years back, but the project was pulled. The Doors have a collectors label called Bright Midnight Archives. They have released 3 full-length shows, a rehearsal, a couple of interview discs and radio show, as well as limited edition 4cd boxset of famous & rare live audience recordings compiled by Robby Krieger. The problem with The Doors is that there are nowhere near the outtakes and live shows that exist in the Elvis vaults. They only professionally recorded something like 10 shows and only have a handful of soundboards in the vaults. Bright Midnight Archives was slow for the last couple of years as their long-time manager was ill and he passed away about 6 months ago, but their new management team appears to be promising and a couple vault releases seem imminent. Anyone who is a fan of The Doors and does not know about BMA, at least check out 'Live In Detroit' from 1970, it is a completely smoking show.

[iamhekev]

Instead of putting out a lot of single cds ... why not un updated 50"s set,with outtakes etc on an extra disc?.


Just a view.