Tuesday, November 12, 2013

November 12 - Follow That Straight Arrow Announcement

As part of its classic album series, the Follow That Dream collectors label announced the release of Elvis’ last official studio album during his lifetime, "Moody Blue". Taken from the original session multi-tracks, it features the masters, unreleased outtakes, rough mixes and un-dubbed songs. The 16-page booklet 4-color booklet contains very rare memorabilia and photographs. The CD is compiled by Jean-Marc Juilland and mastered by Jean-Marc Juilland and Vic Anesini.

Details “Moody Blue” (2CD): Disc 1 - The Album 
01. Unchained Melody 02. If You Love Me (Let me know) 03. Little Darlin¹ 04. He¹ll Have To Go 05. Let Me Be There 06. Way Down 07. Pledging My Love 08. Moody Blue 09. She Thinks I Still Care 10. It¹s Easy For You 

The Alternate Album
11. Unchained Melody - undubbed master 12 .If You Love Me (Let Me Know) - undubbed master 13. Moody Blue - take 6 14. She Thinks I Still Care - take 2B 15. My Way (live) 16. Way Down - undubbed master 17. Little Darlin¹ - undubbed master 18. He¹ll Have To Go - rough mix 19. Pledging My Love - composite of rehearsal and take 3 20. It¹s Easy For You - take 1 

Bonus tracks
21. She Thinks I Still Care - takes 1, 2A 22. America The Beautiful 23. Softly As I Leave You

Disc 2: The Sessions
01. Way Down - rehearsal, take 1 02. Way Down - take 2A 03. She Thinks I Still Care - takes 3,4 04. Moody Blue - take 1 05. Pledging My Love - takes 1,2 06. Pledging My Love - take 3 07. It¹s Easy For You - takes 3,4 08. It¹s Easy For You - undubbed master 09. She Thinks I Still Care - takes 7,9 10. She Thinks I Still Care - take 10 11. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain - unedited rough mix of master 12. Moody Blue - takes 7,5 13. Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall - rough mix of master 14. Pledging My Love - takes 4-5 15. Pledging My Love - undubbed, unedited master 16. Way Down - take 2B 17. Way Down - rough mix of master 18. Moody Blue - takes 8,9 19. Moody Blue - master unedited rough mix 20. She Thinks I Still Care - take 15 21. America - composite of single master and the surviving ending of the erased studio version 

Elvis At American Sound Studio

Following on from the success of the FTD Collector's label Classic Album versions of "From Elvis From Memphis" and "Back In Memphis", FTD presents the remaining recordings from his legendary sessions at American Sound in Memphis recorded in1969. Finally, these great tracks are issued as a stand-alone album with unreleased outtakes, un-dubbed versions and instrumentals. "Elvis at Amerian Sound Studio" completes the 69 Memphis trilogy, and fittingly gets the FTD Classic Album  treatment to complement the other two releases. Mixed and mastered by Sebastain Jeansson and Vic Annesini 

Details: Elvis At American Sound Studio - Disc 1
01 Kentucky Rain (3:17) 02 I¹ll Be There (2:26) 03 Mama Liked The Roses (2:41) 04 If I¹m A Fool (For Loving You) (2:46) 05 Don¹t Cry Daddy (2:51) 06 Rubberneckin¹ (2:15) 07 Hey Jude (4:31) 08 My Little Friend (2:53) 09 Who Am I? (3:25) Bonus track 10 Memory Revival - instrumental (4:05) 

First takes
11 Kentucky Rain - takes 1, 2, 3 (7:15) 12 I¹ll Be There - takes 1, 2, 3/M (4:40) 13 If I¹m A Fool (For Loving You) - takes 1, 2, 3 (5:56) 14 Rubberneckin¹ - takes 1, 2/M (2:51)

January Outtakes
15 Come Out, Come Out (Wherever You Are) - instrumental take 2/M (2:47) 16 You¹ll Think Of Me - take 7 (4:51) 17 Poor Man¹s Gold - take 12/M with abandoned vocal overdub (3:38) 18 Mama Liked The Roses - track with alternate vocal overdub (2:30) 19 In The Ghetto - take 19 (3:08) 20 Hey Jude - take 1 (4:45) 21 I¹ll Be There - takes 4, 5, 6 (3:15)

Disc 2 February Outtakes
01 It¹s My Way / This Time / I Can¹t Stop Loving You - jam (3:52) 02 True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - take 5 (3:01) 03 Do You Know Who I Am? - takes 3, 5 (6:59) 04 Kentucky Rain - takes 5, 6, 7 (6:06) 05 Kentucky Rain - take 8 (3:57) 06 Kentucky Rain - take 9 (3:58) 07 Only The Strong Survive - takes 8, 11, 12 (5:55) 08 Any Day Now - takes 5, 6/M (5:46)

Unfinished Masters
09 Long Black Limousine - take 9/M with vocal repairs (4:42) 10 Don¹t Cry Daddy- take 3/M with vocal overdub (3:04) 11 Mama Liked The Roses - track with vocal overdub (3:22) 12 My Little Friend - track with vocal overdub (3:11) 13 Hey Jude - takes 3, 5, 6, 7/M (6:27) 14 I¹ll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms) - take 1/M (4:37) 15 Kentucky Rain - take 10/M (4:19) 16 If I¹m A Fool (For Loving You) - takes 6, 7, 8, 9/M (6:47) 17 Who Am I? - undubbed master (3:27) 

The vinyl version of From Elvis In Memphis is postponed until January 2014.

Chasing A Dream

Straight Arrow has announced a new 2CD release; "Living From Day To Day, Chasing A Dream (From „booth tapes“ Vol. 1)". This release contains both the Dinner and Midnight Shows in Las Vegas on February 22, 1973. In addition there’s included parts of the Dinner Show on February 21. 

  • February 22, 1973 DS: Only available on a bad sounding cdr Across The Ocean (wrongly dated Feb 23, 1973 DS)
  • February 22, 1973 MS: Already released on Back in The Desert (2012) but a far inferior source compared to here
  • February 21, 1973 DS (almost complete.... bonus tracks): Unreleased in any form.

From the label:
The February 22, 1973 D/S and M/S are taken directly from original „booth recording tapes.“ This kind of recordings was made from a„booth“ or table placed at the edge of the stage, close to PA speakers, by someone who was a part of the organization, or who was related to someone inside the Elvis circle. Unlike standard audience recordings, where the recorder had to be hidden in a purse, under the table or under the clothes, often muffling the sound, „booth recordings” were made by someone who was known by Elvis’ security force, and consequently did not have to worry about concealing the recorder / microphone. The sound quality of such tapes is noticeably superior compared to the typical audience recording.

For the February 22, 1973 recordings, a *BASF Chromdioxid C120 hifi Compact  Cassette* was used. The dinner show was recorded on the A-side and the Midnight show on the B-side. The February 22, 1973 D/S is previously unreleased. There is a bad sounding version taken from a different source tape in circulation, wrongly dated as the February 23, 1973 Dinner show.

The February 22, 1973 M/S was released (by the "Showroom“" label, „Back In The Desert“ CD, 2012) from an inferior audience recorded source. This CD has nothing to do with Straight Arrow’s „booth tape“ version. Unfortunately, the person who recorded Feb. 22, 1973 M/S stopped his recorder during Jackie Kahane‘s pre-program and switched it on only near the end of „C. C. Rider.“ Instead of splicing the „booth tape“ with the substandard audience recorded version of the same show, we decided to use another „booth tape“ from our vaults – the February 21, 1973 Dinner Show (recorded by same person as the Feb. 22 shows) to fill the missing part. This „booth tape“, although of very good sound quality, was badly damaged after the song „Suspicious Minds“ (impossible to repair) and is thus not suitable for individual release. We have decided to add all usable part as a bonus for both discs, with no edits. Note: only „What Now My Love“ was previously available as a bonus track on our „You Don't Have To Say You Love Me“ CD (2010).

The sound was transferred using standard 24-bit processing and professional Tascam equipment. Every second was digitally restored to achieve optimal listening pleasure. We hope you enjoy the results. Digitally remastered in November 2013

Track list:
CD1 - Thursday, February 22, 1973 Dinner Show; 01. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra, 02. C. C. Rider, 03. I Got A Woman / Amen, 04. Love Me Tender (with false start), 05. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, 06. Steamroller Blues, 07. You Gave Me A Mountain, 08. Fever / I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen (one line), 09. Love Me, 10. Blue Suede Shoes, 11. I’m Leavin‘, 12. Hound Dog, 13. What Now My Love, 14. Suspicious Minds, 15. Introduction of vocalists, musicians, orchestra, 16. I’ll Remember You (with false start), 17. I Can’t Stop Loving You, 18. An American Trilogy (with reprise), 19. Can’t Help Falling In Love, 20. Closing Vamp / Announcements / fan chat - Bonus (Wednesday, February 21, 1973 Dinner Show): 21. I Got A Woman / Amen, 22. Love Me Tender (with false start), 23. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, 24. Steamroller Blues, 25. You Gave Me A Mountain, 26. Fever

CD2 - Thursday, February 22, 1973 Midnight Show; 01. Part of pre-program by Jackie Kahane, 02. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra*, 03. C. C. Rider (spliced*), 04. I Got A Woman / Amen, 05. Love Me Tender (with false start), 06. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, 07. Steamroller Blues, 08. You Gave Me A Mountain, 09. Fever, 10. Love Me, 11. Blue Suede Shoes, 12. I’m Leavin‘, 13. Hound Dog, 14. What Now My Love, 15. Suspicious Minds, 16. Introduction of vocalists, musicians, orchestra, 17. I’ll Remember You, 18. I Can’t Stop Loving You, 19. An American Trilogy, 20. Can’t Help Falling In Love, 21. Closing Vamp / Announcements / fan chat (*taken from February 21, 1973 Dinner Show) - Bonus (Wednesday, February 21, 1973 Dinner Show continues): 22. Love Me, 23. Blue Suede Shoes, 24. I’m Leavin‘, 25. Hound Dog, 26. What Now My Love (with false start and reprise), 27. Suspicious Minds

Susan And Elvis

Scottish singer Susan Boyle premiered the music video for her new single "O Come All Ye Faithful" on Monday. Through new technology, Boyle was able to duet on the Christmas song with the late American superstar Elvis Presley.

Boyle released her new holiday album "Home For Christmas" late last month. Among the tracks on the album, the most hotly anticipated was her duet with Presley on "O Come All Ye Faithful." Now there is music video out for SuBo's latest single.

Since all the proceeds of Boyle's "O Come All Ye Faithful" benefit U.K.'s Save the Children Foundation, kids from a school in Glasgow are mostly featured in the black-and-white clip. They can be seen getting ready to take the stage with Boyle at some sort of recital. One of the children even dresses up like Presley to represent the late King of Rock and Roll. The former "Britain's Got Talent" star belts out "O Come All Ye Faithful" with the children at her side in the heartwarming clip.

Boyle's "Home For Christmas" album was released on October 29 in the U.S.


 (Source: FTD / FECC / Elvis Ad His Music / Cisco)