March 07 - Elvis Forever On FTD CD's?

In the latest issue of 'Elvis The Man & His Music' editor Trevor Cajiao catches up for a long and interesting interview with Ernst Jorgensen. In it Ernst answers questions about the new FTD releases 'Promised Land' and 'Wonderful World Of Christmas' (why the true undubbed 'Merry Christmas Baby' was not included), the odd idea behind the splicing of 'Stage Rehearsal', Legacy releases, FTD books (the fiasco of 'Fashion For A King' "I think the book is important but the mistakes are very annoying") as well as a long discussion on Public Domain releases and the MRS label.
Bad News is the decline in sales for FTD and all CD releases. Ernst says "There is a steady decline on sales of all product, but that's happening in the record business generally. To some extent it's also the same with FTD - no more so on 5" than on 7" - at least only marginally. In the beginning we couldn't see that PD releases and bootlegs affected the sales of our product, but we certainly can now. There is a LOT of product available to the fans, and obviously almost everybody is struggling to keep up. We sell less than half of what we did a few years ago".
On how long FTD will be able to keep releasing live concert soundboards - "A shot from the hip - two to three years? Ask me again then." Good News is Ernst's comments on future releases. 

• On the 1969 Memphis sessions outtakes "of course the material will be made available at some point"
• On Classic Albums - "We will release all the original albums in the 'Classic Albums' format, if we have something to include that makes it worthwhile."
• He also notes that "Elvis In Concert" is in FTD's release plan, although not anywhere in the near future.
• On the Legacy Series - "They sell very well in America - on a completely different level than FTD. The decision on how many more and how much longer is entirely up to the Legacy people. Roger and I just come up with proposals."

Elvis Forever - The Complete Collection

The original 'Elvis Forever' compilation album series will be re-issued on CD through an yet unknown import label in a limited edition of 500 copies. The volumes 3 and 4 were released , the others volumes will be released in April / May 2012. The first two volumes come with a free storage-box for the entire set.

From the press-release:

Released in 1974 the double album 'Elvis Forever' (volume 1) is probably the best-selling Elvis compilation album of all-time (at least in Europe). In Germany 1.000.000 copies were sold within a year of its release, in Finland it became the biggest selling 'greatest hits' album ever, in Belgium it sold more than 270.000 copies and in Holland it was one of the very few Elvis albums that went straight to number 1 on the charts ( in 1974 ). By the end of the 1970's the original 'Forever' album had sold more copies than UK's '40 Greatest', without even being released in the UK or US (more than 5 million copies).

After the huge success of 'Forever volume 1', RCA decided in the 1980's to release 4 more volumes in the 'Forever' series. Although they sold well, they never became the huge success of the first volume.

'Elvis Forever Vol.1' was released on CD by RCA as a double CD album and as a single cd album (with 30 tracks instead of the original 32). Volume 2 was also released, in 2 different versions, but both editions contained only 31 tracks and not 32. The CD version of Elvis Forever Vol. 2 with the original album cover (released in Holland) is almost unfindable these days, and the CD version promoting the 'Elvis Eau De Toilette' (only released in Germany with a totally different cover) is also a rarity.

All the other volumes in the 'Forever' series are unreleased on CD - Until now! We are very proud to announce the complete collection of original 'Elvis Forever' albums on fabric silver pressed cds (Not CDRs). Housed in stunning 3 panel digipacks with original album artwork, each 'Forever' volume contains 2 discs with the 32 original album tracks plus a bonus disc with rare and hard to find recordings (some tracks are even unreleased on official CD releases). With a total of 50 rare bonus tracks, this collection of 5 double-albums has a total of 210 tracks! A massive and ultimate Elvis collection!!

But there's more. When you buy Elvis Forever Volumes 3 and 4, you'll receive a free stunning cardboard storage box, so when you have collected the complete series you can storage them all in one beautiful box! So start your amazing 'Elvis Forever' collection today!


Elvis - The Official Collector's Edition


Volume 5 in the "Elvis - The Official Collector's Edition" series was released by De Agostini in Germany. This time the set consists of a 28-page magazine, the DVD "Double Trouble" and memorabilia reproductions.


(Source: Elvis Information network / Elvis The Man And His Music)