The French RDM-Edition record label released the third installment in Elvis’ ‘Mono II Stereo’ series; a double date of ‘For LP Fans Only & A Date with Elvis’, featuring newly created Stereo mixes of the original U.S. albums.
By Rogier van Luyken and Kees Mouwen.
Design
The idea behind the design was to create a completely new cover, not a homage to the original cover art, as done on the first two releases. We understand the logic of the army picture of Elvis at hotel Grunewald, but it isn’t as appealing as the original artwork for the album on this set. The disc is a factory printed black vinyl CDR, the same Sony used for their single boxes.
Interesting to read was David Parker’s essay inside the booklet, detailing the history and business side behind the two original albums. Where we thought that that old Dutch guy did something right keeping Elvis name in the spotlight while abroad serving Uncle Sam, it almost seems like he remained visible despite the Colonel’s efforts …
Content
The new CD features the original ‘For LP Fans Only’ and ‘A Date with Elvis’ compilation albums, featuring (left-over) material originating from SUN, soundtrack material and RCA recordings from the past few years. You could think that this would make these compilation sound a little uneven - perhaps literally as the songs were recorded in various studio’s and equipment and with different musicians, resulting in a different sound - but somehow it works. Not topping the charts like previous LP releases, but steady sellers since the day they were released.
Since both albums have been reviewed over and over, let’s focus on what’s new, the Mono II Stereo Mixes. Looking at the tracklist one might think that - part of - this album is a repetition of previously released mixes, but it isn’t. The producers simply follow the timeline of the original releases, therefore the repetition of some titles is historically inevitable.
But a closer listen reveals that there are some differences, starting with the album opener, ‘That’s All Right’. Contrary to the ‘Elvis at SUN’ set, the producer chose the original dry version for this release, a little stereo gem. Perhaps unintended, but a fitting choice, as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the release of this song this year.
But there is more. In a recent edition of the Golden Years radio show the producer and designer talked about the album. They revealed that ‘Mystery Train’ is a different mix to the one on ‘From Elvis at SUN’. Some fans who heard that version “complained” that it had lost some of its power, so Anthony had another go at it … and you hear the difference. He gave the song a little boost by remixing it with a little more emphasis on the bass, making it sound more powerful. Just play these back-to-back and you’ll hear it. This goes for the other SUN tracks tracks on the CD.
Faron Young’s ‘It’s So Strange’ is another favorite of the producers, and we can understand why. Just listen how clear it sounds; not only Elvis’ voice sounds pristine, but the guitar sounds very clear too. This instrument, just like the piano, is very difficult to isolate from an original Mono source. And listen to the Jordanaires filling in their adlibs in the background, were tastefully mixed into the sound presentation. Another real gem on this release is the great sounding ‘Young And Beautiful’, wow, it blew us away!
As Stuchbury decided to remain as close as possible to the original sound, using all elements from the original source, and not of over-cleaning it. The sound is bright, dynamic and full. Stuchbury managed to breathe some life into the sound quality of these recordings, opening op the audio, and allowing us to experience these classics in a new way. This allows us to hear things we hadn't noticed before. The downside of these mixes is that they also reveal some of the elements which were not played to perfection. Just listen to ‘You’re Right, I’m left You’re Gone’ and ‘You’re a Heartbreaker’, the bass is very low in the mix, almost too subtle for our ears, but you also hear it wasn’t played as a steady basis throughout the song.
He started doing these mixes as he wasn’t happy with the first newly recreated Stereo mixes that appeared around 5 years ago. Investing a little money in “two cans and a piece of string” as he puts it, he managed to create a listening experience that comes pretty close to how it must have sounded in the studio when these classics were originally recorded.
It was not his intention to replace Elvis’ classic Mono recordings, but to try to recreate the original sound of Elvis in the studio. That is what makes these new cleverly reconstructed Stereo Mixes impressive compared to other attempts and worth listening to. Sold for around 15 Euro, there is no reason not to give these new mixes a chance (spoiler: you won’t be disappointed).
Radio DJ Fred van Veen, presenter of the weekly Elvis Extra radio show said about these mixes "If you dare to use your Eustachian tubes on these new stereo versions of many Elvis songs, your ears will vibrate with pleasure ... these stereo mixes are, as far as I'm concerned, a breath of fresh air, with more detail, and a somewhat "lighter" character. And above all: real stereo, nowhere to discover that it was never recorded that way ...".
And despite some discussions on forums, these mixes aren’t all too different from the mixes created by RCA, BMG and Sony over the past 65 years. ‘Love Me Tender’ was mixed to stereo using mono tracks of Elvis’ and the Jordanaires vocals, piano and guitar, panning the latter to the right, Elvis dead center and the nicely in the Jordanaires in the back.
Actually, the first real attempt at a Stereo mix was done in the nineties, as the ‘Electronically Reprocessed Stereo’ versions aren’t really stereo. Stuchbury did the same, only using AI to separate the elements, not to create a mix, that was done by “hand and ear”, using the beforementioned “two cans and a piece of string”. Listening to this CD you hear that this producer understands what Elvis’ sessions were all about and really knows his Elvis recordings.
For us fans, these mixes give add real depth to these classics, while keeping the original sound. Like we said in previous releases, the go to versions at the moment, and a great alternative to the original versions. We don’t know how he did it, but for us he set the standard for these new Stereo mixes.
Conclusion
With the producers already having announced that a next Mono II Stereo CD is due after the summer, one could see this new CD as a sweetener to bridge the time, just like the original albums were when Elvis was in the army. But that wouldn't do justice to the music on this entertaining compilation. It is strong selection of 50’s songs - with the light-weight ‘Poor Boy’ as the exception - in great sound. We would like to state that on this release Anthony has managed to deliver the definitive, to go to masters for ‘Is It So Strange’ and ‘Young And Beautiful’: they both are really beautiful and sound awesome. Let’s hope that Anthony will do more 1957 material for release in the near future!
This CD will certainly blast through our speakers for some time!
