You Know, It Don't Have To Be Strictly Country

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You Know, It Don't Have To Be Strictly Country-Volume I
After 38 years, Elvis's voice remains impressive on each track!

-It easily could have been recorded yesterday.

-You'll discover more and more after playing it back.

-The songs I know, sound better and more complete on this cd.

(A few of the first general reactions during a playback session of the master with various Elvis fans)

These are the first 22 amazing tracks collected from private collections of which many for the first time in this shape on CD. These are the acetates which Elvis took home to play-back and agreed to be released!

All tracks have been digitally restored and re-mastered.

These acetates often sounded better & different than what we know and made it to the final release!

Some tracks which appear to be known, are now for the first time in their more complete form. This includes studio talk, count in, left & right channels, longer fade outs or even different lyrics or simply differently sung. Most are in stereo. As happened in the past, some releases only used one channel (This was an easy way to reduce the distortion, but so much got lost!) .The audio difference between tracks is purely the source and the transfer. Some have been transferred on to DAT, others on to regular cassette tapes in the past. Keep in mind that the original acetates are various in playability. Original acetates can only be played a few times (after that the quality gets less.)

We chose for maximum sound quality per track instead of making them similar to each other! In this way you always get the best sound out of very recording.

The basic synopsis for this release: The first masters without dubbing, repairs in their complete form. Unfortunately we don't have every master on acetate of the June and September sessions. So we added some first takes to cover all songs. Also a few tracks of work in progress, a rare chance to hear, a song still being built up to a complete dubbed master. Guide-strings, -horns, -backing vocals, the talking, it's all there!

Something which will strike everybody is, that Elvis's voice remains impressive on each track.

Background information;

It's a public known fact that Elvis regularly disagreed with the released version of the songs.Unluckily, he hardly made his point towards the ones responsible, knowing there were times he was wrong and the song became a hit (In the ghetto, Suspicious minds, Burning love & others)

This cd contains the versions how Elvis liked it! All together a really new kind of release which will make many Elvis fan's happy to hear these rare acetates available in their best possible form. The purist will be happy since no effects have been used to enhance the sound. There are no further copies of acetates available in better sound, only a very few copies were made of each song and most are gone or badly damaged. The acetate lacquer wears out very fast, so every track is really unique.

Note: None of the used versions are included on the recent FTD release of "That's the way it is" or the forthcoming "Love letters from Elvis". Only parts of the acetates, which you can enjoy in full version on this cd are used in the documentary; Elvis "That's way it is".

The cd contains 22 songs with a 20 pages full color booklet having extensive liner notes to guide you through the songs, background info about Elvis' 1970 and explains in detail what an acetate really is. Also why and how it's made.

This is a limited release so we will be able to continue to release in chronologic order, containing the original acetates in best possible condition. 1970 will be a Volume 1 & 2 which will be release a little later this year.

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Quelle: Elvis-Collectors.Com</span>

Da ich aus der wohl legendären Bootleg-Reihe "Pure Diamonds" nur das Volume 4 besitze (was bereits zur Häfte gefaked ist) habe ich bei dieser CD zugegriffen, zumal mir auch das Cover gut gefällt.

Vom Layout her kann die CD überzeugen, auch das Booklet glänzt mit technischen Detailinfos zum Thema Azetat. Vieles von dem, was da steht, war mir persönlich neu. Die Tracks vom Azetat klingen für meine Ohren sauber und angenehm.

Was den Höreindruck und überhaupt den Gesamteindruck dieser CD schmälert (und sie nach einer ersten Euphorie à la "American Way" wieder zu einem Durchschnittsprodukt macht) sind die sogenannten "previously unreleased" Tracks .... für wie blöd werden wir manchmal eigentlich gehalten?

Bsp.: How The Web Was Woven.
Wenn ich meine normale TTWII-CD einlege und an meiner Stereoanlage den linken Kanal rausdrehe, sind die Bläser genauso verschwunden wie auf dieser CD. Mit der gleichen Maßnahme kann ich mit einem Knopfdruck auch die "unveröffentlichten" Versionen von "I'll Never Know" oder "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" zaubern.

Das, liebe Bootlegger, ist Schmuh und zerstört mit einem Mal den kompletten Eindruck einer ansonsten gut gemachten CD.

Mittlerweile habe ich mal die "Pure Diamonds, Vol. 4" zum Vergleich eingelegt und es stellen sich mir zwei wesentliche Fragen:

1. Warum haben die Macher dieser CD nicht den Azetat-Master von "The Fool" und den Azetat-Master von "How The Web Was Woven" von dieser CD genommen
2. Sie haben sich stattdessen für den Take 1 von "The Fool" und eine Fake-Version von "How The Web Was Woven" entschieden, obwohl die Azetate vorhanden und somit verwendbar gewesen wären. Wo bleibt da die Konsequenz zum Untertitel "The Ultimate Acetate Collection"

Alles in allem also mehrere schwerwiegende Fehler, die die großspurige Behauptung "We know this is a historical release which will be an addition to the recent release of "THAT'S THE WAY IT IS" and the future release of "ELVIS COUNTRY, LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS" by FTD" nicht mehr rechtfertigen können.

Schade eigentlich, denn in der Tat hätte ich diese CD-Sammlung als essentielle Ergänzung zu den Nashville-Sessions angesehen, wenn, ja wenn sie denn konsequent, stringent und ehrlich produziert worden wäre. So bleiben für den bisher wohlwollenden Hörer Fragezeichen und Zweifel ob der Authenzität des akustischen wie editorialen Inhalts.

EDIT: Zumindest teilweise schrottiger Sound.

...ich denke ich werde diese CD mal auslassen da ich ja die "PURE DIAMONDS" serie in der sammlung habe !!