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Elvis For Everyone

By ElvisNews.com/ Lex, October 01, 2014 | Music

FTD released this “classic album” during my holidays and I took the effort to pick it up in Cheadle ;). Was it worth that effort?

Design

As usual the design is nice, the original cover art, but also two alternate covers (Italian and from the UK) on the booklet give us plenty of coverage. All kidding aside, the booklet is informative and well decorated and even tries to explain the weirdest of all compilations.

Content

The original album was already a very strange compilation, nothing more or less than a bunch of leftovers. Well, FTD extended that with more possible leftovers from the time (1965) on the first disc. They are the bonus songs.

Disc two contains, as often, the outtakes… but not only the outtakes of this compilation. There are also outtakes of other songs that didn’t fit on their own “classic albums”. A very weird decision! I can understand they didn’t extend those classic albums for only one or two outtakes that didn’t fit. But including them here? I would have expected a separate disc at the end, something like “Outtakes That Didn’t Fit”.

Conclusion

In my book the weirdest FTD until now. Still - strange but true - a very nice compilation to listen to, being it with full attention or just in the back-ground.

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EJF wrote on October 01, 2014
I received my copy yesterday. Actually, Disc 2 contains alternate takes to only two tracks from the original compilation (For The Millionth... & I Met Her Today) plus an alternate take of Lonely Man, which is one of the "optional masters." All the rest are, as you rightly stated Lex, left-overs from their respective Classic Album releases. Weird album indeed. But it does make a good listen nonetheless.
claunath82 wrote on October 01, 2014
Nice cover with the original rca logo, disc 1 is a nice compilation to listen and like the disc 2 with all the unreleased alternates, here we have only the alternates without the falses starts (except 1 or 2) and not one take after another from the same song so i really enjoy the listen. the only negative thing is that i listen often in my car and on the cd player screen is no titles tracks (like on the sony legacy cds) I give a 4.5/5
Biffx wrote on October 01, 2014
I like this concept it's a way of giving us further takes that have been left out of the Classic Album series. I welcome more outings like this hopefully with some studio banter and false start thrown in for good measure. The only let down I can see is the optional masters section, why waste valuable disk space on standard masters that most of us either have or will eventually pick up on other FTDs along the way ??? Very puzzling....
JerryNodak wrote on October 01, 2014
The original LP was a "strange" album to begin with. So this FTD version fits the pattern. I think "optional masters" is a strange choice of sub heading. They aren't optional masters. They are THE masters. A better heading would have been 'Alternate Album." I'm fine with the outtakes on disc 2. Even those that don't relate directly to the original album. I'd rather have them here as an extension of what was a hodge podge album in the beginning than have to pay for them in a separate release as Lex suggests.
TheMemphisFan wrote on October 02, 2014
JerryNodak wrote: "I think "optional masters" is a strange choice of sub heading. They aren't optional masters. They are THE masters. Jerry, the subheading is a good one and it's appropriate. It simply means that those masters were an option to be used for the original 1965 album, but they weren't chosen. Example - The master of "Tell Me Why" was an option, but the producers chose the other 12 songs instead. It's not complicated.
JerryNodak wrote on October 02, 2014
I never said it was complicated. I understood what optional meant. I get it But I still like Alternate Album better.
Boxcar wrote on October 06, 2014
Interesting that nobody ever mentioned how remarkable different some of the outtakes are. Especially the "Fun In Acapulco" titles. There still seem to be some jewels in the treasure-chest.
TheMemphisFan wrote on October 06, 2014
Boxcar, I haven't mentioned the outtakes because I don't have the set, yet. Thanks for the notice... I'm looking forward to getting this new release soon!
TheMemphisFan wrote on October 07, 2014
Note: 3 song titles printed incorrectly on the discs... Not just typos, but words have been changed or left out ! CD-1, Track-1, "Your Cheating Heart" should be "Your Cheatin' Heart" (As on the cover & original album) CD-2, Track-1, "For The Millionth And Last Time" should be "For The Millionth And The Last Time" CD-2, Track-2, "Forgive Me Never" should be "Forget Me Never" FTD unfortunately continues its history of difficulties for getting things right.
benny scott wrote on October 07, 2014
Strange they got it right on the cover and not on the disc. Two different teams or persons, one responsible for the cover and one responsible for the labels ??? Who knows. Imo no big deal, prefer the correct titles on the cover.The titles on the discs are smaller to read and invisible anyway while the disc is spinning.But it could have been avoided. Always El.
DerekH wrote on October 07, 2014
I remember getting the original Lp at Christmas 1965. Lay in bed playing it over & over. It was great. Now I have it again on Cd and the FTD format. And yes, I still like it. The added tracks are a nice bonus as some are tracks I don't usually listen to. However, the 1965 release was suppose to be a studio album after a run of soundtrack movie albums. But half the tracks were taken from Elvis movies. Still, that's history.
DerekH wrote on October 07, 2014
I remember getting the original Lp at Christmas 1965. Lay in bed playing it over & over. It was great. Now I have it again on Cd and the FTD format. And yes, I still like it. The added tracks are a nice bonus as some are tracks I don't usually listen to. However, the 1965 release was suppose to be a studio album after a run of soundtrack movie albums. But half the tracks were taken from Elvis movies. Still, that's history.
Natha wrote on October 07, 2014
I too remember when I bought the original at the time of its release. Like DerekH I liked it a lot and I still do. Even though I am mostly falling for the RnR part of his legacy. I don't have the cd yet, but will definitely buy it when I come across it. AND I AM looking forward to it. Yes it was not such a coherent album, but as the legacy grew in time it has a flavor of covering a wide angle of the total oevre. At this time it does not matter like it did in those days. I am intrigued by the reports on the extra outtakes. SO I am eager to purchase this FTD.
benny scott wrote on October 07, 2014
Forgot to mention I bought the original vinyl too and just loved it ! Glad to have this FTD beauty in my collection now. Welcomed the outtakes ! Always El.
TheMemphisFan wrote on October 07, 2014
DerekH wrote - "But half the tracks were taken from Elvis movies." - Only 5-out-of-12 of the original album songs were recorded for movies... not quite half.
marty wrote on October 07, 2014
I never really liked the original album. There isn't one song from that album that I consider a favourite. Still I bought the FTD and it sounds better now than it did back then! A nice addition to my FTD collection. I do not think anyone has mentioned it here before but it has more 'unreleased' material than most other releases in the 'classic album' series.
bajo wrote on October 08, 2014
It's a nice release! A disc with previously unreleased material is always welcome. The addition of the UK version of Wild In The Country is also a track I've been searching for. Back then I used to like the original album, not least for the unreleased studio recordings, especially Memphis. Imo a good FTD release!
VivaLasDavies wrote on October 08, 2014
Natha, where do you expect to "come across it" ?
You Dont Know Me wrote on October 08, 2014
I liked the 2nd CD VERY MUCH but found first 'boring' SOUND QUALITY was the over riding 'pleasure' for me!
Natha wrote on October 09, 2014
VivaLasDavies, nice question :) I meant next time when I order some cds. Generally I try to combine purchases to counter the ever increasing shipping costs.
Biffx wrote on October 11, 2014
Hi I have yet to get this one could somebody who has it please tell me with the outtakes is there any studio talk before any of the tracks or is it straight into the music? Thank you in advance .
You Dont Know Me wrote on October 12, 2014
Very tiny, TINY bit of studio talk b4 the 'outakes' an odd false start. that's all.
Biffx wrote on October 13, 2014
You don't know me thanks for the info. A little disappointed by that but I am still looking forward to this set, hopefully I will have it by the end of the week.
TheMemphisFan wrote on October 14, 2014
Biffx, are you disappointed because you were hoping for more studio talk, or were you hoping for none at all ? I personally think that this set would've benefited by having absolutely no in-between studio talk. It would've made the alternate takes on CD-2 seem more like masters, imo.
JerryNodak wrote on October 14, 2014
Personally, I pay my money to hear Elvis sing. A minimum of banter is a good thing. No banter would be even better.
Natha wrote on October 14, 2014
Jerry, exactly how I feel too. Most of the time I would also like less useless chit chat in between. After the first few times it is becoming somewhat annoying as I - like you - want to hear him sing!
Biffx wrote on October 14, 2014
The Memphis Fan i have to admit I do enjoy the studio banter. Don't get me wrong I understand the music is the most important thing but I think it's pretty unique that we get an insight into how the sessions was constructed and that includes the dialogue. In relation to this latest release by FTD I would have much sooner have had the studio talk together with false starts breakdowns and complete takes instead of the wasted disk space that was used up with the " Optional Masters " section.
marty wrote on October 14, 2014
I like to hear the false starts, studio chatter etc. in the beginning, for a few times. After that I prefer to hear complete takes without any talk etc. Thanks to my computer I can have both as I rip all my cd's and in my (limited) free time I crop the files and create 'clean' complete takes!
Natha wrote on October 15, 2014
Marty, that's what I meant. I do not have a program that you mention for cropping files. Yes and I do like to know how a song evolved, but for the easy listening on the road (I'm often on) it is less enjoyable
Cruiser621 wrote on October 30, 2014
Received my copy yesterday from the UK. The 1st CD is of course, a hodge podge, but the 2nd CD is the real reason I decided to purchase this so called classic album for the outtakes which were not included on prior FTD releases. As usual with FTD, a typo as to track 3 on the second CD, "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell" listed as take 9, but in reality is take 10, which one can hear on the CD as announced by the individual doing the recording. Otherwise, the addition of take 9, "Happy Ending" from "It Happened at the World's Fair" was something I had always wanted to hear as it supposedly was the take which was to have been released and not what was aka take 8. Also liked the additional takes "For The Millionth and the Last Time" All and all a stop gap album of notable repute back in 1965, but I bought it then and I bought in 2014! Great listening, even though these, at their time, were outtakes.
Fugitive14 wrote on April 22, 2015
No one seems to have mentioned the one track on CD 2 that should definitely have been included on it's original CD upgrade, even if it had been at the expense of one of the other tracks, and that's Vino, Dinero y Amor. It may not be one of Elvis' finest studio moments but the difference with this track is that not only is it the only alternate take that has ever been released of this song (only the master appears on the Fun In Acapulco FTD CD) but it is also a genuine alternate version in that the bridge of the song is completely different to the master, with Elvis slowing it down so that the bridge lasts twice as long as the master take. I can only assume this take was undiscovered at the time the Fun In Acapulco CD was released?