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Good Rockin' Tonight Live - A Rare Collectors Item

March 20, 2000 | Music
A new release on the English MCPS label we received last week is "Good Rockin' Tonight Live - Rare Collectors Item".
We were not sure if it really is a new release, since there's no year on this three CD box. We were also puzzled by the content of these CD's. Most of it is Elvis, but there are also tracks of some impersonators (Rio and Johnny Earle) and some other (sometimes Elvis related) artist on it like Conny Francis, Nina Martinique, The Jordanaires, Carl Perkins and Scotty Moore.

When listening to these CD's you find yourself asking "what the f..k is this" at some times. The producers collected all kind of different Elvis material and tossed it together. They used some well know "Hayride" recordings and added new instrumental tracks and the voice of impersonators to Elvis' voice. 

Looking at the track listing (see the end of the review) you see a few surprises and think hey, this can be something special like the first medley of CD2, which is just a "cut and paste job". On this CD there are both seventies live recordings and fifties live recordings with additional instrumentals added to the live track. The other tracks come from different live recordings made in the late seventies, you can hear the "fade in/out" between some tracks. It is obvious the producers didn't use only previously released (legal) material. 

As for the other two CD's, there's nothing new on these CD's. There are tracks from Elvis originating from the fifties and seventies with additional musical backing and sometimes added vocals from impersonators, some songs Elvis recorded from other artists and some tributes. 
Looking at the lay out of these CD's, you're in for a surprise too. The slipcase is a picture of the famous gates at the entry of Graceland, with a portrait of Elvis, but opening the slipcase there are three "modern" styled covers, not too bad done but details are wrong. the big surprise is the drawing of Elvis in the seventies with what looks like a perm!

What is our conclusion on this 3 CD set, it was cheap, but certainly not worth the money spent. In fact it's a total waste of money.