Too Hot Too Handle

Design

Some nice candid photos are used for the cover, and the color-setting and lay-out are fine. Since there is no recording info at all on the cover or CD, the overall design is far below par. After listening to this CD we understand this lack of information: a clear case of "telling nothing is better than telling the truth" (from the point of view of the producers).

Content

Although the mixture on this CD is strange on first sight, the title made us expecting a lot. The 69 sessions are always a treat to listen to, so we could live with the idea that a lot of those were completed with one early 50's and a handful of 70's songs. After listening we are very disappointed. All tracks are taken from previous unofficial releases and some even from BMG-releases. Is the import scene starting to do what BMG does, releasing the same tracks over and over again? More and more imports re-appear, lot's of imports are CDR's with old material.

A "highlight" we expected was "Spanish Eyes", which is completely ruined by someone who sings along (probably while taking a shower). The sound quality on most tracks is less than on the "originals", but overall acceptable. The "stereo" versions of "Hey Jude" and "Mama Liked The Roses" are as fake as fake can be. Pamela Anderson is pure nature compared to this.

On the "Elvis Is Still Active In Norway" a bit of searching was done and they indexed the original bootlegs and BMG CD's on which these tracks can be found, so check your collection.

- Good Times - "Fake duet" but undubbed version

- American Crown Jewels

- American Rejects

- Only The Song Survive

- The Other Side Of Memphis

- Get A Time Life (CD-R)

- Alternate Aloha

- Complete 50's Masters

- Pure Diamonds Volume 4

Conclusion

So for (longtime) collectors the title of this release should be "Too Fake to Buy" or something like that. In other words, this release is a very big deception to us, one of the worst bootleg releases ever.

Still we can imagine that the unlucky people that didn't get releases like "American Crown Jewels" can be happy with this one, since the the main part is of one of Elvis' best sessions and the additional tracks (except the ruined version of "Spanish Eyes") are fine songs by themselves. So, if you are one of them, you might consider buying it, otherwise stay far away from it!