Details New York RCA Studio 1: The Complete Sessions

sounds great

Wow! Looks very much like the new FTD cd of Elvis' first album (without all the tracks of course) because some of them (the Sun records) were released on a previous Memphis Recording Service release. Can hardly wait for FTD to release Elvis' 2nd album so Memphis Recording Service will release a package on it...

Sorry, RonBaker, I know for a fact that not a single track on this release is sourced from the FTD version. Had you heard the 'My Baby Left Me' single you would know this was the case. Interesting they haven't released the take numbers for Lawdy and Shake Rattle, yet, look forward to that.

whatever the source these are recordings made by RCA Victor the label Elvis was signed to. For others to profit from this is still in my view legalised bootlegging thanks to the crazy copyright laws over here.

Not the complete session, where are the other takes to:- Blue Suede Shoes at ;least 10 takes: My Baby Ledt Me at least 9 takes: One Side Love Affair at leat 8 takes, and on and on, unless all these takes are on this release it could hardly be called the complete sessions???

Hound Dog is what put him on the world wide stage, and there are about 30 or so takes of it. i would love to listen to these and see how the song was developed, because the pre July 2 versions do not duplicate duplicate what was made as a final. would be interesting listening.

Not interested. The copyright 'laws' are ridiculous.

Mr Cool is right. Allthough MRS got the taste and feel on how to make a package attractive, they sure aint got their hands of the masters in terms of audio. Ok, visually the last MRS release was essential, but soundwise on cd´s we all know were it comes from, -BMG cd´s , vinyl, dvd´s etc, and it seems useless to buy what´s allready on the market. And remember folks, -to copy a 16 bit CD, and then converting it to 24 bit gains nothing. Just a decreased copy from the CD it came from. It´s a marketing trick if you aint got the master tape. -Sorry Joseph but that´s the truth, aint it?!

Those of you who are asking for alternate takes of the tracks above, except for the last two, are howling at the wind for one reason. They simply DO NOT exist. All the tapes have either been lost forever or worse still, they were erased!! Sorry to dissapoint you but that's the awful truth. Go ask Ernst!

i wouldnt ask ernst anything, hes only it for the money, thats why BMG charges so much for re-cycled material, nobody is geting a royalty on these, there are no sessions to pay for just pump out something that may cost lest thant 2.00 to produce and sell it for 29.00 yep take advantage of the good old elvis fan, he is like a fish, once he's on the line he's hooked and there is no way off. better yet its like the drugs Dr nick prescribed youron it your hooked.

Jumpin Jehosaphat, reading your rambling... you already are on drugs.

Wish there was a way to just get the book. Why would anyone need to buy the same music over & over again? I dont buy into all that remastering verbage. Only dogs can hear the difference at this stage of the game(if there is a difference).

Well said Steve V, lol

Go jump on that bandwagon, Joseph. Taking the work of others and claiming it as your own seems to be your party piece.

to Lex, why an i rambling? enough with re-issues and high prices for material that was paid for 40 and 50 years ago.

I don't see the point from some of the people here. Noone force you to buy what you don't like. For me, I will be glad to have this new piece of History from people who care, as this is the case with many things coming from U.K. These MRS releases are awesome!About the copyright issue that seems to annoy our American friends, let me have a good laugh ! Parker and Elvis sometimes were more than happy with European Copyright stopping after 50 years. This allowed them to make believe some songs were written by America "authors" and taking some royalties. Among them: "Can't help falling in love", "I love only one girl", "Almost allways true", "It's now or never", "Surrender", "Tonight is allright for love", "Tonight is so right for love", "Today, Tomorrow and Forever", and others I don't remember right now. Oh yes, when I think about these poor people at RCA/ BMG/ Sony stolen by these so bad guys from MRS. Sorry, I can't continue because those tears in my eyes...

This MRS-release look great, but as long as there's no new music on it (and there doesn't seem to be), I won't buy it. All these songs have been released on the FTD version of E's first album (except for the master of 'So Glad You're Mine, which is available elsewhere). I thought the copyright only expired on recordings that have been recorded and released 50 years ago and that new songs or alternate takes, that were only released last year (like some of the Lawdy Miss Clawdy & Shake Rattle & Roll outtakes), are still under the copyright law. I'm probably wrong since various companies (MRS among them) have released not only Sun masters, but also Sun outtakes. MRS also used the Tupelo concert from a 1980 RCA release for their DVD-set. Does anybody know more about how these copyright laws work? Is it legal what MRS does?

Package is really great !!! hahahah funny what you said about 24Bit mastering Jesper. Why are the japanse re-releases mastered in 20 and 24BIt so much better than the regular releases?? (Come on think before you judge!!!) They work also from a copy...Also anything what was available has been throw on the cd release so complete sessions is true and not true since we miss indeed the other takes of the songs, but until today’s date they are lost. I believe this release will be great, MRS never disappointed us before, so can't go wrong here. I also know that they worked from there own 24BIt transferred reels straight from the original safety masters (as did FTD from theirs) They ought to be the same recordings what is a safety master otherwise useful to. so at the worst case it sound the same. and I believe it will sound better knowing Mr. Pirzada's aim of wanting the best. Also we don't have a “Shake rattle and roll” undubbed edit master that’s unreleased until now! Did look this up at Keith’s site. I'm very curious what all on the takes maybe more dialogue ...or the missing takes

As i understand it the 50 year copyright law applies to the UK only and the US still has the sensible 100year law. I beleive one of the major political parties here would change it to 75years. If not in just a few years time so much of Elvis' 50;s and 60's stuff will be open to anyone to release.Its a shame and amounts to theft of the ownership of these recordings.Regarding the songs Elvis recorded such as Surrender etc.The tunes may be traditional European in the public domain but the lyrics were written by recognised songwrighters paid their royalties.No comparison.

Mr.Cool and some others : the 50 years copyright-law is applied not only in the UK, but all over Europe. People getting mad at all those labels releasing stuff more than 50 years old should think twice before giving a negative reaction. You'd better be mad at the politicians who voted this law, they are the key-figures in this game. I'm a singer-songwriter myself and I think we suffer much more dammage in royalties " thanks " to the incredible amount of songs downloaded from the internet. As for the forthcoming MRS-release : I'll buy it , not for the CD in the very first place, but for the book and DVD . I consider the CD as a welcome bonus. Always El

benny: actually not quite correct. "50 years law" is valid only in SOME countries in EU. Some have 70. In UK itself it is 50 but there is strong pressure from some companies, producers and also artists (i.e. Cliff Richard) to change the law.

Steve V is right, the CD of this release seems like dozens of bootlegs, the same stuff ever and ever. The book is the only good stuff in it!

There's a catch here I believe Ernst once mentioned, and bootleggers were successfully taken to court because of it. The copyright law is about when a song was released, not when it was recorded. Thus: a song that was released in 1956 may be copyright free in certain places today, but that's not the case with an outtake of the song that was released in say 2007 for the first time. There is copyright on that one.

Really Mr Cool... no comparison ? You may be kidding. Elvis recorded "Tonight's ALL right for love" because "Tonight is SO right for love" was, for some reasons, protected by copyright in some European countries, like in France by the Offenbach heirs (Offenbach was the author and a French born Austrian composer). As Parker didn't wanted to pay, Elvis recorded "...ALL..." from Johann Strauss, because it was not protected. To have "... SO right..." here, we needed to buy the single in U.K. because the French L.P. was released with "... ALL...". And so the "G.I. Blues" movie. So YES, the comparison is good. And what is a traditional for you ? Something in the public domain ? And what is something in the public domain ? Well... something with no copyright anymore.

Rick Mercoa, since I personally spoke to Mr: Prizada himself over the phone a while ago, I can inform you that he chases the best sounding cd´s etc to make his own products. He even asked me to recommend him the best CD sources(!) Now, to make a 24 bit conversion from a ordinary cd gains nothing. I can also inform you that the Japanese cd´s you think sound so great, come from digital copys provided by BMG, not original master tapes. The ONLY exeption (wich in my opinion is the only one with better result then earlier releases) is the Elvis "Christmas album" from the "50s. And that´s because they actually had access to the original analog master tape due to earlier licensing. If Joseph copied the Jap or FTD cd collection etc is his business, but trying to disguise it with high tech nonsens is just a marketing trick to fool it´s target. So take a bite out of the fruit of knowledge next time Rick.

Love it, can't wait.

As regards copyright on 'alternate takes', wasn't it mentioned in the Jailhouse Rock movie, 'you can't copyright an arrangement'? If this is true, then maybe it's the song that has the protection and not the way you sing or arrange it.

Does EPE own the copyright to the photos in this? They issue an official EPE calendar every year with images of Elvis by Alfred Wertheimer.

EPE does not own any of the rights to Werthimer photos, they have to liscence them from the man himself, as did MRS for this release (and Al's prices ain't cheap!)

Of course EPE doesn't hold the rights to the Wertheimer photos. You can tell this quite easily: The photos appear on a quality product.

Hi Jesper, you missed the point, It's doens't matter how the very first recording is recorded (ofcourse it would be a dream if they had ;-). What i mean when you make a digital copy of the original source in 24BIT you'll have the highest possible transfer from a that source. and if you don't leave the domain you can work in 24 BIT and won't be losing anything from the sound. That's what they do in Japan. They used their own original masters from the original releases back then and transferrred them in 24BIT

No Rick, the Japanese mini LP/CD release you´re reffering to was made (with the exeption of the Christmas album, wich also might also have been just an old tape in the Jap vaults) with copy transfers made by BMG US during the 90s, for the "digitally remastered" cd series. What the Japs did was that they used their own 24 bit mastering gear to sort of get more on to the cd with their copy. Problem is (as you sure know) 16 bit is what a cd D/A converter maximum can get out anyway, so there you go, it´ll never be SACD or DVD audio anyway. Some like the remastered Jap sound, I myself find most of them harsh. The original masters is the "holy grail", and they´re in the hands of BMG in New York, and I can guarantee you they NEVER ship those anywhere risking them being placed near to something magnetic on the way. DCC -the audiophile label used for the "Elvis is back" release was made with the same original production tapes as BMG used for their "60s box set, cause the TRUE originals were lost. And no one has got closer than that, with the exeption of 3 Elvis songs the Billboard magazine used for their own greatest hit release summering up the decades in early 90s. The only territory that might have got real production copies from RCA during their actual time of release, was the classy EMI/Decca divison in the UK. I believe this MRS release was made from the Jap, FTD, DCC and Billboard (Rhino) releases. To claim something else is just a commercial attemts to blow sunshine up the **s !

Even if the Japs got a digital 24 bit transfer copy,one must keep in mind that the digital converters they used for their release cant compete with the standard today, so it´s element 22 once again I´m afraid. That´s what I´ve left the digital bandwagon and now stick to original vinyls, or Speakers Corners audiophile Elvis records, wich are being made 100% by first generation analog copies from the analog original master tapes in New York.

Jesper, you are entirely wrong on the sources used on this set, I know for a fact that the majority of the songs (Alternates included) came from original RCA safety tapes. If they just stole from other CDs- how did they wind up with the Undubbed Edit Master, which has never been released before?

kingofthejungle I welcome you as a new member, (observing you became that the same day this MRS news was published, funny ;) Anyway, as I earlier said there were production copies sent to UK at their actual time of release, and "someone" with a nice checkbook might have been busy writing a few to a tired fellow in some library corridor to a former record plant.? It´s unlikely but not impossible, and allthough I understand the dilemma with not revealing "the source", I consider myself to be right until proven wrong. And just because there might be one or two grains of versions never before released, but with good quality, it does not motivate to give the impression everything is. Ps: I´m not a against MRS since they are the best alternative to BMG, and I think Ernst&co paved they way to this situation, and had it coming with their own compilation frenzy. I also believe that the "Elvis Tupelo" DVD with sound was essential to fans. What I do am against is when lies are used as a tool to make money. Every fan on this site know the situation about the European copyright, and hey, you even got russian releases floating around with "never before released" etc, so the scepticism is justified, until proven wrong...

24 bit? you can use various software to convert 16bit cd audio to 24bit and dvd audio, it doesn`t mean it is better quality, even though it sounds different, if the source was a cd! There are umpteen asian cd`s and dvd`s in DTS and 24 bit which are just converted from a stereo source.

To "Mr. Cool" and "Jyroflux": we can quibble over whether the 50-year or 75-year public domain / copyright rules are preferable, but remember that the centuries-old justification (originally regarding novels and other printed works) for such laws was and is that art eventually becomes everyone's. That is, once the artist himself -and his immediate dependents (think Lisa Marie in this case) make their money off the artwork invested and created by the original author / recording artist or singer, at one point, the "art" is inherited into the "public domain," as with Shakespeare or Michelangelo. You may not like this (why, you miss the RCA logo?) but it is legal in the applicable countries. In 2007, what would be the benefit of having an long-dead artist's ancestors still awaiting a paycheck? Boo-hoo for Elvis' poor grandkids. :) The idea is that we all culturally benefit from free and easy access to artwork - *once* everyone has been paid. After a generation or two, the idea is that a family that has already cashed in on the art of Grandpa (or Great-Grandpa) should eventually go out and get a job - or create their own new acclaimed art. The artwork gets to be marketed for fifty year (or 75 here in the US) but after that, it's fair game. I agree in part that there is a downside to the 50-year rule as can be seen with some of the many crappy Hayride sets and the '56 sides that have been leaking out on dumbfoundingly-bad public domain sets and the risk of using sub-par audio. But under the law, at this point, the Presley family (and the original label) has been paid back many times over for their investment into the recording career of Elvis Aron Presley (1935- 1977). I have some quams with the MRS label's head honcho (see that infamous interview he did this past summer with our Australian friends) but on the other hand, he's done some interesting and even great work with his MRS label. I have yet to read up more than this single thread about lingering questions about his access to this material (or sound quality) but rest assured, this sort of competition (assuming it's legal and ethical in practices) has, for the most-part, largely been a plus-factor for Elvis fans -and yes, new fans, where they exist.

Sorry Guy's but my eye's glazed over at all this copyright and mastering bickering. Fact is MRS make's a top product, alway's well presented at a good price and i for one look forward to all there releases. Simple fact is if you don't like them don't buy them. ps, welcome kingofthejungle

In reply to Greg Nolan some of the artists effected by the copyright law aren't actually dead. If it was me i would feel aggreived someone could legally release my work and profit from it without my permission. Also where does this leave real labels such as Ace and Bear Family who bring out excellent releases paying for copyright. Does this mean they can do all the hard work while some cheapo label just rips them off?