This 2-CD release features the 2 shows from January 26, 1970 and February 23, 1970. It comes with 16-page 4-color booklet featuring great photographs from the season and a insightful essay by Ann Moses Marino. These historic soundboard recordings were made by Elvis’ sound engineer Bill Porter at the request of Tom Diskin.
“ON STAGE SEASON – The Opening and Closing Shows” – 2CD
Disc 1
1) All Shook Up
2) That’s All Right
3) Proud Mary
4) Don’t Cry Daddy
5) (Let Me Be Your)Teddy Bear/Don’t Be Cruel
6) Long Tall Sally
7) Let It Be Me
8) I Can’t Stop Loving You
9) Walk A Mile In My Shoes
10) In The Ghetto
11) True Love Travels On A Gravel Road
12) Sweet Caroline
13) Polk Salad Annie
14) Introductions
15) Kentucky Rain
16) Suspicious Minds
17) Can’t Help Falling In Love
Disc 2
1) All Shook Up
2) I Got A Woman
3) Long Tall Sally
4) Don’t Cry Daddy
5) Hound Dog
6) Love Me Tender
7) Kentucky Rain
8) Let It Be Me
9) I Can’t Stop Loving You
10) See See Rider
11) Sweet Caroline
12) Polk Salad Annie
13) Introductions
14) Lawdy Miss Clawdy
15) Heartbreak Hotel
16) One Night
17) It’s Now Or Never
18) Suspicious Minds
19) Can’t Help Falling In Love
Disc 1 recorded at the opening night show January 26, 1970 at the International Hotel, Las Vegas.
Disc 2 recorded at the closing night show on February 23, 1970 at the International Hotel, Las Vegas
Great Cover album! And I like how they are sticking with the 70s multi-colour font! Keep up the great work!
Does anyone know if this is a standard, 5" release?
Hi, 2kissesand3scarfs, I have read otherwhere that it is a 7" . Great to get two of the best Elvisconcerts out to people who doesn't buy Bootlegs, or can't get them. I have the opening show from 26 Januar, it is mindblowing ! This is another winner.
These shows belong on ftd,and this release is what ftd should be about,elvis in his prime,when he still cared. The title though is a bit bland and one show was recorded in january not feb. 2 Great shows for one price isnt too bad,next up how about a on tour shows from april 72?
I normally avoid soundboards like the plague, but I might buy these IF the sound is really good. Not flat and lifeless like many soundboards.
For those that do not have either of the Madison releases, or the newer version found on "Rebooked", I'm happy that you'll finally have the chance to pick up these two shows. They are two superb shows that belong in any fan's collection. As for me, I have the two above-mentioned releases and as such I'll skip on these. I'm sure some on here will heap praises on the 'improved' sound and wonderful booklet, but when FTD has released a previously booted soundboard, I haven't noticed any marked improvement in sound. That being said, I am going to skip on what I'm sure for many will be a favorite release. I'll save my $50.00 and happily wait for next month's releases.
Thanks, alanfalk for answering my question.
A no-brainer this one. I once had the 'Walk a Mile...' boot but I traded it in to an overseas dealer. The negatives far outweighed the positives. I saw no point in having only half a show. I really enjoyed the groovy intro to 'All Shook Up' but you could tell when Elvis actually comes in behind the mike stand and when he sings his vocals drown out the rhythm section, and the distortion also spoilt it for me. So it will be interesting to see how the sound problems gets addressed on this one. Still worth having for historical reasons though.
Orion: have to disagree re bootleg re-releases. '48 Hours...' and 3000 South Paradise Road really out do their bootleg counterparts in both ambience and bass line.
This is the first FTD live concert I will buy in a long time. I have been waiting for this season. I hope as Jerry says, the sound is not flat. Its a pity Elvis had to keep returning to Vegas time & time again. After they filmed TTWII, no more was left to be proven and he should have bid farewell to that town forever. 1970 was the pinnacle year.
I have the Fort Baxter release of the opening show and the "Rebooked" import set of both shows. The concerts are amazing. The sound quality of what has been released so far is good for a soundboard, but not the best. The opening show has that infamous mic overload which is way over the top! The closing show does not have any major distortion, but the sound is not that clear either. If FTD is working from the same source material, they are only going to be able to improve the sound a bit. If they have better source material, then we will see what their wizardry can produce. Either way, these shows are incredible! They're worth buying if you've never owned them before. The closing show ranks as one of the best concerts ever.
Daz - That's a couple of good examples of previously booted titles that FTD has released. However, as good and richer those might have been, I offer up the opening night show on "Nevada Nights", or the rehearsal on "From Sunset to Las Vegas," and even both shows on the "Showtime" release. They are no better (and perhaps inferior i.e. the rehearsal) than what the various imports where we first heard them. In regards to this release, it's like Lefty righty said, If FTD is working from the same source material, they are only going to be able to improve the sound a bit. That's because they will have the original reel-to-reel not a second or third or fourth generation dub of those reels. Since FTD has the original source material, then we will have to wait and see what their engineers can do with the distortions and overloads. With that type of distortion, there's only so much that can be done. I'm hopeful, but skeptical it will be any better than what I already have. However, as I said, if you don't have these shows,, place your order - you'll be glad you did.
I think FTD have been improving ever since they started, we now often get 7" releases, a booklet and two cds in one (I payed 28 euros for Opening night from Madison, but get both that show and the closing show, now for 30 euros). Funny, the same persons who said that FTD doesn't listen to fans because these shows weren't released, now doesn't say that they were wrong in that accusation . Ftd have also started using better mastering people, and have taken different fans in on the projects. A really good thing about these releases are, that they will be available to a lot more people than Bootlegs, (and will also count as sold Elvis albums, for those who cares about "silly stuff" like that :) ). Regarding Elvis caring , I think he cared along time after 1970, actually up until 76, but not so much in Vegas, and not every day, and not on songs he had sung too often. But I can find lots of GREAT concerts from 72-75, and good concerts after that !
I agree with Orion. Seldom is the sound quality better when FTD releases the same shows that I al ready have on bootlegs. I'll pass this one cause "Rebooked At The Internationa" is good enough for me. Besides I never buy the same show twice...
p.s. Lex, were is your review of the bootleg "Houston We have a Problem". I can't wait what you have to say about that one....:):)
Sorry, Ton, I can only spend my money once. I am not going to spend it on something I know that is rubbish beforehand, even not for the fun of writing the review ;)
Thanks for your input fella's ! Next issue, I definitely agree with mature '75 on the title it's not very imaginative. I reckon a title like 'International Showdown' or 'Return To The International' would've done more justice to the status of these concerts. I also reckon some unreleased multi tracks from Feb 16-19 after each show would've made a nice addition considering the shows wouldn't be more than 55 minutes each. Just a thought worth toying with.
I do not have these shows and I collect all FTD releases so I will buy this as well. Having said that, I not a fan of soundboards. The sound quality is almost always disapointing compared to the properly recorded live shows. Audience recordings are much worse. Apart from the occasional historic recording, such as songs not officially recorded, I tend to only listen to these one or twice...
What tapes do these come from? should we expect better sound,again ftd doesnt give detials.
First of, I would say that I fully respect Marty's view about the sound of soundboards and audience recordings (it is all a matter of taste and you can't argue about that). But I myself really like most soundboards (especially the latest from Gravel Road and FTD), but also many more audience recordings than I thought I would, considering the way they are often talked about. I CAN hear a different to the multitracks , but not big enough to not enjoy the soundboards and some audience recordings (actually the audience rec. often give a really atmosphere). But for those who never have heard an audience rec. or would like to hear samples from the different releases, I can really recommend the site "Elvis on CD" (just google that and it will be the first site coming up), they have audio samples of most releases (and remember that the sound on a CD player is even better that the computers, in most cases), I for one was really positively surprised about how good sound there were on many releases.
Marty, you're not going to be impressed with this release if you are not a fan of soundboards. As with all things, soundboard recordings come in varying degrees of excellence. There are some soundboards that you would swear are professionally recorded (i.e. The Hampton Roads Concert and Old Times They Are Not Forgotten). Other soundboards are pretty bad. The two shows slotted for this FTD release are listenable without any sound improvements, but they're not great by soundboard standards. If you ever get a chance to buy the "Rebooked" import, disc 2 is a rough mix of the On Stage material, and disc 3 contains more unreleased live songs from that period recorded by RCA. Both discs have amazing sound quality and the song list is fantastic! Of course there is always On Stage, which is one of the best Elvis LP's released in his lifetime.
Oh boy, some months ago i bought the Madison release of the opening show (i already had the closing show) and now FTD comes up with this. I'm pretty sure there will be some sound samples on the net sooner or later, so i will wait...nice release though for those people who don't buy bootlegs.
Isn't it strange that FTD will release soundboards of these two shows? Rebooked were in my opinion good sounding discs with very good sound. Weren't they multi track releases? They sound VERY good anyway.
These shows were never released as multirack because they were not recored that way. Ftd needs to give details on there releases and stop being so hush hush. Maybe they are just copying the madison releases?
I doubt that FTD will copy the shows from Madison or Backdraft as both tried their own studio tricks to enhance the sound on each to make it more listenable. As I said previously, there is only going to be so much that they can do to make these shows what they deserve. Since they are going to the trouble of making this a 7" classic style release, I am hopeful they feel confident that the sound is worthy of the expense to produce the larger package & booklet. Don't get me wrong, the sound is pretty doggone good for a nearly 45 year-old reel to reel soundboard - at least I feel that way about the dubs I've heard that resulted in the Madison and Backdraft releases. What makes me so skeptical about the sound quality is the photo I saw somewhere of Joan Deary's marks on the tape box that labeled the show as having 'severe mic overload.' I wonder if Cisco picked these.. ? If so, maybe he can give us his take on the sound - unless he's sworn to secrecy.
And why would anyone be told to not give details? Thats what i dont get about ftd,they are so hush hush,and with erros they make,how can i not wonder what kind of product they will produce,i mean they dont tell who is doing the sound on this,so why do other releases get full details and this one doesnt? Hopefully your hunch in right,but again,they are not what they should be as a label,and these shows should have been out a long time ago. Hopefully they get it right.
And its january/febuary not just febuary why not have it like this jan/feb 1970? Do they not know when these shows were done?
Before I understood what a "soundboard" recording was (I thought it was a professional recording as it was not an audience recording) I bought ALL the live FTD CDs. I could not figure out why some of them sounded great (multi-tack recordings mixed for commercial purposes vs soundboards) and some of the sucked. I do not care how historic or important a Elvis concert is, I have no intention of buying a soundboard recording again. I have sold all the FTD soundboards I owned. I the only soundboard I would intentionally buy now would be the Nov 5 1971 and April 30 1977 because I was there, and a souvenir would be nice.
I wonder why they announce "These historic soundboard recordings were made by Elvis’ sound engineer Bill Porter at the request of Tom Diskins". FTD never did that before. What does that mean? Maybe they found another source. Imagine you are Tom Diskins and you give the sound-ingenier the order to tape these shows and all the guy comes up with are heavy distorted recordings. Wouldn't you fire this looser? I dream about this sentense means something else we just couldn't imaging yet.
Boxcar - It would be nice if FTD actually had another source, but I doubt that they do. I assume that they have icluded the reference to Bill Porter and Diskin so that buyers wouldn't think these were multi-track recordings like the ones that made up the "On Stage" album. I am sure they want the buyers to know these are only soundboard recordings.
So are they copys of the imports? Think about it,the import comes out,they just copy it,that way no real work for them to do,at least they cant screw up the sound that way i guess. They tell of who did the essay lol but not the sound. Hush hush, dont give details the elvis fans will buy whatever we put out.
Why the title,the on stage season? no wonder some might think there muti-track tapes. Does ftd have any imagination?
mature '75: maybe they will improve the sound maybe not. Either way it's great that they'll be out officially. If there's only one source tape then what's done is done. FTD can only do so much. If they can work a miracle then it was worth the suspence.
Hmm,,but they should not be copying bootlegs.
Where did this idea of "copying bootlegs" come from ? Just because the sound is basically the same to the untrained ear - pure assumption !
No no,i have heard they did a copy of the boston show from bootleg. Is this not true?,if they gave out proper details,no one would have to guess.
Lot of us cant or wont purchase illegal bootleg releases so whatever the source its good to be able to buy this officially.
I seriously doubt that FTD is copying material they do not already have in the vault. If anything, it's the other way around! The bootleggers probably lifted the shows from the official Elvis archives.
Elvis' Opening Show from January 26, 1970 is on youtube and it sounds good to me. It's a little rough around the edges in terms of sound quality but it gives the show a bit of a grittier feel which I like.
As for soundboards - I love them and we are all blessed to have access to them. Years ago I started collecting with audience shows and while some are very nice and make you "feel" like you're a the show, 95% of the time soundboards are far and away better.
Why does ftd give no details?
