1. Home
  2. Articles
  3. CD review

Holiday Season In Vegas

By ElvisNews.com/ Lex, Jan 18, 2019
Holiday Season In Vegas

The original package got probably lost in the Christmas mail madness (or was just stolen by an employee), so with a little delay I got the latest FTD CDs too. Holiday Season In Vegas is less fitting now than last month, but gladly it’s only the title!

Design

The usual 3 panel layout with basic information like track listing, musicians and photo credits forms the package to hold the 2 CDs with 3 shows. I’m not a photo geek myself, but the photos used could easily be from the engagement, I suppose. Nice add on is the sticker with warning for the audio quality on the outside… it makes you fear!

Content

The first CD contains the December 13, 1975 midnight show. Nearly 3 decades ago Fort Baxter made me quite happy with the release of ‘Just Pretend’. It got redone over the years by various labels, and the Gravel Road Music version on ‘Good To Be Back’ made the original FB obsolete for me. I don’t hear much difference between that version and the FTD outing, but the distortion is even a little less annoying (maybe the sticker did that). Another big pro is that the introductions are one track, so you can skip that boring stuff easily. The show is still very entertaining one of the few soundboards I play every now and then!

The second CD contains parts of the dinner and midnight show on December 6 the same year. The shows are recorded in about the same quality and I can’t identify the cut in Polk Salad. In general the sound quality is a little better (no distortion) than the first CD, but disregarding the appearance of One Night (!) and another very good performance of Just Pretend I enjoyed the known show slightly better.

Conclusion

It’s FTD scraping the barrel, but for those that missed previous outings of the December 13 show, it is more or less a must, since it’s a document: the last decent Vegas engagement Elvis did.

Tracklisting

 
Give Your Opinion

Related Links

Elvis Presley on: eBay, Amazon

Reactions

Mike.S. (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 24, 2019report abuse
OK, I agree, thanks.
TheMemphisFan (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 24, 2019report abuse
In other words -- Everything that "atomic powered poste" has written (below) on this particular topic is legitimate, valid, and true. It seems very strange (to me) that anyone would disagree with him concerning the past & present careless mistakes/errors by FTD.
Mike.S. (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 23, 2019report abuse
Memphisfan, could you explain this in solid English, maybe I could understand you then. "It's mind-blowing that anyone could disagree with you on these issues concerning FTD soundboard releases." Thanks
TheMemphisFan (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 21, 2019report abuse
atomic powered poste, all of your concerns are legitimate & valid. It's mind-blowing that anyone could disagree with you on these issues concerning FTD soundboard releases. Thank you for your voice of reasoning and common sense.
Mike.S. (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
I'm sorry, but isn't there a little bit too much excitement about this topic. Joan Deary released "Elvis Aron Presley". The 75 "Concert Years" was put together from many sources. It later was pressed on CD and LP as "Live in Dallas", even if some recordings came from Memphis and Mufreesboro. Still, in this time, everybody was happy.
Maybe we are a bit spoiled, because there are so many new releases. We should still be thankful for it, instead of complaining all the time. Sure, things could be improved, but why so many negative vibes?
Gladyslove (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
atomic, don´t get me wrong, I don´t want to be your enemy, no, we are here to discuss such things. So I believe ciscoking that in the future there will be a better control in the system with Ernst & others involved. And what ??? I can understand you. Some are angry about it, me too, and don´t buy any FTD again. I will give them a chance to proof that they can make a good product, like they did many times in the past, as everyone can see and listen.
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
Were not where - even for me, that's terrible english.
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
Ok, thanks for the answer.

So the 74 recordings WHERE cut in on purpose, cause you only write that the mistake was that there use wasn't mentioned, not that they where used. What that meams is, that besides the one who cuts/masters the cd nobody knows about it? He didn't mentioned the cuts, and nobody listened to the final product before it was pressed/released? That means that there was actually no end control whatsoever. And that's exactly what im criticising.

1) It was cut in on purpose
2) there was no end control
3) there was no communication with the fans

And ernst is responsible for that. So what are the plans you are talking about to minimise these problems in the future?

I'm still interested in elvis cds, but i can't see myself preordering a sb-releases from ftd in the near future I don't expect great sound or suprising sets, you can't release what isn't in the vaults. But i expect at least a minimum of care. And i don't trust the label anymore. I don't like to say that, but it's true. I realised for myself, that when i was listening to the second cd, that i thought "it's enough". I feel betrayed. And I'm tired of it. That's all from my side.
Ciscoking (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
Being not mentioned on the cover is annoying..sure..but it happened by mistake. We have discussed it and have found a way to minimise such bugs. The FTD concert years team doesn't like such things eather...believe me.
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
I believe you. And like i wrote before, if something like that would happen one or two times, ok. But it hapoens very very often. Almost every sb-release last year or so had a major flaw. Is there no end control by ernst?
Ciscoking (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
As I was involved in this project like in many before (not sound mastering) I can tell you that it was not done on purpose. It was a lack of communication. That's all. Otherwise it would have been mentioned on the cover...of course.
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
Yeah, stop buying, what a stupid (sorry) argument. I can only criticise what i have to buy? Or what do you mean?

And no, i don't want to release elvis-stuff, i neither have the motivation or the time.
I don't want to be a cook either, did that mean (in your world) that i can't criticise a restaurant that's super-expensive and where the food tastes awful?
Gladyslove (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
If so stop buying FTD. It´s easy. Nobody forces you to buy them. And I am not happy about the faults by FTD. But to me the positive things weight more then the negative.Yes, you should be involved in the next CDs. what about that ???
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
Yeah, i write positive things about ftd, and i talk about it (in german on my youtube chanel), when there is something positive to say. Often it's more a mixed bag, here its not. It's a total mess. And i don't get why you are criticising me instead of ftd. Are you kidding me? It's not a matter of taste, take a quick look at there, say, last 10 sb-releases or so and count the flaws. Are you really happy with there lack of care?

And i found out about the fact that the recordings I mentioned are from 74 simply by listening to the cd. Not even very carefully btw. It's obvious they triked, because of the different sound of the sources, the change in elvis voice ans the difference between duke bardwell and jerry scheff on bass. I have no idea how anyone could not here that, it's so obvious.

and btw. Cisco, how can you say it wasn't done on purpose? Do you really want to say, that it was on the source-tape this way? Not really, or do you?
And even if it was, they should have listened to it. They would have recognised it immediately. No, it was done on purpose, that's for sure. Someone at ftd has cutted these songs in. Fact.

If they would have communicated it, if they would have said: "hey, we don't have many recordings from that period, so we cut something in that doesn't belong there", i would have found it wrong, but then it would have been at least honest. And it would have been my decision if i still want the cd or not (i wouldn't have bought it). But as it is now, it's totally unfair to the fans who preordered this set. And like i wrote before, i can't understand how some fans can justify every ftd-mess. Would you accept such things if it wasn't an elvis-release? If it was something else you bought? I guess not. And for good reason.

Again, these cds are not a gift from heaven, these are expensive commercial products from an profit-oriented company, produced with very low production costs. To check the speed of a tape (and correct it) is something you do as a routine while working with old tapes. And it takes only a few minutes to do so. To communicate such things as replacing songs on an tape before you release such a set is something you do, because you don't want to betray your buyers. Shouldn't be necessary to discuss this fact. All that would cost nothing more than five minutes of there time. They don't spend this five minutes. And if i read comments like the ones here, i know why they don't waste these five minutes: they don't need to. You guys don't care, why should they? We are stupid enough to buy it anyway, you guys are even defend this crap. No need for zhem to put effort in these sets.

Don't misunderstand me, if something like that happens one or two times, okay, we all make mistakes. And there are mistakes that can hapoen (like false dates etc) because sometimes it's hard to get correct informations etc., no problem here.. But if "mistakes" that are so easy to avoid like the ones we had on almost every soundboard of the last time are to expected, are normal, than its obvious that they don't give a damn. And i will not buy them anymore, except if they get rave reviews from people who aren't excited about everything.
Mike.S. (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 20, 2019report abuse
atomic, forget about it, I just found out by myself, thanks to Keith Flynn.
C.C.Rider 2nd half only - spliced with 1st half from Omaha, June 30 1974 ES
Polk salad Annie - 1st/last few seconds only - spliced with version from Omaha, June 30 1974 AS
Can't help falling in love - June 30 1974 AS (faded), complete on Omaha, Nebraska CD1 (FTD)

Yes, I agree, that's a bit strange, but if the tape was damaged, it's not easy to find a version in the same rhythm, key and sound to fill the missing parts. At least the mastering engineer made it listenable, even, if he had to go back to 74. Joan Deary did a lot of mixing like this. Maybe they should have mentioned it in the liner notes, but the result is ok.
Mike.S. (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 19, 2019report abuse
atomic, I'm a little bit confused here, It says in the digipack, that CD2 is a mix between dinner and midnight show. How did you find out, that these three songs are taken from a 74 show? Guess I missed some discussion about this topic. Do you know the date, as well? Thanks for the info.
Gladyslove (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 19, 2019report abuse
atomic, did you ever write something positive or is your only pleasure to whine about every FTD release ??? Critic is important but what you are doing here is, … I can´t find the right words. Whine on.
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 19, 2019report abuse
It's not an overreaction, it's the same story with almost every sb-release, so yeah, I'm sick of it, but i think that's normal after wasting a fortune on so many crqppy releases.
And yeah, two for the price of one, great, thanks. These are soundboards, no mixing or whatsoever necessary, no booklet or anything that would justify the price of more than 20,- is included. 20,- are a lot for a cd, a medium that is a cheap one in production. And what's that for an argument anyway? You get two CDs, so it doesn't matter if they aren't produced correctly? Wow, some people are so desperately trying to justify every mistake this label makes, it's laughable.
The truth is, they don't care and it's showing. Some fans are always acting like these are gifts from heaven, and we should be thankful only because these releases are existing. Are you guys kidding me? These releases are commercial products. They cost a lot of money and are obviously produced without a minimum of quality control or care. I listened to the second cd without paying much attention and not very loud, and even then i recognised in a second that see see rider was spliced and that psa wasn't from 75 but from 74.. How on earth could ftd not recognise that? It's so obvious.
Answer: they don't give a damn. It's not acceptable.. And if this would have been a bootleg i would write the same thing. But, for an official release, this lack of care is even more embarrassing. And like i wrote, the fact that almost every sb-release last year had at least one major flaw is the problem here. We don't talk about one single flaw.

I always hear about the fact that ernst don't care about the critics, that you can't make anybody happy, that some people always have complaints. But thats not the point. Im not complaining about the fact that not every release appeals to me, im not complaining about things that are a matter of personal taste (even if i do write about it).. But this careless way of cashing the fans of is a shame, the sounboard-releases are a mess. And he should listen to his criticis, simply because they know what they are talking about. He should leafn from them, and he would listen to them i he would care. I would.

But don't get me wrong, im not even angry about ftd, I'm angry about myself. I should have known better, i mean, it's my mistake that i made the same idiotic decision over and over again and preordered an ftd. I've already knew that it's stupid to do so. But I'll will never do that again.
Ciscoking (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 19, 2019report abuse
It wasnt definitely done on purpose...and FTD will take care about minimizing such bugs in the future.
Anyway ..some fans I think are simply over reacting. As mentioned above you get 2 shows for
the price of one. The Dec 6 shows are a bonus for the fans. And FTD released the tape as it was.
First half was DS..second half was MS...for what reason ever. FTD doesnt trick or betray its fans on purpose. Never read such nonsense before.
Gladyslove (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 19, 2019report abuse
If it is a import bootleg CD you would shout hallelujah, but it´s FTD. Expensive !? You get 2 CDs for the price of one. Okay one thing: this with the opening song taken a 74 concert isn´t that good.
atomic powered poste (profile/ contact) wrote on Jan 18, 2019report abuse
First half of See See Rider, PSA and CHFILWY are from 74.

1 guess: ftd want to trick us, suggest that they have something they had not.
2 guess: they don't check these recordings before they release them.

Either way, its embaracing.

From the last five soundboard-releases i bought (of the last six that where released) only one came without a major flaw. That's unacceptable. And we are talking about super expencive releases here that are produced in a super cheap way.

If i would work like this in my job, i would be fired - for good reasons. I have enough of this bs.

CD review: 10 most recent articles

St. Louis/ Spokane
06/07/2020
2
Love Letters from Elvis
04/12/2020
1
The Elvis Is Back Sessions
02/09/2020
9
Back In Living Stereo
11/23/2019
2
Live 1969
08/17/2019
21
Sessions From Clambake
07/21/2019
3
Fun In Acapulco 3CD
04/14/2019
9
Return To Sender - The Summer of '76
04/06/2019
3
Made In Germany
03/09/2019
2
April 10 1972 Richmond
01/27/2019

Recently Added Shop Items