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Brightest Star On Sunset Boulevard Released

December 17, 2008 | Music

The Fort Baxter / Gravel Road re-release of "The Brightest Star On Sunset Boulevard Volume 1 and Volume 2" is out.

The original press-release:

The Complete Rehearsal Tape Of July 24, 1970 at RCA Studio's, Hollywood

After the successful releases of "Vegas Rhythm" and "You know, it don't have to be strictly country –volume 1" we are proud to tell that Fort Baxter wanted to join forces with them ,releasing "The brightest star of sunset boulevard volume 1 and 2".

We at Gravelroad music, loved the idea and know the high standards Fort Baxter lives up to. It has to be an excellent release, so we said; " Great let's do it , but…. A 2 cd value Digipack and working with the original recording! So everybody will have the change to have it complete this time". Value for money is needed in these times.

The moment we started to work we discovered that the original sound was much clearer and much more spread to left and right. The background instruments where suddenly present. Elvis voice was in the room and were present there at the rehearsal.

We knew it is a justified release, no compressors, limiters, etc. It's exciting and more … pure Elvis

Disc 1

1. That's All Right
2. I Got A Woman
3. The Wonder Of You
4. I've Lost You
5. The Next Step Is Love
6. Stranger In The Crowd
7. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling
8. Something
9. Don't Cry Daddy #1
10. Don't Cry Daddy #2
11. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
12. Polk Salad Annie
13. Bridge Over Troubled Water
14. I Can't Stop Loving You
15. Just Pretend / Don't it makes you wanna go home (few lines)
16. Sweet Caroline / Love me tender (few lines)
17. Words

Disc 2

1. Suspicious Minds
2. I Just Can't Help Believin' #1
3. I Just Can't Help Believin' #2
4. Tomorrow Never Comes / Running Scared (few lines)
5. Mary In The Morning
6. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
7. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling
8. I Just Can't Help Believin' #3
9. Heart Of Rome (uncensored) & reprise
10. Memories
11. Johnny B. Goode
12. Make The World Go Away / Delilah (few lines)
13. Stranger In My Own Home Town (uncensored)
14. I Washed My Hand In Muddy Water

The CD "You Know, It Don't Have To Be Strictly Country – volume 2" is delayed due to this release. Good things need time. Also various other old Baxter and Bilko titles will be released by us next year from the original tapes and reels.

Source:Email
JimmyCool wrote on December 17, 2008
Nice, very nice ;)
Ton Bruins wrote on December 17, 2008
I need to know about the soundquality because I have this on bootleg all ready...is the sound improved ?
elvistruth wrote on December 17, 2008
The sound sampler is really out of this world!!! Simply outstanding. 100.000.000.000 times better than FTD Lene Reidel releases i.e.
Ciscoking wrote on December 18, 2008
A real upgrade of the old Fort Baxter at any case...a must have for newbies and a great addition to any other collection...
SnOwMan wrote on December 18, 2008
I've heard the sound sample. The sound quality is 1000 times better on this than on the original!!! It's a must have and not only for newbies. Sell the old Fort Baxter CD and buy this one,because it's sooo much better!
Linda Kovalcik wrote on December 18, 2008
The sound is indeed much better on this one. It's much clearer and less hissy. You hear much more details here. Good work!
Col />Edwards wrote on December 19, 2008
I hope I can take Linda's and Ciscooking's reactions for serious. Others have been quite deceiving in the past and only negative...never positive or constructive being critical about the quality and also concept (many hillbillys and bossmen were right though) Hope it's not another ripoff. I am becoming very reluctant to believe opinions printed on this forum
GeertFromNl wrote on December 19, 2008
I agree with Ciscoking,Linda and Snowman. Much better sound quality here. Highly recommended. If only all re-releases would be as good as this one...
Erika Freiburger wrote on December 22, 2008
Today i've received this 2 CD-set from my dealer. The sound quality is much better than on the Fort Baxter CD's! There's a major improvement. If you remember the improvement of "One Night Only" then you'll be able to imagine how good the sound is on this CD. Here in Germany it's very hard to find bootleg CD's,i have to order them from the U.K. The price of this 2 CD-set is £18 (including postage) but it's worth every penny! I wish i could find a German dealer. Merry Christmas to all Elvis-fans!
wmarkj wrote on December 24, 2008
I've compared the track listing, and contrary to what I have read before, there are no additional tracks on this over the original release. Am I correct?