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MRS Expanding Blue Hawaii

February 08, 2012 | Music

Memphis Recording Service will release an expanded version of the Blue Hawaii album.

Press-release

Memphis Recording Service will release one of its minor titles of a CD/Book package titled ‘BLUE HAWAII - THE EXPANDED ALTERNATE ALBUM’ on the 23rd April.

The CD is an expanded edition of the original soundtrack album ‘Blue Hawaii’ originally released in 1961.

It contains many previously unreleased out-takes and alternate versions of the soundtrack recording including Elvis’ number 1 hit, ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ .

As a bonus, the CD is accompanied by a 40 page book containing many rare and unpublished photographs taken on and off the set of ‘Blue Hawaii’.

This title is currently available for Pre –order on Amazon UK and Play at below £12.

Tracklist

THE EXPANDED ALBUM

01. Blue Hawaii (Take 1FS Take 7M)
02. Almost Always True (Take 1FS Take 8M)
03. Aloha Oe (Take 4FS & SPM)
04. No More (Take 1FS Take 13M)
05. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 27FS Take 28FS Take 29M)
06. Rock-A-Hula Baby (Take 4FS Take 5M)
07. Moonlight Swim (Take 3M)
08. Ku ui po (Take 8LFS Take 9M)
09. Ito Eats (Take 6FS Take 7FS Take8FS Take 9M)
10. Slicin' Sand (Take 18LFS Take 19M)
11. Hawaiian Sunset (Master)
12. Beach Boy Blues (Take 1FS Take 2M)
13. Island of Love (Take 11FS Take 12FS Take 13M)
14. Hawaiian Wedding Song (Take 2M)

THE ALTERNATE OUTAKES

15. No More (Take 3LFS)
16. No More (Take 9)
17. Rock-A-Hula Baby (Take 1FS)
18. Ito Eats (Take 1MM Take 3FS)
19. Slicin' Sand (Take 15FS Take 16FS Take 17)
20. Beach Boy Blues (Take 3MM)
21. Island of Love (Take 3FS, Take 5FS, Take 10FS)
22. Aloha Oe (Take 2)
23. Aloha Oe (Take 3)
24. Aloha Oe (Take 5SPM)
25. Aloha Oe (Take 7SPM)
26. Aloha Oe (MASTER OF SECTION 2)
27. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 1FS Take 2FS Take 3FS Take 4FS)
28. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 5LSF)
29. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 6FS, Take 7FS)
30. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 8LFS)
31. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 9)
32. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 10FS Take 11FS Take 12FS)
33. Cant Help Falling In Love (Take 18FS Take 23MM)
 

Blue Hawaii Expanded

Source:Memphis Recording Service

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Buy at Amazon.co.uk
Steve V wrote on February 08, 2012
I wont be buying this, but I must say these guys put FTD to shame with their packaging. This is what an FTD package should look like. Something special for the money.
Havard wrote on February 08, 2012
Perhaps I should not say this, but I've never been a big fan of the Blue Hawaii soundtrack. This release from the MRS label is a “must buy” though! I have all the MRS releases, and there are only three things to say about them: great - great - GREAT!
benny scott wrote on February 08, 2012
Havard, I absolutely cannot agree with you ! You should have written : great, greater, GREATEST ! (lol). This is indeed another beauty by MRS. I have 'em all too . Keep 'em comin'. Steve, you're right about the package. Always El.
Orion wrote on February 08, 2012
This set look very attractive, but I have to agree with Steve. This should be the type of product that FTD produces. I can only imagine this type of packaging for each of the classic album releases. Perhaps when I'm dead and gone someone will do this when all those classic albums reach public domain. Anyway, as far as this, it looks very nice, but with 33 tracks on a single dic, that's less than 3 minutes per track. Must be a lot of quickie false starts . However, with a price below £12, I might have to give in.
Natha wrote on February 08, 2012
I also have to agree with Steve V that FTD should have done this. They are overtaken by MRS and I eagerly await their next products. They follow the public domain border on its heels. Of course it is the music that counts, but realising the price tag, MRS is way ahead of them all. I will be more careful in buying FTD (which I was already btw) and save it for MRS products. They are the greatest at the moment.
Andy_2 wrote on February 08, 2012
First big dissapointment for me from MRS. True, the packaging is excellent and way above what FTD are doing but why Blue Hawaii? Hope they don't start playing it safe like FTD do now as all there other offerings have been a little bit different to anybody else and have given us things we weren't expecting. Hope they don't start doing this with all the movie albums, if they do then they will become just another FTD (predictable and no imagination).
Johnny2523 wrote on February 08, 2012
Why does everybody talk about the content of this?? I Rather have a MRS release then the FTD release. on ftd im never sure what to expect although i got all of their cds. But since i started collecting MRS releases i knew one thing they deliver quality in packaging and soundwise. Who knows what the sound is goin to be? I dont think people should only judge this cd on its content. But also on the quality.
Johnny2523 wrote on February 08, 2012
And the first 14 tracks are the masters with the studio banter/false starts before them. Thats always nice to have in the collection. And the bonuses are very interesting to.
SuziB wrote on February 09, 2012
Ironic that last week, so many people were berating Sony (FTD) for releasing updated/upgraded versions of Our Memories of Elvis" and "On Stage" , yet, no one does so for this, when the Blue Hawaiii out-takes have all been available for years and years. As with comparisons with FTD - MRS is a parasite feeding on the spoils on the soon to be updated anachronistic European public domain laws; a law the owners don't even seem to understand - they have previously purloined tracks which were not public domain. It has a completely different financial model to FTD, paying none of the performing, song writing and publishing royalties FTD has to for most releases. Yes, effort goes into presentation, and, sometimes in trying to optimise sound quality but in essence these guys are no different to those who produce the now, unfortunately all too common, £1 pre-62 materal cds available at petrol stations nationwide...
Lefty wrote on February 09, 2012
I'm very impressed with the care and quality MRS puts into their products. They make me want to buy their stuff! So much so in fact, that I check their website just about everyday for the Hawaii Benefit Concert pre-sale. Too bad that the official label, richer beyond the dreams of avarice and armed with the entire Elvis Presley catalog, finds it hard to compete against a little European outfit with limited funds and resources.
Boxcar wrote on February 09, 2012
FTD has given us so many 70s classic album sessions during the last few month. O.K. They disqualify themself with poor releases like "Stage Rehearsals" every once in a while. But all in all they delivered us with tons of the material we always wanted to hear. And to be honest: The G.I. Blues release of MRS wasn't that good soundwise. And don't forget how MRS ripped the fans off with their first releases which were so expensive that even me as a hardcore-collector skipped them. I love the MRS stuff because it gives me enhenced material that's available elsewhere for a relatively good price. But to compare them with FTD who delivers new outtakes in Anesini-quality is too far fetched. By the way: Amazon germany charges 24 Euro for the MRS Hayride CD while I get a FTD TWO (!) CD set here for between 18-21 Euro. So, no reason to praise MRS that way. They are good for the limited possibilities they have. That's all.
John Burrows wrote on February 09, 2012
MRS first releases were expensive because they contained over a 400 page book. You would never get that with FTD. Im not knocking FTD, I collect them all, but MRS do deluxe releases as standard and this is only 11 pounds on Amazon UK and the Such A Night is 13 pounds. These are half the price of FTD. So I am happy, MRS fills the gaps. FTD had a chance to do Blue Hawaii vol 2 but they did not. All the outakes on this release I noticed are not on the FTD release of Blue Hawaii.
Martin DJ wrote on February 09, 2012
Actually, FTD's Elvis Presley - Writing for the King IS a 400 page book (with cd).
John Burrows wrote on February 09, 2012
very true. I was just making a point with Boxcar that with MRS early releases with a 400 page book, vinyl from the original master stamper and a DVD_A was only 35 pounds. And worth every penny. Boxcar was complaining that it was a rip off.
Boxcar wrote on February 09, 2012
Is there any reason why they did another senseless mixture of outtakes? They did 4 CDs on G.I. Blues. Why not releasing the complete Blue Hawaii sessions on 3 CDs now and finish this case once and for all?
japio wrote on February 09, 2012
i wonder what source MRS used?. Is it Stereo or like all the old cd's in mono. What FTD said makes no sense. FTD has maked too much mistakes in the las few years. Wrong takes.ect. New re-released 'titles with only one new alternate take. But he's right to mention that the first MRS cd's are expesive. And the 5.1 audio cd is complete fake. In that case he's right. But the GI Blues box was very good. Ok it's boring to listen to take after take. But jean marie could be right with his comment on "missing Tapes" maybe we all know that the 50's binaural tapes are notthe main session tapes. but back-up tapes. These was for if something went wrong and in those years they released several artists lp's in this primitive stereo On the web i read that KC was recorded in binaural. And several years ago there was a auction with tapes from Engineer Nogar . When he died his family sold these 57 tapes. These tapes contains sessions of jailhouse rock. Also more including the christmas tapes. It's the true about the back-up tapes. If this count for sessions in the 60's i dont know.And what happenend to the tapes who's was send to the moeviecompany ? So what could we expect about this MRS release ?. But why not more complete ?.
Tony C wrote on February 09, 2012
Again more rumours regarding the missing session tapes, "I hear that someone in California owns those but wouldn't want to sell it to no-one...unless $$$$$". What is the source of such information? When similar statements have been made from this direction a challenge of evidence has been made and met with complete silence. With regard to the movie soundtrack sessions, RCA did not send the movie company any tapes, it was the reverse. The tapes were recorded by or under control of the movie company, used and them handed over to RCA. Sometimes they handed over the session tapes and the master reel, but sometimes just the latter. In some instances, the master reel would contain unreleased material such as alternative masters. There has been many searches of the movies company archives over the years instigated by Ernst which have given good results, but life is never perfect. Many tapes over the years were destroyed and some of these probably contained Elvis material. The Thorne Nogar tape collection was covered on this site in great detail in 2006. The one Elvis tapes contained back-up copies of the master takes of "(Let’s Have a) Party", "I Believe ", "Got a Lot o' Lotta Livin’ To Do", "All Shook Up", "Mean Woman Blues", "Peace in the Valley", "I Beg of You", "That’s When Your Heartaches Begin", "Tell Me Why", "Don’t Leave Me Now", "One Night" and "True Love",of which Sony have the original masters. The tapes do contain snippets of dialogue between the takes, but they are only snippets as the tracks were cut from other reels and assembled on this one. This is why BMG/Sony declined to bid for this tape. The original hype about it containing the "All Shook Up" and Christmas album sessions was sadly just that, hype.
lacke lee wrote on February 12, 2012
how can everybody complain on ftd and still they sell. i do buy both ftd and mrs releses and so do many of you who complains on ftd as well. stop complaining and be happy that someone put out all this good material. if you should complain on any releses complain on all those cd that comes from those people that don't understand what the fans want and they just put out best of cd after best of cd. if you didn't have the mrs or ftd that would be what you would collect. i collect both ftd and mrs and i am happy with both company
Natha wrote on February 12, 2012
What I observe is that FTD keeps it mostly to the music, with now and then a slightly more photos. That is fine with me. Lately however I lost a little interest in their products, mainly because it was gospel or releaes I already had. I understand their business like approach. Yet in this time frame I have to make choices and I think MRS has given me just that what I was waiting for (re: the first releases of them). FTD did not deliver that. Now there is the Pearl Harbor release! My point is that most of the stuff has already been released, so when they offer outtakes that were sort of leftovers (maybe on purpose, for use later one;) ) there should be enough extra or a nice presentation. And that is what MRS is doing better than FTD. And look at the Venus productions. They present their material not oly as music but also as a historical documentation. I appreciate FTD works, nevertheless, so I am in no way against FTD or negative about them. I am just more positive about some ways of presentation.
benny scott wrote on February 12, 2012
Natha: well said ! I'm still buying FTD too, but MRS delivers top-notch products, not a single one left me down so far. Always El.
Tony C wrote on February 12, 2012
It was mentioned below that Ernst, on behalf of FTD, should purchase the missing session tapes. I think we need to look at the meaning of the word missing, in this case it means that they have never been located. How difficult is that to understand? The posting also enquired why the FTD "Girls! Girls! Girls!" CD was not a double disc release, well as has been stated many times before, most of the tapes are among those missing tapes. They can only release what they have or have access to. With regard to Sony purchasing tapes from outside sources, they have done this many times before and have spent thousands of dollars getting their own property back. The question was asked as to why bootleggers can offer better value product than official releases. I think you will find that this is because they generally steal the tapes, pay nothing in artist or songwriter royalties, steal photo's and give no credit, or pay that little thing we all know as taxation.
Jamie wrote on February 14, 2012
Hello, great last posting there, Tony. I take the view that RCA Victor could not have anticipated the huge interest in Elvis's out-takes and may have been understood for re-using or ditching the lot. Instead we are fortunate enough to have extensive out-take material from most of the sessions including a surprising quantity from the 1950s. It's a shame 'King Creole', 'Elvis Christmas' Album', 'Elvis ' (1956) can't be augmented with more unreleased material of course, but Elvis's masters were carefully chosen with his agreement when he felt he'd achieved the right groove. The masters are, almost without exception, the best versions. The 'Roustabout' and 'Speedway' sessions may be of interest to completists but they are hardly essential to understanding the artistry and cultural significance of Elvis Presley. I'll happily spend my time listening to the wonders we have rather than pining for material rejected by Elvis which we may never have.
Steve V wrote on February 14, 2012
Jamie & Tony C are spot on. What is the big deal with outtakes anyway? How many times do people really listen to them as opposed to the masters? I find them interesting once but thats all. One listen is good enough for me even on classics like H. Hotel and Big Hunk O Love. The masters always win out.
Martin DJ wrote on February 16, 2012
Poor marketing, glad you brought that up, JeanMarie.
Natha wrote on February 16, 2012
Steve V, most of the time I ill readily agree with you. The masters are the best we've got. Only exeption is that sometimes Elvis' voice is buried amidst too many instruments or background singers. I really love to listen to his voice, so some of the outtakes are clearly more fun for me. I know Elvis was in his humbleness not so keen of being up front, but he is the one that made it all. Even with the great musicians around him, he was the fabulous outstanding man.
Steve V wrote on February 16, 2012
Natha, there is just too much product out there for my taste. Way too much. To me, they just water down all the great things Elvis did especially the movie stuff most of which is dreadful. I think FTD started out OK by releasing outtakes from certain sessions and such but it seems they've used these same outtakes on future classic album releases, and now you have other labels doing the same. Just too much for me and thats why I stick to the masters mostly. I honestly cant think of one outtake that is a better performance than the master. Yes soundwise, some are much better I agree with you there because of the rawness of the recording without overdubs, etc. But the masters were mixed for radio and stereo systems of their time and thus sound like they do. A perfect example to me is Elvis Back one of my favorite albums. I have the FTD version and once I get through the regular album, I am satisfied. I will listen to a few of the outtakes and take it out of the CD player. It loses its luster to hear inferior takes of even great songs.
Steve V wrote on February 16, 2012
I would also like to add Elvis Platinum, A like In Music remember that boxset? It had alernates of most of the songs. It flowed poorly because of that and many non-die hards I knew who bought it were greatly upset at the inferiror takes. They thought they were getting a representative of the Kings career. What they got was a box made for collectors only. Bad marketing ,bad idea. Outtakes have been around for years now and we are getting more of the same, from the same sessions over & over. Unless they find the takes of Hound Dog and other 50's gems, I dont care if I ever hear another one.
Natha wrote on February 17, 2012
Steve V, you are so right re FTD. The masters are fantastic and unparallelled. I like to hear the development or changes, like it is faked in Jailhouse Rock. But each and every repetition is also too much for me. Platinum was a mismatch indeed like you stated, considering the name one would expect the pinnacle of each song on in.
Tony C wrote on February 17, 2012
I stated below that Sony can only release the recordings they have in their archive or have access to via purchase from third parties. Our favourite marketing strategist said that Sony are now unwilling to buy tapes from outside sources. Where is the evidence for this? Not "I heard from an insider" or "Somebody told me...", facts. Like always, we won't get any because it is all a great work or fiction.
Martin DJ wrote on February 18, 2012
Far from being self-indulgent, vain or "plain dumm" Steve V and Tony C bring common sense to this forum (unlike our fabled marketing mogul, who provides comic relief, at best).
Steve V wrote on February 18, 2012
Thanks Martin for your support. And elio2012, if you are going to call me 'dumm' at least spell it right - dumb. I'm sorry if I dont enjoy outtakes on those stellar songs Datin , A Dogs Life, etc. In fact, I even hate the masters on those. Sorry but Elvis cracking up on a dire piece of music is not my idea of musical enjoyment. I'd rather play any other artist than to hear that stuff.
Jamie wrote on February 18, 2012
Hello, Steve is neither dumm nor dumb. It's worth the while of an Elvis aficionado to hear the outtakes solely to be able to have informed view of how the king developed a song from the tentative first take through to the tighter, bolder more rhythmic master. A handful - You'll Never Walk Alone, Lawdy Miss Clawdy spring to mine - were nailed early on with a different feel to the eventual master and are good enough stand up in their own right. But you have to plough through scores of renditions that Elvis himself rejected to get there. It's notable that the outtakes championed on this thread have had support only because Elvis found the materially comedically awful and laughed his way infectiously through the sessions. In other words, even the some of popular outtakes aren't actually any good. We're very fortunate that Elvis came along, absorbed the different musical genres around in Memphis during his formative years and had the genius to merge them into such wonderful master takes in the 1950s and occasionally in the 60's. Let's enjoy the best of his work and not get too hung up on what might have been discarded or erased.