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Saturday, January 28, 2012

New FTD Releases Confirmed

As is usually the case while waiting for new FTD releases to be announced, the rumour mill has been in full swing the last couple of weeks.

On January 12 someone wrote on the FECC forum that there would be "some very special news from the FTD people." After six days of discussions and guesses (ranging from the long awaited SUN project to an Elvis In Concert CD/DVD/Hardcover Book Box set project) Ernst denied this, saying that "an announcement will be made in early February - and it's just a regular announcement."

Two days ago, on January 26, the Elvis Information Network wrote that they had overheard that the new March FTDs could be 1) On Stage Album 2) 1975 soundboard concert - possibly Shreveport June 7 3) His Hand In Mine double-vinyl release. The post finished with the sentence that "These have yet to be confirmed by FTD."

Now, yesterday, ElvisMatters posted the news that the Elvis Express website could confirm that the rumoured 5" live album will be the concert from June 7 1975, Shreveport, Louisiana, and also that there was no confirmation yet of the other two titles.

And today, on January 28, ElvisMatters published an article titled "Official FTD news: March releases" where the one confirmed release (the Shreveport concert) turned out to be not so confirmed after all, as an Our Memories Of Elvis double CD had taken its place. (The other two rumoured releases turned out to be correct.)

I've written about this before, but FTD really should have their own website where the announcements could be made firsthand. That way, the rumour mill wouldn't have to swing so fast. Or, failing that, does like it says on the FTD releases News section on the official site of Elvis Presley: "Whenever a new release is ready to be announced, FTD provides information to EPE to post in the FTD News section here on Elvis.com and then provides information to its other distributors, fan sites, etc."

That was actually the case when the last announcements were made in October (Promised Land, Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas, Elvis Is Back (vinyl) and A Moment In Time (book). But when I took a look there today, there was no sign of the new FTD March releases.

But who am I to complain? As On Stage February 1970 is one of my favorite albums, I'm happy that I can soon cross it out from my list over future possible releases in FTD's Classic Album series. And Our Memories Of Elvis looks promising also. In a way I guess it's a logical move to release it, just as FTD did with the Too Much Monkey Business CD back in 2000, featuring the songs re-recorded for the Guitar Man LP from 1981. Maybe this means that the This Is Elvis double album will also see a release in the future, who knows?

Finally, here are the confirmed new FTD titles set for release on March 6:
  1. On Stage – February, 1970 Classic Album. A 2 CD 7" digipack with the regular 12-page booklet. As well as the Original Album (mastered by Vic Anesini) the album will include all of RCA’s multi-track recordings from three of Elvis’ shows.
  2. Our Memories Of Elvis a 2 CD 5" digipack version of the original albums, with an added bonus of the previously unreleased Volume 3 LP master tape plus six more cuts that series producer Joan Deary had prepared at the time. It comes with a 12-page booklet of relevant memorabilia and photos.
  3. His Hand In Mine vinyl 2-album set. Special Limited Edition 2-disc 180-gram vinyl set.
Elvis Matters also announces that "There will be a separate announcement of book titles" soon. Maybe a CD/book combo from Elvis show in Shreveport 1975?

PS: Wouldn't the unreleased Our Memories Of Elvis Volume 3 be the perfect candidate for a "what if" LP from FTD? That's the concept I wish FTD would use for their vinyl releases.

2 comments:

Troy Y. / The Mystery Train Blog said...

Though I'm holding onto my small Elvis budget this year to see what else might be on the horizon, I'm definitely excited about both of these CD releases and will pick them up at some point.

I do wish they had found an available recording of the "All Shook Up" show opener from the winter 1970 season to include, even if it wasn't multi-track.

Funny, my first thought after seeing Our Memories of Elvis as a release was that this might mean there is at last hope that an expanded This Is Elvis soundtrack will see the light of day on CD.

Thomas said...

This Is Elvis has always been a favorite release since I got it for my 14th birthday, Troy. To get an expanded CD version would be fabulous. So: Ernst Jorgensen, you are our only hope :-)