Unreleased Tracks On FTD Vinyl

Reading the latest issue of Elvis The Man And His Music that arrived with the mail today, I was a bit disappointed to learn that FTD's vinyl version of Viva Las Vegas included two previously unreleased tracks. Although not mentioned in pre-release publicity, the LP edition features "The Lady Love Me" (take 2) as well as "If You Think I Don't Need You" (take 2).

Apparently I'm not the only one who feels a bit cheated. Another reader who, just like me is a loyal supporter of the FTD CD's, a Mr Gary Thompson from Cambridge, calls it "cheap tactics to try and sell their over-priced vinyl."

I have to agree, at least to a certain point. If you own the FTD CD version, that should be enough. You shouldn't have to buy an expensive vinyl album just to get two unreleased takes not found on the CD. Hey, many fans don't even own a record player.

Speculating a bit, maybe the problem is that many of the soundtracks were released on just one CD in the classic album series, as opposed to the the non-soundtrack albums that came later on. As I discovered a while back, a lot of outtakes were missing on the FTD Kid Galahad CD, and this probably has to do with the limited space a one CD release offers.

In all fairness, the Viva Las Vegas CD is packed with music, running for almost 79 minutes. But a look at the track listing reveals that a lot of takes seems to be missing here as well, as verified, at least to a certain point, by the two unreleased takes recently released on the LP edition.

So isn't it a good thing that a couple of more outtakes are made available to the fans? Sure, but I for one still feel that the price to obtain them is to high. Why don't sell them individually on iTunes as well? That, I can afford.

The Elvis Today Blog Cover

February hasn't been a very active one when it comes to new posts on the Elvis Today blog. With a four month old baby girl at home and a hectic time at work right now, I guess I can be forgiven.

But as some of you have been wondering how my blog book is coming along, I thought I'd tell you that it's a bit delayed (what good Elvis products aren't?!) but should be finished in March.

Until then, this is what the cover will look like:

Elvis 67 - Clambake!

When Troy announced that The Mystery Train Elvis Blog would honor the 44th anniversary of 1967 with special features on that Elvis year all throughout 2011, I couldn’t keep my fingers away from the keyboard. Not only does 1967 mark the year I was born, it also saw the release of the soundtrack album Clambake. So I wrote a guest blog where I talk a little bit about the latter.

Check it out over at The Mystery Train Elvis Blog

The Truth About Me

Hi, this is Thomas... I'm 23 years old and my interest in Elvis started when one of my two brothers bought the double LP Elvis Forever in the late 70's. I became a real fan a short time later when I borrowed a couple of Elvis albums from a classmate, among them Elvis In Concert.

During the years me and my other brother have built a record collection that we're proud of. Not because it includes a lot of valuable editions, but because we think we own most of the stuff released officially by Elvis, and to us it's the music and not the value of the collection that counts.

My favorite period with Elvis is 1968–77, when Elvis was at the peak, artistically as well as vocally.

When it comes to fan clubs, I joined the British Official Elvis Presley Fan Club in 1982. Two years later I became a member of the Swedish fan club Tidskriften Elvis, and in issue number 1, 1988, my first article was published.

Although I listen to other artists as well, not a day goes by without a dose of Elvis; by listening to a record or occasionally catching a video. Like a certain singer once said (with some slight modifications): "Without an Elvis song a man ain't got a friend. Without an Elvis song the day won't ever end. So I'll just keep listening to his song..."

I wrote the above (in Swedish) 21 years ago, when the members of the staff of the Swedish fan club magazine Tidskriften Elvis presented themselves in issue number 2, 1990. I'd written a couple of articles for that magazine (here's an example) , and felt proud to be considered part of the team.

I stumbled across the short text I'd written back then while leafing through a heap of old Elvis magazines. And although I no longer think Elvis was at his peak in 1977 and I'm no longer a contributor to Tidskriften Elvis, the rest of the stuff still holds true. Especially the last paragraph that actually was the reason I started the Elvis Today blog in 2007.

PS: I remember thinking that the other staff members were looking really old, like in their early to middle 40's or something, and now I'm as old as they were then...

FTD's Classic Album Series: What's Left?

Reading Troy's latest post on The Mystery Train Elvis Blog made me think about which titles we can expect to be announced in the FTD Classic Album series. Not counting albums where none or only a few outtakes exists, this is what I found out:

• Peace In The Valley EP (including all the binaural outtakes from 1957)
• G.I. Blues
• A What If Album featuring Nashville recordings from 1966-1968
• From Elvis In Memphis
• Back In Memphis
• He Touched Me
• Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas
• Promised Land
• From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
• Moody Blue
• Elvis In Concert
  

If FTD continues with their ordinary release schedule of four classic albums a year, this means that the well will have run dry in about three years time. But other exciting projects from Ernst Jorgensen and crew will come along, I'm sure.

And the fans can count themselves lucky. Like Troy writes, the FTD label "has released nearly 100 titles since it began in 1999, more albums in eleven years than Elvis released during his entire twenty-three year career."

And yeah, Troy, I'm also hoping for Promised Land to be next in line to receive the FTD treatment. If I was a betting man, this is what I would put my money on:

• Promised Land (April release)
• G.I. Blues (June release)
• Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas (October release)
• He Touched Me (December release)
  

Bets, anyone?

Elvis And Bill

When asked how I became an Elvis fan I always answer that it all started with Bill Haley. You see, my mother had an EP record with Bill Haley that I discovered when I was about eight years old. One of the songs on it was "Shake, Rattle And Roll" and I played it over and over. In fact, so much that I got a Bill Haley LP for my 9th birthday. I still have it, and looking at it right now, I can tell it spent it's fair share on the turntable as well.

From Bill Haley I guess the step wasn't very far to Elvis Presley, so when one of my brothers bought a double LP called Elvis Forever, I quickly "adopted" it. Bill Haley had to step aside as Elvis became my new favorite, a position he's successfully defended ever since.

But yesterday I got reacquainted with Bill Haley again, thanks to my other brother, who's also an Elvis fan (the one who bought Elvis Forever isn't). Turned out he'd ordered a box set featuring Bill Haley's music from the 60's. Being the nice brother he is, he'd put together a compilation CD from the set, and sent it to me. I imported it to my iPod and spent an enjoyable morning listening to it on my way to work.

And would you believe it had some interesting Elvis connections? I was pleasantly surprised to suddenly hear "Stop, Look And Listen" followed by "The Meanest Girl In Town" (titled "Yeah, She's Evil!"). Calling my brother on the phone in the evening, he told me they were recorded in 1964. So the versions that Elvis did for use in his two movies Spinout and Girl Happy, are actually Bill Haley covers. I didn't know that. And they sound pretty cool, too.

Now I'm only hoping that someday Elvis' version of "Rock Around The Clock," reportedly recorded during one of his Louisiana Hayride performances, will turn up. And by the way, did you know that Elvis recorded "That's All Right" on Bill Haley's 29th birthday?

Bill Haley and Elvis Presley crossed paths on a number of occasions (Elvis Australia)

"Elvis And I Laughed A Lot"

Learning yesterday that Lamar Fike has passed away, I decided to read a bit in the book Elvis and the Memphis Mafia, the 2005 re-issue of Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations of the Memphis Mafia from 1995. Lamar Fike wrote it together with Marty Lacker, Billy Smith and Alanna Nash in 1995.

It's like Elvis Australia puts it, an enthralling book that gets the fans an opportunity to expand their knowledge of Elvis many times over. In it, Lamar Fike comes across as the humorous guy he was, and I'd like to quote the following passage from the chapter titled "Lamar":

I had a very left-handed sort of humor, and Elvis always thought I was funny, even when I didn't mean to be. I got that from my mother. She just died in '94. She always used to say, "Have me cremated, Lamar. Just don't let me close to a vacuum cleaner." So I look at things with a pretty jaundiced eye. Elvis and I laughed a lot.

Another passage by Lamar at the end of the book, in the chapter "Aftermath," that I'd also like to share with you, is a more serious one. It goes like this:

For better or worse, we are what he [Elvis] left behind. He lives through his music, but he also lives through us.

Now another one of Elvis' friends is gone. I'm glad he shared his memories with us. His story helps me fit a couple of more pieces together from the the giant jigsaw puzzle that is Elvis Presley.

• Lamar Fike talks to EIN (The Elvis Information Network)
  
• Interview with Lamar Fike (Elvis Australia)