Walk a Mile in my shoes the 70's masters box set could they do this set much better

[curtis simpkins]

I am playing this set right now, but on disc 3, i love this disc because it has the Elvis country album on here.

but imo they should done this set much better what they done, they could have done it like the 60's matser set.

what they should have done on this 70s box set is this.

they could have just put all of his studio recordings only on live recordings,
and also leave out the gospel music and christmas music, this way they can
put all of his nashville and memphis recordings on this one big set, and then they can put some great unreleased music on disc 5, and disc 5 isnt one of my favorites, but i do like some of the tracks on there.

but to me this what they should have done with the set.

and it would have sold more what it did.

but at the time what i have heard they was'nt going to put out the 70s box set anyway, but the fans give the hell, and so they put it out anyway.

[Jungleroom76]

I agree with you Curtis, that this set SHOULD have been done much better!!

However, in keeping with the format that they created for the 50's and 60's box sets, they should have released the 70's set in the same manner. I agree with including a disc containing live performances (to highlight Elvis in concert), as they did with disc 5. BUT...I don't agree with the way they did discs 3 & 4, which are songs that RCA considers "studio highlights"...they should have released ALL of Elvis' studio material from the 70's, just as they did with the 50's and 60's sets. I mean...there were some GREAT songs, in my opinion, that were left out because RCA didn't feel they were "highlights" of the 70's studio material, such as AND I LOVE YOU SO, WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE, NEVER AGAIN, IT'S EASY FOR YOU, etc.

And, RCA should have also included all of the "previously unreleased" songs (MY WAY, IT'S DIFF'RENT NOW, TIGER MAN, LADY MADONNA, etc.) on a separate CD, again, like they did with the 50's and 60's sets.

Now, it's true that doing this may have caused the 70's set to be a bigger set, like 6 or even 7 CD's, but in all fairness, when you consider that RCA broke up the 60's material into 2 sets (the main 5-CD "non-movie" box set and the supplemental 2-CD "best of" movie hits set), then it really shouldn't have been a big deal.

In my opinion, I truly thought that the 70's set was the weakest entry in the box set series...but then again, considering this is RCA and EPE that we are talking about, should we have expected anything less than the slighting of Elvis' 70's material?

TCB!
Mike

[NightRider]

Now, it's true that doing this may have caused the 70's set to be a bigger set, like 6 or even 7 CD's, but in all fairness, when you consider that RCA broke up the 60's material into 2 sets (the main 5-CD "non-movie" box set and the supplemental 2-CD "best of" movie hits set), then it really shouldn't have been a big deal.

In my opinion, I truly thought that the 70's set was the weakest entry in the box set series...but then again, considering this is RCA and EPE that we are talking about, should we have expected anything less than the slighting of Elvis' 70's material?

TCB!
Mike

I agree Mike,

The 60's set has a separate Vol 2 so to speak....so why didn't they release the 70's box set.....containing all the studio material.....then release a 2 cd set ( same as The Command Performances for the 60's set ) containing what they regarded as the very best Live Material.

The 70's just about edge the rest of Elvis' career for me....even though i have to say that there is not much in it .....Its a shame that they couldn't do the job that the 70's material deserved.

Even the bootleggers got in on it....two separate cd's called the missing masters....i still have them to this day.....simply because they make a great compilation cd(s)

And BMG/RCA wonder why bootleggers are so popular

[Jungleroom76]

I agree Mike,

The 60's set has a separate Vol 2 so to speak....so why didn't they release the 70's box set.....containing all the studio material.....then release a 2 cd set ( same as The Command Performances for the 60's set ) containing what they regarded as the very best Live Material.

The 70's just about edge the rest of Elvis' career for me....even though i have to say that there is not much in it .....Its a shame that they couldn't do the job that the 70's material deserved.

Even the bootleggers got in on it....two separate cd's called the missing masters....i still have them to this day.....simply because they make a great compilation cd(s)

And BMG/RCA wonder why bootleggers are so popular

RIGHT ON NIGHT RIDER!!!

I agree 1,000%!!! But then again, as I said, this is RCA and EPE were talking about, so should we be the least bit surprised that the 70's set was the weakest entry in the entire box set series?

In fact....to be perfectly honest....I'm surprised that a 70's set came out at all!!!

But, you are right....releasing a 2-CD companion set with the best live material on it would have been the answer!! Then, discs 1-4 of the 70's box set should have been laid out EXACTLY the same way as the 50's and 60's sets, with the songs as recorded in chronological order, with disc 5 containing any songs that didn't fit on discs 1-4, then concluding with the previously unreleased material.

Once again....the casual record buying fans were cheated out of some great 70's studio recordings, simply because RCA deemed them not to be "studio highlights" (IN THEIR OPINION!!!)

Will they EVER learn??? Probably not....but THANKFULLY us fans at least have the FTD label to help quench our thirst for 70's material....it's just such a shame that Joe Q. Public probably will never get to hear some of Elvis' best material from the 70's. (unless we bring it to them!)

TCB!
Mike

[Lonniebealestreet]

I totally agree, guys, but I also remember how thrilled I was with that set when it came out, and the fact is, there are some real jewels that made their debut on that set.

You're right though...

[Captain Elwood David]

I loved the decade box-sets when they first came out.

I admit to being a bit spoiled by FTD / boots since then .................. but I still view as essential purchases.

I remember hoping for more selections from the 70's material that I didn't see / get on the 70's set .............. but that's just because I'm a HUGE 70's era fan of EP's. Didn't have the same feeling with the 50's or 60's sets (just remember being very impressed, much more than I thought I would be with the 60's material and the way it was presented).

All three sets were well-done with the mainstream public (average "Joe") as the target in mind.


- Capt. "EL."

[Albert]

Although the decade boxsets are great boxsets to start your collection with, it isn't the covering any decade completely. I used to have all those boxsets, but sold them eventually. Why? Because everything is also covered on the re-released original albums and I preferred to own the "original albums" so that I have everything.

And, RCA should have also included all of the "previously unreleased" songs (MY WAY, IT'S DIFF'RENT NOW, TIGER MAN, LADY MADONNA, etc.) on a separate CD, again, like they did with the 50's and 60's sets.

Yes, and this is the mainreason why I don't like RCA/BMG: they never release things to make fans happy (besides FTD). Fans want those songs, but fans obviously also have all those other songs (the masters). So in order to have those few unreleased songs, they have to buy a 5CD boxset that has +90% of material previously released!?

And that goes for almost all decade-boxsets.

[clowdy]

Yes, the '70s box set could be better. BUT, considering the target, the general public, it is actually a good release.
Everytime someone asked me "I know about rock'n'roll, Hound Dog and Love Me Tender, but I really don't understand your fascination for this guy. Can you give some material to show me why was he so great?" I always gave One night with you (the 6 pm sit down show from '68 CS), TTWII (the original edition-b.t.w. I edited that and removed all those fan crap, it looks pretty much like the SE now) EOT, Aloha rehearsal and the '70s box set.
I never failed with those as arguments. They always came back saying "OMG, I never thought he could be like that. Can I have a copy of these things?"
So, yes, the fans DEFINITELY deserved better, but for the general public it is a good release.

[iamhekev]

A part from disc5,i like this box set,with disc 3 as my fav.

But the 3 box"s need a face lift,with new masters been found since they came out first,but thats down the line before that happens,with newer ftds to come out first,and thats A1 to me.

KEV.

[spinout-designs]

The fact The 70's boxset contains a number of tracks available for the first (and only) time on that very set, not to mention provides the complete Elvis Country LP without the fades into '10000 Years Ago' makes this box one that has to be recommended.

Agreed though, the 'hunka hunka' masters that never made it onto this compilation are most conspicuous by their absence.

With so many master takes to juggle with from this decade, and given that live performances were a huge part of Elvis' output in the 70's, it was never going to be an easy task to compile a comprehensive overview on just 5 discs, and an impossible one to include everything.

Making it a 7 disc set would have provided the necessary room needed, but could have priced the set out of the market.

So in the end the box set turned out to be less cohesive than it's 50's and 60's fore runners, but still a mightily worthy release in it's own right.

However, it is somewhat surprising that given the omitted masters would fit onto a 2 disc set that such a companion piece has never been put out officially.

As Chris mentioned, they did a similar thing with 'Command Performances' for the 60's, although where that set (Command Performmances) fell short was in the obvious fact that there was so much more movie material left off that set than could possibly ever fit on to 2 discs, making it little more than a 'best of' the movies.

I have 'Command Performances' and yes it is a decent compilation, but does not and cannot come anywhere close to being comprehensive, where as a 2 disc companion set to the 70's masters would be just that - comprehensive.

So, again, a surprise such a set has never been forthcoming, all of Elvis' 70's masters should really be a lot more accessable than they presently are.

[Jungleroom76]

The fact The 70's boxset contains a number of tracks available for the first (and only) time on that very set, not to mention provides the complete Elvis Country LP without the fades into '10000 Years Ago' makes this box one that has to be recommended.

Agreed though, the 'hunka hunka' masters that never made it onto this compilation are most conspicuous by their absence.

With so many master takes to juggle with from this decade, and given that live performances were a huge part of Elvis' output in the 70's, it was never going to be an easy task to compile a comprehensive overview on just 5 discs, and an impossible one to include everything.

Making it a 7 disc set would have provided the necessary room needed, but could have priced the set out of the market.

So in the end the box set turned out to be less cohesive than it's 50's and 60's fore runners, but still a mightily worthy release in it's own right.

However, it is somewhat surprising that given the omitted masters would fit onto a 2 disc set that such a companion piece has never been put out officially.

As Chris mentioned, they did a similar thing with 'Command Performances' for the 60's, although where that set (Command Performmances) fell short was in the obvious fact that there was so much more movie material left off that set than could possibly ever fit on to 2 discs, making it little more than a 'best of' the movies.

I have 'Command Performances' and yes it is a decent compilation, but does not and cannot come anywhere close to being comprehensive, where as a 2 disc companion set to the 70's masters would be just that - comprehensive.

So, again, a surprise such a set has never been forthcoming, all of Elvis' 70's masters should really be a lot more accessable than they presently are.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT SPINOUT!!!!

Night Rider and I were talking about this very topic....move the live material to a separate 2-CD set (a "best of" live material set) and rearrange the studio material to put it into chronological order based on when Elvis recorded the material (as was done on the 50's and 60's box sets). Then, place all of the STUDIO material Elvis recorded in the 70's, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, on discs 1-4 and any left over songs at the beginning of disc 5, and then use the remainder of disc 5 to present the previously unreleased material. Between this, and the separate 2-CD companion set with the best of the live material, I think that would have been the way to go with the 70's material!

I agree that having the tracks from ELVIS COUNTRY without the "10,000 YEARS AGO" fade in/out music is a definite plus!!

I also agree that having a 7-CD box set would have financially too much to ask of the regular CD buying public, which is why I thought the separate 2-CD companion live set would have been the way to go! Just my opinion though...

TCB!
Mike

[rockinrebel]

From a fans perspective it would have been nice to have all the studio masters together in one set. Having said that I can fully understand why Ernst chose not to do this. The reviews for this set were very positive, with some critics even admitting that they hadn’t realised that Elvis’ ‘70’s output was this good.

Personally I think one of the reasons for that was the studio/live mix. The concerts were a major part of Elvis’ seventies career, and the live albums were very popular sellers over the years. A ‘70’s collection without the likes of “Walk A Mile In My Shoes”, “Polk Salad Annie” “Proud Mary”, “Never Been To Spain”, “You Gave Me A Mountain”, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” etc. would not really give a complete overview of Elvis’ later career, and his most cases these performances are considerably stronger than the studio material that Ernst chose to omit.

Whilst the complete studio masters would make a nice release for the fans, I think in terms of presenting Elvis’ ‘70’s recordings as positively as possible Ernst got the track listing right.

[Lonniebealestreet]

That's hard to argue with...

I think that sums it up well--as fans we would have loved to have gotten everything on that set. We didn't, but thereby probably ended up with a stronger set.

And again, a lot of rarities came out on that set. It's amazing to think that just nine years ago, there were some studio masters that hadn't been released (Perhaps 'studio masters' is a bit of a misnomer if no take at all had been released prior to that time, but that's what BMG called 'em.)

Glad to see you posting here, Reb.

[Jungleroom76]

From a fans perspective it would have been nice to have all the studio masters together in one set. Having said that I can fully understand why Ernst chose not to do this. The reviews for this set were very positive, with some critics even admitting that they hadn’t realised that Elvis’ ‘70’s output was this good.

Personally I think one of the reasons for that was the studio/live mix. The concerts were a major part of Elvis’ seventies career, and the live albums were very popular sellers over the years. A ‘70’s collection without the likes of “Walk A Mile In My Shoes”, “Polk Salad Annie” “Proud Mary”, “Never Been To Spain”, “You Gave Me A Mountain”, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” etc. would not really give a complete overview of Elvis’ later career, and his most cases these performances are considerably stronger than the studio material that Ernst chose to omit.

Whilst the complete studio masters would make a nice release for the fans, I think in terms of presenting Elvis’ ‘70’s recordings as positively as possible Ernst got the track listing right.

WELCOME ROCKIN' REBEL!!!!

I agree with your point, no question!! And, I also agree that Ernst did the right thing by adding live material to the box set, since that was such an intrical part of Elvis' career in the 70's.

But still...I can't ever help but feel that this set is just lacking the "completeness" that its predecessors had! I know we've talked about how this set would have been 6 or 7 CD's, if Ernst had decided to include EVERY studio track along with the mix of live stuff and previously unreleased tracks, which from a retail standpoint would be unreasonable to ask casual fans to shell out that much money for such a big box set! But....there must be some simple solution that would have worked, to allow fans to hear EVERYTHING Elvis recorded in the studio in the 70's, along with the live stuff....without having to skip around and only present the "highlights" of Elvis' 70's studio sessions! (And, then again....the question presents itself....who determines which studio tracks are "highlights" and which aren't? What is the criteria for a song to be considered a "highlight"?)

But, nevertheless, Rockin' Rebel, I see your point and certainly can agree with you!!

TCB!
Mike

[rockinrebel]

Thanks for the welcome Bobby & Jungleroom76 – this looks like a great board.

I think Ernst has proved to be a good judge of Elvis’ recordings in the past, but I would agree that the decision as to what may or may not be an essential recording is indeed subjective. There’s certainly a few songs I would have included that Ernst chose to omit, and I’m sure that we would all come up with different track listings had we been asked to include the best studio and live recordings from the decade, rather than present the studio masters in chronological order.

As I said originally from a fans perspective, I would like to have the complete masters in upgraded quality, and maybe this is something BMG or FTD can look at in the future.

[Jungleroom76]

YOU ARE VERY WELCOME ROCKIN' REBEL!!! WE'RE HAPPY TO HAVE YOU HERE!!!

Thank you for your kind words for our board...we have LOTS of Elvis fans here, and the more time you spend here, the more they become part of your family....at least they have in my case!! It's like one big Elvis fan family reunion whenever I have time to visit the board!! We hope you will feel that way too, and that you will have time to visit often!!

I agree completely....I would love to have all of the master recordings in upgraded sound quality! From what I have heard regarding the current reissue series that FTD is doing, as with the soundtracks, they are going to re-release the 70's albums in this same style with the improved sound quality and 7-inch packaging. So, we hopefully can look forward to that!! I would LOVE to see my favorite Elvis album TODAY reissued in this style....THAT would be SO COOL!!! Time will tell, but it sounds promising anyway... (h)

TCB!
Mike

[richardo316]

i think the 70,s box set was done pretty good. the only thing they could have done better was on disk five.they should have used unreleased live tracks. most of the live tracks had already been realeased when the box set came out.

[rockinrebel]

i think the 70,s box set was done pretty good. the only thing they could have done better was on disk five.they should have used unreleased live tracks. most of the live tracks had already been realeased when the box set came out.

Interesting point. Unreleased material is always welcome, but I think in this case RCA were right to use the previously issued live masters. In most cases these are the best live versions that RCA have in the vaults in terms of sound quality (multi track recordings) and Elvis? performance level. Rarer material in varying sound quality might have proved more interesting for those of us that already owned the official live albums, but I don?t think the collection would have been quite as strong, had Ernst opted to do this.