On Tour - The Rehearsals

Merry Christmas, Yes indeed it is. I think we will be treated to one of the best times in Elvis' career since "That's the way it is" came out a few years ago. The latest FTD release "On Tour" the rehearsals is , to put it mildly, awesome! We all knew that so much of this material remains "officially" Unreleased...until now! Of course, we are starting with the rehearsals for the smash concert tour Elvis and the gang would embark upon in early 1972 that would result in The King's last "motion picture". Ok, let's get on to the disc. First the sound quality, Very even and smooth with little if any hiss or distortion. The stereo separation is excellent with tight drums and guitar is clean and crisp. Elvis' voice is up front and strong with the back up singers properly positioned and sounding great. The song selection is upbeat and a great start to introducing us to this part of Elvis' life where touring the nation became the norm. Every song is rockin' and boy would i have loved to be a fly on the wall during these rehearsals. I can just picture Elvis sitting, or trying to, so hard to keep his body from making those stage moves while practicing. The band is playing there best sounds perfect. Tunes like "Proud Mary", "Polk Salad Annie", "Burnin' Love" and the list goes on and on are great smokin' versions. Some are a little short, but sweet! Previous reviews regarding "El Paso" are correct, for I would not really call it a "song", it's more between take banter. Now, on the other hand it is wonderful to hear the smooth as silk version of "Young And Beautiful", a real treat! All in all, the tracks are solid and Elvis is serious about the rehearsals for on most he gives his all, there is not much chatting in between the takes ( unless they have been cut ). Great songs that we have only heard "live" now have a closer, warmer sound in the rehearsal and sound more like studio takes. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", this is awesome. We finally get that supercharged version of "Johnny B. Goode" from the opening credits of "On Tour"....YES!! To say that this release is "exciting" is an understatement. This is one of the most electrifying times in Elvis' career. We have so much to look forward to from this time period. If you thought Elvis was great during the Las Vegas shows, now we will have him touring America, packing in hundreds of thousands of fans, playing some great rock and roll of the day and giving his all. This release will go down with the best of the FTDs like "Jungle Room Sessions" and 6363 Sunset, etc. If you have slacked off buying some of the previous FTD's because you don't like "flat", "dull" sounding soundboards or you are not that keen on movie soundtracks, now is the time to get back into it and buy this release. You will not be disappointed, I promise you!! Keeping 'em coming Ernst, we're waiting... ElvisNews.com: We agree so much with this point of view, that we "promoted" it to our own view, with one little remark about the coverart. The additional text with the tracklisting in the inside is very unclear to read, even with glasses on.