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Elvis 30 # 1 Hits As A DVD Audio Release

By Elvis Unlimited, December 13, 2002 | Video
It's finally here! The long waited DVD Audio release of "Elvis 30 # 1 Hits" You will not be disappointed it's so good, you wouldn't believe it before you hear it.

There have been plans to release an Elvis CD on a 5.1 DVD Audio CD for a long time, but it should not be before after the success of the "30 # 1 Hits" completion that this would take place. The first question that came to my mind after I heard that this CD was coming was: What is this? Why release the whole album again on a DVD? And things like that. But after reading an interview with one of the producers David Bendeth, who told the story behind this new media did I find my self in the situation of "I can't wait to hear this!"

The whole idea of a DVD Audio CD is that you will have to play it on your surround stereo system, otherwise will you not get the right effect out of it. The sound picture is build up in 5 channels, so that you get the strings and background voices at the satellite speakers, the rhythm section like guitar, bass, drums etc. at the normal speakers and the lead vocal in the centre speaker. This should give you the impression of a band playing around you and Elvis standing in front of you singing. This mostly is the perfect way to experience an Elvis studio recording. I have to say that the reason why this project is made on a DVD disc is that there is five times as much space on a DVD disc than on a normal CD disc. Therefore can you not play this disc at a normal CD player. Many people have their DVD players connected to the surround system so that's the way it has to go.

There is no film or pictures on the disc; it's only sound/music. The disc contains the complete "30 # 1 Hits" album, but also a lot of special features. First of all do we get some sound comparing from the original mix (Before the "30 # 1 Hits" album) to the new surround mix. Then we get some isolated vocal tracks on "In The Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds" The first one is very beautiful, but it's not complete. What a shame! The second one is the first 1 ½ Min. of the song. When the producers mixed the new mixes for the "30 # Hits" album they found something strange in the middle of this song. It has a low noise, they tried to gain the level on this sound a bit and it turned out to be Elvis yelling to him self "Sing the song man. Sing the song!" Great piece. You will love to hear this! The last bonus that we get is a false start on "Crying In The Chapel", some studio talk and then take 2 of the song.

To Release Elvis on the new DVD Audio format is a big chance that BMG has taken. Only a very few other artist have been released on this format. Actually the only one that I have seen is with U2. They have only produced 15.000 copies. Let make this great new way of releasing Elvis stuff a huge success to begin with! The record business itself does believe that the DVD Audio format will be the only system that is used in a maximum of 10 years. The American car manufactory "General Motors" will from the beginning of next year only produce cars with DVD Audio systems. Remember that this system also plays normal CD's, so you will not loose the use of all your regular CD's.

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