After the release of the Viva Las Vegas Sessions FTD decided to follow the same track with Fun In Acapulco (and I’m afraid more will follow).
Design
Nothing wrong here, the box and fold out panel follow the same concept again, representing tape cases of the original recordings/ release.
The booklet is good to, as usual with publicity shots, movie stills and memorabilia. The information is near perfect too. Pure data like session information, premieres and chart information, but also nice essays by Alan Hanson.
Content
Back in the 1970s Fun was one of my first soundtracks and I have to admit I really liked the Mexican flavor, it was something different in my ears then. Bossa Nova, Baby is one of my all time favourite Elvis-tracks and he catchy ‘your troubles like bubbles will soon disappear in the air – pling’ still makes me smile. The inclusion of Slowly But Surely gave it the finishing touch for me, I still love that track too.
Enough about the past, let’s give the 3CD release a closer look. The sound is great (as one expects when Vic Anesini is involved) and the first CD still enters like cookies as we say over here. It's not his best music in general, but smooth and easy on the ear.
After the soundtrack and bonus songs from the original release we get all 11 takes of Bossa Nova, Baby and a bunch of takes of I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here before the first five takes of Mexico closes CD 1. There’s not much banter or fun and the material is tackled professionally (unfortunately, some session fun would have been welcome).
The 2nd CD continues with Mexico (gladly the annoying kid got lost). Pedro goes uncensored (finally session fun!) during the 9 takes of The Bullfighter Was a Lady. Marguerita gets a bit annoying with 8 takes and the same goes for Vino, Dinero Y Amor; even though there are two ‘different’ versions. The first takes of No Room to Rhumba and the title track precede 2 takes of El Toro and 8 more takes of I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here.
Disc 3 starts with one more splice of the latter song (is if we didn’t have enough of it yet). The Bullfighter gets 7 more takes and Malaguena, got skipped after a minute or 2 to end up at 5 takes of You Can’t Say No In Acapulco. Guadalajara got some skips too, I heard someone make a remark about monkeys in the jungle. It was not very PC, but I totally understand where it was coming from. More than 1 version of that song in a row is about unbearable.
Conclusion
The strong point of the soundtrack, ‘sounding different’, makes the whole session annoying at times, especially when The Amigos gets involved. I’m afraid only the first CD will find my player again, but for the completists it is a must.