Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
Rehearsal
Content
Released on the CJ label is the CD "Twenty Days And Twenty Nights", will we still listen to it in twenty days?
Design
The CD has a graceful yet simple design. The picture of Elvis matches the main content, Elvis rehearsing for "That's The Way it Is" and "On Tour". The same goes for the back, but it would have been better if they had used a picture from "On Tour" to match the content on this CD. The disc itself is a black CD, like the "Elvis 2nd To None" disc.
Content
The main content of the CD are rehearsals for two of Elvis' concert documentaries; "Elvis That's The Way It Is" and "Elvis On Tour". The little info on the tracks given by the one page booklet mentions that most recordings on this CD are unedited versions of previously released material. You can find these recordings on import titles as "Get Down And Get With It", "The Cream Of The Culver City", "Hang Loose" and of course the "The Complete On Tour Sessions". The other tracks probably come from releases like "Rough Cut Diamonds" and "Don't Think Twice".
Is it worth getting them again? The audio quality is good, but you can still hear it was gathered from various sources. Listening to Elvis jamming is always great, especially his "That's The Way it Is" rehearsals.
Although the song list contains some "rarities" and "one-timers" these are not the songs you want to hear. We want to hear more songs in the line of the title track and showstoppers and classics we know from the movies, we know these "yodel" and "frog-songs", and don't sing along with those. The incomplete versions of "Polk Salad Annie", "Patch It Up" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" are not very enjoyable too.
From the non rehearsal tracks the duet of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a nice version, if only Elvis had recorded some duets, a woman's voice singing around his strong sound really sounds good (even on this version apparantly taken from an acetate judging by the ticks we hear). "Don't Think Twice" is the edited long version.
Special Bonus features are radio/TV spots for the two movies these rehearsals come from are nice for the collection, but nothing more.
Conclusion
What could have been a good CD with rehearsals from the fan favorites' movies "Elvis That's The Way It Is" and "Elvis on Tour" is not what you get because of the song selection and incomplete versions. So we won't play this CD again some time soon. As for the other tracks ... we've had them before.
If you don't own the import releases on which this material was released before this one is a good start since rehearsals from these movies should be part of any collection, if only to listen to them once.
Track listing:
Runnaway / Cotton Fields / Stagger Lee / Alla’ En El Rancho Grande / Peter GunnTheme / Twenty Days And Twenty Nights / Crying Time / Froggy Went A Courtin’ / Ghost Riders In The Sky / My Country Tis Of Thee / Havana Gila / Cattle Call – Yodel / The Lord’s Prayer / Polk Salad Annie #1 / Polk Salad Annie # 2 / Patch It Up / Bridge Over Troubled Water / Can’t Help Falling In Love / Don’t Be Cruel / Cattle Call – over The Rainbow / El Paso / Lighthouse – I John – I Need Your Lovin’ / I Didn’t Make It On Playing Guitar / The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Duet with Ginger Holloday)/ Don’t Think Twice, It’s Allright (extended)
Bonus Radio Spots:
Elvis, That’s The Way It Is #1 and #2 / Elvis On Tour #1 and #2.