King Creole

So what, pray tell, are these additional recording mono tracks supposed to represent? An additional count-in to start the actual recording?

The "Thorne Nogar Live Mono Mixes" will not only have count-ins, but hopefully they'll also have a slightly different sound from the master recordings... sort of like rough mixes. We shall see.

They erased the 50's session tapes of "Hound Dog" etc. to save archive-space but kept tons of demos by unknown singers and "Turtles, Berries, Gumbos"? Well ....

Geez... my copy is finally on it's way.... I'm really at odds with myself, as I'm wondering how different (if any) this FTD Issue will be from past commercial purchases I've made of this soundtrack. Stay tuned folks; I suspect count-ins (aka slate numbers) as to the actual in-studio recordings. The demos might prove interesting, just to have an "affordable" issue as I couldn't afford the FTD issue they put out years ago on Elvis demos. In any event, I'm looking forward to this issue.

Finally received my FTD "King Creole" CD and as usual we have a typical FTD typo error; if one goes to pages "Recording session at Radio Recorders, Hollywood. January 16" aka the left hand page, upper left photo, aka "With pianist Shorty Long"... Try Dudley Brooks guys, not Shorty Long. As to the additional Thorne Nogar Live Mono Mixes, they are basically count-ins with some extraneous talking at times; as to the sound quality of the Live Mono Mixes, they're actually better sounding then the originals to my ears at times. Think compression of the album sound. As to the Demos and Acetates; if I didn't know any better I get the feeling they were contrived based upon how they sound and the fact that there are no actually names associated with the singers and a lot of them sound like the same voice, but it's the guitar sound that makes me wonder... just a tad bit too up to date or modern sounding, not like 1958. I could very well be wrong, but I sense something amiss here. They actual sound better than what Elvis recorded. (You can actually understand the words-think Hard Headed Woman) Overall, I sort of knew what to expect and it's still a fine overall listening experience to be honest, based upon no real new outtakes.

Cruiser621, I (having listened with headphones) agree with you that several (maybe most) of the Thorne Nogar live mono mixes do sound better than the same album master recordings... with "Dixieland Rock", "Don't Ask Me Why" & "Young Dreams" being standouts to my ears and the complete "Crawfish" with Kitty White being another sound standout. However, I totally disagree with you about the demos sounding better than what Elvis recorded. There's no real comparison, in my opinion. To me, they sounded very much 1958 and much more dated and amateurish than Elvis' superior efforts... even though some of the guitar playing wasn't bad at all on the demos. As for the photo blunder of listing Dudley Brooks as "Shorty Long"... that was/is just plain careless and stupid on the part of whoever was responsible on the FTD team. It was worse than just a "typo" though. A typo would've been if they had simply misspelled Dudley Brooks' name. But instead they list him as someone else! At least they were smart enough to know it wasn't Jerry Lee Lewis or Liberace... let's give 'em a little bit of credit. On page 2, in the list of Musicians, it clearly has - Piano: Dudley Brooks. One more thing - The singer on the demo of "King Creole" sang, "He sings a song about'a meat and greens". I like the way Elvis changed that line to, "He sings a song about'a pork and greens". Am I glad I bought this FTD? Absolutely yes! Heck, I'm going to take a black ink pen and neatly draw a fine line over the "Shorty Long" mistake. I want my booklet to be correct... even if I have to do it myself.

Memphis Fan: I agree with you whole heartedly. Probably by the fact they added horns to Elvis' versions to fit more in with the New Orleans background of the actual movie is why I made my remark as to the demos vs actual recordings by Elvis. It is still one of the better soundtracks although different to say the least.