Album Reviews

Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3  From ORG at 45rpm

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 4, 2014

Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3
Elvis Presley
 
ORG 134/RCA LSP-2765 2 180g 45rpm LPs
Produced by: Steve Sholes
Engineered by: Bill Porter, Thorne Nagar et.al
Mixed by: Bill Porter, Thorne Nagar et.al
Mastered by: Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
 
MUSIC
SOUND
With most artists, by the time you get to the third greatest hits album you're scraping the bottom of the barrel but not with Elvis Presley. In fact, it could easily be argued that Volume 3 was the "sweet spot" among the original RCA Elvis's greatest hits releases. It's also the first from Elvis's stereo era.

This one includes EP classics like "It's Now or Never", "Stuck on You", "Fame and Fortune", "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", "Little Sister" and "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame". The tunes you may not know are pretty good too.

The big issue with greatest hits collections from the analog tape era is that most are compiled from master tape copies (at best but sometimes from even later generation sources) and so the tunes often don't sound as good as on the original release but sometimes the hits packages sound better—as in the case of Tommy James and the Shondells Greatest Hits on Roulette. That one is also pressed on thin Dynaflex vinyl but wow does it sound great!

So this double 45 from ORG is sourced from the original master tape of the LSP-2765 but cut from a copy of that because Sony/BMG does not ship masters stored at Iron Mountain in PA off the East Coast.

Nonetheless, despite the generations down, this double 45 from ORG sounds sensational—mostly because the original recordings were so great and because Bernie Grundman handled them with TLC and being from that era, knows what these tunes are supposed to sound like, which can't be said for whoever cut the Speakers Corner reissue of this at 33 1/3. That label does some incredibly good work but their reissue of this title lacks the required warmth and depth. The ORG reissue has it.

However, either BG or whoever did the tape copy sent to him, lopped off the ultra-low frequency information on "Are You Lonesome Tonight" that you can hear on the original (if your system goes very low). As told to me by Bill Porter, Elvis was having trouble with that tune. He recorded in the dark and at the end of another good take of another song, with the echo chamber "send" knob up all of the way (as would often be the case on the fade-out), Elvis spontaneously said "Let's do 'Are You Lonesome Tonight'".

Porter said "But El, we're not set up for it. Not everyone is at the right microphone!" "I don't care!" Elvis said, "roll the tape"!

So the tape rolls and Elvis was correct: he was ready for a great take but in the background you can hear bumping and banging and some really nasty low frequency "womps" as musicians move around the studio in the dark.

These ultra-low frequency sounds can be heard on the original vinyl but not on the CD box set, where the producers chose to filter them out as "mistakes". My feeling is that they belong on the track because they are part of the history and were on the original release. You can really hear it towards the end of Elvis's spoken word break where he says "the stage is bare". The ULF sounds are MIA on this reissue—not that such an omission is a "deal breaker".

So how does this compare to an original? I have two clean copies but apparently this was a more popular item in both Japan and the U.K. because I couldn't find one currently on Ebay and even Popsike's history shows none for sale.

The bottom line is that the original has greater bottom end punch and immediacy but it's also brighter on top with some sibilant smear and edginess. It also is obviously compressed somewhat but the overall sound is damn exciting.

This reissue is of course quieter and the cut has far less distortion and far greater overall clarity and natural warmth. You can really hear the greater groove etching accuracy in the clarity and placement of the Studio B reverb placed behind and around Presley's voice.

If you've got the original you will not be in need of this reissue but if you are an Elvis fan these 12 tracks provide concentrated Elvis bliss. Non-Elvis fans are now wondering what is the fascination with this old dinosaur. Of course the 180g RTI pressing quality for this limited edition was superb.

Please read all three parts of the Bill Porter Interview and Listening Session

Part 2

Bill Porter Listening Session

Music Direct Buy It Now

COMMENTS
Martin's picture
Submitted by Martin on Fri, 2014-06-06 03:06

I played this other night and can only confirm Mikes comments. It sounds great.

I liked the nice open wide sound. I'll have to dig out my original to compare. But I remember it as having an "edgier" sound than this reissue.

I actually played it doing a comparison to some of the recent Friday music Elvis releases. Friday music has been reissuing Elvis like crazy recently. The Friday music Elvis reissues do NOT sound good. At all. they range from "Ok" to just plain bad.
Friday Music -> Caution or AVOID altogether.

AZ's picture
Submitted by AZ on Fri, 2014-06-06 07:25

I recently acquired ORG's Roy Orbison - In Dreams and noticed something like that. For example, those very deep bass notes at the end of 'Dream' are absent. Or is it just my system?..

Vinylghost's picture
Submitted by Vinylghost on Fri, 2014-06-06 17:58

It's so good to have some of these new re-releases in proper sound.

It's not vinyl but 'The Complete Elvis Presley Masters" 30 CD set containing 711 masters sounds very good to my ears. I suppose a vinyl set of this magnitude would have been too expensive to make, in one volume anyway.

Thanks Michael for the review.

Michael T's picture
Submitted by Michael T on Sat, 2014-06-07 07:48

I waited for quite some time for this long delayed release. When I first played it, I thought it sounded quite good. Then, I A/B'd the same tracks from Acoustic Sounds "24 Karat Hits", and the latter blew the ORG release away. I really do believe that Chad had access to the original masters when Marino cut the LP at Sterling Sound. Songs such as "It's Now Or Never" sound so much better, with much more impact and punch at the end of the song. Plus, they have all the low end information that Michael is speaking of (played through VTL amps and Mirage M3si's). For the record (no pun intended), the sticker on this ORG release states "Mastered from analog tapes by Bernie Grundman" and leaves is at that - no mention of original or master tapes.
I also have an original and the Speaker's Corner. Despite some noise, the original is excellent. The Speaker's Corners sounds plain boring - I've only played it two-three times since I bought it in 2008 or so.
This album is very special to me. I remember walking to the supermarket with my mom when I was about 9 years old, back around 1978, when we were living in Athens, Greece for a year. She bought me this record - it was my first LP purchase ever - still have the Greek pressing!
Frankly, I am starting to wonder how many ORG releases are cut from original master tapes. I also have their Perez Prado/Rosemary Clooney "Touch of Tabasco", and it does not have the 'magic' of the original RCA Living Stereo (or even the mono) releases. When I first heard the original in the mid-90's, my jaw literally dropped and I was mesmerized. That did not happen with the reissue :( I still prefer the original cut at 33 1/3.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Tue, 2014-06-10 14:12
Your observations are spot-on. The Speakers Corner Elvis is one of that label's poorest reissues. ORG cuts mostly from carefully produced copies, preferring to use BG. Their records sound very good but as you discovered by comparing, using the master produces better results.
my new username's picture
Submitted by my new username on Tue, 2014-06-10 13:49

Seems that with Sony there are two paths that get followed for reissues. Either they do them in-house and use digitized copies, or give some other kind of copy to someone else.

After a while it really begins to beg the question of why pay Iron Mountain for something that won't be used directly. Sony, or at least Sony Japan, could really use the money these days, so why not sell the tapes? The argument for not touching a priceless artifact might hold true if it weren't for the fact that to digitize it or make an analog copy, you still have to touch it.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Tue, 2014-06-10 14:08
Sony's policy is to keep the tapes on the east coast. If mastering is done at a trusted place like Sterling Sound, master tapes are made available to others. That is one reason Analog Productions uses Sterling Sound for mastering tapes located on the east coast. Sony made available the 3 track master for "Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall", which should be sonically astonishing. ORG chooses to use Bernie Grundman so carefully produced ANALOG copies of masters are produced at Battery Studios (the old Power Station) and sent to California. This is ORG's choice. When Acoustic Sounds released the 3 LP Elvis set, it was done in New York so original tapes were used.
AZ's picture
Submitted by AZ on Wed, 2014-06-11 07:58

Thanks for the info! Their price tag is higher than AP's, MFSL's, MM's etc., and still they use copies when the actual masters exist...

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2014-06-11 10:11
The fact is ORG isn't the only label to cut from one off the master tapes (but not always). They are more honest than some and doing so doesn't save them money. The tape still must be procured and then it must be copied (tape is expensive these days!) and shipped and then cut as if it was the master tape. The label has made its decision based upon its desire to use Bernie Grundman and maintain uniformity in its releases in that regard. So please don't think the cost of their reissues should be lower because they are often cut from copies. The fact is, many "original" pressings we love are also cut from production masters that are copies!
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