"...rush 'em out!"
(Review by Oven Egeland)
Nice cover, but the rest of the artwork is cheap. BMG has not put their soul in this release, or perhaps that's just what they have done.....
The content should in general be known to everyone, except for two previously unreleased versions, 'Hound Dog' and 'Little Sister/Get Back'. Nothing special, but at least you get to hear the great sound on these 1972 live recordings. The other live recordings from this period is almost ruined in the mastering process. BMG apparently did not find it necessary to go back to the original tapes, and re-master these selections.
To summarize this highly unexciting release, you could say that it a typical "left-hand" product. Although the sound is good in general, this release is not good enough! In 1999, with all selections previously released in digitally mastered sound, BMG should have offered a bit more.
The booklet says; "This is the album that should have been". Well, I'm pretty sure that RCA back in 1972 would have done a better job than BMG does in 1999. In fact Ernst Jorgensen once told in 'Elvis - The Man And His Music' that 'Standing Room Only' was planned to be a live album only!
There are a few things not acceptable with this release. First of all 'It's Over' starts right in the middle of the applause to 'It's Impossible'. When I first heard it I though there was something wrong with my CD.... Very amateurish, indeed!! Moreover, the fading of 'You Gave Me A Mountain' is really "hectic". It takes about 2 seconds from the ending of this one till the start of I'm Leavin'. Annoying!!
BMG has mastered this release from other re-mastered releases. That's why the editing of the live material is so amateurish.
Burning Love is a typical BMG release of 1999. Rush 'em out!!
©
, November 2003 |
