ENTREVISTA E. JORGENSEN 2002

Publicado en las revistas ELVIS MEMORIES nº 48-49-50 a partir de una entrevista original publicada en 2002 en internet

Antes que nada, feliciades por el nuevo CD SILVER SCREEN STEREO. Este lanzamiento FTD contiene unas cuantas sorpresas, como por ejemplo, outtakes en Stereo de "Loving You", "Don't Leave Me Now", y "Jailhouse Rock", así como increibles alternativas de VIVA LAS VEGAS. ¿Fueron adquiridas estas cintas recientemente? No las teníamos cuando hicimos los lanzamientos DOUBLE FEATURES. Continuamos adquiriendo cintas, e intentamos sacar el material que adquirimos tan pronto como podemos. Por supuesto, algunas veces hay algún lanzamiento RCA que viene y algún material es guardado para ese.

¿CUAL ES TU LANZAMIENTO FTD FAVORITO HASTA LA FECHA? Hay dos formas de ver eso. Musicalmente es LONG LONELY HIGHWAY, porque me encanta el sonido de Nashville en los 60s. Pero desde un punto de vista profesional, creo que THE JUNGLE ROOM SESSIONS es el que me gusta mas, porque fue posible hacer que Elvis sonara mucho mejor de lo que creo que lo hizo en aquella época. Asi que ese fue un triunfo personal.

¿PUEDES CONTARNOS UN POCO ACERCA DEL PROXIMO LANZAMIENTO FTD, IT'S MIDNIGHT? Es basicamente lo que fue grabado en el midnight show del 24 de Agosto de 1974 en Las Vegas, con el final del dinner show del 29 de Agosto, con objeto  de hacerlo sentir como un show. Hay muy pocos shows completos en mesa de sonido. Aunque Elvis cambió un poco los conciertos en 1974, creo que hemos ofrecido la experiencia de un buen show. La razón de escoger el del dia 24, es que creemos que es un buen concierto, y Elvis hace algunas buenas versiones de canciones como Hound Dog y Spanish Eyes, las cuales son muy divertidas. Es un show muy intenso. Y tomamos el del dia 29, porque hay una casi completa versión de Early Morning Rain, la cual es una canción muy rara en 1974.

¿ALGUNA INFORMACION ACERCA DEL PROXIMO FTD DESPUES DE ESE?

 Lo único que va a ser un album de estudio, con outtakes. Acabamos de hacer el de películas, el de mesa de sonido, y acabamos de sacar la caja LIVE IN LAS VEGAS, así que...ya que no tenemos una hora de grabaciones caseras en stereo(risas...), será material de estudio.

 ¿60s o 70s?Hay un coste con el proceso de arreglar las cintas nuevas, pero es también una cuestión de lo que ocurra el próximo año con la nueva caja de RCA. Vamos a tratar de ver que es lo que vamos a utilizar...

¿CON ESO QUIERES DECIR QUE HAY SUFICIENTE MATERIAL? Definitivamente hay material suficiente para un puñado de albunes de estudio cubriendo desde los 50 hasta los 70. Quiero decir, en algunas sesiones puede no haber mucho, pero algunas veces conseguimos sólo una cinta de una sesión determinada, eso nos da la oportunidad de editar una outtake de eso. Lo que quiero decir es que hubo una sesión de la que teníamos todas las cintas excepto una. No era una canción rara o algo, era algo así como "¡Que diablos!, ¿porque falta esa cinta? Encontramos a un individuo que la tenía, así que podemos editar esa canción en particular donde no se habían editado outtakes anteriormente.
 

¿PUEDES DECIRNOS ALGO SOBRE LA CAJA ANIVERSARIO QUE ESTÁ PLANEADA PARA ESTE AÑO? Al nivel que estamos, con todas las incertidumbres en BMG...la caja de 4 CD, que luego quedó convertida en 2 CD para el próximo verano, y luego se descartó completamente...ahora estamos hablando nuevamente sobre una caja de 4 CD para el verano. Está decidido, pero quedan muchas reuniones antes de que sepamos exactamente cuando y como y...consistirá principalmente en rarezas para los fans, y en espíritu será similar a PLATINUM. Lo que vaya a ser el repertorio es un asunto diferente. No hemos decidido nada aún sobre lo que contendrá.

¿CREE QUE AUN QUEDA SUFICIENTE MATERIAL DE GRABACIONES EN VIVO DE 1955? Si. Creo que eventualmente encontraremos alguién que tenga un poco. Lo que me sorprende es que casi todo lo que hemos encontrado corresponde a la primera mitad del año, y Elvis empezó a hacerse famoso en la segunda parte. Pensaría que mas gente grabaría sus shows entonces. 

¿TIENE ALGUNA ESPERANZA REALISTA DE EDITAR ALGUNA VEZ ALGUN MATERIAL INEDITO DE ESTUDIO DE SUN? Sólo la filosofía de que nunca sabes lo que vas a encontrar. Si miramos a los rumores sobre grabaciones SUN, sólo los que tienen sentido, entonces un elemento es que RCA nunca tuvo cintas, ni tan siquiera los masters, de la sesión de "Milkcow Blues Boogiee" y "You're A Heartbreaker". Si esas cintas existen en alguna parte, entonces, ¿ quién nos puede asegurar que no se grabaron una o dos canciones mas? Algunas personas han intentado conectar esa sesión con canciones como "Night Train To Memphis", pero yo creo que eso es especular. Si miramos a lo que RCA realmente conoce del tema, que es que tuvieron 15 cintas originales en su poder, entonces sabemos que algunas de ellas estaban en la lista de las que destruyeron. La descripción de lo que tenemos en cada cinta no es suficientemente exacta, para que podamos saber exactamente que hay en cada cinta, pero en la mayoría de los casos si lo es. Sabemos que la cinta que contenía, "I'll Never Let You Go" y "Satisfied" está en la lista de las que destruyeron. Otra que sabemos que destruyeron, por esa lista, es That's All Right y 2 canciones desconocidas!!. Esta descripción puede ser interpretada como se quiera, pero podría ser que esas canciones sin listar el título, no fueran de Elvis, y entonces ¿que importaría?. Sam Philips tenía la costumbre de grabar sobre las cintas grabadas. También podría ser que Steve Sholes no conociera estas canciones. También existe la posibilidad de que fueran tan malas que no se preocuparan en escribir el título. Recuerda una cosa. El material que querían conseguir al escuchar esas cintas eran con el objetivo de encontrar material que pudieran usar...

De acuerdo con el libro Recording Sessions, la toma master de I Love You Because (G2WB-1086), es una mezcla de las tomas 2 y 4. Sin embargo en The Complete Sun Sessions, las tomas 1 a 5 están disponibles. Cuando escuchas estas tomas, llegas a la conclusión de que el master es una mezcla de las tomas 3 y 5. Primero la toma 5, seguido de la toma 5 desde la línea "No Matter What Will Be The Style Or Season" (el verso que está detrás de la parte hablada, y que se omite en el master). Si la primera entrada en falso de la sesión se cuenta como toma 1, mi teoría sería correcta. Si ese falso comienzo es sólo parte de la toma 1, seguido de la versión completa de la toma 1, entonces el libro tiene la razón. Eso significa que sólo tenemos las tomas 1 y 4, y no las 1 y 5. ¿Cual es correcta?
 Ambas. El problema, es que en las sesiones donde no se dan números de matrix, Greg Geller, asignaría algunos números, y asignaríamos algunos números que sintieramos que se adaptaban. Esta es la pequeña consecuencia la mayor parte del tiempo, excepto para las sesiones en Sun y en Memphis 1969, donde olvidaron dar los números, porque Chips Moman, no se preocupó por ellos. De manera que encuentras estas discrepancias aquí. Es todo lo mismo, todos conocemos las mismas tomas, sólo es como las llamas, así que si quieres llamar de otra forma a las tomas 3 y 5, está bién para mi.

LAS VERSIONES DE "THAT'S ALL RIGHT MAMA" Y "BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY" DEL 16 DE  OCTUBRE DE 1954, AMBAS TIENEN EL MISMO NÚMERO DE MATRIX EN TU LIBRO(HP15-6101), ¿ES ESO CORRECTO? Es información correcta, pero es un error que se tuvo cuando estos números fueron asignados. Ellos planearon sacarlas en la misma cara de un single, y les dieron el mismo número. Esto fue práctico por esa razón, pero no se debería hacer eso normalmente. Eso fue un error, realizado cuando ellos quisieron editarlas en 1977, y luego descartaron la idea de usarlas.

EN MI ENTREVISTA (NO PUBLICADA), CON EL PRODUCTOR BILLY POORE, EL JURAQUE LA LEYENDA DEL ROCKABILLY, CHARLIE FEATHERS, LE PUSO UNA  DEMO DE ELVIS INTERPRETANDO "WE'RE GETTING CLOSER TO BEING APART" en 1974. FEATHERS AÑADIÓ QUE ESA CANCIÓN IBA A SER EL SEXTO SINGLE DE SUN, CON WHEN IT RAINS, IT REALLY POURS EN LA CARA B.Esa es una de aquellas historias que pueden ser puramente fabricadas, como aquella historia acerca de Elvis y Roy Orbison, pero también puede ser cierta, pero ya que nadie ha oido esto en "nuestro" mundo, no podemos hacer nada. Es una agradable historia, pero yo puedo decirte cinco historias agradables que puedes editar, y todo el mundo podría pensar: "Si, eso puede ser cierto". Pero podrían ser sólo una fabricación. Y hay gente que crea locas historias.  No estoy diciendo que el lo haya hecho, pero he intentado
hablar con el en algún escenario, hace muchos años, acerca de otro asunto del que el tenía otra historia sobre material de Elvis, y cuando bajó para encontrarse conmigo, se dio mediavuelta, igual que Danny Mayo con aquella historia de Roy Orbison. 

EXISTE ALGUNA POSIBILIDAD DE QUE RCA EDITE EL CONCIERTO DE 1955 (Egales Hall), DE LAS CINTAS ORIGINALES, Y A LA VELOCIDAD CORRECTA? Si, la hay. Pero no hemos entrado en eso todavía, porque está todo en los tribunales en este momento, así que no podemos tocarlo hasta que el caso termine. Scotty Moore, conoce mas que yo probablemente, porque creo que el está involucrado en eso, no en los tribunales, pero conoce acerca de ello. Pensé en usarlo en SUNRISE, pero fue tan complicado por aquel tiempo, pero puede que mas adelante, podamos editar un lanzamiento sobre los primeros años, si podemos encontrar algún material para añadir al que ya tenemos. Pero no hay planes en la actualidad.

¿QUE HAY ACERCA DEL CONCIERTO EN LITTLE ROCK 1956? Si, esa es otra posibilidad que creo que debieramos mirar en profundidad. Es un buen show, aunque es el único donde no cantó "Only You" en toda la gira de Mayo de 1956!. Están también las historias de Paul Dawling sobre este chico que tuvo muchos conciertos de 1956-57, y si sale algún dia con las cintas, abriría nuevas posibilidades, y si no las tiene, ¿quién las tiene?. Salió una historia una vez, de que emisoras de radio como contraprestación de una entrevista, grabaron shows para Elvis, y no sabemos si eso fue cierto o no, porque Tom Diskin ya no está entre nosotros, ni el Coronel Parker tampoco, así que no sabemos. Fueron unas trágicas pérdidas desde un punto de vista histórico, que estos dos hombres nunca hablaran. El Coronel y Diskin, guardaron material muy cerca de ellos. La señora Parker y la señora Diskin ambas dicen que no tienen ninguna cinta, y no tenemos motivos para dudar de ellas. Ellas han sido muy amables con nosotros, y parecen ser personas encantadoras. Como no hubiera habido nada mal o ilegal en tener cintas, esta no es una cuestión legal. No puedo dar una razón, de porque no nos lo dirían si las tuvieran. Salieron rumores tras la muerte de Diskin, de que tenía un montón de cintas, pero todo eso sale de las notas que Diskin hizo en los ensayos

HACE UNOS AÑOS SE COMENTÓ MUCHO ACERCA DE UN LIBRO SUYO Y GER RIJF SOBRE LOS CONCIERTOS DE 1954-55. ¿QUÉ LE OCURRIO A ESE LIBRO? Los precios de las fotos de ese periodo se multiplicaron por diez cuando intentamos ponerlas juntas, así que tuvimos que posponerlo. En estos momentos estoy en un proceso de busqueda y recolección de información y fotos de ese periodo, confiando que algún dia, habrá un libro.En eso estoy trabajando. En estos momentos no hay planes para editarlo, y el mundo Elvis en cuanto a libros, no es muy beneficioso. Es mi última ambición personal que tengo en relación a libros, hacer uno como ese. Pero en estos momentos, no tengo una llamada amistosa de alguién que me diga: "Tengo dos fotos que puedes usar para el libro". Todo es: "¿Cuanto dinero vas a pagarme por ellas?
 ¿ESTÁ COMPLETO EL SEGUNDO CONCIERTO DE TUPELO, DEL 26 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 1956? ¿ES SOLO ESA PARTE DE LOVE ME TENDER DEL PRINCIPIO, LO QUE ESTÁ PERDIDO O HAY MAS CANCIONES ANTES DE ESA? No lo sabemos, porque tenmos las cintas tal como las conoces. No tuvimos ninguna información acerca de ellas. Pero básicamente no estamos buscando sorpresas acerca de lo que Elvis cantó allí, ya que durante ese periodo es muy predecible, y debió serlo teniendo en cuenta el tipo de éxito comercial que tuvo. Eso era lo que la gente quería oir. RECUERDO HABER LEIDO QUE RCA TIENE UNA CINTA DEL MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET EN SUS ARCHIVOS, AUNQUE ESTO FUE DESCUBIERTO ANTES DE SER EDITADO. ¿ES ESA CINTA EL MASTER Y TIENE MEJOR CALIDAD DE  SONIDO QUE LAS GRABACIONES QUE YA TENEMOS? La calidad es la misma, y creo que las dos cintas, la que se utilizó para hacer el CD, y la que tenemos, son copias una de la otra. Tiene mas material grabado en ella que cuando sacamos aquella grabación de allí, pero nada que ver con Elvis. Básicamente son charlas. No hay canciones, sólo la banda de Carl Perkins que estaba por allí afinando las guitarras y todo eso.  ¿TIENES ALGUNA IDEA DE COMO RCA CONSIGUIO LA CINTA? CUESTA CREER QUE SAM PHILIPS SE DESPRENDIERA DE ELLA. No. La conseguimos a través de Shelby Singleton, que la tenía. Tenemos la segunda de Shelby en los años 80. No se de donde obtuvimos la primera. Asumo que es del Coronel. Conseguimos un montón de material del Coronel en 1983. De ahí es de donde sacamos todos los conciertos (soundboards), 274 en total. ¿ES CIERTO QUE HAY UNA CINTA DEL MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET DONDE CANTAN CANCIONES DE NAVIDAD? No. Se que Joe escribió eso en su libro, pero eso es una mala interpretación. Cantaron unas pocas lineas de Jingle Bells, que creo puede oirse en "Reconsider Baby". Elvis no canta nada de eso. ¿DE DONDE VINO LA VERSION DE I'LL TAKE YOU HOME KATHLEEN" QUE FUE USADA EN EL BAD NAUHEIM MEDLEY? ME HE DADO CUENTA QUE NO ES LA MISMA VERSION RÁPIDA QUE APARECE EN EL PIRATA GREETINGS FROM GERMANY. SI ESE LANZAMIENTO CONTIENE LA VERSION COMPLETA COMO EL PIRATA INDICA, ENTONCES ¿DE DONDE SALE LA VERSION OFICIAL? ¿ Quién dice que es la versión completa,? sólo el pirata. ¿correcto?, pero no es así, y asumo que el pirata tiene toda la grabación. NO PUEDO VER UN DAÑO REAL EN QUE ALGUIEN EDITE UN CD SOUNDBOARD O ALGUN CD DE OUTTAKES EN CANTIDADES DE 1.500-2.000 COPIAS PARA LOS FANATICOS.
 Es una cuestión legal. Por supuesto que no quita ventas a los CDs de RCA, pero es un asunto legal. Si tu tienes los derechos de algo, y no los defiendes, entonces terminas en esas estupidas situaciones que tenemos en algunos paises de Europa, sobre las grabaciones del Hayride, donde tribunales dicen: “Esto es muy complejo. No podemos comprender de donde viene esto. AHORA SABEMOS SU PUNTO DE VISTA OFICIAL, PERO COMO FAN DE ELVIS, COMO SE SIENTE CON LOS LANZAMIENTOS BIEN PRESENTADOS COMO LA SERIE THERE’S ALWAYS ME? He estado en la industria discográfica desde 1977. Es parte de mi cultura, y parte de mis creencias personales que esto no está bién. Si te situas en el punto de vista de un fan de Elvis, se puede argumentar que sin los piratas RCA nunca hubiera editado este tipo de material, así que puedo entender cuando los fans dicen eso. Pero no creo que sea verdad, y creo que Joan Deary ya mostró las primeras señales de que la compañía estaba dispuesta a editar este tipo de material. Creo que después utilizamos mucho material inédito y creo que ninguna compañía editaría. Tampoco creo que sea correcto editar cada outtake de una canción en particular. Es aburrido, y también creo que es desonesto para con los músicos que intervienen en las grabaciones, los cuales son hoy personas mayores, en algunos casos, no tienen demasiado dinero, y nadie les paga un centimo por editar esas grabaciones. A esas personas se las está robando, y eso jode bastante. Todo el mundo ha cerrado los ojos a eso.
 

Do you think that some of the stuff that's out on bootleg could be damaging for Elvis' popularity? We now have the example of TV producers getting hold of a copy of the 'Desert Storm' bootleg, and using it for damaging specials.

The normal person, the non - fan, will remember scandalist stories like that. We still have the situation where people think that if Elvis is in a white jumpsuit, that he's over - the - hill, fat and drugged out. And he's not. They are confusing 1970 with 1977, or 1975 with 1972, where in reality there are some marked differences. So I think it can be very hurtful. The Elvis Presley Estate is run by Lisa Marie, and I can definitely understand it if she'd be angry with the bootleggers for showing her father in such a bad light. At home, we've all acted like an idiot on a bad day, and you don't want to have that shown to the rest of the world. And I think there's a privacy element that we have to respect in a situation like the rehearsal of 'Stranger In My Own Hometown'. I think there's no words in there that we don't understand. A lot of us may have used those words ourselves. But I don't want to see them on TV with me in an interview when I'm talking to a journalist, although I may use them in private. I see a lot of fans arguing: 'Well, we're grown people and we understand swear words', which I fully accept. We are that liberal minded, but not everybody is. And a lot of Elvis' fans are God - fearing religious people in America.

'The Bible - Belt'.

The Bible - Belt, yes. And they have every right to feel the way they do about that, and they don't want to hear it. The tolerance has to go both ways. We have to accept that there are certain people who don't want to listen to swear words.

There's a persistent rumour about a tape existing of a jam - session between Elvis and the Golden Gate Quartet in Paris in 1959. Collector Paul Dowling says he's heard 'I John The Revelator' and 'Joshua Fit The Battle'.

The first time he talked about it he had 'Swing Down Sweet Chariot' in there as well. I've talked to Anders Wilson, who was the leader of the Golden Gate Quartet at the time. He confirms that Elvis came backstage, and that they sung together. But if anybody taped it, he didn't spot that it was. And nobody has ever told me that he taped it. But the person that Dowling is referring to is a guy who ran an Elvis - magazine many years ago, and died. And it was at his house that both Dowling and a girlfriend that this guy had at the time heard it. His mother, who's still alive, remembers him listening to this piece of tape where you couldn't hear anything for noises and this and that, but there were some people singing in the background. So it's very likely that this tape existed, but it's the same Paul Dowling who met a lady who had footage of Elvis at the Hayride, and her father had tapes of the same stuff. But they disappeared into thin air. It's also the same Paul Dowling who heard a bunch of 50's concerts, including Elvis singing 'Fools Hall Of Fame', 'Only You' and 'Don't', and this guy disappeared as well. He's also called me on some home - recordings that include 'Do The Clam', 'I Almost Lost My Mind' and 'Puppy Love'. This may be true, but as long as I haven't heard it I'm not going to believe it. You can only spend so much time, and if people disappear on you all the time then there's something wrong with the story. A good example is the story about this lady, Evelyn Cramer from Pine Bluff, Ark. He told me that he'd gone down there, rented a projector, and seen the footage of Elvis at the Hayride. When I went there a year later and had her address, she didn't exist, never lived there, and there were no records of an Evelyn Cramer ever living in Pine Bluff. We wrote to over 200 Evelyn Cramers living in America. The only response we got were a few angry letters, but nothing from THE Evelyn Cramer. And why would she be shy about it if we offered her a lot of money? So some of these stories are either imagined or just very bad luck. You know, when you have a homepage you need to write something interesting from time to time.

The tape box on page 206 of your Sessions book lists titles like 'So High', 'Indescribably Blue' and 'Rock Of Ages'. Were these recorded over?

Some of those tapes that Elvis recorded over were tapes that were sent to him, with the masters of his songs. What would he use that for, so he recorded over them. On this particular one, the assumption is that because it says this it's Elvis singing, but in the case of 'So High' it's the Harmonizing Four version that Elvis copied for the 'How Great Thou Art' album. He was in love with the bass singer, thought that he was fabulous and wanted to be like him. So when we went through those tapes, we listened to many records from Elvis' collection that he was listening to at the time. Remember Elvis singing 'Wasted years, wasted years' on 'Rhythm & Country'? It's a Stuart Hamblen record that Elvis played in preparation for the 'How Great Thou Art' album. It was on the same tape as 'So High' for 'possible Gospel songs to record'. It was the same with 'His Hand In Mine'. There were many different songs that he was considering, but he kept changing his mind all the time.

Where does the private recording of 'Moonlight Swim' come from?

I can't remember my assessment of it. Is it even Elvis?

It definitely sounds like him, but there's also a girl singing and this sounds like an overdub.

I can't remember. I remember having listened to it, but I really don't know. It could be from the same period as the 1960 (or early '61) tape. Why not? It could have been on it, as it's such as weird assembly of songs. The girl could be the same girl that's on 'Make Believe'. She's probably Nancy Sharp. We cannot find her, but she used to come around to the house a lot, and Red West remembers her as the only one who could sing.

Joe Tunzi's recording sessions book lists two extended takes of 'Santa Lucia' under an overdub session of October 19th, 1965. Any further information on these?

They tried adding various instrumental parts to what is still the same master. They never used them. I think they thought of making it a longer record, and it didn't work out. They're not very exciting, I can tell you that. And it's got nothing to do with Elvis, it's just somebody else fooling around with a tape.

In your book you write that there's a homerecording of 'Baby What You Want Me To Do' from ca. 1966. Is this a complete version?

No, it's not complete, but it's there. It's very, very poor quality, otherwise we would have used it. There's a lot of little bits and pieces in general on the homerecordings - tapes. This is not a tape found at Graceland. There's a lot of things where you just get the ending. 'You Belong To My Heart' is there, and the last couple of bars of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' with distortion. I don't know how great that is, but it does exist.

Is a blues compilation still in the cards?

As a commercial idea, yes definitely. But my whole point on that is we're in no hurry to do that because ideally we would like to have one or two things that people haven't heard before. An early home - recording of 'Baby What You Want Me To Do' would be interesting. We know that Elvis cared for this song all through the sixties, and that he planned on recording it in August 1967. With so many projects that people are looking for I see no harm in delaying this until we have something really interesting for the album. There's always room for mass - market products like another country CD, another love songs single, double or triple CD, another variation of the religious material. I don't know how many more greatest hits - packages we can release over the years, but I'm sure that it will be many and they will all be successfull. So you have both this thing that is run by commercial logic: what will a mass - market accept? And then you have what is coming from within, which is what is part of Elvis' musical legacy and what is unreleased and needs to be put out. And these two elements walk hand in hand. There is no inner logic in releasing 'Elvis' Jukebox Favorites' or '50 Greatest Love Songs', but they sell. That's also important. We cannot expect everyone to be interested in his career beyond the level of that one love song CD that they bought because they thought it was so romantic.

Is it true that the Weisman - Wayne composition 'Stay Away, Joe' is based on 'Pick A Bale Of Cotton' by Jerry Reed?

Well, what is 'Pick A Bale Of Cotton' by Jerry Reed then based on? I think it's an old hoedown routine, and Ben Weisman did that a lot. He claimed writership on 'Cindy, Cindy' and a lot of other stuff where he basically adapted them. And that's perfectly legal. Ben Weisman was a very smart guy, and I'm not saying that in a negative way, because he was a very professional songwriter. And sometimes that was what he would do. Sometimes he would take one song to Elvis, and have it rejected, and then it'd turn up on the next movie with a different title and it got recorded!

The version of 'A Little Less Conversation' on Memories seems rather short when compared to the backing - track released on bootleg years ago. Was it edited?

The version that we have has a skip in the last ten seconds, but it is as short as that on Elvis' own acetate, the one that he got. Elvis and the Colonel kept an enormous amount of demos, both songwriter demos and stuff that was done in the studio. And that's where we have it from. I also think that some of the bootleggers have it. Two different collectors played it for me, but we didn't keep contact because we found the acetate in Elvis' own collection.

Was 'Stranger In My Own Hometown' from the Memphis '69 sessions a studio - jam, or did they do several takes of this song before they got the master?

There's only one take. But of course they rehearsed it. They didn't play it like that out of the blue. But I think they ran through it maybe one time or two times before the tape - machine started. Remember, they always practice before the tape - machine starts, and then Felton or Chips decides: 'Well, they're about ready', and then you start recording.

What is your definition of an 'outtake'? For example, the live - version of 'Blue Suede Shoes' from the August 25, 1969 MS is listed as the master, while the version from the Dinner Show is an outtake. Using this definition, all concert recordings are outtakes!

In principle, yes. It's a definition that you make up yourself, and say: 'Okay, we have eight recordings of one song from an engagement, and one is a master, then the others are outtakes'. But it's not a science.

Ed Bonja says that there's a version of 'Twelfth Of Never' that predates the version we know by about four years. This version was recorded as a gift to Tom Diskin and his wife on their wedding anniversary. Do you have more info about this?

Elvis was fooling around with the idea of using 'The Twelfth Of Never' as early as that first engagement in 1969. I don't think that Elvis thought that that was recording material, but it's a sweet song to sing on an occasion. There may be tapes in private hands, you never know. It's anybody's guess. But Bonja was also the same person who said that he was sure that Diskin had all the rehearsals, but they didn't turn up with the stuff that the Estate got. And Diskin's widow says that she doesn't have it. We can't go any further than that.

Is it true that Elvis fooled around with 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You' during the May 15, 1971 session?

Well, 'fooling around' seems to suggest that he was singing the song, doing a version of it. But what you have on a lot of Elvis sessions, is what you've heard on both bootlegs and on some of the stuff we do, is that Elvis sings just one line. 'Running Scared' is a good example. It's fun when he gets to like four lines, but when he does only one line it doesn't make any sense at all really. During the course of the May 1971 sessions he may have sung lines of forty songs. Just one line, or sometimes he just speaks the name of a title and then goes into something else. We try to include it a little bit, but we're not going to use ALL of them on one disc, because you get tired of hearing fragments! Two releases that I thought worked really well are Essentials nos. 4 and 5, because it was fun with all these little 'extras'. We didn't take every single one that was there. There's an engineerial problem in piecing all this stuff together. There's some guy out there who's always complaining: 'Well, this didn't sit there, that belongs to some other track'. Well, yeah, but we have to make it into a record.

It's been rumoured that RCA tested their equipment for the Aloha show during the November 1972 tour, and recorded his concert in Long Beach. Is there any truth in this?

No. Remember Felton was sick at the time. It would have been him doing that, but he was very sick. So sick that he didn't do Aloha. He was there, but as you know Joan Deary ended up taking care of it. They may have had plans, I don't know. Of course they had plans originally, because the November shows were originally the official ALOHA FROM HAWAII, but it was postponed because MGM complained that this would ruin the release of 'Elvis on Tour', which also was scheduled for November.

Your book lists a version of 'Young And Beautiful' from a March '72 rehearsal. Is this a complete version?

Yes, it's complete. But we're not going to release it, because it's too good! It would just change the whole image of Elvis Presley, so we're not going to release it! (laughs)

In your book you write that Elvis rehearsed songs like 'Any Day Now', 'Fool' and 'I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water' for the Madison Square Garden shows. Were any of these rehearsals recorded?

No. Which is funny in a way, because RCA's engineers were up at the Hilton, setting up the playback system so that Elvis and the band could rehearse at the hotel. No tapes were recorded. I know the engineer who was in charge of it, and had anything been recorded then he would have known. He's not a guy who would lie about anything.

There's about 10 minutes of professional footage in existence from Elvis' concert in Honolulu in November 1972, filmed by Japanese television. Did they get official permission to film that?

I have not seen any correspondence on that, but it's obvious that Japan was a driving force in the 'Aloha From Hawaii' situation. The Japanese company was heavily involved, so it could have been a gesture in relation to that. Maybe to also get a lot of Japanese fans to fly to Hawaii.

You've mentioned the 'Leavin' It Up To You' rehearsal from January 1973 elsewhere. Have you heard a tape of that?

No, I haven't heard it. It's just a filing of tapes. You have seen it listed in Joe Tunzi's book, and not in mine. The distinction in what I write about and what Joe Tunzi writes about is that I write about those tapes that did exist, and he writes about what he thinks exists. Whenever he finds a list of songs, he automatically assumes that there's a tape. That's not correct. But there should still be quite a few rehearsal tapes around.

You mentioned Tom Diskin earlier.

Tom Diskin was the solid element in the Colonel's organization, who kept everything under control and filed everything. That may be one place where those tapes are, if they still exist. I mean, what have we found over the years? Ed Bonja had one, Joe Esposito had one, there was one from a guy in Las Vegas called Don Lance who had an almost complete tape including the version that we know of 'Leavin' It Up To You', and then Joan Deary at one time bought one that she used on the silver box, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' and 'Sweet Caroline'.

There's also a poor quality rehearsal tape containing a.o. 'True Love Travels On A Gravel Road', 'Any Day Now' and 'My Way'.

Yeah, it's difficult to pinpoint when that was done. It could be from as early as 1969, because the repertoire back then was a lot broader than what he ended up with. I think I touch upon that in my book as well. But there is no exact study of what could exist. There's a very good reason to believe that songs like 'Delta Lady', 'Holly Holy', 'Hello Josephine', 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' and one or two Kris Kristoffersen songs may have existed at one time. It's also very likely that if they existed, that it was with Tom Diskin, because otherwise wouldn't they have turned up? Most of the guys that worked with Elvis don't have a lot of money anymore. They're old, and could be forgiven for auctioning off all their stuff. It's their stuff. And if you look at Elvis' organisation at this point, then it was Tom Diskin's job to keep on top of what Elvis was considering, so he could get Freddie Bienstock to make the necessary deals. I'm pretty sure that at one stage we will find a tape that we're all going to go bananas over. But just remember that these are semi - professional in a way, because they were not done on a 16 - track tape but were mixed down directly on the spot to two track, without a proper engineer doing it. It was just a matter of setting up the sounds, making a rough balance, and then the tapes would roll. The whole idea was for Elvis to listen to what did or didn't work.

Joe Tunzi's Sessions II and also his second Aloha book list rehearsals that include such unlikely choices as 'Sand Castles', 'Am I Ready' and 'Tender Feeling'

I think it's somebody who looked at the paperwork and didn't understand what it was, and assumed that this was what Elvis sang. There's several ways of making lists. There are lists made in preparation for what you want to do. There could be a list suggesting that 'we need twenty songs', which Freddie Bienstock and Charlie Hodge at the time would need to get the lyric - sheets for in case Elvis would want to sing them. Knowing Elvis, he'd sing two out of those twenty they thought he would sing. And can you imagine Elvis singing 'Sand Castles' in 1973? That's why some people who get involved in this and dig out information often are wrong in the assumptions they make. If 'Sand Castles' was ever under consideration for Aloha, then it would have been for clipping in and out of the movie. Just look at the logic: we have these extra songs from Blue Hawaii. What would you automatically think after you saw 'Blue Hawaii' if you were an outside producer? You'd think 'Paradise Hawaiian Style'. So this could very well be Marty Pasetta's idea of what maybe they could end or open the show with. And that's the dangerous thing about this, that's where the rumours start because people don't know what they're looking at.

It's quite noticeable that 'The Twelfth Of Never' often turns up in these lists.

'The Twelfth Of Never' was listed on and on and on. Another example of that is 'Green, Green Grass Of Home', which Elvis planned on doing during the opening show in 1969. But it was cut out. Of course, if you're a creative artist you'd have two or three times as many songs in your head. Some of them you will discard, because 'well, it wasn't such a good idea'. Some you will end up playing, and then it just sounds awful. Or, as Charlie Hodge said at one time, good songs were left out because they had to pace the show. It had to be fast - slow - fast . They couldn't have 'Tomorrow Never Comes', 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', 'Heart Of Rome' one after the other, because Elvis' voice couldn't take it. So there were all these little elements that sometimes meant that a song disappeared.

On August 14 - 16, 1974, Elvis rehearsed for three days at RCA Hollywood. A tape from the 16th is in existence. It is fair to assume that the 14th and 15th were recorded as well?

We don't know. The hope is that it's there and that it will turn up, but there is no evidence. There is only the evidence that paperwork exists that described either what was going to take place or what took place

The info in your 'Day to Day' book is quite detailed on rehearsals, even mentioning songtitles:

Jan. 19, 1972 - 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine', 'I'm Leaving It Up To You', 'Delta Lady', 'The Last Time I Saw Her Face'. July 21, '73 - 'She's Not You', 'I Feel So Bad', 'A Mess O Blues', 'Twelfth Of Never', 'Are You Sincere'. Jan. 15, '74 - 'Born To Lose', 'Twelfth Of Never', 'I'm Leavin' It Up To You'. March 16, '75 - 'You Can Have Her', 'Susie Q' Is any of this info based on taperecordings?

That's a 'no comment' situation. RCA doesn't want me to comment on this. I don't print stuff in my book without paper documentation, and I don't say that these tapes exist and I don't comment on how they sound. I think in general Elvis rehearsed at RCA before every Vegas engagement in the earlier years. If Elvis started a song and stopped it halfway through, it would be written on the list, even if they couldn't play a decent version. Other paperwork suggests very clearly that arrangements were written for songs, but that may have been in anticipation, just an idea that Elvis had, 'We should do that', or that Charlie or Felton thought that it would be a great idea, and Elvis said 'yes', then when they were going to do it, he said 'no'. Because Elvis changed his mind a lot, even during shows. Suddenly, he'd just drop a song.

Yes, it's interesting how often songs like 'I'm Leaving It Up To You' turned up at rehearsals, and yet he never really used them.

Somebody in the group must have liked them. Elvis didn't live in isolation. And I know that a lot of people think that Charlie makes too much of himself in certain situations. I cannot be the judge of that, but when we talk about the music - side and the interaction, then Charlie definitely interacted with Elvis on song suggestions.

Are you saying that Charlie deserves more credit?

I think he deserved credit for being the right man on stage for Elvis, and off - stage, planning the shows. I'm not saying that if Elvis wanted to do something or didn't wanna do something, that Charlie changed his mind, but Elvis needed somebody to discuss with - like we all do - , and Charlie was one. Felton may have been another. There may have been other people as well, but Charlie was definitely in there. Charlie in many cases had the job of supplying sheet - music for songs that Elvis wanted to do.

Don't you think that the people you mentioned had a responsibility to steer Elvis into new directions, as opposed to staying with the same old 'C.C. Rider, I Got A Woman/Amen, Love Me' routine?

You see him back off. You mentioned August 1974 earlier. You see him feeling uncomforable with the grand revision he did on the opening night, which he had prepared for.

That was sad.

Yeah, that was sad. But when you listen to shows from August 1974, they can generally not be faulted. What is wrong with those shows, is that after the day when Elvis cancelled on the 26th, he starts commenting on all the rumours. That ruins the later shows, but if you talk about musical performances, they are very very good shows, all of them. From day one to the last show. It's only the erratic talking from the 27th onwards that ruins it: on the first few days very controlled, with comments that he's 'tired of that', but they expand, as does the karate routine and the talking about it. It's obvious that Elvis has been deeply hurt by the stuff that's circulating, and I also think it's very likely that he actually had the flue on the 26th, as opposed to being 'strung out!'. I think that is very likely.

Apparently, it hurt him so much that he continued to defend himself on the October '74 tour.

There was an element of truth in it. I mean, he said that he didn't have a 'paunch', but he did. His weight was not down, and that hurts. It would hurt you, it would hurt me, and it hurt him. If he felt that gossip was going around the hotel, would you believe that if Elvis was staying at a hotel that there wouldn't be gossip going around? I would INSIST that there would be gossip, no matter what! And it hurt him. He didn't have enough control to just ignore it, which I think most people realize is maybe the better way.

It surprises me a little that the Colonel chose not to interfere this time.

I think it was a gradual shift in their relationship where the Colonel couldn't control him to the same extent anymore. We have rumours, and actually some supportive information, that they were at odds with eachother on various occasions, and I'm sure that both the situation of comments like the ones on 'Desert Storm', but also that Elvis' shows were too long, was something the Colonel would have wished wasn't the case. Elvis comments on a lot of these late August shows: 'Charlie, how long have I been on stage?', and Charlie says: 'One hour and twenty minutes', and Elvis says: 'I should have been off after 55 minutes!', and still does two or three more songs. The Colonel wanted things to be done true to the agreement, and he didn't care much for erratic behaviour. Elvis knew that he could take the liberty of performing for twenty more minutes. What would the hotel do? Throw him out? I don't think so.

According to the book 'The Death of Elvis', Elvis confessed to the Colonel that he took drugs around this time.

Where does this guy have the information from? The fun thing though is, there's a lot of doctors who get introduced from the stage! (laughs). As for him 'doing drugs', I think that you have to look also at the culture as it is. I'm very much against drugs and alcohol as a person, not that I don't drink wine 'cause I do, but I've just seen so many people lose their abilities and lose their life eventually. But the late 60s and 70s was definitely a period where drugs were all around. I don't think it's right that Elvis did drugs, and I don't think it's right that anybody did, but I also like Eric Clapton's records and Jimmie Hendrix' records, and they all did something they shouldn't have done. But they all also came from a culture where you didn't know the full extent of how much it would eventually hurt you.

But the difference between Elvis and the people you mentioned is that Elvis criticized other drug - abusers, even to president Nixon.

I think everybody who abuses, whether it's alcohol or narcotics, lives in denial. Professional people who treat alcoholics and drug - addicts all say that these people live in denial. Very few stand up and say: 'This is who I am', and even if they do, they only tell half of the story. They don't tell about their truly pathetic moments and how bad they often feel. I think people are over - interpreting Elvis' self - denial. There's too much emphasis that there was this discrepancy with what he said and what he did. I think that's true for anybody that's addicted. It's because it is Elvis Presley, and it's not accepted in the same degree. Had Elvis drank too much, wouldn't people have said: 'Well, so did Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and everybody else?'. Elvis is from a culture where you would expect him to drink.

I think Elvis' drug - abuse was such a big media story, because his image was so clean - cut.

Yes, but if you listen to all those tapes from 1969 onwards, it's not Elvis who pretends a clean - cut image. He says some very weird things on stage, and he did the same in the 50s. It's the media to some extent that has created that image. Had anybody been listening to any of Elvis' concerts. I mean, he gets in deep trouble in 1955, when he does the White River Carnival in Arkansas, where he tells a few bad jokes, and the Colonel has to refund the guy money for that. Elvis didn't portray a clean - cut guy himself deliberately, he was himself. The media did that, and the Colonel, as it was in everybody's interest.

In 1995, RCA released a warm - up jam of 'Tiger Man' from 1975. Is there more stuff like that?

Yes, there is, but that's one of the more extraordinary we found. We used that, and 'I Didn't Make It On Playing Guitar', which is not a song, but just goofing around with a beat. We are constantly on the look - out for tapes that are not currently in our vault. We are always making progress on that, I'm happy to say. I mean, it looks better than it did years ago. We're always hopeful that something else will turn up along those lines. It may not have the greatest appeal to the general public, but it does have a lot of appeal to the fans.

The bass playing of Duke Bardwell was erased from nearly all the masters of the Today sessions. This sounds like an unusual and drastic decision. Why was this done, and was it Elvis' decision?

It is unheard of. Well, you've heard a lot of tapes from the period when Duke was with Elvis' band. He gets a lot of stick from Elvis, as does John Wilkinson, where there seems to be a disrespect on Elvis' side on both of them as musicians, which to me is unpleasant to listen to. He belittles both of them on the shows, and he had apparently less respect for them. Duke Bardwell may not compare to Jerry Scheff in playing skills, or Emory Gordy for that matter, but it's an element that I don't particularly like. There's no doubt that Elvis must have felt that Duke's playing on the Today sessions was not up to par.

In March of 1976, you met Elvis' producer Felton Jarvis. What are your memories of that meeting?

I was scared to death! We found out where they stayed, that was with my wife at the time, Lizzie. We were just doing a Greyhound trip of the US. It wasn't planned. Suddenly we found out that Elvis was playing the next town, in Johnson City. We took a bus over there to try and see if we could get tickets. Of course it was sold out. I'd done my Recording Sessions book, the earlier one, and we thought we'd try and see if we could find the band. We went up to the venue, and nobody really knew anything, but there was a guy who said where they were staying, everybody but Elvis. So we went out to their motel, and didn't know what to do. So we went into the restaurant, and after a while, suddenly the Sweet Inspirations and a lot of the musicians and Felton came down and sat at two of the tables. We were sitting there eating, and I was scared stiff, but at the same time I wanted to go see them. So as soon as people started walking out, suddenly I got very nervous about it, and one of the last people to still be sitting there was Felton. So I finally got my nerve and walked over there. Remember, at that time Felton had actually once written to me, also his wife, with a lot of session information. So I had an excuse in my mind to do that. And he was the nicest of guys, and we got to sit and talk, and he told us about the new sessions at Graceland. The one song he was mentioning all the time was Elvis' version of 'Danny Boy'. I mean, he mentioned that instead of 'Hurt', 'For The Heart', 'Moody Blue' or anything like that. So that was really good. We got to have our picture taken with David Briggs, James Burton and Felton, and that was real fun. Then Felton told me where he thought I could pick up tickets. It was a liquor store on the outskirts of town. So we went there, and we bought two tickets, very overpriced. And then we went to see the show. We sat behind the stage up high, which was already a downer, you could only see things from behind the stage. I was somewhat disappointed, but still fascinated by being there. You see, at that time I was hoping that he would sing a lot of songs that I didn't know. The only one he did do was 'Hurt'. I went out and bought the record and travelled around with it for five weeks without being able to play it until we got back home to Denmark.

What were your general impressions of the concert?

That it was very predictable. It was okay, but not great. At that time I was already somewhat critical of some of the things that he was doing. I remember that we were invited down to witness a mixing session because I gave Felton the book, and he thought I could come down to Murfreesboro where Chip Young had a studio at the time, where they would do some of the mixing. We couldn't fit it into the trip we were on, so -

That must be a regret now.

Yeah, you bet! But I wouldn't have met Elvis by doing so, because he was never there for these sessions anyway. Of course it would have meant something to me, but if I'd met him at that time, as overweight as he was, I may have been shocked. You didn't notice that to the same extent in a big hall. It was for 6 or 7.000 fans, and the place was all concrete, so the sound wasn't all that great. We actually snug a taperecorder in there and recorded it. I still have a tape somewhere of the show, but it's definitely not soundboard quality! You hear people talking around me and all that shit.

Going back to the Graceland sessions, why was 'America The Beautiful' erased? It doesn't really make sense, especially when you consider that there was a shortage of material.

RCA did not control those sessions. They were done at Elvis' house, without RCA. Somebody once told me, and I think it was David Briggs, that they at one time recorded over a song on Elvis' specific instructions, because he didn't want RCA to have it, since he wasn't happy with it. And the only place where that fits would be this one, because that's the only time we ever found anything that's been recorded over.

It's also been said that other songs were tried out or at least improvised, like for instance a couple of Platters songs.

That all comes from David Briggs. He's got a taperecording of quite a lot of the sessions. Very poor cassette - really poor. And I've heard a lot of it. It's basically the same outtakes that exist on mastertape, but he has bits and pieces that are not on the mastertapes, because his was rolling all the time, and the mastertape wasn't. But he never played me any of the Platters songs, although he keeps talking about them. At one stage we even went through two hours of those tapes - it's almost like those cassettes that you have in answering machines on the phone - and they sounded quite terrible. So we spent like two hours going through some of that stuff, but didn't find any of the Platters songs.

Wouldn't 'America The Beautiful' be on those?

Not necessarily, because he may not have done it everyday. He may have done it a lot, but they spent twelve hours per night in the studio for six nights. Would he have 72 hours of that? No, he doesn't - he has like five or six hours of it. He did it very openly on the top of the piano, and Elvis even made a remark about it, but he didn't stop him. Maybe Elvis didn't care that much anymore. The day where they recorded 'America' and where they may have potentially rehearsed 'Feelings', was the day where some of the players had already left. Three of the guys left for Emmylou Harris. The vibe on that day was not good at all. Elvis talked to the new guitarplayer Billy Sanford in a very unpleasant way, he didn't talk direct to him. Not a nice attitude at all. He was really rude to Sanford after the first take of 'Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain'. It's not the kind of Elvis that we all know from recording sessions. Maybe he was just dissatisfied with the whole thing.

There's an x - rated version of 'Hurt' on bootleg, which is usually referred to as 'take 69'. Do you know what take this version really is?

We don't know, because that two inch reel is missing. Mary Jarvis burned that in her back garden, so we don't know what the take number is. But it's not anywhere near 'take 69'! I don't think that Elvis did as many takes on that. I don't think he did very many at all, in that Felton knew that you had to catch Elvis fairly early on for such a demanding song. I think that version is very overrated - it's nowhere as dirty as one could think it would be after having listened to some of the other stuff! (laughs).

If the original tape was burned, then where does this recording come from?

I think there were some people who have reference copies of certain stuff. To me it sounds like 5th generation. There's a lot of loss of soundquality. There must have been one person connected to the Elvis world, a musician, an engineer or a friend, who let an Elvis fan borrow it or have a copy of it, and then we all know what happens.

Why was Elvis' voice drowned in so much echo on the master of 'It's Easy For You'?

I can only guess. I guess that Elvis didn't like his voice so much, so he had Felton add echo to it. I'm still curious about why he added so much echo to 'Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain'. It definitely doesn't get better by that. It's not recorded like that. You can get echo or reverb or those techniques that give you this 'bigger' feeling, but when you add it later? Let me give you an example: The wonderful sound there is to Elvis In Nashville in the early 60s, especially on big dramatic stuff like 'You'll Be Gone', is IN the recording. It's there when he records it. If I go in and take a film soundtrack from the same period, I can't do the same thing to the voice by adding it. That's not possible. You can add a different echo, but you cannot create this full sound, because what it really is, is echo on everything. You think it's echo on Elvis' voice to make it sound bigger, but it's in the room with all the musicians, and is created by the ambience of the room.

I've been told that there's a problem with tapes from '75 - '78, because the oxide falls off quickly. Are there any Elvis tapes from that period that cause problems?

There are some that are very hard to play, and that's the October 1976 session. But that's the only session that gives problems. There's nothing wrong with the '75 sessions, or the sessions in early '76. But it's a big problem for many other artists.

Are there still plans for a remake of Elvis On Tour?

Not to my knowledge at this time. There were plans in the past eight or nine months, but as far as I know, they are all put to rest. The remaking of TTWII was not a success financially, and there's no reason to expect that 'Elvis On Tour' would do a lot better than TTWII. It's a crying shame, but it's very expensive to work with film. Elvis does not look nearly as good in 1972 as he did in 1970, and that is another downer on it. The performances are great though. There's a lot of film stuff from the rehearsals which is very, very nice. The performances and the fun in the studio is just great.

Have you seen the rehearsal of 'Young And Beautiful' from On Tour?

I have not seen the clip of 'Young And Beautiful', but it does exist.

When you look at the famous photo of Adidge and Abel standing in front of the tapes boxes, you see that one of them is marked 'Las Vegas'. Did they film any concerts in Las Vegas?

The one that's marked 'Las Vegas' is footage of Elvis receiving gold records and stuff from George Parkhill. It's backstage at the Hilton in August 1972, with Elvis having the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and looking a bit drowsy. There's a whole film sequence of that. He gets a gold record for The Wonder Of You and for the Madison LP.

How do you feel about some of the criticism that has been levelled at you personally, and at the releases on BMG and FTD?

Let's take the RCA releases first. I don't decide on the RCA releases, Omanski and Schmalenbach did. Of course there are fans who would want things differently, like on for instance 'Live In las Vegas'. I can understand that viewpoint, but I definitely do not agree. If we make a mistake somewhere, where we have the wrong caption or something like that, then that's very annoying. But that's sometimes what happens when you work with things. Sometimes we make mistakes. As for the FTD, criticism on the music part means absolutely nothing to me. I basically think that most of the people who criticize it because they don't like it are in their full right, but I don't care, because we have committed to a certain idea with what FTD is. It's meant for the fans. If every fan liked all albums, I would think that they would be crazy, because even I don't like all of them. But I don't care about the general criticism about FTD. I think that most of these people fail to understand what the whole idea is, and that's their problem and not mine.

As for the personal criticism, on the level I've seen it I find it very unpleasant. I didn't mean to be a public person, for the fame and lack of fortune (laughs). I speak, because I want to speak about the music of Elvis. I simply don't like the tone of some of the criticism levelled at me personally, and I think those people are way out of line. But it doesn't make me stop doing my work, or make me want to quit or anything like that. If you're a public person, you will get insulted and ridiculed. I mean, who was more ridiculed than Elvis himself? One thing that is obviously frustrating is that when you tell certain facts a lot of times, that you still have these people say: 'well, we know better', when they don't. Remember, there's a bunch of know - it - alls on the Internet who are only there to make other people think that they are so smart and that they know so much. It's easy to put a name to some of them, on a lot of them it's not so easy because they cowardly hide behind false names. That's why I really welcome the opportunity not to speak or answer questions from now on. It will only be official RCA answers. I will not be in that spotlight anymore.