Title: BIlko's Gold Cuts (released in 2005)

Label: Bliko

Date: Different dates (see below)

Sound Quality: from * * * + to * * * * / * * * * * +

Content Rating: * * * * + / * * * * * +

Tracks: 1.Fame And Fortune (take 14 - March 26, 1960) (previously unreleased) 2.Shoppin' Around (takes 9,10 - April 27, 1960) 3.Working On The Building (take 2 - October 30, 1960) 4.In Your Arms (take 1 - March 12, 1961) 5.Little Sister (take 6 - June 26, 1961) 6.Suspicion (takes 3,4 - March 19, 1962) 7.Gonna Get Back Home Somehow (take 1 - March 18, 1962) 8.Blue River (takes 1,2 - May 27, 1963) 9.The Prisoner's Song / U.S. Male (take 10 - January 17, 1968) 10.You'll Think Of Me (take 7 - January 14, 1969) 11.Power Of My Love (take 1 - February 18, 1969) 12.Any Day Now (take 2 - February 21, 1969) 13.Sweet Caroline (February 23, 1970, Las Vegas, NV, closing show) (previously unreleased) 14.When I'm Over You (take 1 - June 7, 1970) 15.That's All Right (Blues) (July 15, 1970 rehearsal, Culver City) 16.Stranger In The Crowd (July 29, 1970 rehearsal, Culver City) 17.Polk A Little Sock Salad (August 10, 1970 rehearsal, Las Vegas, NV) 18.I Just Can't Help Believin' (August 10, 1970 rehearsal, Las Vegas, NV) 19.Never Been To Spain (February 1972, Las Vegas, NV) (previously unreleased) 20.Johnny B. Goode (March 30, 1972 rehearsal, Los Angeles, CA) 21. It's Over (April 10, 1972, Richmond, VA) 22.If You Don't Come Back (take 9 - July 21, 1973) 23.Promised Land (take 6 - December 15, 1973) 24.If You Talk In Your Sleep (August 30, 1974, Las Vegas, NV, midnight show ) 25.Moody Blue (take 10 - February 4, 1976 ) (Duration: 78 min. 36 sec.)

Package: It's a high class work, many photographs and memorabilia scans, label's history, comments to all the songs from this CD - a great work by a great label!

Elvis: The title of this CD says it all - since these are Golden Cuts we only get to hear the best performances from Bilko's vaults, and surely Elvis is in top form.

Songs: They are (almost all) previously released and as written above are all of highest class.

Review: The CD begins with take 14 of Fame And Fortune, which misses a part closer to the end which has been edited to be spliced with the master. An energetic Shoppin' Around follows with Elvis having trouble to get the phrasing right at the end of the refrain on take 9 and managing to get it on take 10, but unfortunately an octave lower than on the original version. Take 2 of Working On The Building is very close to master as is the (pre-master) rendition of In Your Arms. The post-master take 6 of Little Sister still is completely inspired and really exciting to hear - this is the Genius performer rocking and rolling at full blast.

After a few lines of a never ended take 3 of Suspicion we get to hear the complete take 4, which is close to master with just a few differently phrased lines and some group mistakes closer to the end. A very wild take 1 of Gonna Get Back Home Somehow follows with a different sax arrangement, a good rendition. One of the weakest songs from the Nashville period of Elvis' career - Blue River - is next with the two existing takes presented. The master take 2 is in it's unedited (shorter) form.

A very popular among serious collectors performance of Prisoner's Song (a.k.a. Wings Of An Angel) is here as is a very good take 10 of U.S. Male. The next track takes us to the famous American studious where Elvis has recorded some the best studio material of his career. Take 7 of You'll Think Of Me has a very different phrasing and sounds different without the orchestra overdubs. Power Of My Love has a part of (an unreleased) rehearsal right before take 1, a great addition to the song itself. Take 2 of Any Day Now is a nice attempt and it's hard to believe that Elvis had so much trouble recording it when listening to this easy-sounding take. Sweet Caroline takes us to the closing show from February 23, 1970 this is an unreleased performance and it makes us wonder why this concert has never been released in it's complete form on one CD. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not of highest class.

Take 1 of When I'm Over You seems to be the unedited master with Elvis singing the verse again after the refrain. A very good slow version of That's All Right follows, great to hear a different approach to this well-known Elvis Presley standard. A bit rushed rehearsal of Stranger In The Crowd is next but Elvis and his TCB band are shining, this is a fantastic performance even though Elvis forgets a part of the lyrics. Polk A Little Sock Salad is a great example of Elvis having a good time during the rehearsals just a few hours before his opening in Vegas on August 10, 1970. The voice of our man is great and his mood is fantastic. The trouble Elvis has remembering the words to I Just Can't Help Believing during the same rehearsal easily explains the reason Elvis was asking Charlie Hodge to give him the words of it right before the opening show (this segment is featured in both versions of That's The Way It Is movie).

We jump a year and a half to an unreleased February 1972' rendition of Never Been To Spain - this proves that there is at least one soundboard recording from this season besides the opening night. The sound quality on the first part of the song is pretty bad but it improves radically at the beginning of the refrain - either meaning a change of source or a splice with an another concert. A great rendition of Johnny B. Goode from the opening credits of Elvis On Tour follows and we also get to hear "a song that is a favorite of mine," as Elvis announces - the April 10-th rendition of It's Over. This is history already but this beautiful performance makes us wonder why it has been omitted from the movie.

The master take of If You Don't Come Back with a longer ending is also here followed by a differently mixed Promised Land with an organ up in the mix, but this version looses when compared to the overdubbed master. A masterful rendition of If You Talk In Your Sleep is next in this compilation and Elvis is really into it, he is most probably making a great karate demonstration here. The CD ends with an unedited rendition of Moody Blue with all the other vocalists' tracks deleted - so this is pure Elvis and his TCB band in a 3 minutes and 54 seconds performance and some great notes hit by Elvis closer to the end.

This CD serves three purposes in our opinion - first of all, it's a good collectors' item. Second - this is a great chance to get great material for those who have missed the original releases. Third, but not the least, this compilation might well be interpreted as an announcement of upcoming releases - whether we are talking about the possibility of finally getting the complete February 23, 1970' closing show on one CD or an unreleased (complete?) soundboard from February 1972. If you have missed the original releases or you consider yourself a CD collector (especially, taking in account the very good package) - this CD is for you.

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