The series of collector's editions was started by FTD in 2003, but it took the label 13 years to come up with "Speedway". The reason is simple: Lack of material. Obviously there are not too many outtakes in Sony's vaults, therefore the content had to be stretched beyond believe. The tracks of the original album are presented not once, not twice, but three times! We get the album in its stereo and mono version and as a remix. Wow! The few available outtakes are presented, too. Soundwise this set is the best offering of the material so far, especially the remixes of the masters (the tracks are often running longer) are interesting and they sound much better than the original versions. Vic Anesini and Sebastian Jeansson did a great job. As usual the collector's edition is a set of two compact discs, housed in a 7" digipak and accompanied by a well designed and informative booklet. And of course Follow That Dream Records doesn't distribute their product via the streaming platforms, but sticks to the compact disc and vinyl formats.

I will focus on the tracks, that are not a part of the original RCA release. If you want to read about it, just tap HERE.

We hear the drummer and the announcement of the take. Compared to the original master the sound and the mix are much better. But that makes it even more obvious, that the part of Nacy Sinatra has been added later.

This track also starts with the announcement of the take by the producer. But there is no studio talk or anything else.

The producer names the matrix number and the take number, then Elvis and the guys start their performance. The sparse instrumentation emphasizes the better audio quality.

The same can be said about this track. I especially like the saxophone solo.

In the background we hear Elvis singing, then the take is announced. Obviously the king wants to get done with the song, when he says "let's go!" he sounds quite bored. In contrast to the master there is no fade out here. At some point the performance simply falters, which causes the musicians to laugh.

After the introductions by the producer Elvis sings this beautiful ballad. The improved sound quality is a real plus here, if you ever listen to "Suppose", this is the version to go for.

This is one of the king's best movie tunes and it's getting even better when presented in such a decent audio quality.

The song is announced and Elvis and Ray start their performance.

The arrangement is even more sparse, the steel guitar is brought a bit to the fore in the mix.

The first part of this take was a part of the master. The reason for not using the complete take is a timing mistake by Elvis.

Here we have the second part of the master, so to speak. Even though everything works well, the king comments "No, no, that's no good. I'm sorry".

The movie version is played a bit slower and the part of The Jordanaires is missing. In total the performance sounds very relaxed, which I like.

During the intro Elvis says "Play your ass off, D.J." and therefore ruins the take right at the start. He also misses his cue and comes in too late. The recording finally is stopped when the king turns the line "where the night winds sing and the eagles fly" into "...and the eagles shit". The 23rd attempt works better, but Elvis sings "when a woman looks a man in the eye" instead of "...looks you in the eye", which ruins the timing. The king comments the mistake with a hem.

We hear rehearsals of the musicians, then the take is announced. It's a short one, because the intro doesn't work. The second attempt doesn't get further, but take 3 works well. At least until the middle of the song, when Elvis gets out of tune and stops the recording with a frustrated "goddamnit". Take number 4 finally is a complete performance, even though the king has trouble with the timing.

Because just the musicians are audible, the engineer asks "Are you going to sing, Elvis?". But then he meekly adds "I had your mic off. I'm sorry". In good humor the king claims "I should have told you, this was going to be a whole album of instrumentals". With everything in place and switched on another attempt is started. This time everything works well and the group manages a complete performance.

This is another, now almost perfect performance of this beautiful ballad.

This is the original version of "Suppose". Elvis had recorded the song at home and given the tape to Felton Jarvis. The producer tried to enhance the recording with additional instruments and harmony vocals, but still the whole thing didn't sound like a professional recording. After listening to the result Elvis came to the same conclusion and recorded "Suppose" once again.