The reel to reel tapes were duped directly from studio masters, bypassing the remastering for vinyl cutting, and going straight to the pure audiophile sound. The 8 Track transfers would naturally be the same as the reels.

G.I. Blues – The actual studio is important to the quality of the recording, and after some false starts both at paramount sound stages and RCA’s new Recording facility, the team heads back to Radio Recorders where Elvis feels most comfortable. The Tape sound is full, and even though most of the songs are supporting the story they have a nice groove.. “Pocket Full Of Rainbows” is a favorite on both tape and film. An added bonus is the weird announcer at the end. I’ve never heard this on any other RCA 8 Track and believe it to be unique to just this tape.

Blue Hawaii – 14 Great Songs! His best soundtrack album ever? This is a great tape, the sound is fabulous and contains many classics of this era… “No More”, “Ku-u-i-pu”, “Moonlight Swim” and of course, the classic “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. The band is incredible and the energy is front and center. It’s still fresh and the recording is superb, living up to the “Living Stereo”  moniker. This album went with me on every trip we took to Hawaii, Slicin’ Sand at the Beach!

Girls Girls Girls – 13 Great Songs! And another all time favorite, this album sounds great. Taken in context, even the story songs like “Coming In Loaded” and “Song Of The Shrimp” kinda work. This, for me, was the last of the great Living Stereo soundtrack albums.

It Happened At The World’s Fair – I like this tape, and think the best way to hear it is in the car. Every summer when we head to the fair, it’s  “Roller skate or bike, Or anyway you like…”.

The Reel to Reel doesn’t necessarily live up to the “Living Stereo” standard, and will be the last to use that title. Not recorded as well as his studio efforts, It’s very short at 10 songs, many of them not much more than a minute, and It’s annoying that Side one ends with more than a minute and a half of silence before it switches to side two (I’ve spared you that on the MUSIC PLAYER dupe). But soundtracks outsold his studio efforts, and the packaging looked cool, so why not? But on this one I’m happier with the 8 Track or Long Play vinyl.

Cheers!