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Monday, June 23, 2008

Some gotta win, some gotta lose

Sometimes, or rather quite often as a matter of fact, I sit in front of my computer looking at Elvis stuff up for auction on eBay. If you're an Elvis fan like me and collect his records then eBay is surely one of the places to visit.

Living in Sweden, I also pay frequent visits to Tradera, which is kind of a Swedish eBay (in fact eBay bought Tradera last year). And it was on that site, a couple of days ago, that I saw a 2 CD bootleg up for sale that made my mouth water.

Titled From Sunset Boulevard To Paradise Road it features Elvis rehearsing for his August 1974 Las Vegas engagement, and the opening show itself. The rehearsal is taped on August 16 and includes rare songs such as "Down In The Alley" and "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues."

I placed my bid, and getting a little bit carried away also bid on a few more items from the same seller: two CD EP's, a promo CD for the 60's box set and an alternate Elvis Country, released by BMG on CD in 1988 (with only 8 tracks from both the 50's and the 70's).

Yesterday evening, when the auctions ended, I wasn't able to follow the bidding on my computer, as I was busy painting ceilings in my new apartment. And later, when I looked at my e-mail, I was met by the phrase "You have been outbid" five times. In other words, no new Elvis records that day for me.

Or so I thought. Because only a couple of minutes later, typing in the search words "Elvis Bilko" (Bilko is one of the "classic" bootleg labels on CD) on eBay I struck gold. The import CD American Crown Jewels released in 1996 was up for sale and the starting bid only £9.99.

As you probably know, this CD contains undubbed alternate takes from the famous 1969 studio sessions held at American Studios. It's also consistently voted the best import CD and therefore I've wanted to get my hands on it for a long time.

I've bid on copies of this CD before, but the bidding has always skyrocketed and I've never won. Therefore I was very surprised (and happy) when it turned out I got this one for only £12.99. When it was only minutes left of the auction I was updating the page with the bid nearly every second but this time there was no one waiting to place a higher bid when it was only seconds left (I've seen it happen before).

So now I'm waiting for my newest Elvis purchase to arrive. Until then I can always look some more for another copy of From Sunset Boulevard To Paradise Road on the Internet. Or maybe I'll take a break tonight... Yeah, right!

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