To answer the original poster’s question from 13 years ago:
King Creole was recorded in binaural and mixed to mono. The binaural tapes are lost, but two mono mixes survive: the original mono mix, and engineer Thorne Nogar’s “live” mono mix. The Nogar mix was discovered in the early 90s. I’ve never done a close comparison, but the main difference is there’s a less echo on the Nogar mix.
The Nogar mix appears on the Complete 50s Masters box, the 1997 King Creole remaster, and the recent two-CD King Creole Classic Album release on FTD. Every other release contains the original mono mix.
The easiest thing to do is get the FTD Classic Album, since it contains both the original mono mix and the Nogar mix, in the best sound available. If you just want the original mix, the best bet is probably the Audio Fidelity release mastered by Kevin Gray.
There are two sets of mixes as far as I know. The original album mix and the Thorne Nogar mix.
1. The original album mix (available on the AF SACD)
2. The original album mix with less compression and reverb (All Sony releases from the past ten years)
3. The Thorne Nogar mix (available on the FTD and The Complete 50s Masters)
Elvis is higher in the mix on the original release. A good example occurs near the end of Trouble, where the Jordanaires’ backing vocals all but drown out Elvis singing “I’m evil” in the Thorne Nogar mix (at around 2:00 to 2:10). It’s at 1:50 to 2:00 on the original release. (Timings are from the FTD release.)
