“Make The World Go Away” was the third from last song rehearsed by Elvis during his 24 July 1970 rehearsal in RCA’s Hollywood studios for the upcoming Las Vegas engagement. The most interesting aspects about that recording are not necessarily the rehearsal of the song but the after discussion with his band members, in which […] More
Elvis’ 1968 movie begins very optimistically, with the wonderful helicopter shots of the magnificent Arizona scenery, accompanied by one of Elvis’ least known songs “Stay Away”, which portrays the homesickness of the protagonist. The song “Stay Away” was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett and at Elvis’ apparent request, and was based on […] More
Elvis’ historic recording session at American Sound in 1969 was actually two sessions, one block in January and another in February. The January block, consisting of eleven recording dates, began on 13 January and concluded on 26 January. Of these eleven dates, only six featured Elvis with the other five being used for the band […] More
Elvis Presley’s studio recording of “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” is instantly recognisable across generations, and an iconic tune of the early 1960’s, and one Elvis’ finest recordings. It is also about as far a departure from the material that he recorded prior to his inception into the army as it is possible to hear.Written by […] More
Elvis recorded “King of the Whole Wide World” in Hollywood at Radio Recorders’ Studio B on 27 October 1962 and the final take, number 4, was chosen as the master although Elvis had attempted a mammoth thirty one takes the previous day without achieving a satisfactory take although the final take was subsequently classified as […] More
It was in 1992 when MGM released the Lost Performances on home video that we got to see a small selection of the unused footage from the filming of Elvis’ two concert documentaries, That’s The Way It Is and On Tour. Among the footage from That’s The Way It Is was Elvis very first live […] More
Elvis included Ray Charles ‘I Got A Woman’ in his stage show immediately on returning to live performing on 31 July 1969, and it would remain in the show until the end, and was almost never omitted from the show. The dynamic of Elvis’ setlist went almost full circle within five years, as it started […] More
Most fans and music critics are almost unanimous in the view that Elvis was a wonderful blues singer and it was a travesty that he never recorded a concept album in that genre. One of the greatest recordings that Elvis ever made was a blues song, his 1960 recording of “Reconsider Baby” and a track […] More
Both “Don’t Cry Daddy” and “In The Ghetto” were recorded by Elvis at American Sound in Memphis during his January and February recording sessions. A more in depth analysis of these songs can be found in the descriptions of previously posted videos of earlier versions of the songs.This rehearsal version was filmed by MGM’s cameras […] More
Having introduced and performed it at every show throughout his August 1970 Las Vegas engagement, Elvis immediately included “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on his set list for his first tours since his return to live performing. At this stage it had already begun to evolve in the way that Elvis delivered the song and how […] More
To many, movie critics in particular, Elvis’ 1967 movie, “Clambake”, is so poor and unforgettable that it has virtually no redeeming features and symbolises the depths to which Elvis’ movie career had fallen. Within a year however, his career would be reignited with the success of his “Singer Presents Elvis” TV special in 1968. There […] More
Elvis recorded in Nashville on 21 June 1971, and despite being issued as a single was never released on an album in Elvis’ lifetime. Indeed, as was far too often the case, received next to no publicity from his record label, probably on the assumption that Elvis’ name alone would sell records, and whilst to […] More