The King’s next archival release will feature his L.A. recordings from the ’70s.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “RCA Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release Sunset Boulevard on Aug. 1 — a definitive five-CD collection chronicling Elvis Presley’s recording sessions and rehearsals at RCA’s legendary Los Angeles studios. Spanning 89 rarities — over half of which have never been released in the United States — Sunset Boulevard delivers illuminating perspective on to Elvis’s 1970s recording output. This includes rare alternate studio versions of late-period gems like Separate Ways — widely seen as the most autobiographical song Elvis ever recorded — T-R-O-U-B-L-E, which channeled the groundbreaking signature vocal style from his earlier years, and Burning Love, the 40th and final Top 10 single of his career.Best headphones deals
The collection’s first two discs (which will also be released on their own, as a special two-LP ‘highlights’ set) feature new and never-heard mixes from four-time Grammy winner Matt Ross-Spang — stripping all overdubs and delivering fresh insights in the process. Opening with seventeen classics from throughout Elvis’s time in RCA Studio C, these mixes provide an intimate glimpse into the ways his riveting voice interacts with material from the era’s greatest songwriters: Kris Kristofferson’s For The Good Times (a 1972 B-side first released in 1995), Paul Williams’ Where Do I Go From Here (from 1973’s Elvis), Billy Swan’s I Can Help (from 1975’s Today) and Don McLean’s And I Love You So (also from Today) among them. Ross-Spang’s stripped-down mixes equally bolster the 17 studio outtakes that comprise the set’s second piece.
Throughout the final three discs of Sunset Boulevard, listeners get a behind-the-scenes look at Elvis’s history-making Las Vegas residency — featuring Los Angeles rehearsals from July 1970 and August 1974 with his iconic TCB Band. Throughout the sessions, Elvis pours himself into every line — with no one listening but his band and the engineer in the control room — as his lifelong love of performing is on full display. Notable among the 1974 recordings are two featured tracks that Elvis never made studio versions of — Twelfth of Never, originally a hit for Johnny Mathis in 1957, and Softly As I Leave You — which finds him narrating a prologue about the song’s purported origins (inspired by his love of Charles Boyer’s narrated album Where Does Love Go). Elvis’s instinctive chemistry with The TCB Band is palpable throughout both rehearsals, perhaps owing to his decision to record with a road band for the first time during this era.
Sunset Boulevard will also include rare archival photographs and new liner notes from music historian Colin Escott, plus an introduction by longtime friend Jerry Schilling.Best headphones deals
Sunset Boulevard Track List
Disc 1 – The Masters
1. Burning Love
2. Always On My Mind
3. Where Do I Go From Here
4. Separate Ways
5. For The Good Times
6. It’s A Matter Of Time
7. Fool
8. T-R-O-U-B-L-E
9. And I Love You So
10. Susan When She Tried
11. Woman Without Love
12. Shake A Hand
13. Pieces Of My Life
14. Fairytale
15. I Can Help
16. Bringin’ It Back
17. Green, Green Grass Of Home
1. Separate Ways – Take 25
2. For The Good Times – Take 3
3. Where Do I Go From Here – Take 2
4. Burning Love – Take 2
5. Fool – Take 1
6. Always On My Mind – Take 2
7. It’s A Matter Of Time – Takes 1–3
8. It’s A Matter Of Time – Take 4
9. Fairytale – Take 2
10. Green, Green Grass Of Home – Takes 2 and 3
11. And I Love You So – Take 2
12. Susan When She Tried – Takes 1 and 2
13. T-R-O-U-B-L-E – Take 1
14. Tiger Man
15. Shake A Hand – Take 2
16. Bringin’ It Back – Takes 2 and 3
17. Pieces Of My Life – Takes 2 and 3
Disc 3 – July 24, 1970 rehearsal:
1. That’s All Right
2. I Got A Woman
3. I Got A Woman
4. The Wonder Of You
5. I’ve Lost You
6. The Next Step Is Love
7. Stranger In The Crowd
8. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
9. Something
10. Don’t Cry Daddy
11. Don’t Cry Daddy
12. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
13. Polk Salad Annie
14. Bridge Over Troubled Water
15. I Can’t Stop Loving You
16. Just Pretend
17. Sweet Caroline
18. Love Me Tender
19. Words
20. Suspicious Minds
21. I Just Can’t Help Believin’
22. I Just Can’t Help Believin’
Disc 4 – July 24, 1970 rehearsal (continued):
1. Tomorrow Never Comes
2. Mary In The Morning
3. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
4. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
5. Just Can’t Help Believin’
6. Heart Of Rome
7. Heart Of Rome
8. Memories
9. Johnny B. Goode
10. Make The World Go Away
11. Stranger In My Own Home Town
12. I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water
August 16, 1974 rehearsal
13. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
14. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
15. Promised Land
16. Promised Land
17. Down In The Alley
18. Down In The Alley
Disc 5 – August 16, 1974 rehearsal (continued):
- 1. It’s Midnight
- 2. It’s Midnight
- 3. Your Love’s Been A Long Time Coming
- 4. Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues
- 5. Softly As I Leave You
- 6. Softly As I Leave You
- 7. I’m Leavin’
- 8. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
- 9. Proud Mary
- 10. If You Talk In Your Sleep
- 11. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
- 12. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
- 13. The Twelfth Of Never
- 14. Faded Love
- 15. Just Pretend