Living From Day To Day, Chasing A Dream

 
Digipak

CD 1: Tracks 21-26 were taken from the February 21, 1973 Midnight Show (wrongly listed as "DS").
CD 2: Track 1 and track 2 (spliced) were taken from the February 22, 1973 Dinner Show, Tracks 22-27 are from the February 21, 1973 Midnight Show (wrongly listed as "DS").

 

Press note:
The new Straight Arrow's double-digipak release "LIVING FROM DAY TO DAY, CHASING A DREAM", featuring the February 22, 1973 Dinner and Midnight performances plus a bonus: the majority of the February 21, 1973 Dinner show.

All 3 shows are taken from original „booth recordings“, taped by the same person. The sound quality is far superior to the usual audience recordings. Ask your local dealer for samples!

The general wisdom about the January / February 1973 engagement is that Elvis was depressed about returning to Las Vegas following the great high of ‘Aloha From Hawaii’. In a way it’s interesting that this viewpoint has become so widely accepted, because there is precious little evidence for it. Elvis did have to cancel a few shows due to a nasty throat infection, but most people that work in the music business will tell you that these things happen. Elvis had similar problems during the January / February 1970 engagement, which is widely regarded as one of his best.

The unreleased booth tape recordings as featured on this release provide us with an interesting insight into this engagement. Both complete tapes are quite crisp, really fresh-sounding and dynamic, and they are an excellent representation of the two shows that he performed in Vegas on February 22, 1973.

Granted, he is not firing on all cylinders, possibly due to his throat infection, but other than that he’s singing well and the shows themselves have a lovely feel to them, warm and very personal. It’s been said that ‘I’m Leavin’ was one of his favourites, and indeed he performs it brilliantly here, 3 times, bringing life to the world-weary lyrics.

As a bonus, Audionics added a part of the February 21 Dinner Show. There were some audio problems on some of the tracks, so they decided to just include the best parts of the show as an extra on this release.

Note: The February 22, 1973 M/S was released (by the „Showroom“ label, „Back In The Desert“ CD, 2012) from an inferior audience recorded source. This CD has nothing to do with Straight Arrow’s „booth tape“ version. Unfortunately, the person who recorded Feb. 22, 1973 M/S stopped his recorder during Jackie Kahane‘s pre-program and switched it on only near the end of „C. C. Rider.“ Instead of splicing the „booth tape“ with the substandard audience recorded version of the same show, Audionics decided to use beginning of February 21, 1973 Dinner Show to fill the missing part.
 

The Dinner Show has a very appealing set list and Elvis and band are in good spirits. Highlights are: Steamroller Blues, What Now My Love or An American Trilogy. Debut on silver disc. The sound on both recordings is excellent as noted above! (Ciscoking)