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When Elvis finally left the stage following his
March 1961 benefit concert in Hawaii nobody.realised that this would
be his last live performance for nearly eight years.
Following the critically acclaimed 1968 TV Special and Memphis
recording sessions Elvis was ready to hit the concert stage once
again and between August 1969 and June 1977 he played more than 1100
shows throughout the United States to ecstatic reviews with many
of the shows setting new attendance records.
In celebration of this outstanding achievement this CD brings
together twenty-one of his greatest live recordings covering a five
year period.
The International Hotel in Las Vegas was the venue chosen for Elvis'
return to the live stage and four early hits Blue Suede Shoes,
Heartbreak Hotel and the medley of Jailhouse Rock/Don't Be Cruel are
taken from that opening season in August 1969. Return engagements in
February and August 1970 resulted in more live recordings and the
personal appearance film Elvis-That's The Way It Is. At his first
season in 1969 Elvis had built his show around many of his early
hits but by 1970 more contemporary material was added to the
repertoire. Recent recordings like In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds,
Kentucky Rain, I've Lost You and Don't Cry Daddy were interspersed
with show stoppers like Tony Joe White's swamp rocker Polk Salad
Annie and the B. J. Thomas composition I Just Can't Help Believin'.
Oldies were not forgotten though with One Night and Are You Lonesome
Tonight? performed regularly during this period. One of the
highlights of this set is the previously unreleased version of the
Chart topper The Wonder Of You taken from the dinner show an 13th
August 1970 in Las Vegas.
Concert tours across America followed and in June 1972 Elvis made
his first live appearances in New York City with four sold out shows
at Madison Square Garden. Two early hits, All Shook Up and Hound
Dog, along with You Don't Have To Say You Love Me and Elvis' version
of Buffy Sainte-Marie's Until It's Time For You To Go, all taken
from the afternoon show on 10th June, are included here.
In 1970 Colonel Parker had considered the idea of a live telecast
from Las Vegas and although this neuer materialised in 1973 the
opportunity arose again with plans made to televise Elvis'
forthcoming concert from Honolulu, Hawaii. Aloha From Hawaii was
broadcast via satellite to most of the Far East countries including
Japan and Hong Kong with twenty-eight European countries watching a
delayed broadcast later that day. The final four tracks on this
compilation are lifted from that show. Both Burning Love and An
American Trilogy had been recent hit singles for Elvis while A Big
Hunk 0' Love dated back to 1959 and was a song he had performed
regularly in concert since February 1972.
The CD ends with a track from the 1961 film Blue Hawaii that Elvis
closed all his shows with, the hit song Can't Help Falling In Love.
(from the liner notes) |
