ElvisNews.com: Down In The Alley

Down In The Alley

The October release in the 5" series has been given a name: Down In The Alley. It will be a double cd with soundboard recordings from the August 1974 season in Vegas. The official cover art is not published at this time.

Source: ElvisMatters / Updated: Aug 29, 2008

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mature_elvis_fan75 (profile/ contact) wrote on Sep 3, 2008report abuse

Good point,he rehearsed songs like baby lets play house,but it seems he just ran through them,so it seems he wasnt serios about actually adding them in his shows,and true its a mystery!

Steve V (profile/ contact) wrote on Sep 2, 2008report abuse

Yeah he rehearsed them but didnt do them! Imagine if he did the songs he rehearsed in TTWII - Dont , I Was The One, Lets Play House, etc. He could do them but you can tell he didnt take them seriously. Im all for Elvis doing other people's songs as well, but as Harvey pointed out everyone wedding band was doing Proud Mary, Bridge, Caroline, etc in the 70's. Where's the edge there? How about Bad Moon Rising? Nope he covered ONJ instead! And he was still doing Bridge some 7 years later! I agree the act was changing somewhat the early years but it got stale to me after 1972. This 1974 change may have worked if he used different songs. His songs and maybe hits of the day like Drift Away or some other soul stuff.

japio (profile/ contact) wrote on Sep 2, 2008report abuse

Elvis once said before Where no one stands alone "we don't rehearse this" . But i think he really forgotten the songs.But he liked the powerful songs. But that's makes the shows not bad. That is what i would say.But if you look back on TTWII and On tour you'll see that rehears a lot of old songs.thta's what i think about it, But i like the shows from 1974. Mostly it was powerful

TBG (profile/ contact) wrote on Sep 1, 2008report abuse

What's all this nonsense about Elvis could not change his repetoire cause the fans expected to hear this and that. Elvis changed his repetoire in Vegas a lot until 1973, maybe the shows was not all good (doing two shows a day for a month in the same showroom, who can blame him..) - but the songs did vary from season to season. I agree he should've done more of his own songs, however his voice was so much different in the 70's compared to the 50's or early 60's. I can't imagine Elvis doing I Got Stung or Money Honey in '74 would sound that good ;-)) But of course there's lots of other songs too that he could've done nicely, but that's a matter of personal taste. He did do Return to Sender a few times, and the people went crazy when he did that. So I wish he would've taken his own career a bit more serious and based his show on his own songs.

Harvey Alexander (profile/ contact) wrote on Sep 1, 2008report abuse

EVERYBODY was singing 'Proud Mary' when Elvis started doing it. Ditto for 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', 'Sweet Caroline' etc. It always amazed me he didn't do more of his own songs. Even when he did the 'Aloha' show he did far too many MOR covers. Why didn't he do 'Good Luck Charm', 'Return To Sender', 'I Got Stung', 'Don't', 'His Latest Flame', 'She's Not You' etc. - HIS songs. It's so sad that he turned into a ten-a-penny Vegas lounge act.

JerryNodak (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 31, 2008report abuse

I'm of the other opinion regarding Elvis' live shows. I only had the privlege of seeing Elvis once, but I was so glad that on that evening he DIDN't do a show loaded with his songs. I knew he could sing those. I'd heard them for decades. It was great to hear "Proud Mary" and songs made famous by other artists. Long live Elvis' artistic versatility.

japio (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 31, 2008report abuse

But the shows from 1974 wasn't bad at all.But i think wasnt intressed anymore in recording in the studio.and later in rehearsing songs for the shows.Thats also why the request box shows so great
Thta's the point (in my opion) he forgotten all these songs and there was no time anymore to rehears this songs. He came on stage do his( still great ) job and leave directly after he gets from the stage. Maybe has somebody do something to get him back on the track to do something he love the most. Spent hours in the stuido and then make a world tour (and not in vegas) I know we can't change things .But the from '74 was great

secondrichard (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 31, 2008report abuse

Good point Steve V; Elvis had dozens of hits he didn't touch again after their release, songs fit for the entire audience and good replacements for other hits he 'threw away' on stage. And Elvis fan or not (think we all are here): we sure can blame Elvis himself for not changing the repertoire that way. Shame, shame, shame.....

Steve V (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 31, 2008report abuse

The problem I think with Elvis changing his show that season in 1974, is he didnt change it to more of his songs. He did songs that are only mildly assocoiated with him like Big Boss Man, Down In The Alley, Good Time Charlie, etc. Nice songs but did the fans really want to hear these instead of say Suspcion, His Latest Flame, Return To Sender, Dont, etc? The man had such a legacy it amazes me he chose the songs he did to perfrom. Dylan does change his show around on every tour but he always picks songs from his own back catalog. Elvis should have done this instead of covering songs made more famous by other artists.

secondrichard (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 31, 2008report abuse

I wouldn't even listen to Dylan if he sang 25 different songs all night; the guy is a musical genius but he can't sing. And why not Vegas for changing repertoire ? Over 50 shows in a season, seems easier to me to try things out. I think the whole atmosphere in Vegas is perfect for new songs, it's the only way not getting bored doing 2 shows a day for 30 days in a row. Tours are different: another venue, another town, different audience everytime. No time for changing songs because you're on the road most of the time. Even sang gospels almost every night in his Vegas suite. Why not bring some of that stuff to the stage ?

dressingroomrehearsa (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 30, 2008report abuse

He did the same the Romans did somehow: he gave them bread and games. Well, if you care about repetitive setlists: Look at a Dylan forum...look at the setlists and then you don't even worry about that anymore. Dylan plays the same songs for years. I attended only two Dylan concerts, but it didn't vary that much. So, if you choose Vegas to test a new repertoire, I guess you are in the wrong place to do so..

secondrichard (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 30, 2008report abuse

"After all Elvis disappointed an audience". WHAT ????? Did Elvis disappoint the audience or did the audience disappoint Elvis ???? Elvis was artisticly zero after 1972, the ever repeating same song selection was already running. 'Aloha' was a highlight, which could have turned things around. The second chance for Elvis to get rid of the stupid and boring same songs was this August 19th 1974 Opening Show. He tried to change the repertoire, inclusing some great never expected songs. If ever the audience would have reacted better than they did on this night, maybe the whole story from 1974 to 1977 would have been different. Instead of that we're still listening to 1059 See See Riders, 1100 I Got A Woman/Amen (awful !!), 1000 throw away Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel and other classic tunes etc, etc. What an opportunity missed by the audience on August 19th 1974. You can't blame Elvis for that !!! Blame him for the mess he made off his life, but not for this historic show, which could have been a milestone....

Jumpin Jehosaphat (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

If i dont like it will they give me my money Back. After all Elvis disappointed an audience.

Tomek (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

I hoped it will be called "NBC Peacock in Vegas", well meybe re-issue with book :-) What will be on CD-2 FTD come on. It's not a secreat with us, it's always same people who buy thi sCD's in 80% or more. We will buy it anyway :-)

Loesje (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

Yeah me too, especially when the other is snoring...

Lex (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

Nah, I prefer the "If You Talk In Your Sleep" audio way above the DEA audio, which is too artificial to my taste.

Santa Claus (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

Hey Lex: We have this show in fantastic quality from the Diamond label. So I hope it will be the audience recording cause I haven't seen this beeing re-re-re-re-released for quite a while now.

dressingroomrehearsa (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

well, gentlemen, be glad that it comes out by now. During the rehearsals he did a song called the Twelfth Of Never...;-)

mature_elvis_fan75 (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

No imagination these people!

Chop983 (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

Big Boss Man, would have been my preferred title after the new opening song for this Vegas season, but of course that name has already been used by FTD

Lex (profile/ contact) wrote on Aug 29, 2008report abuse

I hope it's the soundboard and not the audience recording :-)