The Talk Of The Town

September 24, 2008

Here is the covert art of the forthcoming release The Talk Of The Town from the Audionics & 2001 labels. It is their second release of this special partnership and this CD will feature the Las Vegas, January 26, 1972 Opening show as taken directly from first generation DAT copy of original mono soundboard tape.

This classic concert includes first ever live performances of Never Been To Spain, You Gave Me A Mountain, Until It's Time For You To Go, A Big Hunk O' Love, An American Trilogy and I'll Remember You.

For this reissue, we worked directly from the first generation DAT, and we were able to make significant audio improvements, compared to original 1997 release. "Audionics / 2001" hope that this special joint-production will satisfy all those fans who have been asking for a reissue of this essential concert. This CD is scheduled for late October .
Excerpt from the sleeve note:

"Mid January 1972. Richard Nixon was in the Whitehouse, the anthemic American Pie topped the singles charts and NASA were working hard on Apollo 16, the penultimate manned Moon mission. Ali was still the Champ, and at cinemas all over the world people thrilled to the latest James Bond adventure, as Sean Connery battled the evil mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever. In Las Vegas, America's entertainment and gambling capital, Elvis was about to hit town for his sixth Vegas season at the Hilton Hotel and to paraphrase a snippet from a certain 1964 platter, "the whole town was talking".

'The 37 year old legend is back, Vegas wakes and smiles'

Elvis arrived in Vegas on the eighteenth of January and rehearsals began the following day. Rumoured song try-outs included Joe Cocker's Delta Lady and the Walker Brothers classic The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore. Neil Diamond's Holly Holly is also rumoured to have been given a test drive.

New songs that did make it into the live set included Marty Robbin's You Gave Me A Mountain, as well as It's Over and It's Impossible. Thankfully an updated arrangement of the fifties classic A Big Hunk Of Love also made it to the stage. Along with Lawdy Miss Clawdy, many fans site 'Hunk' as the most successful 50s studio to live 70s transition.

Elvis hit the stage running on the 26th January and presented one of the finest setlists of his career. Luckily, we have the complete show available on this fantastic CD in remastered sound, and what a treat it is! 'The 37 year old legend is back, Vegas wakes and smiles' gushed Billboard magazine. Make no mistake, Elvis was flying high in January 1972, and earning the best reviews of his career."

Tracklist:

01. C. C. Rider - 02. Proud Mary - 03. Never Been To Spain - 04. You Gave Me A Mountain - 05. Until It's Time For You To Go - 06. Polk Salad Annie - 07. Love Me - 08. Little Sister / Get Back (medley) - 09. All Shook Up - 10. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel (medley) - 11. One Night - 12. Hound Dog (slow & fast) - 13. A Big Hunk O'Love - 14. Bridge Over Troubled Water - 15. Lawdy Miss Clawdy - 16. An American Trilogy - 17. Band Introductions - 18. I'll Remember You - 19. Suspicious Minds - 20. Can't Help Falling In Love - 21. Closing Vamp.

Approximate running time: 56:48

Source:

For CD Collectors Only

Lex wrote on September 24, 2008

Yummy. The original has always been one of my favs. If we get it in better quality now, that's very promising!

Ronaldv wrote on September 24, 2008

The sad reality nowadays: we're running out of new soundboards, even the Vegas gigs... I'll stick to Opening Night 72, sound is great. Nothing wrong with that one.

Mofoca22 wrote on September 24, 2008

i want some 1971 shows we have enough 1969 shows( unfortunately none are from opening night), 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977 shows. i want some 1971 and 1976 soundboard recordings. he had a lot of great performances in 1971 and late 1976 when are we gonna hear them? even some of his 50's and early 60's performances would be welcome.

Smile:-) wrote on September 25, 2008

Nice cover. I will buy this if the sound is improved. But FTD should have released this show in it's entirety as a CD 2 on the "An American Trilogy" release, and in this way brought this boot into the official light once and for all like they now do with the 1974-Aug. 19 show ("Nevada Nights"). I agree with Mofoca that 1971 shows are deeply missed. In fact touring shows are generally missing, since we by now have an overweight of LV-shows. From 1976 we have a LOT, but we are still to be treated with shows from the end of this year (Oct. - Nov. tours and Las Vegas Dec. '76). In particular I am waiting for tour concerts from 1971, summer 1973 and July 1975... Tour shows are generally more exciting:-)

KH wrote on September 25, 2008

The previous "Opening Night" had a slightly flat sound. I´m hoping this release will make the show stand out (as it probably should). Other than that, I´m dreaming of a soundboard release from summer '73 (Nashville?) or July '75. I think Elvis '73 is underrated; he held two great tours this year, and he still looked great (I also don´t agree that the Stax session in July was bad).

Lefty wrote on September 25, 2008

This is one of those "wait and see" releases for me. First of all, the sound on the original CD from 1997 release was pretty bad, and part of C. C. Rider was missing. The only saving grace was the performance itself, which was top notch. If the source tape is the same, I doubt we're going to be impressed. Now the claim is that Audionics has "the complete show available on this fantastic CD in remastered sound." I hope the claim holds true. I was very disappointed in the sound quality on High Voltage. Audionics made the same "significant audio improvements" claim for that release, and it hardly sounded better at all to me.

Ciscoking wrote on September 25, 2008

I am looking forward to this show. Elvis changed his repertoire, many songs were performed for the first time. I don`t care if a few seconds of CC Rider would be missing. essential for newbies. another re-release in modern layout and sound