Monday, May 20, 2013

May 20 - Blues From St. Louis


The E.P. Collector label announced the release of "St. Louis Blues" containing an audience-recording of the the March 22, 1976 closing show recorded live in the Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri. The CD contains several bonus-songs from Johnson City, March 19, 1976. The running time is 51:34 for the main show and 28:05 for the bonus selections. 

From the press-release:
Expected soon is new CD entitled ”St. Louis Blues” (label E.P. Collector, EPC 2013-01) recorded from the audience at the St. Louis, March 22, 1976 tour closing show. It was last Elvis show during his lifetime, reviewed in ”Rolling Stone” #213. Some of Elvis stable musicians were replaced and the result was surprisingly fresh sound with keyboards more prominent. Among the highlights are ”Let Me Be There” (performed for very last time), ”Steamroller Blues”, ”Polk Salad Annie”, ”Hurt” and ”America (The Beautiful)”. Since the show is rather short, producers decided to add 9 solid bonus tracks from Johnson City, March 19, 1976 show. 

This previously unreleased recording was taken from a 1st generation copy of the original audience recorded tape and the sound - though not perfect - is far better than any other known version of this show. The CD is packaged in nicely designed digipak with collection of March 22, 1976 photos.

Tracks: 
01. Also Sprach Zarathustra, 02. C. C. Rider, 03. I Got A Woman / Amen, 04. Love Me, 05. Let Me Be There (performed last time) 06. You Gave Me A Mountain, 07. Steamroller Blues 08. All Shook Up, 09. medley: Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel, 10. Heartbreak Hotel, 11. Love Me Tender, 12. Polk Salad Annie, 13. Band Introductions, 14. What'd I Say (James Burton), 15. Drum Solo (Larry Londin), 16. Bass Solo (Jerry Scheff), 17. Piano Solo (Shane Keister), 18. Electric Piano Solo (David Briggs), 19. School Day, 20. And I Love You So, 21. Hurt, 22. Hound Dog, 23. America (The Beautiful), 24. Funny How Time Slips Away, 25. Can't Help Falling In Love, 26. Closing Vamp. 
Bonus (Johnson City, March 19, 1976): 
27. Love Me, 28. You Gave Me A Mountain, 29. Let Me Be There (with false start), 30. Steamroller Blues, 31. All Shook Up, 32. medley: Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel, 33. Heartbreak Hotel, 34. Love Me Tender, 35. Polk Salad Annie (with false start). 

(Source: FECC)