Firing On All Cylinders - Straight Arrow

Firing On All Cylinders - Straight Arrow

Between 2007 and 2017, Straight Arrow released no less than 10 concerts from Elvis' 1972 Summer Festival, on 8 individual releases - More than any other label. In recent times we've also released a lot of stuff from the final years, but last year we made the commitment to focus on the 1969 - 1972 period, arguably his best concert years. Recently we were able to obtain two excellent vintage tapes from Elvis' 1972 Summer Season, and it is with some pride that we now present these.

This release is titled "FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS" (SA/SP 2019-60-02)… and Elvis truly did during this engagement. The first show is from August 7th, 1972 and this is the show where he performed "Steamroller Blues" for the first time. The second show is Closing Night from September 4th, and it can easily be called the best show of the entire season. It's a nice surprise that we are able to include some of the warm-up acts, including Jackie Kahanes's set, as well as the Sweet Inspiration set. These ladies were smoking H - O - T, and it's easy to hear why they were considered to me amongst the best female soul groups in the business. As you probably know, they used to work together with Aretha, and The Sweet Inspirations' performance of her hits is one of the highlights on this disc.  

We believe that the inclusion of the opening acts will give you a unique perspective of what it was like to experience one of Elvis' Las Vegas concerts during this period in time.

The August 7th, 1972 Midnight Show is a previously unreleased concert, taken from a newly obtained original audience recorded tape in surprisingly good quality. This specific tape has not been available previously. There is another recording of this show in circulation on CDR, but the sound quality of that one is poor.

The September 4th, 1972 Closing show was released by some no-name label back in 2005, from an incomplete source and in very hissy sound ("Walk That Lonesome Road" CD - with the missing song being "A Big Hunk O'Love"). We have found an alternate source, an original tape which includes the main part of the pre-program by The Sweet Inspirations as well as comedian Jackie Kahane. For the first time we present this great closing show in its complete form, and in the best possible sound quality!

This release is presented in a de-luxe 8-panel digipak, with a collection of photos taken in Las Vegas, NV, on August 8th, 1972 (Dinner), September 3rd, 1972 (3am) and September 4th, 1972 Closing shows.

This release is expected very soon. In the meantime, you may ask your local dealer for audio samples to judge for yourself! It's a new "STRAIGHT ARROW", so you know what to expect. Every second of these concerts was digitally restored, every click or disturbing clap in quiet songs manually removed, every drop-out or damaged place fixed to achieve optimal listening pleasure. The next "STRAIGHT ARROW" releases in early 2020 will be excellent shows from 1971, 1972 and 1974, so stay tuned!

Tracklist:

CD1 (07.08.1972 M/S) 

01. Opening Vamp / C. C. Rider - 02. Proud Mary - 03. Until It's Time For You To Go - 04. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - 05. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - 06. Polk Salad Annie - 07. Instrumental Intermezzo - 08. What Now My Love (with false start) - 09. Fever - 10. Love Me - 11. Blue Suede Shoes - 12. One Night - 13. Little Sister / Get Back - 14. Heartbreak Hotel - 15. Hound Dog - 16. Steamroller Blues (premier performance) - 17. Suspicious Minds - 18. Introductions of singers, musicians, orchestra - 19. My Way - 20. A Big Hunk O'Love - 21. I Can't Stop Loving You - 22. Can't Help Falling In Love - 23. Closing Vamp / Announcements.

Part of September 04, 1972 Closing show pre program:

24. Jackie Kahane comedy sketch

CD2 (04.09.1972 C/S)

Part of September 04, 1972 Closing show pre program - Sweet Inspirations „Aretha Franklin medley“: 

01. Chain of Fools / Respect / (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman / I Say A Little Prayer / The House That Jack Built

The Elvis Presley show:

02. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra - 03. C. C. Rider - 04. Johnny B. Goode - 05. Until It's Time For You To Go - 06. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (with false start) - 07. Polk Salad Annie - 08. Instrumental Intermezzo - 09. What Now My Love - 10. Fever - 11. Love Me - 12. Blue Suede Shoes - 13. Heartbreak Hotel - 14. All Shook Up - 15. Ave Maria (one line) - 16. Hound Dog - 17. I'll Remember You - 18. Walk That Lonesome Road (J. D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet) - 19. Suspicious Minds - 20. Introductions of singers, musicians, orchestra - 21. Introductions of Bobby Darin & Colonel Tom Parker - 22. My Way - 23. A Big Hunk O'Love - 24. You Gave Me A Mountain - 25. Mystery Train / Tiger Man - 26. Can't Help Falling In Love - 27. Closing Vamp / Announcements.

Source: ElvisCollectors