*(1968) RCA ''Trouble''/''Guitar Man'' (Opening) (Take 6 FS, Take 7 Complete) Elvis Presley

''Trouble''/''Guitar Man'' (Opening) (WPA18030) (WPA1-8047) (Take 6 FS, Take 7 Complete)
Recorded Saturday June 22, 1968 at Western Recorders, Hollywood, California

Name (Or. No. of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocals & Guitar / Tommy Tedesco - Guitar
Mike Deasy - Guitar / Al Casey - Guitar
Larry Knechtal - Bass & Keyboard - Charles Berghofer - Bass
Don Randi - Piano / Hal Blaine - Drums
John Cyr - Percussion / Elliot Franks - Percussion
Frank DeVito - Bongos / Tommy Morgan - Harmonica
Bob Alberti - Keyboard / Tommy Wolfe - Keyboard
The Blossoms consisting of Darlene Love, Jean King, and Fanita James - Backup Vocals
Julie Rinker, B.J. Baker, Frank Howren, Bill Lee, Gene Merino, Thurl Ravenscoft, Bill Brown,
Joe Eich, Elaine Black, Dean Parker, Jack Gruberman, Sally Stevens, Jackie Ward, Ronald Hicklin,
Tom Bahler,Mitch Gordon - Backup Vocals

Billy Goldenberg Orchestra consisting of
Leonard Atkins, Leonard Malarsky, Sidney Sharp, Thelma Beach, Marvin Limonick,
Joseph Stepansky, Alexander Murray, Ambrose Russo - Violins
Eloanor Saltkin, Paul Bergstrom, Christine Walevsky, Emmett Sargeant, Richard Noel,
Frank Rosolino, Ernest Tak - Cello
Francis Howard - Trombone
Oliver Mitchell, John Audino, Manny Stevens, Antony Terran - Trumpet
Anthony Ortega, Peter Christlies, John Kelso, Gene Cipiano - Saxophone
Dick Perissi, William Hinshaw - French Horn

William Goldenberg & Jack Elliot - Arrangers
Producer - Steve Binder
Recording Engineer - Bones Howe

"Trouble" is a blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, originally performed by Elvis Presley in 1958 and covered by a number of artists in later years. Elvis Presley performed the song in the 1958 motion picture ''King Creole'', and his recording was included on the soundtrack of the same name. Ten years later, Presley opened his 1968 comeback special with this number. With dark, moody lighting highlighting his sneer, the sequence alluded to Presley's checkered past and "dangerous" image and served to prove that the singer was still "sexy, surly and downright provocative." The piece then segued into "Guitar Man" against a "Jailhouse Rock" backdrop featuring male dancers in cells.

Presley performed the song several times on tour in the early 1970s and unofficial recordings of these performances have circulated. In 1975, Presley recorded "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" for a single, but this is a completely different song.
The song was included in the musical revue Smokey Joe's Cafe.

"Guitar Man" is a 1967 song written and originally recorded by Jerry Reed, who took his version of it to number 53 on the Billboard country music charts in 1967. Soon after Reed's single appeared, Elvis Presley recorded the song with Reed playing the guitar part, and it became a minor country and pop hit.

In 1968, Presley opened his 1968 comeback special with this number. With dark, moody lighting highlighting his sneer, the sequence alluded to Presley's checkered past and "dangerous" image and served to prove that the singer was still "sexy, surly and downright provocative''. The song was featured in a medley along with "Trouble" against a "Jailhouse Rock" backdrop featuring male dancers in cells.

In 1981, "Guitar Man" was re-recorded in a new electric arrangement, with Presley's original vocal left intact, and it was the last of his eleven number-one country hits. The record also peaked at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was his last top-40 pop hit in the U.S.

Source and more information see: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

*- Digitally Remastered

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