Elvis Presley - Early Morning Rain (RCA Records APL2-2587)

Elvis In Concert is the live double album released by RCA Records (APL2-2587) in October 3, 1977 in conjunction with the television special of the same name which features some of the final performances of American singer and musician Elvis Presley. Videotaped and recorded in June 19 and 21, 1977, both the special and album were broadcast and released on October 3, (the single "My Way"/"America The Beautiful" was released the same day) six weeks after Presley's death. The album peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in late 1977, remaining 18 weeks on chart in November 19, 1977. The double album "Elvis In Concert" also peaked at #1 for 5 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, remaining 37 weeks on chart in November 12, 1977, #3 on the Cash Box Top Albums chart, #1 on the Cash Box Country Albums chart, #3 on the Record World Top Albums chart, remaining 25 weeks on chart in October 22, 1977, and initially sold over 500,000 in less than a week in the US, over 1,000,000 copies by October 1977, and over 1,500,000, 1,600,000, 1,670,000, 1,750,000, 2,000,000, 3,000,000, 3,250,000 copies until 2002! It was certified Gold and Platinum on October 14, 1977, and 3× Multi-Platinum on August 1, 2002, by the RIAA. In the UK, "Elvis In Concert" reached #13 on the Guinness Albums chart, remaining 8 weeks on chart in November 19, 1977 and #50 in January 21, 1978 (re-release), remaining 2 weeks on chart, #16 on the NME Albums chart, remaining 10 weeks on chart in November 5, 1977, and sold over 150,000 copies (BPI: Gold) in England at time. World Charts: #4 in Canada, selling over 300,000 copies at time (MC/CRIA: 2x Platinum), #4 in Australia (NS Wales), #6 in New Zealand, #8 in Denmark, #11 in Norway, remaining 8 weeks on chart, #12 in Sweden, #12 in Netherlands, remaining 4 weeks on chart in November 5, 1977, #13 in Holland, remaining 11 weeks on chart, #17 in Australia, remaining 15 weeks on chart in November 7, 1977, and #68 in Japan, remaining 3 weeks on chart. "Elvis In Concert" sold over 4,500,000/5,000,000 copies worldwide! Background: The performances in the TV special were recorded over two days at concerts in Omaha on June 19 and Rapid City, South Dakota June 21, 1977. The recordings were produced by longtime RCA Victor/Elvis producer Felton Jarvis. According to "Elvis: The Illustrated Record" (1982) by Roy Carr and Mick Farren. Approximately half of the album's performances were overdubbed with additional vocals and instruments on August 29, 1977. This included a version of "Unchained Melody" different from the performance on the album "Moody Blue". These overdubs were added after Elvis Presley's death but before the album's release and the broadcast of the related TV special. The "Unchained Melody" overdub was later released as a single in March 1, 1978. Although both the June 19 and 21 concerts are the last official live performances of Elvis professionally recorded by RCA Records, Vernon Presley, Elvis' father, recorded a message that was broadcast at the end of the special (and included on the soundtrack album), in which he erroneously states that the special featured his son's last live appearance; in fact, Elvis made five more concert appearances after the performances in the special. Elvis' final concert was in fact on Sunday, June 26, 1977, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana. Content: During the special, Presley performs a selection of his hits, along with songs not normally associated with him. Although it was a regular part of his repertoire for years, Presley requires a lyric sheet when he performs Paul Anka's "My Way" (noted for its opening lyric, "And now the end is near/And so I face the final curtain"). He appears to lose his train of thought during "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", although some have made the case that Elvis regularly played around with the words during the spoken portion of the song when performing it on stage, rather than it being a case of poor memory. Indeed, concert recordings of Presley experimenting with the lyrics during the monologue section of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" date back to 1961 in Hawaii, later during rehearsals for his 1968 comeback special, and the iconic "laughing" version from Las Vegas in 1969. A 1969 version dubbed the "Laughing Version", even made the UK charts after Presley's death and continues to be reissued. The soundtrack album was issued as a 2-record set, including a second disc of performances that were not included in the TV special. On May 22, 1992, the album was reissued on a single compact disc. Personnel - Elvis Presley: vocals, acoustic guitar on "That's All Right (Mama)" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight"; James Burton: lead guitar; John Wilkinson: rhythm guitar; Charlie Hodge: acoustic guitar, vocals; Jerry Scheff: bass guitar; Ronnie Tutt: drums; Tony Brown: piano; Bobby Ogdin: electric piano, clavinet; The Sweet Inspirations/The Stamps Quartet/Kathy Westmoreland/Sherrill Nielsen: vocals; Joe Guercio: orchestra.