RCA Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release Sunset Boulevard on August 1— a definitive 5-CD collection chronicling Elvis Presley’s recording sessions and rehearsals at RCA’s legendary Los Angeles studios. Spanning 89 rarities – over half of which have never been released in the United States – Sunset Boulevard delivers illuminating perspective onto Elvis’ 1970s recording output. This includes rare alternate studio versions of late-period gems like “Separate Ways” – widely seen as the most autobiographical song Elvis ever recorded – “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” which channeled the groundbreaking signature vocal style from his earlier years, and “Burning Love,” the 40th and final Top Ten single of his career.Listen to “Burning Love – Take 2,”
The collection’s first two discs (which will also be released on their own, as a special 2 LP ‘highlights’ set) feature new and never-heard mixes from four-time GRAMMY winner Matt Ross-Spang – stripping all overdubs and delivering fresh insights in the process. Opening with seventeen classics from throughout Elvis’ time in RCA Studio C, these mixes provide an intimate glimpse into the ways his riveting voice interacts with material from the era’s greatest songwriters: Kris Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times” (a 1972 b-side first released in 1995), Paul Williams’ “Where Do I Go From Here” (from 1973’s Elvis), Billy Swan’s “I Can Help” (from 1975’s Today) and Don McLean’s “And I Love You So” (also from Today) among them. Ross-Spang’s stripped-down mixes equally bolster the seventeen studio outtakes that comprise the set’s second piece.
Sunset Boulevard is available for pre-order today – coming out August 1 in 5-CD and digital formats, including rare archival photographs and new liner notes from music historian Colin Escott, plus an introduction by longtime friend Jerry Schilling. Also available August 1 will be a 2-LP ‘highlights’ edition, comprising the newly-mixed studio recordings and outtakes – which will also be available in a Graceland Exclusive Color Variant. For more information visit: https://Elvis.lnk.to/SunsetBoulevard
Throughout the final three discs of Sunset Boulevard, listeners get a behind-the-scenes look at Elvis’ history-making Las Vegas residency — featuring Los Angeles rehearsals from July 1970 and August 1974 with his iconic TCB Band. Throughout the sessions, Elvis pours himself into every line – with no one listening but his band and the engineer in the control room – as his lifelong love of performing is on full display. Notable among the 1974 recordings are two featured tracks that Elvis never made studio versions of – “Twelfth of Never,” originally a hit for Johnny Mathis in 1957, and “Softly As I Leave You” – which finds him narrating a prologue about the song’s purported origins (inspired by his love of Charles Boyer’s narrated album “Where Does Love Go”). Elvis’ instinctive chemistry with The TCB Band is palpable throughout both rehearsals, perhaps owing to his decision to record with a road band for the first time during this era.
The release of Sunset Boulevard will also be celebrated at Elvis Week 2025 in Memphis – a special edition of the annual festivities, in honor of what would have been Presley’s 90th birthday year. Sony Music will host a Sunset Boulevard listening event at Graceland’s Guest House Theater on Wednesday August 13 – featuring a Q&A with special guests and much more. For more information and to reserve tickets visit: ElvisWeek.com
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