With the weight of Hollywood finally off his shoulders, Elvis turned his attention to Las Vegas and to what would be his first true live performance since 1961. The first show was set for July 31st, and while Elvis and his team discussed what kind of a set-list his show would have, the first LP from the American Sound session was released. From Elvis in Memphis was the title, fittingly, as it not only pointed to the city where the recording had taken place, and not only reminded people of the King’s hometown, but it also pointed out the musical style that the album would bring with it: True to rock’s roots and the menagerie of musical sensibilities that Memphis is known for (rock and roll, blues, R&B, country), Chips selected twelve highly varied cuts for Elvis’s big comeback album (it was his first traditional studio album since 1962’s Pot Luck). Key omissions were “Suspicious Minds” and “Kentucky Rain” and “Don’t Cry Daddy” since this was the era when singles and albums had separate tracks, although “In the Ghetto” was added after Chips insisted that the album needed a big seller to push it over the top (it was a shrewd move that helped make the album a hit).
Unfortunately, politics and pettiness reared their ugly heads and poisoned the oasis that had just been discovered at American.
From the beginning of the partnership, Chips Moman knew that his work with Elvis was one of mutual-desperation. The tiny Memphis studio had secured a few hits and was getting looks from people within the industry, but it was far from a big player. It lacked the resources to compete with the bigger names. Elvis chose to work there because he needed a new sound and fresh ears overseeing his work to bring out something that had been missing over the years. The partnership was a smashing success, but with it came the jealousy of Col. Parker (whom Moman had essentially cut out of the loop during Elvis’s two-months with him) and Elvis’s entrenched producer Felton Jarvis. Jarvis was malleable by Parker while Moman was not. Jarvis saw Elvis as his chief meal ticket; Moman saw Elvis as one great opportunity among what he hoped would be many. For Felton, Elvis was life. For Chips, Elvis was January. So when the time came to list the credits for the From Elvis in Memphis LP, there was no question in either party’s mind how things should go.
Chips expected to have his name and his studio listed as producer, while Parker expected that no one but Elvis be given credit (as had been custom over the years).
That was unacceptable to Moman. When it was pointed out that Felton Jarvis was a co-producer on the album and that he didn’t mind (as in the past) yielding his credit, Moman pointed out that Jarvis wasn’t running the studio and Jarvis didn’t handle the arrangements. Jarvis was a co-producer merely by association with RCA and Elvis. The album was Moman’s and Elvis’, and both should have been credited. Still, without proper credit, he was merely insulted, nothing more. However, when Moman found out he would also be denied the royalties expected of a record producer (but instead would be treated like an RCA subcontractor), things got very ugly. Moman went into a tirade and accused Parker of robbing him. In a heated phone call, he told Parker never to come back to his studio again.
That was the last time Elvis worked with any producer not named Felton Jarvis.
In fact, Felton was put in charge of arranging the final mixes of the American Sound recordings, and it was his idea to add a fake-fade out near the end of “Suspicious Minds” which Moman described as “a scar” left over from his once-pleasant work with Presley.
There was no time to dwell on hard feelings, however, as Elvis was soon in Las Vegas gearing up for his first show. The deal Parker secured for his client saw Elvis performing in a newly-built 2,000-seat venue inside the brand new International Hotel with an initial four-week engagement, constituting one show per evening on Tuesday-Thursday (getting Monday’s off) and two shows on Friday-Sunday, for a total of half a million dollars.
The deal was altered a few times along the way and by the time Elvis actually touched down in Las Vegas he was booked for two shows every night after opening night, with no days off. It would be brutal and in the end not even the enthused and easily-excitable Elvis could maintain the rigors of it, leading him to turn to medication to give him the extra pep in his step he needed during late-evening shows (and more medication to unwind him when it was time to sleep…in the middle of the day).
His Las Vegas attire would soon be defined with a very distinct look (white jumpsuit and tall collars) but for his first show, Elvis chose something a little more subtle. He wore a two-piece black suit with a big open front and an elaborate cloth belt that draped down his leg below the knot. It looked like a glorified Karate Gi. Neither it, nor the white variant he also wore, was anything close to the costumes he’d soon be sporting, but it was flashy enough for a debut engagement and perfectly highlighted his slim and tanned features.
When he took the stage, he exuded the magnetic charisma that had always been there (but which had been suppressed throughout the decade), despite admissions of nervousness. His charm was off the charts as he welcomed the crowd to his first live show in “nine” years live, before adding “I’ve appeared dead a few times, but this is my first live show…” After that, the ice was broken and the show went off without a hitch.
For the all-important setlist, Elvis and his handlers decided on a healthy mix of old favorites, newly recorded tracks, newly-written tracks, and personal favorites that would never be recorded in the studio due to licensing and rights-holding issues. Here at the beginning of what would be the rest of Elvis’s career, many of the future tropes that would define his live act were already solidified. He hadn’t quite settled on “See See Rider” as his opening number (or, for that matter, “Also Sprach Zarathustra”), but he did feature a medley of old hits halfway through, he did use “Love Me Tender” as an excuse to kiss every pretty girl who approached the stage, and he did end with a rousing rendition of “Suspicious Minds” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Many of these first Vegas recordings would become staples of his 1970’s run but there were a few songs that never made it into the regular rotation.
“Are You Lonesome Tonight” was perhaps a bit too wordy to work as a live performance, which is why it was a rare treat in Las Vegas, but occasionally Elvis would bring the song out and serenade his audiences with it. Just as frequently, Elvis would play around with the lyrics, demonstrating a mild embarrassment at the words that were sincere in 1960 but were out of fashion in the more cynical late-60’s. One of the more famous alternate renditions of the song saw Elvis change the line “do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there” with “do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?” It was a change he made almost every time he played the song live, but on one occasion he happened to see in the audience a very stiff-looking man in a suit and a slick-bald head. A fit of laughter consumed the rest of the recording and has since become one of the best outtakes of the early Vegas years.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
“Baby What You Want Me To Do” was introduced during the filming of the NBC special as kind of a running-jam that he and his musicians would play in between actual songs, but Elvis brought it back for Vegas and used it as an early tune to loosen everyone up–musicians and audience both–before the show really kicked off in full. It was a great song for that purpose: As with almost everything Elvis did on stage in Vegas, the song was sung fast (much faster than Jimmy Reed’s original blues recording from a decade ago) which kept the audience energized, drummer Ronnie Tutt, guitarist James Burton, and Bassist Jerry Scheff all had a moment to shine, as did the background singers The Sweet Inspirations. Elvis of course rolled through the lyrics, effortlessly. He was in command of the stage from the moment he stepped out of the curtain and despite claims of anxiety, he never let it show; he was born to perform.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
“Runaway” was a number-one hit for Del Shannon in 1961. Bringing it to Las Vegas seemed unnecessary but Elvis liked the hook and made it work, thanks to the big band production and the Sweet Inspirations. As with the rest of the set, Elvis blazed through the lyrics almost in double-speed (the amphetamines probably contributed to that). James Burton’s guitar solo is arguably better than the one from Shannon’s original.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
“Words” was a recent hit by The Bee Gees, a band that had only started finding North American success. It was added to the setlist, first of all, because Elvis liked the song (there wasn’t a track he performed in Las Vegas in 1969 that he didn’t want to record, keeping his 1968 pledge to Steve Binder that he’d never record another song he didn’t believe in) and because International Hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian asked him to feature modern hits as well as old favorites. Once again the biggest change was the tempo; whereas the Bee Gees version was essentially a ballad, Elvis sang it with such urgency he turned it into a pop song.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
After twenty or so songs, and about sixty minutes of performing with music and banter, Elvis ended with a rendition of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and even though he never sang the song in Las Vegas (or anywhere else in the ’70s) with the same softness he did in 1961, the arrangement ended with such a crescendo the performance never failed to bring the audience to their feet in appreciation of the whole concert.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
1969 ended up being the singer’s busiest and most productive year since 1960. His final films were released, as were multiple singles and albums, all of which were hits in one form or another (either on the charts or simply in terms of units sold). 1969 was also the first year Elvis would release a double album, as RCA combined the left-over music recorded at American Sound with selections from the August concert in Las Vegas. Chips Moman opposed the second album of his produced-music, stating that the first album (From Elvis in Memphis) was the best of the bunch and that any more would dilute the waters. RCA was not about to leave the material lying around however, and pairing it with the Vegas concert gave them a thematic angle to take with the title: On one side the LP’s cover read “FROM MEMPHIS TO VEGAS” whereas the other side read “BACK IN MEMPHIS.”
Despite the higher price and lesser quality of the studio work included on the album, the double-LP sold better than From Elvis in Memphis, and ended up one notch higher on the charts (#12). No doubt the highlight of the live album portion of the collection was the jaw-dropping seven-minute rendition of Suspicious Minds, which Elvis recorded in August before the single had even reached record stores. By the end of it, Elvis’s once perfect (and massive) head of hair was fallen over his eyes as sweat poured from his cheeks. It brought the house down and more than made up for the fact that the studio-version was withheld from the album.
The Vegas debut could not have been more warmly received by critics. Combined with the ’68 Special from the previous year, Elvis had completely shed the “stale and corny” persona that a decade of musical-comedy movies had thrust upon him. Rolling Stone called it “nothing short of a resurrection from the dead.”
Acting quickly, Colonel Parker worked with Kirk Kerkorian to sign a long-term contract. It ended up being a five-year deal with weeks-long engagements happening throughout the year, starting in just six months, February of 1970.
