Elvis Presley – Charlie, Bring Me The Request Box! (August 18, 19, 20, 1975) (2016) 5 CD Set

Elvis Presley – Charlie, Bring Me The Request Box! (2016) 5 CD Set

The Hilton Hotel
Las Vegas, NV
August 18-20, 1975

Disc 1

01. Opening Vamp – See See Rider 4:16
02. I Got A Woman – Amen 5:40
03. Love Me 3:54
04. If You Love Me 3:30
05. Blue Suede Shoes 1:53
06. Suspicious Minds 4:07
07. My Boy 3:52
08. Heartbreak Hotel 1:48
09. Polk Salad Annie 3:59
10. Band Introductions 2:04
11. Johnny B. Goode (by James Burton) 1:06
12. Drum Solo (by Ronnie Tutt) 1:17
13. Bass Solo (by Jerry Scheff) 1:34
14. Piano Solo (by glen Hardin) 1:27
15. School Day 0:53
16. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 3:29
17. The Wonder Of You 3:06
18. Why Me Lord 2:37
19. How Great Thou Art 3:05
20. Can’t Help Falling In Love 1:40
21. Closing Vamp 0:59

August 18, 1975 OS. Las Vegas, NV

Recording: Audience

Disc 2

01. Also Sprach Zarathustra 1:16
02. See See Rider 5:07
03. I Got A Woman – Amen 8:02
04. Blue Suede Shoes 1:08
05. If You Love Me 2:54
06. It’s Now Or Never 2:29
07. My Boy 3:38
08. Love Me 3:52
09. Loving You 1:37
10. Suspicious Minds 3:44
11. Introduction of Vernon Presley – Band Introductions 4:33
12. Johnny B. Goode (by James Burton) 1:07
13. Drum Solo (by Ronnie Tutt) 1:34
14. Bass Solo (by Jerry Scheff) 1:33
15. Piano Solo (by Glen Hardin) 2:01
16. School Day 0:51
17. School Day 0:53
18. Introduction Of Neil Sedaka 0:31
19. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 3:26
20. Why Me Lord 2:34
21. How Great Thou Art 2:50
22. Let Me Be There 2:37
23. Crying In The Chapel 1:29
24. Can’t Help Falling In Love 1:35
25. Closing Vamp 0:57

August 19, 1975 DS. Las Vegas, NV

Recording: Audience

Disc 3

01. Also Sprach Zarathustra 1:05
02. See See Rider 3:47
03. Elvis Talks About Bathroom Story 1:25
04. Blue Suede Shoes 1:11
05. Young And Beautiful 2:14
06. Are You Lonesome Tonight 3:46
07. If You Love Me 3:30
08. Softly As I Leave You 2:38
09. It’s Now Or Never 2:39
10. Polk Salad Annie 3:51
11. Band Introductions 2:09
12. Johnny B. Goode (by James Burton) 1:14
13. Drum Solo (by Ronnie Tutt) 1:36
14. Bass Solo (by Jerry Scheff) 1:52
15. Piano Solo (by Glen Hardin) 1:31
16. School Day 0:57
17. Introduction of Vernon Presley 1:18
18. Introduction Of The Righteous Brothers 1:55
19. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 4:02
20. Why Me Lord 2:51
21. Love Me Tender 2:45
22. All Shook Up 1:07
23. Love Me 2:09
24. Hound Dog – Are You Sincere – Hound Dog 2:34
25. My Boy 4:58
26. Can’t Help Falling In Love 2:04
27. Closing Vamp 1:00

August 19, 1975 MS. Las Vegas, NV

Recording: Audience

Disc 4

01. Also Sprach Zarathustra 0:57
02. See See Rider 3:39
03. I Got A Woman – Amen 4:42
04. Hound Dog 2:40
05. It’s Now Or Never 2:34
06. And I Love You So 3:38
07. Blue Suede Shoes 1:13
08. Green Green Grass Of Home 3:33
09. Fairytale 2:59
10. Softly As I Leave You 3:17
11. Band Introductions 2:16
12. Johnny B. Goode (by James Burton) 1:06
13. Drum Solo (by Ronnie Tutt) 1:19
14. Bass Solo (by Jerry Scheff) 1:35
15. Piano Solo (by Glen Hardin) 1:21
16. School Day 1:18
17. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 3:31
18. Why Me Lord 2:39
19. Until It’s Time For You To Go 3:19
20. Burning Love 1:07
21. Can’t Help Falling In Love 1:42
22. Closing Vamp 0:42

August 20, 1975 DS. Las Vegas, NV

Recording: Audience

Disc 5

01. Opening Vamp – That’s All Right – See See Rider 4:36
02. I Got A Woman – Amen 4:35
03. Fever 2:50
04. If You Love Me 3:02
05. Until It’s Time For You To Go 2:34
06. Softly As I Leave You 2:24
07. Burning Love 3:11
08. Band Introductions 2:16
09. Happy Birthday To James Burton 0:27
10. Johnny B. Goode (by James Burton) 0:52
11. Drum Solo (by Ronnie Tutt) 1:40
12. Bass Solo (by Jerry Scheff) 1:32
13. Piano Solo (by Glen Hardin) 1:50
14. School Day 0:55
15. Introduction Of The Carpenters 0:37
16. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 3:35
17. It’s Now Or Never 2:32
18. Why Me Lord 2:34
19. Let Me Be There 2:40
20. Can’t Help Falling In Love 1:37
21. Closing Vamp 0:53

August 20, 1975 MS. Las Vegas, NV

Recording: Audience

 

“Charlie, Bring Me The Request Box” [Straight Arrow, 5CD]
Live at the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, NV; August 18-20, 1975. Fairly to very good audience stereo. (Disc 1 is a bit rough).

Given that the sound isn’t pristine (and in spite of all the efforts put into getting the best-sounding souce material), this set is really more for the hardcore fans and collectors.

Liberated five-CD set on the Straight Arrow label featuring audience recordings of every performance of Elvis’ aborted Summer Festival at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1975.

These five recordings capture Elvis Presley in concert at a time of heartbreakingly-weak performances, poor health and episodes of increasingly strange behavior which were a result of Elvis’ favorite leisure activity: over-indulgence of prescription medication. Hindsight tells us Elvis should’ve been in drug rehabilitation. But his second favorite self-destructive habit (his lavish spending on vehicles, jewelry and aircraft) required a large, steady income. Bottom line: Elvis was spending himself broke and needed to work.

It didn’t help matters to have The Colonel taking 50 per cent in addition to the merchandising and the most imaginative side-deals to fill his own pockets. Many of these deals Elvis wasn’t even aware of. Plus, the Colonel received a $50,000 annual salary from the Hilton Hotel as a “Special Advisor.”

The Colonel was making more money, annually, than Elvis was by now.

So, work he did. His Las Vegas schedule was indeed gruelling: a four-week committment of performing two shows nightly (a dinner show and a midnight show) five days a week plus one performance on the sixth day. Generally, Elvis had the stamina for these Vegas schedules. But, by 1975, the lack of professional challenges and health problems had become more than even Elvis could handle.

To alleviate his own boredom with live performing, Elvis began accepting song requests from the audience collected in a champaigne bucket before the show. During the show, Elvis would rummage through the bucket (hence, the title of this bootleg) resulting in spontaneous renditions of “Young And Beautiful” and “Crying In The Chapel” and even opening the final show with a rocking hybrid of “That’s Alright Mama” and “CC Rider.”

But, behind the scenes, things were bad. En route to Las Vegas, Elvis suffered a breathing problem (panic attack?) that was documented in several biographies. Elvis made it through five shows over three days before cancelling the remainder and returning to Memphis.

Lamar Fike and Billy Smith, charter members of the Memphis Mafia, detailed this week of Elvis’ life in their book “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia”

It was shortest ever Elvis Las Vegas season – after just five concerts, the rest of the season was cancelled due to health issues.

Compared with the previous June/July 1975 tours, Elvis was a bit heavier and, regardless of the problems that were plaguing him at the time, he was in an amicable mood, and his playfulness and warmth resulted in many delightful moments during these shows. Not only that, but he also continued with the ‘request box’ idea which he’d started in Ashville, NC about a month earlier. Fans were able to write their requests on a piece of paper and put them in a request box (actually a champagne bucket). During the shows Elvis would sometimes grab a couple of pieces of paper and select a song from those. This resulted in various true live rarities being performed, such as ‘Crying In the Chapel’, ‘Loving You’ and ‘Young And Beautiful’. Some songs were performed for the last time ever: ‘Green Green Grass Of Home’, ‘T.R.O.U.B.L.E’. and ‘Suspicious Minds’. After two days it was clear that Elvis was not well enough to fulfill the season. He appeared exhausted and prior to the August 20, 1975 Midnight show, the decision was made to cancel the rest of the season.

Through the last 25 years, the August 18-20, 1975 shows were released on various bootleg CDs of variable quality and completeness. For the last couple of years, the Straight Arrow team has been looking for the best sounding audience recorded tapes available, to make this new release the ultimate August 1975 ‘Request Shows’ box. “In nearly all cases we were able to work from the original cassettes, thus providing us with the best conditions to give you the best release possible. As you can expect from Straight Arrow, each single show was individually restored from scratch – this was definitely no quick ‘copy and paste’ job, as by certain other labels! Every second was faithfully enhanced to achieve optimal listening pleasure.”