The 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s groundbreaking 1968 NBC-TV “comeback” special will be commemorated with the release of a deluxe box set by RCA/Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, on Friday, November 30. The set arrives just days before the anniversary of the world premiere broadcast of the original special on December 3, 2018.
The Elvis Presley: The Collection 7 CD Box Set is a nicely packaged 7 CD set, housed in a high quality, heavyweight flip top card box. Each disc comes in a card slipcase. Albums contained are ~ Elvis Christmas Special, NBC TV Special, From Elvis In Memphis, Elvis Presley, Elvis Country, Moody Blue, Blue Hawaii.
The Elvis Presley series of Legacy Edition multi-disc packages continues its focus on important phases of the king’s recording career at RCA Records. Forty years after its release in 1971, Elvis Country, an LP that found him getting back in touch with the Nashville country music mainstream, is the lynchpin for Elvis Country: Legacy Edition, the newest entry in the series. Included in the new package on CD one is the original 12-song Elvis Country (“I’m 10,000 Years Old”), first released in 1971. Three bonus tracks are drawn from the original recording sessions of June and September 1970. On CD two, from the June sessions, comes the original 11-song Love Letters From Elvis also with three bonus tracks from the original sessions.
In the mold of recent 2-CD Legacy Editions of the classic albums From Elvis In Memphis and On Stage, Elvis Is Back (Legacy Edition) is the definitive version of one of Elvis most essential albums, expanded to include another historically significant album from the time period and the hit singles associated with both albums. It is argued by many that Elvis Is Back is possibly the best album Elvis ever recorded. During his two years in the army, Elvis had spent what spare time he had expanding his vocal range and improving his technique. Combined with a challenging and diverse repertoire, a new band of Nashville session aces, and improved three-track recording technology, it was an almost completely new Elvis who emerged in April of 1960. Recorded over just two nights, the sessions produced not only the twelve album tracks, but also six tracks for single release, including three #1 singles: all-time classics It s Now Or Never, Are You Lonesome Tonight? and Stuck On You.
The new multi-part documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, directed by Thom Zimny and airing on HBO on April 14, pushes past the larger-than-life image of The King of Rock and Roll, portraying him instead as a man and an artist "who wanted to heal, to find that thing that was always felt to be missing, and to do it through the music."
Following his triumphant comeback special for NBC at the end of 1968, Elvis Presley made a highly-publicized return to live performance in 1969, booking an exclusive engagement at The International Hotel in Las Vegas. Elvis treated audiences to a raucous rock set inspired by the recent sessions for his just-released studio album From Elvis In Memphis, backed by vocal groups The Imperials and The Sweet Inspirations as well as an early version of his famed TCB Band. Live In Las Vegas 1969 showcases this incredible, important phase in Elvis’ career with a previously unreleased set from the first of many engagements at The International Hotel.