RECENT POSTS

Elvis Presley 1970-75 Los Angeles Studio Sessions Due in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ Box Set

by
Share This:

Elvis Presley will be the subject of a comprehensive collection, Sunset Boulevard, chronicling his 1970-1975 recording sessions and rehearsals at RCA’s legendary Los Angeles studios. The 5-CD set spans 89 rarities – over half of which have never been released in the United States. It arrives August 1, 2025, via RCA Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, and is available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. The June 13 announcement describes Sunset Boulevard as “delivering illuminating perspective onto Elvis’ 1970s recording output.” The all-studio set includes recordings of such Presley favorites as “Always On My Mind,” “Burning Love,” the 40th and final Top Ten single of his career, and such choice covers of “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “For the Good Times,” “I Got a Woman,” “The Wonder of You,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Something,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Proud Mary,” and more.

Listen to “Burning Love – Take 2”

It also features rare alternate studio versions of late-period gems like “Separate Ways”—widely seen as the most autobiographical song Elvis ever recorded— and “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” which channeled the groundbreaking signature vocal style from his earlier years.

More from the announcement: The collection’s first two discs 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 includes rare archival photographs and new liner notes from music historian Colin Escott, plus an introduction by longtime friend Jerry Schilling. As Escott writes: Elvis and his wife, Priscilla, had separated at the beginning of [1972] and he was drawn to songs heavy with regret. The first was a keynote address.

Escott continues: Red West had known Elvis since high school. He was Elvis’s friend, bodyguard, movie stuntman, and—occasionally—songwriter. Elvis never asked him for songs, but Red would pitch one anyway if he thought it might work. “’Separate Ways’ came from my own situation,” West said later. “I was writing about my son, Brent. Then Elvis had his own situation with Priscilla, so [Richard Mainegra and I] changed the song to relate to Lisa Marie.”

Once it was recorded, Escott adds, Elvis’s friend Jerry Schilling remembered that “Separate Ways” resonated so deeply with Elvis that he played the tape incessantly after the session. “We listened to it for three hours in the studio. He’d just look up and shake his head. ‘You guys wanna hear it again?’ And we’d play it and play it. It was a real sad time.”

Also available August 1 will be a 2-LP highlights edition, comprising the newly mixed studio recordings and outtakes. [It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]

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. 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 the rehearsals, perhaps owing to his decision to record with a road band for the first time during this era. See the complete track listing below.

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 August 13 – featuring a Q&A with special guests and much more. For more information and to reserve tickets visit ElvisWeek.com.

Elvis Presley Sunset Boulevard Track Listing

Disc 1 – The Masters
1. Burning Love
2. Always On My Mind
3. Where Do I Go From Here
4. Separate Ways
5. For The Good Times
6. It’s A Matter Of Time
7. Fool
8. T-R-O-U-B-L-E
9. And I Love You So
10. Susan When She Tried
11. Woman Without Love
12. Shake A Hand
13. Pieces Of My Life
14. Fairytale
15. I Can Help
16. Bringin’ It Back
17. Green, Green Grass Of Home

Disc 2 – Outtakes Highlights
1. Separate Ways – Take 25
2. For The Good Times – Take 3
3. Where Do I Go From Here – Take 2
4. Burning Love – Take 2
5. Fool – Take 1
6. Always On My Mind – Take 2
7. It’s A Matter Of Time – Takes 1–3
8. It’s A Matter Of Time – Take 4
9. Fairytale – Take 2
10. Green, Green Grass Of Home – Takes 2 and 3
11. And I Love You So – Take 2
12. Susan When She Tried – Takes 1 and 2
13. T-R-O-U-B-L-E – Take 1
14. Tiger Man
15. Shake A Hand – Take 2
16. Bringin’ It Back – Takes 2 and 3
17. Pieces Of My Life – Takes 2 and 3

Disc 3 – July 24, 1970 rehearsal
1. That’s All Right
2. I Got A Woman
3. I Got A Woman
4. The Wonder Of You
5. I’ve Lost You
6. The Next Step Is Love
7. Stranger In The Crowd
8. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
9. Something
10. Don’t Cry Daddy
11. Don’t Cry Daddy
12. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
13. Polk Salad Annie
14. Bridge Over Troubled Water
15. I Can’t Stop Loving You
16. Just Pretend
17. Sweet Caroline
18. Love Me Tender
19. Words
20. Suspicious Minds
21. I Just Can’t Help Believin’
22. I Just Can’t Help Believin’

Disc 4 – July 24, 1970 rehearsal (continued)
1. Tomorrow Never Comes
2. Mary In The Morning
3. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
4. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
5. Just Can’t Help Believin’
6. Heart Of Rome
7. Heart Of Rome
8. Memories
9. Johnny B. Goode
10. Make The World Go Away
11. Stranger In My Own Home Town
12. I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water
August 16, 1974 rehearsal
13. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
14. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
15. Promised Land
16. Promised Land
17. Down In The Alley
18. Down In The Alley

Disc 5 – August 16, 1974 rehearsal (continued)
1. It’s Midnight
2. It’s Midnight
3. Your Love’s Been A Long Time Coming
4. Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues
5. Softly As I Leave You
6. Softly As I Leave You
7. I’m Leavin’
8. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
9. Proud Mary
10. If You Talk In Your Sleep
11. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
12. If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
13. The Twelfth Of Never
14. Faded Love
15. Just Pretend

Related: 2020 delivered a great collection of Presley’s 1970 Nashville sessions

Best Classic Bands Staff

No Comments so far

Jump into a conversation

No Comments Yet!

You can be the one to start a conversation.

Your data will be safe!Your e-mail address will not be published. Also other data will not be shared with third person.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.