Elvis Presley - Unchained Melody - 21 June 1977 - Re-edited with Stereo audio

The second of the two shows filmed by CBS for their Elvis In Concert TV Special and by far the better of the two shows. Obviously with hindsight it has considerable poignancy in that Elvis would die just six weeks later but it is not a bad show and perhaps some perspective is needed at this point. Many stars before and since have had far worse vices that Elvis did and he had started to gain weight late in 72 and often went on crash diets such as in preparation for the Aloha shows at the behest of the show’s producer Marty Pasetta. Many of us in every day normal life are guilty of the self said thing and just because Elvis’ appearance is not as it was up to 1971 it should not be held against him just because he was in the public eye. If Elvis felt that he was able to perform, was content with how he looked and the public were still willing to buy the tickets then there is no reason why he should not have been on the stage that evening in Rapid City. As far as ’over medication’ is concerned which may have been a factor two nights earlier in Omaha, far less talented singers have appeared on stage in a far worse state than Elvis ever did. If you can get past Elvis’ appearance and the fact that in hindsight he was not healthy this is not a particularly bad show with Elvis’ vocals particularly strong at some points. There are many good performances in this show such as an excellent ’You Gave Me a Mountain’, ’Trying To Get To You’, ’Hurt’ (although without a reprise) and the iconic version of ’My Way’. One of the highlights of this show is the show’s penultimate number, this performance of ’Unchained Melody’ with Elvis at the piano. It is no surprise that both CBS and RCA used this show to provide the bulk of material used in their prospective releases. As I have mentioned in previous posts, many fans prefer not to watch Elvis from this period and that is their prerogative but this show is a reminder that Elvis gave his all right to the end, in fact his final show was probably the best of the tour. Elvis first performed ’Unchained Melody’, a song he never recorded in the studio, in Wichita on 27 December 1976, although he had been playing on piano at home for years. RCA eventually got a master recording in Ann Arbor on 24 April 1977 which was released on the ’Moody Blue’ album later that year but heavily overdubbed which apart from the unmistakable vocal makes it almost unrecognisable from the original undubbed master!