August 16, 1977 marked the day we lost one of our most beloved music stars. He did well for a boy who grew up poor, failed his high school music class, and was the first of his immediate family to graduate from high school.
Before Elvis, everything was in black and white. Then came Elvis. Zoom, glorious Technicolor!” said Bruce Springsteen.
Released in 1975, ‘Today‘ found Elvis Presley recording in RCA’s Studio C in Hollywood. Despite recording in what was, for Elvis, a less-than-conventional location—his last major sessions were recorded in near his home in Memphis at Stax Studios, and recording in his home studio at Graceland was increasingly becoming the norm—Presley was still experiencing the burst of creative energy that had driven his recent projects.
‘Today’ featured The King of Rock and Roll interpreting songs recorded by Tom Jones, Don McLean and The Pointer Sisters in his inimitable country style, as well as the rock ‘n’ roll-flavored “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” a Top 40 hit. Ultimately, though, the final mixing and overdubbing of the album, recorded with musicians outside of Elvis’ road-tested TCB Band, would become a point of contention between Elvis and RCA; the sessions would ultimately be his last in a traditional recording studio.
For its 40th anniversary, ‘Today‘ will be the latest Elvis Presley album from the 1970s in the Legacy Edition series of reissues; devoted to revisiting and raising the profile of these often unfairly overlooked albums. Disc 1 will feature both the original album as well as, for the first time, an alternate mix of the album without the controversial overdubs.
This studio material will be augmented with a second disc of live performances recorded throughout the southern United States in May and June of 1975, just months after the ‘Today‘ sessions. These performances have previously only been released on the limited 8-LP box set ‘Elvis Aron Presley’, first released in 1980.
Watch this video of Elvis’ last concert performance before his death. In the video, he is seen closing out his Market Square Arena concert in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a performance of ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’.
38 years later, Elvis you still rock our hearts!
