A king on the path of sunset: the unpublished of the last Elvis

In 1950 the American director Billy Wilder shot a film on the story of a diva of silent cinema in decline, starring the actress Gloria Swanson. “Sunset Boulevard”, in Italian “Viale del sunset”. That title, after the worldwide success of the film, became an expression of common use: when someone is in a phase of decline or forfeiture it is said that it is, in fact, “on the path of sunset”. It is certainly not a coincidence that the heirs of Elvis – today the heritage of the King of Rock’n’roll is managed by his nephew Riley Keough, 36 years old, the only beneficiary after the death of his mother Lisa -Marie in 2023: it is estimated that Presley’s activities generate 100 million dollars a year – and Sony Music records have decided to name just like that, “”Sunset Boulevard“, The new box of the late artist. Just released, the mega-box is a collection of recording sessions and tests in the legendary RCA studies of Los Angeles included in a time span from 1970 to 1975, perhaps the most turbulent years of the life of Rockstar, which would have died two years later: re-emerging from the archives, the traces return what were the moods, the torments, the torments, the torments. The poisoning of the king on the viale del sunset.

At the height of his career, but one step away from the end

The 70s of Elvis Presley are often underestimated. Many fans and critics tend to focus on his career of the 50s and 60s, leaving out the king’s work and performances in the last years of life. At that time Elvis was at the height of his career as an Entertainer: he walked the United States with a full -bodied and close -knit ensemble of exceptional musicians, arriving aboard his private jet and collecting one million dollars per show. Yet Presley was found at a point of no return, mocked by the most critical for having decided to share the values of the Las Vegas showbiz and for having churned out albums called mediocre, full of barely material suitable for his star talent. In those years Elvis found himself more and more isolated, both physically (in his villa in Gracelanda or in the suites of the hotels in which he performed), both emotionally (in 1972 he separated from Priscilla Presley, the love of his life, and the following year the couple divorced: according to legend, on the stairs of the court Elvis dedicated that “I Will Always Love You” who had listened to the interpretation in the interpretation. of her author, Dolly Pardon, who would have held gold in order to have the piece in return). The king felt that his time was finished, but wanted to surrender to the idea of being “overtaken”. It was precisely through the music that Presley channeled his emotional suffering and his inner discomfort between 1970 and 1975: melodramatic and gloomy ballads such as “Always on My Mind”, with texts focused on solitude, disillusionment and loss, I was born in that period.

The most emblematic song

There is a song, above all, that sounds particularly emblematic, of that period: it is “separate Ways”: it was born in 1972 in an extremely delicate moment of life (and therefore of the career) of Elvis Presley and reflected in a direct and painful way the end of his marriage to Priscilla. The song was written by Red West, a longtime friend of Elvis and a member of the “Memphis Mafia”, and by the singer -songwriter Richard Mainegra: both knew the personal situation of Elvis and West up close in particular had first lived the end of the relationship, due to the abuses of the king and his continuous betrayals. “Someday When She’s Older / Maybe She Will Understand / Why Her Mom and Dad Are Not Together”, “One day when he is older maybe he will understand why his mom and dad are no longer together”, he sang Elvis, alluding to little Lisa Marie, who at the time of the separation of Elvis and Priscilla (today he was just 4 years old). The song, which came out in the autumn of 1972, was not an enormous commercial success in the United States, but became one of the most significant of the 70s repertoire of the King, who however never performed it live, perhaps because it is too private and personal: the version present in the mega-co-fear “Sunset Boulevard” is a rare alternative version in the studio recorded at the RCA of Los Angeles in March 1972.

The pearls of the box

“Sunset Boulevard” comes out for Legacy Recordings/Sony Music in 5 CDs and in digital format, but there is also a “highlights” edition in double LP with a selection of songs from the first two discs of the collection. The box also includes rare archive photographs, new cover notes by the historic music Colin Escott and an introduction of the longtime friend Jerry Schilling. The new unpublished mixes were curated by the four-time winner of the Grammy Matt Ross-Spang, who removed all the overdubs offering new and unpublished intuitions. The opening with 17 classics engraved in Studio C of the RCA offers an intimate look at how the magnetic voice of Elvis interacts with the material of the greatest songwriters of the time, including the “for the good Times” by Kris Kristofferson (one B side of 1972 published for the first time in 1995), “Where do I Go From here” by Paul Williams (from “Elvis” of 1973). Help “by Billy Swan (from 1975” Toray “) and” and I love you so “by Don Mcclean (also from” Toray “). The Ross-Spang mixes also strengthen the 17 outtakes in the studio that make up the second part of the set. The last three discs of the collection instead offer a precious look behind the scenes on Elvis’ historical residency in Las Vegas, with tests held in Los Angeles in July 1970 and in August 1974 together with his iconic TCB Band. In these sessions Elvis gives himself completely to each verse, with no one else to listen to if not his band and the engineer in the control room, fully showing his innate love for the performance. Natural chemistry with the TCB Band is also palpable thanks to the decision to record for the first time with a tour of tour at that time.