Elvis was the first artist to sell out four straight shows at Madison Square Garden.

It was his first-ever live appearance in New York, except for performing on TV shows in 1956-57.

John Lennon , George Harrison, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Paul SImon and many other celebrities were said to have attended. And now it all comes back:

2 CDs + DVD + 48-page booklet with many unpublished photos, plus liner notes by Lenny Kaye, guitarist for the Patti Smith Group, on the June 10, 1972 afternnon show that he saw as a young writer for Rolling Stone.

DISC 1 & 2: Both shows are included here: Afternoon and Evening, June 10, 1972 - remix by Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Mayer, Leonard Cohen).

DVD: A 4o-minute DVD with previously-unreleased material! Including the historic MSG press conference, plus, for the first time EVER, live performance material from the show.

While the U.S. version will be released on October 2, 2012, the box and CD sets will be issued in Germany on September 28.

Love the title.

"Prince From Another Planet: 40th Anniversary Edition" Presents Madison Square Garden Concerts in One Package for the First Time

July 31, 2012

Of all the live concert recordings released by RCA during Elvis Presley’s lifetime, none carried the historic significance of his long-awaited New York City shows at Madison Square Garden in June 1972. Now, a pair of hour-long performances have finally been coupled in one package for the first time as "PRINCE FROM ANOTHER PLANET: 40th ANNIVERSARY EDITION." This deluxe 2-CD+DVD box set will be available everywhere October 30th through RCA/Legacy, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

"PRINCE FROM ANOTHER PLANET" takes its title from a New York Times headline that accompanied its rave review of the King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s four sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden (80,000 tickets sold), the weekend of Friday through Sunday, June 9 - 11, 1972. CD two reprises the Saturday night show in its entirety, some 20 songs (plus introductions) originally issued on LP on June 18, 1972, just eight days after the concert took place. CD one reprises the (slightly longer) Saturday afternoon show, some 23 songs (plus introductions), archived and issued for the first time 25 years later in 1997, on CD.

The Madison Square Garden recordings have been newly mixed for the first time by respected New York engineer Michael Brauer.

Adding to the historic weight of "PRINCE FROM ANOTHER PLANET" is an evocative 5,000-word essay written by Lenny Kaye, longtime guitarist for Patti Smith. Kaye actually covered the press conference and the concerts for his gig as music editor of Cavalier magazine in the ’70s. In addition to his roles as a musician and a producer of numerous reissues and compilations, Kaye has been annotating albums for more than four decades.

Accompanying the two CDs is a bonus DVD that presents unseen footage of the Saturday afternoon show, captured on hand-held camera by a fan, and now acquired by Legacy from that fan decades later for this package. The film is a revealing portrait of a physically commanding Elvis and his power-house TCB Band, background vocalists, and orchestra. Precious little visual documentation exists of Elvis in concert, so this footage is an historically important discovery.

The recently discovered footage is set to make its world premiere during Elvis Week in Memphis on Friday, August 17th, at 4:30 p.m. at a free event in the Elvis Week Entertainment Pavilion.

Along with the concert film on the DVD is another video document, the press conference that took place on Friday afternoon before the big weekend. Attended by Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis’ father, Vernon Presley, Elvis disarms and wins over the New York press corps with his good-natured demeanor.

For example, When asked, for example, “Which kind of song do you like doing the best?” Elvis answers, “I like to mix 'em up. In other words, I like to do a song like ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ or ‘American Trilogy,’ or something. Then mix it up and do some rock and roll, some of the hard rock stuff. I'm not the least bit ashamed of ‘Hound Dog’ or ‘Heartbreak Hotel’…”

A closer look at the concert repertoire confirms his answer. The set lists for the afternoon and evening shows are an eclectic mix, something for everyone. After the bombastic “Also Sprach Zarathustra” theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey," both shows are book ended at the start by “That's All Right” (from 1956), Creedence’s “Proud Mary” (via Ike & Tina Turner), Hoyt Axton’s “Never Been To Spain” (via Three Dog Night), and Dusty Springfield’s “You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.” Both shows end with “Suspicious Minds,” Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times,” Mickey Newbury’s “American Trilogy,” Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” Don Gibson’s “I Can't Stop Loving You” (via Ray Charles), and of course, “Can't Help Falling In Love.”

The set lists are virtually identical, though four songs from the afternoon show were not performed at the evening show: Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Until It’s Time For You To Go,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” Lowell Fulsom’s “Reconsider Baby,” and Don Ho’s “I’ll Remember You.” And one song from the evening show was not performed at the afternoon show: Man Of La Mancha’s “The Impossible Dream.”

With those exceptions, the central portion of each show is very nearly the same something-for-everyone program, starting with the Righteous Brothers’ “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'” and Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie,” then straight back to 1956-57 for “Love Me,” “All Shook Up,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” the medley of “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” c/w “Don't Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” and “Hound Dog.”

After being roundly excoriated by New York critics after his televised visits of 1956 (on Jackie Gleason’s Stage Show, in January, February and March), and 1957 (Ed Sullivan’s Toast Of the Town in January; and The Steve Allen Show in July), Elvis and his manager Tom Parker did not schedule another New York performance for some 15 years. Even after Elvis triumphed on his black leather NBC-TV “comeback” special of December 1968, and returned to public concert touring fulltime in August 1969 (at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, chronicled in 2010 on RCA/Legacy’s On Stage: Legacy Edition), they still waited three years to play New York.

When asked at the press conference why it took so long, Elvis answers with a straight face,: “I think it was a matter of not getting the building, the proper building. We had to wait our turn in order to get the building. Couldn't get a good building in fifteen years. No, all kidding aside, we had to wait our turn to get in... into the Garden, you know. I just hope we put on a good show for everybody. Oh, I like it. I enjoy it.”

Disc 1: The afternoon show recorded June 10, 1972 (originally issued April 1997, as An Afternoon In the Garden, RCA 67457-2).

1. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey)
2. That's All Right
3. Proud Mary
4. Never Been To Spain
5. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
6. Until It’s Time For You To Go
7. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
8. Polk Salad Annie
9. Love Me
10. All Shook Up
11. Heartbreak Hotel
12. Medley: (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear/ Don't Be Cruel
13. Love Me Tender
14. Blue Suede Shoes
15. Reconsider Baby
16. Hound Dog
17. I’ll Remember You
18. Suspicious Minds
19. Introductions by Elvis
20. For The Good Times
21. American Trilogy
22. Funny How Time Slips Away
23. I Can't Stop Loving You
24. Can't Help Falling In Love
25. End Theme (Orchestra)

Disc 2: The evening show recorded June 10, 1972 (originally issued June 18, 1972, as Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden, RCA LSP 4776):
1. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey)
2. That's All Right
3. Proud Mary
4. Never Been To Spain
5. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
6. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
7. Polk Salad Annie
8. Love Me
9. All Shook Up
10. Heartbreak Hotel
11. Medley: (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear/ Don't Be Cruel
12. Love Me Tender
13. The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
14. Introductions by Elvis
15. Hound Dog
16. Suspicious Minds
17. For The Good Times
18. American Trilogy
19. Funny How Time Slips Away
20. I Can't Stop Loving You
21. Can't Help Falling In Love
22. End Theme (Orchestra).

Disc 3 (DVD):
1. Afternoon show filmed June 10, 1972 (approx. 1 hour)
2. Afternoon press conference held June 9, 1972 (approx. 20 minutes).

Looks like a great release, but I have no plans of getting it. I already have An Afternoon In The Garden, and being that my Elvis collection is still fairly small, I want to get all of his studio albums, FTD sets, and live albums with new music before buying a live hits box set.

I wonder what the quality of the DVD will be like, since the article said it was filmed by a fan?

CrabalockerFishwife said:

Looks like a great release, but I have no plans of getting it. I already have An Afternoon In The Garden, and being that my Elvis collection is still fairly small, I want to get all of his studio albums, FTD sets, and live albums with new music before buying a live hits box set.

I wonder what the quality of the DVD will be like, since the article said it was filmed by a fan?

They have not shown anything from it, but It should be good. I have An Afternoon In The Garden on CD, but not the original on CD. I have it on LP only. I hope it's good. I'm really buying it for the DVD.

Off-Topic...

I just heard that a 20 disc Elvis box set was released by RCA yesterday, titled 20 Original Albums. I couldn't find any other info on it besides a tracklist. I don't know if it's a US release, or just certain countries.. supposedly it contains all of these albums in full..

Elvis Presley (1956), Elvis is Back (1960), Something for Everybody (1960), Pot Luck (1962), Elvis for Everyone (1965), From Elvis in Memphis (1969), On Stage (1970), That's the Way it is (1970), Elvis Country (1971), Elvis Love Letters (1971), Elvis now (1972), Aloha From Hawaii (1973), Elvis (The Fool Album) (1971-1972), Elvis raised on Rock (1973), Good Times (1974), Promised Land (1975), Today (1975), From Elvis Presley Boulevard (1976), Welcome to my World (Compilation, 1977), Moody Blue (1977).

http://www.zweitausendein...ction.html

http://rateyourmusic.com/...al_albums/

Know anything about this?

Nice! I've been listening to the Elvis channel in Sirius lately some great stuff.

CrabalockerFishwife said:

Off-Topic...

I just heard that a 20 disc Elvis box set was released by RCA yesterday, titled 20 Original Albums. I couldn't find any other info on it besides a tracklist. I don't know if it's a US release, or just certain countries.. supposedly it contains all of these albums in full..

Know anything about this?

No I have no idea about it. Maybe Eileen will chime in. Seems like a nice boxset.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

Nice! I've been listening to the Elvis channel in Sirius lately some great stuff.

Yeah every now and then I listen. Some cool rare stuff on there.

purplethunder3121 said:

That's awesome! Mine If I borrow it?

The title of that set is really odd - that's not something I think even Elvis would approve of. From everything I've read he was a pretty "Down Home", salt-of-the-earth kind of guy, and didn't even like or believe in a bunch of spacey theories and stuff; I bet if he were here and someone pitched that title to him he'd cuss them out or shoot up a tv or something.

They should've called it Tupelo Man.

JoeBala said:

purplethunder3121 said:

That's awesome! Mine If I borrow it?

Not at all! Here's another one:

Analyst said:

The title of that set is really odd - that's not something I think even Elvis would approve of. From everything I've read he was a pretty "Down Home", salt-of-the-earth kind of guy, and didn't even like or believe in a bunch of spacey theories and stuff; I bet if he were here and someone pitched that title to him he'd cuss them out or shoot up a tv or something.

They should've called it Tupelo Man.

The title was taken from one of the original New York Times MSG concert reviews which was headlined "Like a Prince From Another Planet" and included the text:

Elvis appeared, materialized, in a white suit of lights, shining with golden appliqués, the shirt front slashed to show his chest. Around his shoulders was a cape lined in cloth of gold, its collar faced with scarlet. It was anything you wanted to call it, gaudy, vulgar, magnificent. He looked like a prince from another planet, narrow-eyed, with high Indian cheekbones and a smooth brown skin untouched by his 37 years.

Kind of funny and overblown to read after all this time, yet the portrait is surprisingly similar to what (Beatle) George Harrison had to say after his MSG backstage visit:

They took me back in the intermission to meet Elvis again... finally he came out of the back and he was... immaculate. I felt like this real grubby little slug and he looked like Lord Siva or something. He seemed to be about eight feet tall and his hair was black and his tan was perfect and he had this big white suit, a gold belt about four feet wide and he was towering above me and I just put a hand out (cowers) and said "Hello, Elvis, how are you?"—just cowering like this little rag-man.

Don't get me wrong, this is a nice set of a still popular (sales-wise) iconic performance, however I thought the announcement paled in comparison to the gorgeous, complete live 1955 cut that turned up out of nowhere a couple weeks ago:

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/news/new_elvis_presley_recording_discovered.shtml

My heart just broke for Ernst@Sony after his decade+ work on the Sun box, to have this turn up when the box is going out the door for distribution... all of it suddenly undercut by a wire spool someone found on ebay, labeled as containing a WW2 correspondent.

JoeBala said:

CrabalockerFishwife said:

Off-Topic...

I just heard that a 20 disc Elvis box set was released by RCA yesterday, titled 20 Original Albums. I couldn't find any other info on it besides a tracklist. I don't know if it's a US release, or just certain countries.. supposedly it contains all of these albums in full..

Know anything about this?

No I have no idea about it. Maybe Eileen will chime in. Seems like a nice boxset.

Based on spotty info I understand this to be an european release. It is probably repackaged extra old stock in that seemingly some of the albums have extra cuts, some don't, different remasters from different periods, maybe not all remastered, some titles oop.

If it can be purchased as a low-priced intro set, decent deal, otherwise maybe not if you'd want them all replaced by better Legacy and FTD editions.