'Elvis Presley Heading Down To Sunset Boulevard'

This month the Reel Trax label have released a 'Limited Edition' Vinyl version on Classic Black or transparent Clear Vinyl of their recent 'Sunset Boulevard Rehearsal' CD release. It comes housed in a deluxe full-color gatefold sleeve, featuring rare photos from the 1974 sessions and extensive liner notes.
This version captures the timeless beauty of traditional vinyl, making it an absolute must-have for collectors
The double-vinyl features the complete 1974 Rehearsal - no live bonus songs

‘Elvis Presley Heading Down To Sunset Boulevard’ – Reel Trax CD Review

When Elvis' 1974 rehearsals, as well as his Las Vegas Opening Show, were first released in 1995 on the bootleg 'From Sunset Blvd To Paradise Rd' fans rightly proclaimed it as one of the best Elvis releases of all-time.

Hearing Elvis rehearse new material at RCA studios in August 1974, just a few days before the start of his Hilton Summer Season, was a revelation and the DEA set became a sought-after bootleg.    

Elvis' unique take on ‘Twelfth Of Never’ was released as an RCA single in 1995 to promote the "70's box-set" which also included the rehearsal of ‘Softly, As I Leave You’.

The FTD label then waited until 2010 to release the near-complete set on 'From Sunset To Vegas' and in 2025 the full set was finally available for the general public as part of the 'Sunset Boulevard' box-set.   

Unfortunately the rehearsal was originally only recorded on a cassette and so the audio quality was never perfect.  

FTD's 'From Sunset To Vegas' annoyingly had the identical audio to the DAE bootleg and much more frustratingly the recent 2025 'Sunset Boulevard' release was far, far worse running around 5% slow making Elvis sound tired and the whole rehearsal rather uninspired. Not only that, the audio was muffled and flat compared to previous releases with Elvis' vocal left channel only. On FTD’s 'From Sunset To Vegas' Elvis' vocal was also rather high in the mix with the musicians low-level in the background.

With their new release ‘Heading Down To Sunset Boulevard’ the ReelTrax label promised to fix all of this, "Using the latest state-of-the-art studio technology, we have worked to create a much more balanced recording that does justice to both the musicianship and Elvis’ performance and the rehearsal has also been speed-corrected."

To be honest the new audio mix is much better than previous outings, Elvis finally interacts with the musicians and it now sounds far more like a "Studio recording" and not a low quality cassette. It is very enjoyable and proves fans' rightful disappointment with the official RCA/SONY 'Sunset Boulevard' release.

Having said that, I get a feeling that there could be an even better version in the future if professional DES engineers (ie MRS or RDM) really cleaned it up and rebalanced it since there are points where this ReelTrax presentation sounds overly compressed.  

Presented as a 3-panel digi-pack the tracklisting is on the back. There is no information about the new audio mastering and two photos of Elvis look ‘AI’ improved. But it is the music we have come here for.

The Rehearsal

How can any fan not love a rehearsal that features such a string of exceptional songs as Promised Land, Down In The Alley, It's Midnight, Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming, Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues, Softly As I Leave You, I'm Leavin', The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Proud Mary all one after the other!

You can imagine being in RCA's Hollywood studios watching a very chilled Elvis working hard with his band in a very relaxed informal setting. Elvis is in fine form, laughing and joking with friends as he teases his musicians while also perfecting the production along the way. . 

Starting with ‘If You Love Me (Let me Know)’ the rehearsal confirms Elvis closely running the show and instructing the background singers, musicians, and making notes for himself.
Elvis sung this song live the first time at the Opening Show and he works hard to perfect the ending. Elvis notes, "I like it. It’s a happy song."

'Promised Land' really rocks with this new mix, Elvis cheers the band along and on the second run-through Elvis working out the intro with Glen D Hardin, "Play with it first. That’s right, that’s right" is a great start. Elvis lets loose and really rocks, carrying his up-beat feeling into the "And the mother-f***’s on the line" ending!

The fun continues with ‘Down In the Alley’, two fine attempts, with Elvis adding some sweet vocal chorus fills of his own at the end. It’s a rockin’ and rolling version and what a shame he would never put it back into his set-list after Opening Night.

‘It’s Midnight’ the very rough first rehearsal includes Elvis cursing at the start "Where are the f***ing lyrics" but Elvis still stays in a good mood and includes some particularly nice harmonies on the second attempt.

‘Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming’ is a real highlight since the song was never performed in concert. An even more amazing choice since the track wouldn’t be released until 5 months later. Here the arrangement is nicely understated compared to the excessively overdubbed Master on the ‘Promised Land’ LP.

‘Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues’ demonstrates the sincerity of Elvis’ performance and you can tell he is obviously enjoying the vibe as he sings along with the guitar solos. With "You know how my heart keeps telling me, you’re not a kid at 33" Elvis gets the emotion so right.

‘Softly, As I Leave You’ new to this season includes some interesting discussion with Charlie Hodge as to whether there should be more augmentation to arrangement, but Elvis wants to keep it simple. Elvis rightly stands his ground, "The simpler this thing is the better" he says.

Two beautiful ballads follow. ‘I’m Leavin’’, revived for his 1974 season, where Elvis explains of the backing-vocals, "It’s like an ocean coming in" and at the end kicks off an immediate reprise to perfect the ending and Sherrill Nielsen’s duet.

While ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ is a real highlight, performed at a slower tempo and including the extra final verse, "And the first time ever I lay with you, and felt your heartbeat so close to mine, I knew a joy would fill the earth, and last 'til the end of time" that was not featured on the single. Compared to later 1972 versions this is so much lighter and more delicate.

‘Proud Mary’ again sounds much better here due to the louder backing and really rocks but for some reason Elvis only performed it live three times this summer season before dropping it completely.

The very fine and funky ‘If You Talk In Your Sleep’ follows with some great wah-wah guitar from James Burton. Afterwards Elvis notes, "It’s a hard son-of-a-bitch to end" and they practice the ending again, which is a cute bonus.

Three great songs end the rehearsal. The ‘Twelfth Of Never’ was a unique one-off rehearsal, short and sweet and a real treat when released on the ‘70’s box-set’ followed by ‘Faded Love’ which is interesting being considered for a 1974 set-list inclusion since Elvis only sang it a handful of times ever in concert, "That’s a throwaway" he mentions.

Finally ‘Just Pretend’ is the perfect end to session. Not performed on stage since 1972 the lyrics resonate on a more personal level and you can really delve into Elvis’ enjoyment of singing this delicious song. And this is even more of a treat as Elvis never performed this on-stage in 1974 nor at any concert until the December Las Vegas concerts over a year later.

Summer Festival Highlights

Similar to the 2010 FTD 'From Sunset To Las Vegas' Reel-Trax fills up the final CD with an interesting selection of 74 Summer Festival highlights. By choosing a nice variety of songs from multiple Vegas performances and mixing them as an ‘alternate concert’ they are rather enjoyable.

These versions have had some very basic ‘DES’ stereo applied to them, however this basic DES cannot separate the backing vocalists from Elvis’ vocal, so all voices are centred. It does not sound realistic. This is not the DES “true-stereo” quality as presented by the MRS or RDM label. Sure it is better and more enjoyable than the original FTD mono versions but not by much.

Notably everything here has also been released by FTD expect for the final two tracks.

The first few tracks are in fact from the FTD 'Elvis - Las Vegas '74'.

Kicking off with the August 20 DS 'Proud Mary' is a nice addition if having a little too much ‘JD’, followed by an exciting ‘Trying to Get To You' plus a brilliant ‘Promised Land’ as the highlight.

A decent ‘You Gave Me a Mountain’ and excellent ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ come from the Midnight Show.

From August 21 MS (FTD Nevada Nights) the tender ‘I’m Leavin’’ followed by "Take these chains from my heart and set me free, you’ve grown old and no longer care for me" with Glen Hardin playing the opening chord but Elvis sadly doesn’t continue. This is followed by the ‘new’ ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’.

The lovely 'Spanish Eyes' with Elvis and Sherrill Nielsen duetting – the very last time Elvis sang this song on stage - plus the excellent 'If You Talk in Your Sleep' comes from the FTD ‘Its Midnight’.

Aug 27 MS (FTD ‘From Sunset To Vegas') provides the irrelevant ‘Elvis talks about Racism’, plus the unmemorable ‘The Wonder Of You’ but a fine ‘It's Now Or Never’.

We also get from the 28 Aug DS ‘My Boy’, the only time Elvis sang it 1974, which for being a little unrehearsed it is a very strong performance with Elvis delightfully holding back on the verses.

From Aug 29 Dinner Show a great version of 'How Great Thou Art' and a fine 'Let Me Be There.'

From August 29 MS (FTD 'August Season in Vegas 1974') a rather disappointing ‘Until It's Time for You to Go’ where Elvis forget the lyrics. The superfluous ‘Elvis Talks About Karate’ is followed by ‘Softly, As I Leave You’ which gets a lovely applause and with Elvis crediting Sherrill Nielson. Also August 30 DS ‘It's Midnight’ where it is obvious that it is the newer set-list additions that truly interest Elvis leading to a rather delicate and haunting version.

Finally two tracks from August 30 MS (Bootleg ‘Black Angels In Vegas’) a solid and rocking ‘Big Boss Man’ good and ending with ‘An American Trilogy’ where Elvis jokingly replies “Fuck you” to a fan who teasingly shouts "I hate you Elvis"! Unfazed by it all Elvis then sings a very cool version with a great ending. 

The CD ends with the usual ‘Closing Vamp’ but misses out on ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ which would have wrapped things up nicely.

Overall these twenty live concert highlights are a fun listen and a nice bonus to the package although I don’t know why ReelTrax didn’t include live versions of all the songs Elvis had just rehearsed.

Overall Verdict: Reel-Trax have definitely provided the best audio-quality version of Elvis August 1974 rehearsals yet released and their audio remastering puts the official ‘Sunset Boulevard’ release to shame.

These RCA studio rehearsals prove how Elvis was in great form in 1974 and still interested in putting on something special for his fans. Listening to such a stunning potential set-list only makes one sad that Elvis returned all too soon to his regular set-list.

The ‘Summer Festival Highlights’ 20 track compilation filling up the second CD is very enjoyable although there is little doubt that fans who buy this release will already own them all.

I have bought every version of Elvis’ August 1974 rehearsal that has been released so far and while this version is very good, and a neat ‘up-yours’ to the poor quality official release earlier this year, I still believe there will be a better version released sometime in the future.

CD Review by Piers Beagley. -Copyright EIN March 2026 EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network. Click here to comment on this CD Review Check with your local Elvis dealers

'From Sunset To Las Vegas' FTD Review: From a musically creative viewpoint 1974 was disappointing since it was the first year since Elvis came out of the army that he wouldn’t record any Studio material at all. Instead he spent nearly the whole year on Tour performing an incredible 156 concerts. In August 1974 however, possibly due to new girlfriend Sheila Ryan, Elvis decided to shake up his on-stage set-list and on 12th August Elvis arrived at RCA’s Hollywood studio to begin several days of rehearsals for his new Vegas season. The taped rehearsal features a string of exceptional songs, Promised Land, Down In The Alley, It's Midnight, Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming, Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues, etc and when released as a bootleg in 1996 it was hailed as an all-time classic discovery.  EIN's Piers Beagley has a close look at the first official FTD release of the rehearsal tape to discover if it is still so relevant. (FTD Reviews, Source;EIN)

It's Midnight: EIN's Piers Beagley loses track of time as he reviews FTD's soundboard release from 1974, an emotionally turbulent year for The King. A packed CD with some excellent songs and some great dialogue, this captures Elvis' feelings of August 1974. (FTD Review, Source: EIN)

'Nevada Nights' 1974 FTD review: Elvis' 1974 summer Las Vegas season was a roller-coaster of emotional performances. There is no doubt that Opening Night August 19 on CD1 is one of the key concerts of Elvis' career. This is the famous performance where Elvis decided to update his regular set-list to give the faithful fans something new to hear. For this reason this concert has always been a favourite bootleg amongst serious Elvis fans. There is in fact no other 1970’s concert where Elvis did songs for the very first time, the very last time as well as other unique song performances. It was that rare a show. With Nevada Nights, FTD for the first time gives us a double digi-pack of two concerts from the same season. EIN's Piers Beagley checks it out. (FTD Reviews, Source;EIN)

'ELVIS: Las Vegas ‘74' FTD Review: A double set featuring both Dinner and Midnight shows from August  20, 1974 from Elvis' legendary 1974 Summer Season at the Las Vegas Hilton.  For Elvis 1974 was an emotionally turbulent year. This was his sixth season singing to the Las Vegas casino audiences, still doing two shows a night, and he was really feeling the loss of Priscilla. Yet this inner turmoil helped produce the most fascinating Las Vegas season of his career. He gave some of his longest performances and with a varied set-list including great new songs It’s Midnight, Promised Land, If You Talk In Your Sleep and Help Me. One of the fascinations of this new double-pack is that it presents Elvis' second and third concerts by which time Elvis was back once again to the old regular set-list routine. Whatever the reason for Elvis' backwards step, fans can consider whether these concerts capture Elvis' happiness at being back pleasing his audience with the regular set-list. Go here as super-collector Geoffrey McDonnell & EIN's Piers Beagley provide an in-depth review of this new release. (FTD Reviews; Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)

'ELVIS: August Season in Vegas 1974' FTD Review: A triple-CD focusing on Elvis' Las Vegas 1974 Summer Season. Three previously unreleased soundboards Aug 27 Dinner Show, Aug 29 Midnight Show, Aug 30 Dinner Show.   For Elvis 1974 was an emotionally turbulent year. This was his sixth season singing to the Las Vegas casino audiences, still doing two shows a night, and he was really feeling the loss of Priscilla. Yet this inner turmoil helped produce the most fascinating Las Vegas season of his career. It seems all too obvious that someone was prescribing Elvis some ‘Little-Helpers’ to get over the 'flu - and this put him in a chatty and distracted mood. So while there is little doubt that collectors will be very glad to have these previously unreleased soundboards from this exciting season where Elvis truly enjoyed his newer material, it is only a shame that there was too much talking and all too many complete throwaway performances.... Elvis super-collector Geoffrey McDonnell & EIN's Piers Beagley provide an in-depth review.. (FTD Reviews; Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)

'Elvis: From Louisiana and Memphis 1976' FTD In-depth Review: FTD continues their extensive look at Elvis' performances in 1976 with three July 1976 concerts. This is a FOUR CD 5” digi-pak, this set features three concerts, Shreveport Louisiana July 1, 1976, Baton Rouge, July 2, 1976 and Elvis' last home-town concert Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis July 5, 1976. FTD have already released two soundboards from this June-July 1976 tour but both the Louisiana concerts have never been released from soundboard before. By early 1976 Elvis’ set-list had become routine with few surprises along the way however this tour was one of the best for 1976 and for collectors the previously unreleased Shreveport July 1 1976 soundboard is a real bonus - and Elvis’ final show in Memphis should be in everyone’s collection. Elvis soundboard super-collector Geoffrey McDonnell along with EIN's Piers Beagley check out this new FTD 1976 triple-concert pack to see whether we can learn anything new... (FTD Reviews, Source;GM/ElvisInformationNetwork)