In a special Elvis Week episode of the Along For The Ride radio show, we discuss my memories of August 16, 1977, the day Elvis Presley passed away. We also look at some of my mom’s Elvis records from the 1950s and talk about what they mean to me.
The new episode is embedded below, or you can watch it directly on YouTube.
In this outtake from today’s episode of Along For The Ride, I struggle saying the outro.
If you walked out of Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert wanting to hear more Elvis, The Mystery Train has been providing next steps for you through a series of album-length playlists.
Today’s final playlist covers 1969, a pivotal year for Elvis. He began by recording in a Memphis studio for the first time in well over a decade, continued by making his last movie as an actor, and finished by, as the EPiC teaser put it, returning “to the stage to begin a legendary residency in Las Vegas.” In EPiC, you actually saw his third engagement at the International Hotel, August 1970. In this playlist, you hear highlights from the first engagement, August 1969, which was not filmed.
The playlist is embedded here. You can also find it directly on Spotify. Below the playlist, I have a few other suggestions.
01. Suspicious Minds
02. Power Of My Love
03. Any Day Now
04. Don’t Cry Daddy
05. Kentucky Rain
06. In The Ghetto
07. Rubberneckin’
08. Change Of Habit
09. Blue Suede Shoes
10. Johnny B. Goode
11. My Babe
12. Mystery Train/Tiger Man
13. Are You Laughing Tonight
14. Suspicious Minds
15. Can’t Help Falling In Love
Also available: The complete After EPiC playlist on Spotify, combining all four segments.
Spotify plays additional music without warning after a playlist ends. Anything that follows “Can’t Help Falling In Love” is Spotify guessing what you might want to hear next.
While you wait for EPiC to be released on home media, my main viewing suggestion for you is Elvis: That’s The Way It Is – Special Edition. It covers rehearsals and Las Vegas shows in 1970. Outtakes from the original version of this documentary were featured prominently in EPiC. While it lacks Luhrmann’s signature style and Jonathan Redmond’s brilliant editing, the movie includes the same Elvis talent and charisma you experienced in EPiC.
If you want to read more about Elvis, I recommend Elvis Presley: A Life In Music – The Complete Recording Sessions by Ernst Jorgensen (1998), Last Train To Memphis: The Rise Of Elvis Presley, covering 1935-1958, by Peter Guralnick (1994), and Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley, covering 1958-1977, by Guralnick (1999). While not without their flaws, they remain the best Elvis books to date.
Finally, if you want to dive even deeper into playlists beyond After EPiC, check out The Mystery Train’s Elvis Odyssey series. While After EPiC concludes in 1969, The Elvis Odyssey begins there.
If you have any questions, please comment below or contact me. Thank you for reading and listening.
Today, The Mystery Train offers another next step for those who came away from Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert wanting to hear more Elvis.
Elvis Presley performing in Burbank for the ELVIS television special on June 29, 1968 (NBC)
EPiC included a brief overview of Elvis’ career prior to the 1970s concerts featured in the film. Taking a similar approach, this album-length playlist covers his first record, early hits, movie years, and 1968 “comeback” television special. One more installment remains after this one, where I’ll share another playlist along with a few additional suggestions.
The 1954-1968 playlist is embedded below. You can also find it directly on Spotify.
01. That’s All Right
02. Mystery Train
03. Heartbreak Hotel
04. I Was The One
05. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
06. Hound Dog
07. Don’t Be Cruel
08. Love Me
09. One Night
10. Jailhouse Rock
11. Are You Lonesome Tonight
12. Reconsider Baby
13. Little Sister
14. Viva Las Vegas
15. Run On
16. Edge Of Reality
17. Baby, What You Want Me To Do (Live-Burbank)
18. If I Can Dream
Spotify begins playing additional music without warning after a playlist ends. Anything after “If I Can Dream” is Spotify guessing what you might want to hear next.
You might also enjoy After EPiC: Elvis in 1969.
Elvis Presley performing at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 14, 1972 (MGM)
For those who came away from Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert wanting to hear more Elvis, this post continues The Mystery Train’s series of next steps.
1972 was another key year featured in EPiC. As Elvis attempted to manage personal challenges, including the breakup of his marriage, he found success in the studio and on the road. This 1972 playlist is designed as one album’s worth of listening. In the coming weeks, I’ll continue sharing album-length playlists exploring other eras of Elvis’s career.
The playlist is embedded below. You can also find it directly on Spotify.
01. Burning Love
02. Separate Ways (Take 25)
03. Proud Mary (Live-San Antonio)
04. Polk Salad Annie (Live-Richmond)
05. It’s Over (Live-Las Vegas)
06. Are You Lonesome Tonight (Live-Hampton Roads)
07. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy (Live-Hampton Roads)
08. For The Good Times (Take 3)
09. Johnny B. Goode (Takes 1-3)
10. Young And Beautiful (Rehearsal)
11. You Gave Me A Mountain (Live-Las Vegas)
12. It’s Impossible (Live-Las Vegas)
13. A Big Hunk O’ Love (Live-Las Vegas)
14. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Live-Greensboro)
15. I Can’t Stop Loving You (Live-New York City)
16. Always On My Mind (Take 3)
Spotify will begin playing additional music without warning after a playlist ends. So, anything after “Always On My Mind” is Spotify guessing what you might want to hear next.
You might also enjoy After EPiC: Elvis in 1954-1968.
If you walked into Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert curious and came away wanting to hear more Elvis, this post is for you.
Deciding what to try next in Elvis’ vast catalog can be confusing. Single disc releases tend to focus on well-worn greatest hits, while deeper exploration often requires navigating massive box sets.
As a next step, may I instead recommend this simple playlist of select studio outtakes, rehearsals, and live performances from 1970?
Featured in EPiC, 1970 was a remarkable year for Elvis both in the studio and on stage. This playlist is designed as one album’s worth of listening, enough to enjoy an evening with Elvis. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing a few more album-length playlists exploring other eras of Elvis’s career.
The playlist is embedded below. You can also find it directly on Spotify.
Side A
01. Patch It Up (Take 1)
02. I’ve Lost You (Take 1)
03. How The Web Was Woven (Take 1)
04. Little Sister/Get Back (Rehearsal)
05. Baby, Let’s Play House (Rehearsal)
06. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water (Rehearsal)
Side B
07. Polk Salad Annie (Rehearsal)
08. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ (Live)
09. Mystery Train/Tiger Man (Live)
10. One Night (Live)
11. Suspicious Minds (Live)
12. Just Pretend (Live)
Keep in mind that one of the quirks of Spotify is that it will begin playing additional music without warning after a playlist ends. So, anything after “Just Pretend” is Spotify guessing what you might want to hear next.
You might also enjoy After EPiC: Elvis in 1972.
I originally was going to do my standard song-by-song review of the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert. However, I soon realized this would essentially turn into a review of the actual film, which I want to avoid analyzing for now.
Cover of the EPiC soundtrack (2026, Sony)
The soundtrack is inextricably intertwined with the movie, which isn’t to say they just laid down the exact audio of the documentary onto this CD. Some songs, mostly ambiance material from the non-concert portions, are missing, while some of the other songs are expanded or slightly different edits.
You should not listen to the soundtrack until you first see the movie. Unlike some soundtracks, this one really does not stand alone. It is a companion piece to the best Elvis Presley project ever made. Some choices that might sound odd at first on the soundtrack make much more sense in the context of EPiC as a film.
Listening to the soundtrack would also provide massive spoilers for EPiC as an experience. If you have not already, see it in a theater as soon as possible. No one has asked me to post these kinds of comments about the movie. I don’t get anything out of any of this, other than personal enjoyment. This is just me talking, one Elvis fan to another. EPiC is special, and you don’t want to miss seeing it.
You see? Even without song-by-song, I find myself drifting into a review of the movie.
Back to the soundtrack, there are a number of highlights that will live on in my main Elvis rotation for years if not decades to come. “Oh Happy Day” is breathtaking to hear. All we ever had was the rehearsal track of this, which left me wondering “what if?” This remix finally provides the answer.
“Wearin’ That Night Life Look” is a mashup of 1969’s “Wearin’ That Loved-On Look” and 1964’s “Night Life.” You don’t combine a highlight of the American Sound sessions with a movie tune! Oh, and then you’re going to throw in snippets of “Let Yourself Go” and “I, John”? It makes no sense. It can’t possibly work.
But it does! Somehow it does! What a wonderful “new” Elvis song “Wearin’ That Night Life Look” turns out to be. Along the same lines is the even more stellar “A Change Of Reality (Do You Miss Me?),” which I won’t even describe for you. See. The. Movie. I never thought an “invented” song like “A Change Of Reality” could be so incredible, but here we are. It’s probably my favorite new track.
The track “Bring The Curtain Down (EPiC Outro)” is brilliant as well. “Don’t Fly Away” is another mashup that I previously enjoyed on the 2022 ELVIS soundtrack, and it earns its encore here.
Plus there are tons of Elvis songs that we already know and love.
A minor quibble is that one of the interior artwork pieces (not pictured) frames Elvis in radiating, halo-style imagery that feels a little too saint-like for my taste. It pushes him toward deification rather than humanity. It doesn’t really fit with EPiC‘s mostly grounded portrait of Elvis. I find Elvis’ “King” image far less interesting than the real human being, which is one of the reasons I love EPiC and why that graphic doesn’t work for me.
That said, packaging is secondary to what matters most for Elvis releases, which is, as it always has been, the music. There’ll be plenty of time to analyze both the film and the soundtrack in the future.
Until then, enjoy this rare moment and see and feel Elvis like never before in EPiC.
The EPiC soundtrack is available on CD and digital now. The vinyl edition drops on April 24.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the picture you have just seen was the last live performance of Elvis on stage,” announced Vernon Presley, Elvis Presley’s father, at the end of Record 1 of 1977’s Elvis In Concert soundtrack album.
For years, this and a similar message from Vernon at the end of the CBS television special caused the general public and casual fans to believe the project was indeed Elvis’ last concert.
Elvis In Concert was a compilation of highlights from two shows during Elvis’ last tour – Omaha, Nebraska, on June 19, 1977, and Rapid City, South Dakota, on June 21.
Elvis actually performed a few more concerts after Rapid City, which were not captured on professional video or audio. His last was on June 26 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After making the bootleg rounds for decades, an audience recording of Elvis’ last concert will soon be officially released for the first time by Follow That Dream (FTD) Records. FTD began in 1999 and is Sony’s collectors label for Elvis fans.
The performance headlines a 3-CD set called Elvis: The Last Concert – Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, June 26, 1977. New audio work on the recording was performed by Anthony Stuchbury, known for his Elvis “Mono II Stereo” CD series in Europe.
The other shows on the set will be October 18, 1976, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (CD 2), and December 30, 1976, Atlanta, Georgia (CD 3). These are two of the soundboard shows FTD previously bundled with a re-release of the Bruce Jackson On The Road With Elvis book.
Jackson, who died in 2011, worked as part of Elvis’ audio team for shows in the final years and taped many of them direct from the soundboard for various purposes. Though he is rumored to have taped the last concert, it has never surfaced in any form.
Cover of ELVIS: THE LAST CONCERT (2026, FTD)
I’m selective when it comes to Elvis releases, including FTD, but this set is a must-have for me due to the historical significance of the Indianapolis show. I usually avoid 1976 shows, but my understanding is that the December 30 Atlanta concert is among the best for that year. I’m always in favor of FTD re-releasing CDs previously bundled with their exorbitantly-priced books, so including two of Jackson’s soundboard recordings is a good move here.
While The Mystery Train is not a news site – I leave that to Kees’ incredible Elvis Day By Day site – this is one of those times where a story is so important to me that I had to share it with you. Check out Elvis Day By Day for the full tracklisting, as provided by FTD.
Circling back to Vernon, who was obviously still overcome with grief during his message just six weeks after Elvis’ death, presumably the “last live performance” myth was written for him in order to better promote the special. He was almost surely unaware of which concerts were taped when.
Forty-nine years later, in my offline Apple Music playlist, Vernon’s message will now have its proper home on Elvis: The Last Concert.
June 17, 1977: Springfield, Missouri
June 18: Kansas City, Missouri
June 19: Omaha, Nebraska
June 20: Lincoln, Nebraska
June 21: Rapid City, South Dakota
June 22: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
June 23: Des Moines, Iowa
June 24: Madison, Wisconsin
June 25: Cincinnati, Ohio
June 26: Indianapolis, Indiana
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
Psalm 34:18 NLT
The Mystery Train 