Various Artists - Elvis: The Tribute, Pyramid Arena, Memphis, TN, 10-8-1994

Here's another interesting tribute concert, with loads of big stars. All of the songs performed were made famous by Elvis Presley. 

This concert seems to have mostly disappeared down the memory hole. An album of highlights from the concert was released, called "It's Now Or Never: The Tribute To Elvis." However, it's only 45 minutes long, containing just 15 songs. But the full two plus hour long concert was broadcast on TV at the time, so excellent sounding video footage of it exists.

This concert took place in 1994 despite the lack of any big anniversary or other important timely reason for it. Instead, the Elvis Presley estate decided that Presley's music was being forgotten by younger generations, so the concert was meant to help bring his music back into the spotlight.

As you can see from the album cover or the song list, a great many music stars performed in this concert. A few more - Jon Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, and Cher, at least - backed out at the last minute. I found that mentioned in a newspaper article, though it didn't give a reason why. 

I used two versions of the video files of this concert, converted them to audio format, and broke them into mp3s. During that process, I cut out some material. There were several sections of a few minutes each that consisted of short films highlight different aspects of Presley's life. I removed all of those, plus their intros, since they were meant mainly to be seen, not heard. I also edited out some more talk by the announcers. However, I kept all the intros relevant to the songs. Plus, of course, I kept all the music.

The concert was mostly hosted by Karen Duffy, an MTV DJ, and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. But actor John Stamos introduced a few acts, and TV host Phil Donohue introduced one, and sometimes one act introduced the next one.

Occasionally, I had a little trouble with the edits at the starts and ends of songs. For instance, there were quick cuts to or away from TV commercials, as well as the short films I mentioned above. I tried my best to smooth things out, but occasionally the transitions between tracks is abrupt.

Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, James Burton, and the Jordanaires didn't have any performances on their own. However, all of them were key backing musicians or singers for Presley. From time to time, they backed up some of the other music acts. 

All of the performances were live from the concert, with two exceptions. I think "Too Much" by NRBQ actually took place before the TV broadcast began. But I slotted it into a logical spot in the concert. And U2 didn't show up for the concert, but sent video footage of their performance to be broadcast instead.

By the way, if you want to know more about the concert, I found a New York Times article of it from the time. Here's the link (I think you have to click on Option 2 to see it):

RemovePaywall | Free online paywall remover 

This album is two hours and three minutes long.

01 talk (Karen Duffy)
02 Good Rockin' Tonight (Sammy Hagar)
03 Too Much (NRBQ)
04 Baby, Let's Play House (Michael Hutchence & NRBQ)
05 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
06 talk (Chet Atkins)
07 How's the World Treating You (Chet Atkins)
08 talk (Karen Duffy)
09 Mystery Train (Dwight Yoakam)
10 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
11 Don't Be Cruel (Marty Stuart with the Jordanaires)
12 talk (Marty Stuart)
13 All Shook Up (Cheap Trick)
14 talk (John Stamos)
15 That's Alright Mama (Kris Kristofferson)
16 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
17 One Night (Billy Ray Cyrus with the Jordanaires)
18 talk (Karen Duffy)
19 Lawdy Miss Claudy (Travis Tritt)
20 talk (Karen Duffy)
21 Blue Moon [Edit] (Chris Isaak with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
22 Love Me (Mavericks)
23 talk (John Stamos)
24 talk (Carl Perkins)
25 Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
26 talk (Carl Perkins)
27 Rip It Up (Iggy Pop)
28 Memories (Mac Davis)
29 talk (Mac Davis)
30 talk (Bryan Adams)
31 Hound Dog (Bryan Adams with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
32 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
33 Always on My Mind (Sam Moore)
34 talk (Karen Duffy)
35 Heartbreak Hotel (John Cale)
36 talk (Karen Duffy)
37 I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (Ann Wilson)
38 talk (Karen Duffy)
39 Teddy Bear (Tanya Tucker)
40 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
41 Trouble (Paul Rodgers)
42 talk (Phil Donahue)
43 [Marie's the Name] His Latest Flame (Scorpions)
44 Can't Help Falling in Love (U2)
45 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
46 It's Now or Never (Wet Wet Wet)
47 talk (Mac Davis)
48 Love Me Tender (Tony Bennett)
49 talk (Mac Davis)
50 Young and Beautiful (Aaron Neville)
51 talk (Mac Davis)
52 Jailhouse Rock (Michael Bolton with Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana & Carl Perkins)
53 talk (Karen Duffy)
54 Tryin' to Get to You (Faith Hill)
55 talk (John Stamos)
56 See See Rider (Jerry Lee Lewis with James Burton & NRBQ)
57 Kentucky Rain - Suspicious Minds (Eddie Rabbitt & Mavis Staples)
58 talk (Karen Duffy)
59 Burning Love (Melissa Etheridge)
60 talk (John Stamos)
61 Amazing Grace (Billy Ray Cyrus & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GWnJSkKo

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/cqa2ziePj3VTmo8/file 

The cover image is a pretty weird one for this concert, but bear with me for the explanation. It depicts Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (the daughter of Elvis Presley). They had recently gotten married at the time of this concert. (Their marriage only lasted from 1994 to 1996). The weird thing is that neither of them performed at this concert. However, they did attend it. At one point near the end, you can hear the announcer mention their names, along with those of Janet Jackson (Michael Jackson's sister) and Priscilla Presley (Lisa Marie Presley's mother). All four of them briefly stood up and waved to the crowd. 

The main reason I chose them for the cover is because this was the only decent photo from the concert that I could find. The mere fact they were at the concert made news, especially due to the fact that they had just been recently married. I think the image shows the two of them backstage before or after the concert. Even this picture was rather low-res and rough, but I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality. 

Iggy Pop with David Bowie - Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH, 3-21-1977

It's high time I post something from Iggy Pop, so he's a concert from probably the most pivotal year of his music career. Plus, this could be of interest for David Bowie fans. Bowie was involved in every song here, but... only in a backing role. He played keyboards and sang backing vocals, but no lead vocals at all. You can see him sitting at the keyboards in the background of the cover photo.

It's fitting that Bowie was involved, because he played a pivotal role at this point in Pop's career. Pop had a few wasted years in the middle of the 1970s after Pop's band the Stooges broke up, mostly due to drug abuse. Bowie helped Pop get a solo career started. He co-wrote nearly all the songs on Pop's albums "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life," and produced and played some instruments on them for good measure. Still, the albums were more Pop than Bowie, and they were very critically acclaimed. They probably still are the most praised albums of Pop's career. However, sales weren't that good, although the albums at least reached the Top Forty in the U.S. and Britain.

In early 1977, Bowie had just released an acclaimed album of his own, "Low." But rather than tour to support it, he joined Pop's tour band for about six weeks. Pop went on to tour a lot more that year without Bowie, but this concert happens to be one with Bowie. Bowie deliberately kept a low profile during these concerts, never singing lead vocals or addressing the audience. However, if you listen carefully, you can often make out his voice with the backing vocals.

This concert happened after the release of "The Idiot," but before the release of "Lust for Life." So it mostly consists of songs from "The Idiot," plus songs from when Pop was in the Stooges.

After releasing "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life," Pop had one more album on his record company contract. So he decided to release a live album from his 1977 shows that ended up getting called "TV Eye Live 1977." Unfortunately, it was a pretty bad album. Pop put most of the production costs in his own pocket and had it produced and mastered very cheaply, which resulted in poor sound quality. So, for instance, although allmusic.com reviews gave both "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life" five stars out of five stars, "TV Eye Live 1977" only got one and a half stars. So there has been a big need for a good live album from his 1977 concerts.

Happily, in 2020, a box set called "The Bowie Years" was released. Not only did it include all three albums mentioned above, it included three full soundboard-based concerts. Two of those have disappointing sound quality though, and this one was the best, by far. So I'm posting this here to give this concert the prominence it deserves. 

I didn't have any problems with the recording, except for two near the end. First, the last song, "China Girl," faded out before the song ended. So I took the last bit from one of the other concerts in "The Bowie Years" and used that to give that song a decent finish. 

And second, this concert was lacking the song "Lust for Life," and that's my favorite Pop song from 1977. So I added that at the very end as a quasi-bonus track. That version comes from a concert in Manchester, Britain, in September 1977.

This album is an hour and two minutes long. Just the Cleveland part (without "Lust for Life") is 57 minutes long.

01 Raw Power (Iggy Pop)
02 T.V. Eye (Iggy Pop)
03 Dirt (Iggy Pop)
04 1969 (Iggy Pop)
05 Turn Blue (Iggy Pop)
06 Funtime (Iggy Pop)
07 Gimme Danger (Iggy Pop)
08 No Fun (Iggy Pop)
09 Sister Midnight (Iggy Pop)
10 I Need Somebody (Iggy Pop)
11 Search and Destroy (Iggy Pop)
12 I Wanna Be Your Dog (Iggy Pop)
13 China Girl [Edit] (Iggy Pop)
14 Lust for Life (Iggy Pop)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16050169/IggPp_1977_AgraBllroomClevelndOH__3-21-1977_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is actually two photos put together. I wanted a photo that showed Pop and Bowie together on stage, but I could only find photos of either Pop or Bowie. So I used Photoshop to put Pop in front of a photo of Bowie (and a couple of strangers standing at the side of the stage). Both photos were from the same concert, at the Rainbow Theatre in London, on March 7, 1977. So that was about two weeks before this concert.