Sweet Caroline - The Live Comparison Series - Volume Twelve

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Leon410
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Sweet Caroline - The Live Comparison Series - Volume Twelve

Postby Leon410 » Sat May 29, 2021 12:11 pm

Song thirteen of the show, and the eighth of the ten new additions to the setlist of Elvis' 26 January 1970 opening night was one recorded by Neil Diamond.
The version which would become the RCA master and be subsequently released on the 'On Stage' album, was recorded on 16 January 1970, and has a similar arrangement to the August 1970 versions which included that shown in the That's The Way It Is movie.
The song had a somewhat chequered life in the Elvis setlist post 1970, and was very rarely performed outside of Las Vegas.

Version One - 26 January 1970 Opening Show, Las Vegas - The First Live Rendition
This performance when compared to the RCA master, which was released on the 'On Stage' album, is testament to how a song can evolve throughout even one engagement never mind through the years when performed often by an entertainer.
It certainly appears that Elvis was trying to stay as true to the Neil Diamond arrangement as possible, including the iconic ending, but it didn't quite work and they had to do it again.

Version Two - 12 August 1970 midnight show - That "That's The Way It Is" version

Version Three - 11 August 1971, Dinner Show - Las Vegas Hilton

Version Four - 2 February 1973, Midnight Show - Las Vegas Hilton

Version Five - 5 March 1974, Auburn, Alabama

A very rare version performed on tour

Version Six - 30 March 1975, Midnight Show - Las Vegas Hilton
The first of only two known 1975 performances

Version Seven - 12 December 1976, Closing Show - The Final Live Rendition
Elvis' Las Vegas closing shows often had something special or surprising about them and his 12 December 1976 show was no different.
As a lovely gesture to some fans who, according to Elvis, always came when he was there, he sings 'Sweet Caroline' for them as it apparently a song that they particularly like.
As this is the penultimate song of Elvis very last Las Vegas show then this rendition takes on just a bit more significance.
Although the song was still on his set list at this point, the performances were very few and far between. He had sung "Sweet Caroline" just three times in the whole of 1976 although one of those was just a week before during his 5 December show.
The picture from this portion of the video are actually from this show itself and if you look closely you can see Elvis actually holding the lyric sheet for 'Sweet Caroline' with Neil Diamond on the cover!!

https://youtu.be/K3UTqSX7bho



reg
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Re: Sweet Caroline - The Live Comparison Series - Volume Twelve

Postby reg » Tue Jun 01, 2021 6:23 pm

That last one was really sad he didnt even remember the song and it was so old then why was he doing it so sad


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