Until there came a point where Elvis just didn't move very much on stage, there was always at least a couple of songs in the set list which allowed him to entertain the audience with more than just his peerless vocals. For example, there was "Suspicious Minds", "Polk Salad Annie" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for a sustained period, but from August 1974, Elvis included a song which allowed him to incorporate his love of Karate.
Recorded at Stax in Memphis on 11 December 1974, "If You Talk In Your Sleep" allowed himself to express himself on stage in a totally different manner from that seen before. It was first heard live during the famous 19 August 1974 Las Vegas opening show, and as entertaining as these live renditions were, it couldn't quite recreate the sultry thinly disguised sexual undertones of the studio version which just sizzles.
Unlike the "Promised Land" album where it was separated by "Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming", in the live show it almost always immediately followed "It's Midnight" in the set list running order. However, unlike "It's Midnight", the song did not survive beyond the closing show of this engagement, and was dropped immediately after that infamous 2 September 1974 concert.
At the time of writing, there are currently twenty seven versions from shows which have been released either as an audience recording or were recorded at the soundboard.
This particular compilation concentrates purely on the latter with a future compilation featuring the audience recordings.
00:00 Version One – 19 August Opening Show – The First Rendition
03:14 Version Two – 20 August Dinner Show
06:12 Version Three - 20 August Midnight Show
09:18 Version Four – 21 August Midnight Show
12:21 Version Five - 24 August Midnight Show
15:31 Version Six – 30 August Midnight Show
19:12 Version Seven – 2 September Closing Show – The Final Rendition