In the 2010s Sony Music Entertainment/RCA Legacy had released a string of albums of Presley's voice added to newly recorded music tracks. The 2020s were dedicated to stripped down and remixed versions of the king's music from the 1970s. After two boxed sets dedicated to Elvis' recordings from 1970 and 1971 in Nashville and another one filled with material, the man had taped in his self-chosen hometown Memphis, the focus was shifted to Hollywood. On Sunset Boulevard 6363 RCA operated their Studio C, where Elvis officially recorded in 1972 and 1975. A lesser known fact is, that he also used the venue from 1970 to 1975 to rehearse for his shows in Vegas. Two of these sessions were recorded and so this set also includes a rehearsal session from 1970 and another one from 1974.

Sony Music Entertainment/RCA Legacy released "Sunset Boulevard" in 24 bit/192 kHz, so if the platform of your choice supports hi res audio you can enjoy the music in the best quality possible. The physical edition includes a booklet and five compact discs. There's also a vinyl edition of two records, which limits itself to the studio recordings (masters and outtakes). The rehearsals can only be found on the streaming platforms and the cd-edition.

To coincide with EPE's "Elvis Week" the boxed set was released on August 1, 2025. In Presley's homeland "Sunset Boulevard" reached number 33 of Billboard's "Top Current Album Sales Chart", but didn't make it on the more important "Billboard 200". In Great Britain it peaked at number 67 of the "UK Album Chart", but charted much higher on the "UK Album Download Chart" (#25) and the "UK Physical Album Chart" (#5). In Continental Europe "Sunset Boulevard" charted in many countries, examples are Denmark (#14), Austria (#14), Germany (#17), the Netherlands (#18) and Belgium (#22). On the International iTunes Chart the album peaked at number 33. It will be interesting to see the success of "Sunset Boulevard" on a longer term. We have to remember, that "Memphis" also wasn't a chartbreaker, but accumulated more than 1.3 billion streams within a year on Spotify alone.

The boxed set includes a nicely designed booklet of 28 pages, which features liner notes, photos of the recording facility, pictures of the records Elvis produced here as well as accordant advertising material and contemporary reviews and of course also photos of the man himself. Of course the most important thing is the music, which is delivered on five compact discs, housed in two cardboard-slipcases. Since "Sunset Boulevard" is all about studio recordings it seems a little bit odd to use a concert photo on the back of the slipcase, but maybe Sony felt urged to show an image of Presley in one of his iconic jumpsuits. In total this release looks quite appealing.

All the recordings were newly mastered by Michael Piacentini, the studio tracks were mixed by Matt Ross-Spang. The new incarnations include some of the overdubbed guitar and bass tracks, but do without the strings, horns and additional voices. Matt also put the focus on different instruments than Felton Jarvis, the king's original producer, had done in the 1970s. Now the focus is more on the drums, the guitar, the piano and the bass. The harmony singers (which were present in the studio) are also a tad more in the background. As a result everything sounds a bit more punchy, a tad more lively and a lot less cluttered. There's not a single track on this set, that doesn't benefit from skipping Felton's subsequent alterations. Of course I know, that Mr. Jarvis acted according to Elvis' whishes. The king just loved all the fancy stuff and hardly would have approved a release like "Sunset Boulevard".

The rehearsal recordings were mixed by Vic Anesini. Because the 1970 rehearsal preceded the live recordings for the "That's The Way It Is" project, RCA put some effort in taping the session and tried out their new 16-track machine. Four years later the taping was done with a simple cassette recorder by Ed Bonja, a member of Colonel Parker's crew. The purpose was to catch the rehearsals in case Elvis wanted to listen to something. While the session from 1970 sounds great, the one from 1974 is a painful experience. However, regarding the content it's worthwhile to check it out, even if it's just once.

For reviews of the individual compact discs/chapters tap here:

The Masters    Outtake Highlights    Rehearsal: July 24, 1970   Rehearsal: August 16, 1974