Saturday 15 October 2016

Elvis Presley - Bridge Over Troubled Water 14/04/72 ES (On Tour Version with new audio)

Between his first, on 10 August 1970 and final, on 26 June 1977, performances of Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' over 200 times Elvis sang it on stage in which time his delivery and the arrangement of the song would evolve.

The earlier performances, particulary in August 1970 would be full of emotion, sincerity and understated power with a typical Vegas arrangement loaded with strings and brass.

By 1972, when this particular version was performed the tempo was slightly quicker and the ending was now full of power.

On 14 April 1972 whilst filming for the movie 'Elvis - On Tour' the cameras of MGM caught this stirring rendition in the Greensboro Coliseum, North Carolina during the evening show.

Many fans count this as their favourite version and it is obvious, particularly towards the songs conclusion how much enjoyment Elvis is getting out of this performance.

If you watch carefully towards the end of the final chorus you can hear and see Estelle Brown of 'The Sweet Inspirations' shout yeah completely in keeping with the spirit of the performance.

This concert is still to recieve an official release on CD an to date the only one of the four 'On Tour' shows to be released officially was the San Antonio show of 18 April 1972 which appeared on the 'Close Up' 4CD boxset in 2003.

Video source : MGM's 'Elvis - On Tour' blu-ray version
Audio source : The Greensboro Concert CD

Elvis Presley - Bridge Over Troubled Water 14/04/72 ES (On Tour Version with new audio)

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