w Charles Singleton, McCoy Tyner; from The Complete '68 Comeback Special, RCA – 88697 30626 2

I do not say that Elvis is the King of Rock & Roll; truly 'twere Little Richard. But he made the greatest Rock & Roll record of all time in "Hound Dog"...

Neither was he a god - for not even in the extended pantheon of the Ancient Romans and all their subjugated peoples is there to be found a god who died on the toilet. But he belongs to that same tier of humanity as Augustus Caesar, the Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

And as to the greatest showman...I never saw it. Or the Baz Luhrmann movie for that matter. And Elvis' own movies range from unwatchable to decent...but on the 27th day of the sixth month of the year Nineteen-Hundred-and-Sixty-and-Eight of the Common Era, he gave the greatest* performance** of all time*** when he sang "Tryin' to Get to You" for NBC's ELVIS (aka, the '68 Comeback**** Special).

...for realsies though, it probably is the best vocal performance I've ever heard. Such feeling, such oomph and pathos...this was a man in his element. And the song itself, and the original recording by the Eagles (no relation), is fantastic as well...

They call the 1968 TV program this is from Elvis' comeback special, and while his career never returned to the heights it had reached ten years or even five years prior, he was at the height of his powers here (or possibly in 1972 when he played Madison Square Garden).

We shall never see his like again.

Probably expect more of his records here though (somewhat more likely now that we've made it to double digits(!)). Until then, much of The Complete '68 Comeback Special, slightly updated for the 50th anniversary edition, from which we get this alternate take of "Tryin' to Get to You" is excellent. It was so good, in fact, that in 2018 I saw it in the theatre all by myself and still had an OK time! Anyhow...

Also Check Out:

By Elvis Presley:

"Love Me (Second 'Sit-Down' Show - Live)" - YouTube | Spotify

"One Night (Second 'Sit-Down' Show - Live)" - YouTube | Spotify

By the Eagles:

"Tryin' to Get to You" (not on Spotify) - YouTube

By Little Richard:

"I Got It" - YouTube | Spotify

• *(vocal)

• **YMMV

• ***of the maybe 3,000 I've heard

• ****kind-of