The 20th of February 1975
Official UK Singles Chart results from Sunday the 16th to Saturday the 22nd of February 1975
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 15th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 16th,
published on Tuesday the 18th,
and broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday the 23rd of February 1975.
Elvis Presley
Promised Land
At No.20, on “The Top 50 UK Singles Chart”, the week of my 3rd Birthday, is Elvis Presley with Promised Land.
Another Chuck Berry classic,..
…and a rip-roaring rendition of it, in the way only one man could pull off.
The time it took to get the recording released as a single in the UK, took over a year, and back at the end of 1973, Elvis was getting understandably evermore tetchy.
He’d begun that year…
…literally on top of the world, after the huge success of the Aloha from Hawaii project, but with his ongoing divorce dragging on for what seemed like forever, and his quite reasonable demands to at least have Lisa-Marie near to him as much as possible, it became apparent that he wasn’t going to be pressured into leaving her behind to go into a recording studio that far away. So the decision was made during that summer to instead use the far more convenient Stax studios only minutes away from Graceland. Problem was, he and his entourage were now used to up-to-date 16 track consoles, and Stax was still only set up for half that much.
To add to the frustrations of the unfamiliar settings, his own personal microphone was stolen at the end of his initial stay there, and he was so incensed about it, he walked out.
It wouldn’t be until December…
…of that year before he would return again; and this time, his record company set up a more modern mobile rig, thus bypassing the studio’s limited capabilities, ensuring they at least wouldn’t get a repeat of the technical difficulties they’d faced a few months before. However, they’d be now faced with a new bag of problems.
In the time between those two sessions, Elvis and Priscilla‘s divorce had finally come to an end, and with that mental and emotional fallout came the inevitable side effects. Which would carry on long after the second recording sessions were over, and continue throughout 1974 and into the beginning of this year of 1975.
For a start,..
…he was throwing himself ever more intensely into more demanding tour schedules to stave off any feelings of loneliness and abandonment. This in turn took a heavy toll on his whole body, and he was falling back on various chemical enhancements to just keep his own personal cogs moving. This also threw any sensible diet out the window, so desperate was the need to feed his internal furnace which was now having to burn hotter than ever before. It’s no surprise that, in times when he just couldn’t cope in the recording studio for whatever reason, he’d just walk out.
In spite of this drama,..
…shafts of light would appear, and this is where we come to this song.
Whether the subject matter in the busy lyric attracted such an iconic performance, or if it was just being in the right place, with the right song, at the right time, is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure. They certainly captured lightning in a bottle at that moment and it has become a surefire fan favourite upon its release.
In fact, it would spread its wings and soar far off into the future, where it would then be featured during the absolutely iconic and hilarious scene in Men In Black, soundtracking the rocket boosted super car sequence. An ingenious touch which fittingly sent this performance into another dimension.
Quite ironic when you think that, at the time he recorded it, and how he’s currently burning himself up like rocket fuel, he’s unintentionally sending himself into such a destination in an attempt to just keep going.
The single…
…had blasted into the UK chart back on the 8th of January at No.22, and by week two had roared up another nine places to hit No.13, before leaping into the Top 10 to sit at No.9.
As it moved into February, it slipped back a place before revisiting the No.13 spot and now falls to this position this week, right on the Top 20 perimeter.
From here…
…it suffers a big drop down to No.34, before an eighth and final week at the beginning of March sees it tumble down to No.49 and then out of the chart altogether after the 8th of that month.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
“Promised Land” Promotional Video
“It’s Midnight” Live Concert Home Movie Footage
“Promised Land” Live Concert Home Movie Footage
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