Promised Land (Elvis Presley album)

Promised Land is the twenty-first studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Records on January 8, 1975. It was recorded in December 1973 at Stax Records studios in Memphis and released on Presley's 40th birthday in January, 1975. In the US the album reached number 47 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and number 1 in Billboard's Top Country LPs chart, as well as the Cashbox Country albums chart. In the UK the album reached #21.

Content
The material was the second pick from the December 1973 session, as the songs considered strongest had been issued on Good Times. The title track, a cover of the 1965 hit by Chuck Berry, was issued earlier as a single on September 27, 1974, and hit number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK top ten. Its flip side, "It's Midnight", reached 9 on the Country Charts. Another hit single from the album was "If You Talk in Your Sleep" reaching 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Promised Land" was used for the 1997 film Men in Black.

Reissues
RCA reissued the album on CD in 2000, and it added all the tracks of the album Good Times as tracks 11–18 (except "Taking Care of Her" and "I've Got A  Thing  About You, Baby", which are from the July 1973 sessions) – in effect compiling the Stax sessions of December 1973. In 2011, the FTD (Follow That Dream) collectors label released an expanded, 48-track version of the album including outtakes.

Personnel

 * Elvis Presley – lead vocals; harmony vocals on "Promised Land"
 * James Burton – lead guitar
 * Johnny Christopher – rhythm guitar
 * Charlie Hodge – acoustic rhythm guitar
 * Norbert Putnam – bass guitar
 * David Briggs – piano, Hammond organ, overdubbed tambourine on "Promised Land"
 * Per Erik "Pete" Hallin – clavinet on "Promised Land", piano on "Help Me" and "Love Song of the Year"
 * Ronnie Tutt – drums
 * JD Sumner & The Stamps (Bill Baize, Ed Enoch, David Rowland) – backing vocals
 * Jeannie Greene – backing vocals
 * Mary and Ginger Holladay – backing vocals
 * Susan Pilkington – backing vocals
 * Voice (Donnie Sumner, Sherrill Nielsen, Tim Baty, Per Eric "Pete" Hallin) – backing vocals
 * Kathy Westmoreland – backing vocals

Overdubbed
 * Dennis Linde, Alan Rush – guitar on "Promised Land"
 * Bobby Ogdin – piano on "Promised Land"
 * Randy Cullers – cowbell on "Promised Land"
 * Mike Leech – string and brass arrangements
 * Bobby Taylor – oboe

Technical
 * Felton Jarvis – producer
 * Mike Moran, Dick Baxter, Al Pachucki, Mickey Crofford – engineers