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Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 6th, 2025, 4:25 pm
by ElvisAliSellers
Extracted musical performance snippets originally heard faintly in the background of the interview Colonel Parker [and country music promoter, Oscar Davis] gave to Paul Wilder on Monday, August 6, 1956 during the second of 3 shows Elvis gave at the Polk Theatre in Lakeland, Florida [the same day Wilder infamously interviewed Elvis that was to feature in the September 8-14, 1956 'TV Guide Presents Elvis Presley' magazine issue and on an accompanying rare RCA one-sided promotional 45].
Whilst the audio quality leaves a lot to be desired [all 3 inadvertently captured song performances - "Heartbreak Hotel", "Long Tall Sally" and "I Was the One" - are incomplete to some extent - audibly, the extant interview is an edit piece and not from the original source tape], it's still listenable and moreover, in reality, has no right to sound as relatively good as it does given the context of the recording.
Notwithstanding the inferior acoustics, it is another rousing - belatedly uncovered - 4 minute artifact of the atomic powered singer's glorious breakthrough year.
https://www.filemail.com/d/eonetyyitszjdxo

- ALPv3_picture disc_LP_U.S.jpg (73.06 KiB) Viewed 417 times
Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 2:35 am
by KingElvis
Thanks for your work and for sharing.
But to me, this is just unlistenable. I know I’m very picky when it comes to sound quality, as almost
all audience recordings are also unlistenable to me.
I’m not a fan of soundboard recordings either,,,,,,,
Still, I’m sure others will find this topic interesting, so thumbs up!

Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 4:22 am
by AfoolSuchAsI.
Soundboards sounds great , and audience is badly .
But its a history recording . Its could be cool when FTD made a big boxsets of the fifties and unreleased 50 s concerts .

Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 6:05 am
by Sweet-Angeline
...have to disagree on audience recordings as there are many out there that are very listenable just got to do the research

Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 8:34 am
by KingElvis
Sweet-Angeline wrote: November 7th, 2025, 6:05 am
...have to disagree on
audience recordings as there are many out there that are very listenable just got to do the
research
I know the best ones so no research needed.
Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 9:05 am
by Sweet-Angeline
KingElvis wrote: November 7th, 2025, 8:34 am
Sweet-Angeline wrote: November 7th, 2025, 6:05 am
...have to disagree on
audience recordings as there are many out there that are very listenable just got to do the
research
I know the best ones so no research needed.
KingElvis wrote: November 7th, 2025, 2:35 am
as almost
all audience recordings are also unlistenable to me.
then why the blanket statement?? The list is bigger than what you think, but since you are not a fan of soundboards either guess it all makes sense

Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 1:19 pm
by KingElvis
Sweet-Angeline wrote: November 7th, 2025, 9:05 am
KingElvis wrote: November 7th, 2025, 8:34 am
Sweet-Angeline wrote: November 7th, 2025, 6:05 am
...have to disagree on
audience recordings as there are many out there that are very listenable just got to do the
research
I know the best ones so no research needed.
KingElvis wrote: November 7th, 2025, 2:35 am
as almost
all audience recordings are also unlistenable to me.
then why the blanket statement?? The list is bigger than what you think, but since you are not a fan of soundboards either guess it all makes sense
Blanket statement?
Anyway I used to listen to some shows from Binghamton 77,Las Vegas august 75 and obviously Pittsburgh 76 among a
few others but not today as sound quality is more imporant than ever....to me that is.
I used to buy and listen to soundboards shows especially in the 90s but that was then,not sure what happened

The mentioned ones may be listenable but now I have no interest in them due to sound.
Would be a lot different if multi-track.
Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 1:28 pm
by NinaFromCanadaEh
it was astonishing to hear even muddy tracks of Elvis performing
but the drop out of the interview does make the audio worse
there is weird almost duck waa waa sound instead
Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 2:48 pm
by elvis-fan
Sweet-Angeline wrote: November 7th, 2025, 6:05 am
...have to disagree on audience recordings as there are many out there that are very listenable just got to do the research
Agreed... some of his best live shows (for their time) are audience recordings and sound excellent. Pittsburgh (76), Binghamton (77) and Uniondale (75) to name a few...
Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 3:04 pm
by NinaFromCanadaEh
one of the most exciting concerts

Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 7th, 2025, 3:05 pm
by Sweet-Angeline
KingElvis wrote: November 7th, 2025, 1:19 pm
Blanket statement?
Anyway I used to listen to some shows from Binghamton 77,Las Vegas august 75 and obviously Pittsburgh 76 among a
few others but not today as sound quality is more imporant than ever....
to me that is.
I used to buy and listen to soundboards shows especially in the 90s but that was then,not sure what happened
The mentioned ones may be listenable but now I have no interest in them due to sound.
Would be a lot different if multi-track.
just google it, you will figure it out
...and that`s my point...I have a complete collection of SA releases (all 99) and many of those are great to hear...and that`s just one label

Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 10th, 2025, 7:52 am
by Alexander72
That was a great listen (no, I am not being sarcastic). Although the sound quality isn't great and the songs are sometimes very short, the clip offers a nice glimpse into Elvis' live shows during that fantastic summer of '56. It is not hard to imagine the excitement in the crowd. Boy, we can clearly hear how great Elvis sounded during his stints in the Polk Theatre. Thanks for sharing @ElvisAliSellers, excellent work and very appreciated.
Re: Polk Theatre, August 6, 1956 - isolated performance audio
Posted: November 10th, 2025, 8:36 am
by JohanD
Alexander72 wrote: November 10th, 2025, 7:52 am
That was a great listen (no, I am not being sarcastic). Although the sound quality isn't great and the songs are sometimes very short, the clip offers a nice glimpse into Elvis' live shows during that fantastic summer of '56. It is not hard to imagine the excitement in the crowd. Boy, we can clearly hear how great Elvis sounded during his stints in the Polk Theatre. Thanks for sharing @ElvisAliSellers, excellent work and very appreciated.
I'll second that tought, even with the much lesser soundquality, recordings like these are a treasure for the Elvis collector.
A big thanks!