By the early 1970s, many observers felt the narrative of Elvis Presley’s monumental career was largely written. The groundbreaking Sun Records era was history, as were his days electrifying teenagers worldwide. While still worshipped by millions and respected by peers, a feeling lingered that the King of Rock and Roll might be past his peak. Underscoring this sentiment, NARAS (now the Recording Academy) awarded him a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1971 – at the remarkably young age of 36. Yet, reports of his creative demise were greatly exaggerated. Elvis continued captivating audiences live and scoring hits across pop, country, and gospel charts nearly until his untimely death in 1977. One standout track from this era, a song that became synonymous with his explosive stage presence, was “Burning Love,” a record whose studio origins paved the way for iconic Elvis Presley Burning Love Live performances.
A King Past His Prime? Elvis in the Early 70s
Despite his continued relevance, Presley faced challenges. His management and label often restricted his access to top-tier new material. A policy established during his peak popularity demanded that Elvis only record songs where most, if not all, publishing rights were signed over. This “Elvis Tax,” as some called it, deterred many successful songwriters from offering their best work.
This limitation pushed Presley towards recording covers, where the publishing constraints were seemingly less rigid. This strategy ultimately led him to a powerful rock song penned by Dennis Linde.
Finding the Spark: The Origins of “Burning Love”
Dennis Linde’s “Burning Love” wasn’t initially written for Elvis. The song first saw release earlier in 1972 by the respected country-soul singer Arthur Alexander. Alexander’s version featured a somewhat retro, Stax-influenced arrangement but failed to make a significant chart impact. However, Presley’s team, likely spearheaded by producer Felton Jarvis, recognized the song’s raw energy and potential as a perfect vehicle for the King’s style.
Jarvis brought “Burning Love,” along with several other potential tracks, to recording sessions scheduled at RCA’s Hollywood Studios in late March 1972. This facility was familiar territory for Elvis, often used for rehearsals and tracking.
Igniting the Flame: The Hollywood Recording Sessions
The sessions commenced on March 27, 1972, in RCA Studio C, engineered by RCA staffer Rick Ruggieri. Ruggieri had a history with Elvis dating back to 1969 when the singer was assembling his first Las Vegas band. “I started with Elvis in ’69 when he was getting ready to do his first Vegas shows,” Ruggieri recalled. “They needed to rent a studio to try out musicians… I ran a vocal mic—no recording whatsoever, but he would sing and musicians would come in and he would try them all out.”
Many musicians from those initial tryouts formed the core of Elvis’s touring band and played on the “Burning Love” sessions: legendary guitarist James Burton, rhythm guitarist John Wilkinson, acoustic guitarist/harmony vocalist Charlie Hodge, and powerful drummer Ronnie Tutt. Pianist Glen D. Hardin had joined shortly after the Vegas band formed, and bassist Emory Gordy was relatively new to the lineup for these specific recordings.
Studio C was the smallest of RCA Hollywood’s three studios, but Elvis preferred its intimacy. “Elvis liked a smaller, more intimate room,” Ruggieri noted. “Most of the time we were just cutting the rhythm section and him: Drums, bass, guitars and a piano.” These sessions marked the first time this specific live band configuration recorded together in a studio setting, adding a unique dynamic.
Vintage 45 RPM record sleeve for Elvis Presley’s hit single Burning Love released by RCA Records
Presley famously preferred singing live with the band during tracking. “Most every vocal you ever hear, he actually sang live,” Ruggieri confirmed. “Elvis always sang with the band.” Achieving isolation was difficult in the small room, involving basic baffling around amps and a blanket over the piano. Elvis typically positioned himself right in front of Tutt’s drum kit.
Ruggieri leveraged Studio C’s impressive collection of Neumann tube microphones (KM 56s, KM 54s, M 49s, U 47s), already considered vintage gems, on drums and acoustic instruments. Guitar amps were likely miked with KM 84s. However, capturing Elvis’s vocal required a different approach due to his energetic style. “He would only use a handheld mic,” said Ruggieri, mentioning the Electro-Voice RE16 as a possibility, perhaps with light LA-2A compression. Attempts to use a high-end studio mic like an M 49 on a stand were met with little enthusiasm from Elvis. Ruggieri observed, “The interesting thing was, he could actually sing through almost anything and it wouldn’t make any difference… using a cheap handheld mic wasn’t really a sacrifice. The quality of his voice worked with anything.” The sessions were recorded onto an Ampex 16-track machine via a custom RCA console, which Ruggieri admitted wasn’t the studio’s strongest asset.
Overcoming Hesitation: Elvis’s Reluctance
The first night yielded recordings of “Separate Ways,” “For the Good Times,” and “Where Do I Go From Here.” However, according to Ernst Jorgensen’s comprehensive book Elvis Presley: A Life in Music—The Complete Recording Sessions, day two presented a significant hurdle. Elvis was reportedly unconvinced by “Burning Love.”
“Truthfully, he didn’t care for most of the things he sang,” Ruggieri bluntly stated, recalling other instances where material was so poor the musicians initially refused to play it. But producer Felton Jarvis, the band, and likely others present felt strongly about “Burning Love’s” potential. They collectively persuaded a reluctant Elvis to commit to the rocker. Once convinced, he delivered a powerful performance.
Adding Fuel to the Fire: Overdubs and Finishing Touches
With the basic tracks captured, the tapes traveled to RCA Studio B in Nashville. There, another key Presley engineer, Al Pachucki, oversaw overdubs. Crucially, songwriter Dennis Linde himself added the distinctive guitar riffs and intro that define the record.
Also added in Nashville were the soaring backing vocals of J. D. Sumner & The Stamps, Elvis’s favored gospel quartet at the time. Their contribution, particularly the booming bass lines and energetic call-and-response, significantly elevated the track. A key addition, differing from Arthur Alexander’s original fade-out, was the explosive “Hunk-a hunk-a burning love” coda, which became one of the song’s most memorable hooks.
Ruggieri couldn’t definitively recall who mixed the final track, himself or Pachucki in Nashville. If mixed in Hollywood, Ruggieri would have utilized Studio C’s RCA board and selected the best of the facility’s 18 EMT 140 plate reverbs. “I would have tried to use plate four on Elvis and six and eight on the instruments,” he speculated.
Chart Success and Cinematic Missteps
Released as a single in August 1972, backed with “It’s a Matter of Time” (also from the March sessions), “Burning Love” caught fire immediately. It climbed the Billboard Hot 100, eventually peaking at Number Two for two weeks in late October, held off the top spot only by Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling.” It became Elvis’s biggest hit since “Suspicious Minds” in 1969 and ultimately his final Top 10 pop hit in the US during his lifetime.
Despite its success, RCA included the hit on a somewhat misleadingly titled budget album later that year: Elvis: Burning Love and Hits From His Movies, Volume 2. As the title suggested, aside from the title track, the album consisted mainly of less popular songs from his film soundtracks.
Taking the Heat On Stage: Elvis Presley Burning Love Live
Beyond the studio, “Burning Love” quickly became a powerhouse staple in Elvis’s concerts. Its driving rhythm and rock-and-roll energy perfectly suited his dynamic stage persona during the jumpsuit era. The song allowed him to unleash his charisma and connect with the audience in a way ballads couldn’t.
Perhaps the most famous Elvis Presley Burning Love Live rendition was during the groundbreaking Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite concert special in January 1973. Broadcast live to over a billion viewers worldwide, Elvis delivered a blistering performance of the song, complete with karate kicks and the full force of his TCB band and backup singers. This performance cemented “Burning Love” as one of his signature live anthems. Rick Ruggieri himself mixed the radio broadcast portion of this historic event, further linking him to the song’s legacy.
Ruggieri’s Reflections: Working with the King
Ruggieri continued working with Presley through the Today album sessions in 1975 before going independent. He remembered Elvis not just for his talent, but for his unique aura. “Let’s put it this way: When the man walked in the room, even if you weren’t looking, you knew he was there,” Ruggieri stated. “He had that presence, something no one can describe.”
Despite his legendary status, Elvis remained surprisingly detached from the technical side of recording. Ruggieri recounted a long conversation where Elvis expressed frustration about his records: “He says, ‘You know what? I come into the studios… and we record my music and everything sounds great, but when I hear the records after they’re made, somebody’s jacked up my voice so loud and buried the band, and I hate that.’” Elvis rarely entered the control room, preferring playbacks in the studio itself.
For the Today album, Ruggieri tried to ensure the final product matched the studio sound Elvis preferred, even taking the unusual step of mastering outside RCA at Doug Sax’s renowned Mastering Lab. He arranged a playback session for Elvis at a nearby studio, Producer’s Workshop, hoping to use that superior-sounding room for future recordings. Elvis loved the acetate and the studio, listening repeatedly for hours. “We wanted to cut the next record there,” Ruggieri lamented, “but it just never happened.”
The Enduring Flame
“Burning Love” stands as a testament to Elvis Presley’s enduring power, even in a period when some deemed him past his prime. Overcoming initial reluctance, he transformed Dennis Linde’s rock song into a signature hit through sheer vocal force and charisma, aided by his exceptional band and production team. Its journey from a studio session marked by hesitation to becoming a defining Elvis Presley Burning Love live anthem showcased the King’s ability to ignite audiences until the very end. It remains a fiery reminder of his unparalleled place in music history.
