IMAGE OF THE WEEK

VEGAS,1969. I am still worn out from the trip to Florida. We drove down slept in the truck, watched the game then drove back home. Got back to Loudon about 3:30 Sunday morning. I am just now getting back to normal. It was a lot of fun though. I have a few good post planned for this week so I will be back tomorrow.

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Tonight I am going to talk about the FTD, The Impossible Dream. This CD contains a concert from Elvis in vegas in Vegas in 1971. I had been wanting this release for a long time and finally got it this past August. I had heard mixed reviews of it but still felt the need to have it. I do not have many live recordings from 71 and needed to hear some. First of all it was clear that by this time Elvis was already tired of the Vegas thing. I already knew that this was the case, but hearing this was just more proof. He has been told to make his shows go by faster, something else that must have pissed him off and in turn effected his shows. This show does not come close to the Vegas stuff from 70 or some of the stuff from the tours in 72. Though some nice things can be found on this recording. It's Now Or Never is heard one here and is one of the first times Elvis sings this in concert in the 70's. I prefer to hear the original studio version any day but it is neat to hear it here live for possibly for the first time. I will have to say the version of The Impossible Dream is freaking awesome. I love this song and Elvis does it beautifully on here. The other songs are fine and I enjoy listening to this CD but it is not Elvis at his best. I wouldn't consider this even close to one of the ten best Elvis shows on CD from the 70's. The songs seem to be rushed but Elvis does seem to be in a good frame of mind and is doing the best he can under the circumstances. This is probably not a release for casual fans but real Elvis fans should enjoy this anyway even if it does not rank up there with On Stage or An Afternoon In The Garden or any other of the great live shows I have been privileged to listen to.

Elvis At The International

This album was recorded on August 23, 1969 at the midnight show in Las Vegas. Very similar to the "All Shook Up" album, Elvis is still not fully in his comfort zone from his hiatus from live performances during the 60's. I had read in an article that the opening night album (which is only available by bootleg only) was so long because he would pretty much tell his whole life story, that the International asked Elvis to cut down the time of his shows. So on this album Elvis has a complete 10 minute rant on crickets, woolly boogers and how he hated to film some of his movies. The cover of this album which is available on FTD records, is the coolest cover I've seen. I know the picture is way over used but it showed the new Elvis in action. New energy, new sound, but same favorites are on this album. Surprisingly I loved the Jailhouse Rock/Don't Be Cruel medley, normally I don't like the classics in the later years but he pulled these two off quite well. What really struck me as a cool song live was "Reconsider Baby" the way he sang that sounded almost as good as the original version, I was yelling. My two least favorite songs on the album were "What I'D Say" and "Yesterday/Hey Jude". In my opinion Elvis really sang "What'd I Say" too hard causing him to sound like it took way too much out of him and as for "Yesterday/Hey Jude", I just don't like anything associated with the Beatles. This album has really good sound quality and is very entertaining. Definitely in my top 5 Vegas shows.

Do you look at your bald head and wish you had hair?

First and formost I would like to apologize for my absence due to pc problems, hopefully everything is taken care of and I can get the Vegas blogs rolling. Im gonna start by the review of "All Shook Up". This album was recorded from the complete midnight show on August 26, 1969 in Las Vegas. This would be one of the first few concerts Elvis performed after his comeback. You can hear on the album that he's very nervous but yet he still puts on a good show with his music and comedy. The infamous laughing version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight" is on this album where Elvis adds the line "Do you look at your bald head and wish you had hair." It sends Elvis into a tailspin of giggles but he comes back strong with an impromptu jam of "Rubberneckin'". After correcting himself and speeding up the tempo, he rocks out the song. Another aspect of the early vegas shows that I like is hearing songs that he'd recently recorded such as "Suspicious Minds", hearing the first few live version compared to the TTWII Disc 2 version amazes me how much he made that song better live throughout the years. There is also his version of Del Shannon's "Runaway" on there which I think is pretty kick ass because thats one of my all time favorite songs and to hear him sing it is simply amazing. As you can expect, it's a typical Vegas Elvis show but what makes it really good is his nervousness and how he counteracts it with comedy. The one thing that makes me love this album is the rare live version of "Rubberneckin", that's what makes the whole album great to me. The next album I will review will be "Elvis At The International", The show recorded on August 23, 1969, stay tuned!!

Today in Elvis History...April 23,1956

Elvis would open at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. He would perform two shows a night. Elvis was billed as the'Atomic Powered Singer' . Elvis was pretty much a flop. His teenage fans could not get in to see him and the older audience did not get into the act. The Colonel had a Saturday show for the kids and it was packed and loud like the usual Presley concerts. Elvis bombed for the first time since hitting the big time and he was upset. This was a very important trip though. Elvis would fall in love with the city. He caught as many acts as he could while there. He went to see Freddie Bell and The Bell Boys. He would hear them sing Hound Dog. They sang it in a different way then Big Mama and with different lyrics. Elvis and the boys loved the song and decided to use it as a show closer. It would go on to be one of his biggest hits ever.
Some of the performances from the gig can be found on disc five of the 50's masters set. It is pretty interesting to hear.