LuXor 4931-3
Live in Macon,Georgia. August 31st 1976
Track listing:
Also Sprach Zarathustra / See See Rider / I Got A Woman - Amen / Elvis talks... / Love Me / If You Love Me (Let Me Know) / You Gave Me A Mountain / All Shook Up / Teddy Bear - Donīt Be Cruel / And I Love You So / Jailhouse Rock / Fever /America, The Beautiful / Introductions / Early Morninī Rain / Whatīd I Say /Johnny B. Goode / Introductions / Love Letters / Hail Hail Rock īnī Roll / Hurt / Hound Dog / Thatīs Alright Mama / Blue Christmas / Mystery Train - Tiger Man / Canīt Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp.BONUS:Tryinī To Get To You / Hurt (first live version ever)Tracks 29 - 30 recorded live in Johnson City / Tennessee, March 17, 1976; 8:30 p.m.
Review:
It seems that the 1976 soundboards are easily accessible, in fact soundboards from 1974 onwards are relatively abundant and that latest release from LuXor won't be the last either. For several reasons I find that particular one to be tough to evaluate,somehow I just couldn't make up my mind on the fact that I find it interesting or not.
Given the above I'll try to give a good evaluation of it. My first thought while listening to that show was that Elvis didn't seem to care about his performance that night and at the same time doesn't seem totally bore with the whole thing, he doesn't sound in bad spirits as well but just went through the motions I guess. His voice doesn't sound as tired as on " The Bicentennial Experience " but also not as good as the previous night in Tuscaloosa re. Old Times They Are Not Forgotten (DAE).
As usual his performances on some songs like " You Gave Me A Mountain " and " And I Love You So " aren't bad at all, " Fever " seemed like something he liked to perform but several of the oldies are just thrown away, to me the best part of that show is after " Hound Dog ", " That's All Right " isn't bad and " Blue Christmas " is also good, unfortunately there are some sound problems on some of these latter tracks, it sounds like the original tape was a bit distorted and even though LuXor repaired it, the music sounds funny in places.
The real highlight of that CD as far as I'm concern are the two bonus tracks from the March 17th 1976 opening show of the first tour of 1976, quite frankly I'd wished this is the show we should had got, here we have a very good version of " Trying To Get To You " and a different rendition of " Hurt ", which was incidentaly the very first live version ever, it sounds quite different than the versions we are used to hear and more closer to the studio version while being different altogether. For having heard an audience tape of this Johnson City, Tenn. March 17th 1976 performance, I do believe that this show would definitely be worth having and let's hope that LuXor or someone else will release this in the near future.
Although there's a few slight sound problems in places, the overall sound is excellent and similar to the previous LuXor release re. My, It's Been A Long Long Time. Considering the above I would rate that CD as having an average show with an excellent sound quality,the packaging is also very nice and I'll rate it slightly above average.
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