STORM OVER PORTLAND (Live Archives 1010/1012) (Released 1991)
1. Review by Mark Littlejohn |
Portland, Nov. 11 1970 (CD-1) and April 27 1973 (CD-2)
CD-1: That's All Right - I Got A Woman - Love Me Tender - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Sweet Caroline - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - Polk Salad Annie - Introductions - Johnny B. Goode - Fats Domino Hill - How Great Thou Art - The Wonder Of You - Heartbreak Hotel - Blue Suede Shoes - Hound Dog - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Suspicious Minds - Funny How Time Slips Away - Can't Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp
CD-2: Also Sprach Zarathustra - See See Rider - I Got A Woman/Amen - Love Me Tender - You Gave Me A Mountain - Steamroller Blues - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Love Me - Blue Suede Shoes - Heartbreak Hotel - Little Sister/Get Back - Help Me Make It Through The Night - Long Tall Sally/Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On - I'm Leavin' - Hound Dog - Fever - What Now My Love - Suspicious Minds - Introductions - I'll Remember You - I Can't Stop Loving You - American Trilogy - A Big Hunk O'Love - Can't Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp
Content: 4 Sound: 2+ Artwork: 4+ |
1. Review by Mark Littlejohn
This is a great CD that I first heard rumors about in the early 90's. I was able to get a CD-R of it and it is quite a show. The CD starts off with 'That's All Right' (*) and then the sound improves considerably for 'I Got a Woman' and the rest of the show. This is an audience recording by the same person who provided the tapes for Double Dynamite, A Dinner Date with Elvis, From Macon to Vegas, & Elvis Back in Portland. For an audience tape the sound is excellent on all the above recordings including this one.
The highlights of the show include 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me', You've Lost That Loving Feeling', 'How Great Thou Art', 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and 'Suspicious Minds'. Don't get me wrong, the show is great form start to finish. I just feel the above songs are the strongest of the set. 'Polk Salad Annie' is performed, but Elvis leaves out more than half the lyrics as he turns the song into an extended dry hump after the first verse. 'Bridge' has a hard time getting started as Elvis is continually distracted by what must be some very horny female fans, as he says "I will ball them all!" instead of "I will dry them all" and then has to start over for the fourth or fifth time. 'How Great Thou Art' is first performed live on this tour (Nov 70) and it is very beautifully done, remaining quite close to the original
studio recording.
The two best performances of the whole show are 'Loving Feeling' & 'Suspicious Minds'. Add 'How Great Thou Art' and those three songs alone make the CD well worth having. The back of the CD has a reprint of the newspaper review of the concert along with two photos and a copy of the ticket mail order form.
Try and get a copy of this for your collection if you can, it's well worth the trouble.
Sound Quality **1/2
Show Quality *****
* 'That's All Right' is taken from Las Vegas, August 20 1970 |
CD-2: Review by Mark Littlejohn, USA
This is another of those audience tapes you just can't do without. Long out of print, I was able to get a CD-R of it last year. This is one of a few shows we have available on CD from 1973 and it is one of the best. The show is from April 27, 1973 at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The recorder of this show got it all from start to finish and in excellent sound quality. Elvis is in excellent form and delivers a top notch show.
The show starts with the usual 'Also Sprach Zarathustra', 'See See Rider', and 'I Got a Woman'. A couple of songs later Elvis and band put some serious drive on 'Steamroller Blues'. I would love to hear this version on soundboard (if there is one?) as James Burton and Emory Gordy just tears this one up. 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' is next and is very well done. Sprinkled in with a medley of hits is 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' and 'I'm Leavin'. Both are excellent. Other highlights include 'Fever', 'What Now My Love', 'Suspicious Minds', 'I'll Remember You', 'An American Trilogy', & 'Big Hunk O Love'.
In all, Elvis sings twenty-two songs and gives his very best throughout the show. The audience is in a great mood (imagine seeing Elvis on a Friday night!) and even the reporter reviewing the show for the local paper seems impressed (his review is on the back cover). This is a worthy addition for your collection, make an effort to get a copy. I personally have over 60 of Elvis' shows, 50 of them are soundboards. So I'm not a big fan of audience recordings, but this one I like and with the other ten or twelve I have, they get played on a somewhat regular basis.
Sound Quality: **1/2
Show Quality: ***** |
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