SUMMER FESTIVAL - BMG 82876 74209 2
1. Review by Oven Egeland
2. Review by Crister Berge |
Las Vegas, August 11 1972 (D.S.)
1. Also Sprach Zarathustra
2. See See Rider
3. I Got A Woman
4. Until It’s Time For You To Go
5. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
6. You've Lost That Loving Feeling
7. Polk Salad Annie
8. What Now My Love
9. Fever
10. Love Me
11. Blue Suede Shoes
12. One Night
13. All Shook Up
14. Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel
15. Heartbreak Hotel
16. Hound Dog
17. Love Me Tender
18. Suspicious Minds
19. Band introductions
20. My Way
21. American Trilogy
22. Can't Help Falling In Love
23. Little Sister/Get Back (Aug 11 MS) [Elvis At Full Blast!]
24. It's Over (Aug 11 MS) [Elvis At Full Blast!]
25. Proud Mary (Aug. 12 MS)
26. Never Been To Spain (Aug. 12 MS)
27. For The Good Times (Aug. 12 MS)
28. A Big Hunk O'Love (Aug 12 MS)
29. Tiger Man (opening only) (Aug 12 MS) |
1. Summer In Vegas
(Review by Oven Egeland)
In the batch of soundboard releases from FTD the time has come to Las Vegas, Summer 1972. From this season we already have two soundboards made available by bootleggers. First out was Elvis At Full Blast! from Fort Baxter, which featured the midnight show from August 11. Some years later Blazing Into The Darkness saw the light. Said to contain the dinner show from August 11, in reality it contained the dinner show from August 12.
Instead this new release on the FTD label contains the dinner show from August 11. It is a complete recording and it comes in very good sound!
Judging from these three soundboards and other audience recordings from this season, Elvis was in fine shape. In my view, he acted more professional than he did one year ago and in general sounds quite satisfied. His mood is upbeat, but he doesn't joke too much. Most of the songs come without a lot of fooling around.
As for the content I refer to reviews of both Elvis At Full Blast! and Blazing Into The Darkness written by Mark Littlejohn earlier. These are virtually the same shows as featured on Summer Festival from FTD!
As for special mention I can only agree to others that 'Until It's Time For You To Go' sounds like coming from another tape or even another show. Ernst Jørgensen has confirmed that it is not an edit from their side, so perhaps an edit has been done earlier on the very tape used for this release. Having listened to several Las Vegas soundboards it is evident that the amount of echo/reverb changed a lot during one show, most typical the ballad songs would be given more ambiance/reverb from the engineers behind the mixing console. However, the sound change on 'Until It's Time For You To Go' can not be explained by this. There is definitely a difference in the quality of the recording of this song!
Summer Festival also comes with some bonus tracks. From August 11 MS, FTD has added 'Little Sister/Get Back' and 'It's Over'. Both were previously available on Elvis At Full Blast! Totally new to the Elvis collector, however, are 5 tracks from the midnight show on August 12. 'Proud Mary' rocks just the way it should do and 'For The Good Times' comes out smooth and beautiful, though with some lyrics changes a-la Hampton Roads on April 9 earlier the same year. 'Tiger Man' sounds like an unplanned, impromptu attempt, but unfortunately the tape runs out just after some seconds! A great pity!
This new release from Follow That Dream delivers a complete show in good sound quality, with some nice bonus additions. The cover is fair and the total result is good. It is not always that a product from FTD is better than rivaling bootleg releases, but it so happen to be this time!
©
, Norway, January 2006 |
2. "My name is out front"
(Review by Crister Berge)
The dinner show from August 11, 1972 and seven bonus tracks from two other shows. The cover is not very exciting and what a strange font they used for the track list. Elvis was in better shape this time than his previous Vegas visit, in February. Sound is pretty crappy, but bonus songs are better. Ronnie's drums are really up front. Recording volume is pretty low, 'cept for the bonus tracks. Elvis sounds tired and his voice is a little weak, but after all, it was a dinner show, so he'd just gotten out of bed ("I got up 7:30"...). He even says, "We'll try to entertain you this afternoon" or something like that. All of the bonus songs are from midnight shows, mind you. He doesn't make too many lyric changes. After 'Little Sister/Get Back,' a woman shouts out a request: "It Hurts Me"! and Elvis instantly replies, "It does? Well, honey don't do it!" I noticed at least two tape edits. First, just after Elvis says, 'Until It's Time For You To Go' and secondly after the piano chord that starts off 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.' Possibly it's just a difference in sound volume?
Elvis is out of sync when he starts singing 'See See Rider'. "Polk Salad" is a little lame; note how "cautiously" the band plays the intro. But it's great fun to hear J. D. go, "Gator got your granny"! 'Little Sister/Get Back' is GREAT w/ a fantastic solo by Burton. Same goes for "Big Hunk." 'It's Over' is boring. And Elvis fucks up the intro, just as he used to do w/ 'The Wonder Of You.' He sings an extra chorus in 'Never Been To Spain.' 'For The Good Times' really SUCKS! I would have preferred the scintillating version of "Polk" from MS August 11 instead. Which song is Elvis supposed to do before he changes his mind and starts singing 'Tiger Man' - and why is it only 19 seconds? Send me an e-mail, dear readers.
"Hold your warm and sweaty body close to mine..."
Grading: 3+
© Crister Berge, Stockholm, Sweden 2005
(E-mail: jon.burrows@lycos.com)
 Other reviews by Crister Berge |
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