A took a bit to arrive, due to some messing somewhere in Scandinavia, but finally the latest outing by FTD arrived in my mail. Two shows in Nebraska, Omaha on June 20, 1974 form a regular 5" release.
Design
I like the front of the package, but that is the only positive I can say about it. The inside is delivered like usually: without any care. When you photoshop pictures, do it well! Otherwise don't do it at all and just use a simple print of the picture. Also the different font sizes at the back look a bit weird. The pictures used are from a couple of days before the actual shows, from Louisville, Kentucky (June 26).
Content
The afternoon show sounds bit dull, like it is smothered by a blanket. Also the balance between the band, orchestra and Elvis is not the best you can have. The show itself is not really bad, but he could do so much better. He jokes that he just got up and that is audible regularly... the fire just isn't there. Polk Salad sounds like one long bass solo, because Duke Bardwell sounds VERY upfront in it. The most remarkable is that the brass (sax) is pretty swinging every now and then, almost as if Boots Randolph himself stepped in.
The sound of the evening show is a lot clearer and better balanced, which gives it a better atmosphere immediately. The fact that Elvis was awake by now helps too. All together this show is much more enjoyable, helped by a pretty neat version of Bridge over Troubled Water as personal highlight. A let down was the not so long instrumental of My Way, reall worth mentioning in the tracklist, but the real cold shower comes when the show breaks down because the tape ran out.
Conclusion
Two more shows for the collectors, but not a release that will find my player again, I'm afraid. There are so many more better releases to choose from.
Yeah not my cuppa tea either. Elvis was just purely going through the motions. Big Boss Man was probably the best track of Disc 1 without being that great. Steamroller Blues was adequate but we've just had better versions from 1976 with more vvroooomm than this one. Both versions of Trying to Get to You were sub par, with a weak entry on the second version.
Listening to the first 2 numbers from the evening show really lifted my hopes for a top show, but too much distraction and tom-foolery throughout dampened the performance. That said the second show is not without it's highlights, being Bridge, Big Boss and a crowd punctuated Fever. While How Great Thou Art is good enough, but you'll find better versions elsewhere. Pity Steamroller Blues (another concert favourite) gets the chop at the end though.
Yes the slow tape speed is noticeable. I compared the piano intro to Bridge with the version from Cleveland (from Sold Out FTD) and it is a bit off. But the singing still sounds Elvis-like. But this is not FTD's first offence of this nature and must lift their game. The pops and drop outs don't make it any better either.
Overall lex has all the points right, but he's way to nice.
The first show is crap, the sound is bad and elvis is sleepwalking through his standard set. It's not omaha 77 but that could not really be the standard for an entertainer who is called the king, or is it? The concert is boring and uninspired to say the least. Why on earth is ftd releasing so many substandard shows? Because it makes no difference in sales? Sad.
The second show is better, and so is the sound, but that still means that 2/3 of the songs are nothing but throwaway versions and the rest is ok but not more, we've heard better versions of all the songs.
On top of it all the show is incomplete, runs to slow (the new ftd ttademark?) and the layout is the usual "we don't give a fu#k about this sh#t" bs from ernst & co.
Goddammit: do it right or let it be. Serious, this is another middle finger from ftd right into the face of everyone who was stupid enough to buy this unholy thing.
Detlef Bügler is so right in my opinion. Nothing to add. Thank you.
