Live in Las Vegas [BOX SET] [LIVE] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

As I stated in my review to "That's the Way It Is" (Special Edition), the two compilation sets go together.
If you really want the most complete Concert and Rehearsal set of the Las Vegas period you have to buy them both.
Sorry for that, it's BMG's fault, not mine.

The original "From Memphis to Vegas", "On Stage" and "That's the Way It Is" (Original Album) left me disappointed, even though I loved to listen to the King in any form.

Chopped performances with no dialogues in-between, nor jokes, nor interaction with the audience.

While the NBC-Special Album was a smashing hit, even that one was marred by deletions and it did take years for anybody to realize that it would have been a good idea to re-release the entire uncut session.

The very first complete live recording I bought was "Elvis Live at the Madison Square Garden", but it was two years later than "That's the Way It Is" and the sound was mediocre to say the least.

Then came "Aloha from Hawaii", "Live in Memphis" and the sad "In Concert" (his last Live album). Amazingly though, if one was a mole digging deeper than official sources, one could find complete and uncut concerts on Bootleg record labels throughout the world. Unfortunately, they were all dreadfully bad in sound and recording techniques. You would hear hisses and roars throughout the performance.

The only other complete recording of a Concert I could get my hands on, just after Elvis' death was contained in a silvery boxed LP set called "Elvis Aaron Presley", but we never got to know where and when exactly it was recorded...

Then we finally got "An Afternoon at the Garden" and "The Alternate Aloha" Concerts which were, in my opinion far superior to their "original" counterparts. "The Lost Performances" was another good release although belonging to various unconnected Concerts (the recording quality was excellent though).

And now we've got them: the most memorable live performances in Vegas. Finally!

As usual BMG, thinking it's quite clever, decided to release this four CD set separately from "That's the Way It Is" (Special Edition)(3 CD set), which in my view should have been integral part of this specific Concert Festival.

Anyway, "Elvis, Live in Las Vegas" adds to the August 12, 1970 Concert included in "TTWII" (SE) one of the very first recorded live performances there on August 24, 1969, outtakes recorded live on February 16/17/18/19, 1970 but cut together as one single performance only to reach the one preceding the above mentioned by one day (08/11/70).
The whole work takes off from there venturing into performances recorded on February 14/16/17, 1972, also cut as one concert.
The cuts are so cleverly done that one doesn't even notice they don't actually belong to the same performance.
This in turn is immediately followed by a rare if not unreleased 1956 debut Vegas concert, which was actually a flop for Elvis at the time (the date was May 6).
We slowly slip towards a late career section of Elvis. We now are transported to the mid-seventies with a compilation of songs recorded live on August 19/20/21/22/27, 1974 and later on March 30, 1975 and again on December 6, 1975.
The latter ones seem to have been recorded from an audience seat position and therefore seem to be a bit unclear in sound quality and not as polished as all the others.
Nevertheless these are all memorable performances and even though there are some repeating songs and some of the material had been previously released as singled out songs such as to be found on "Elvis On Stage", they have really undergone an extremely good re-mixing work and a perfect stereo balance.
I played them all over my Home Theatre equipment in surround sound and I can guarantee you I felt part of the Concerts as if I had actually been there.
Never before have I listened to such a clear sound and fine vocals in another recording of this kind.

If you have never witnessed Elvis on stage, or if you simply never heard Elvis sing at all, start here and you will never regret it.

If you're not an Elvis fan yet, you'll become one for certain after having heard these recordings.

Nothing, ever recorded before can compare with these two sets.

Remember:
1. Elvis - That's The Way It Is (Special Edition)
2. Elvis Live in Las Vegas
One goes with the other! You'll have hours of powerful live performances right in your living room. How lucky can one be?

Read the review. Be warned.

Disc 1. August 24, 1969 Dinner Show. This should have been the killer, as this is from Elvis first season comeback in Vegas. But it falls flat. RCA has better, more exciting, more explosive live performances from 69 (such as the Aug 23). Again, with CD 1 of the Vegas Box, we have Dennis Ferrante's infamous "selective-revisionist instrument-exclusion syndrome." This is the process whereby Ferrante decides to delete certain instruments from the mix, such as a piano, as if they were never part of the original show! Ferrante doesn't give you the show as it happened, but rather, as he believes it should have happened.

Remember those wonderful piano fills that Larry Muhoberac uses to dress up In The Ghetto, which we've heard on "Here I Go Again?" Well, you're going to have a difficult time even hearing the keyboard on MOST tracks on disc 1. Absolutely bizzare. Ferrante also eliminated the tympani drum from the mix.

The 69 material was professionally recorded on 1 inch 8 track open reel tape, at 15 inches per second. These are good recordings. The potential for a good mix was there. But they blew it. Of course, since the original recording was good, the sound here is crisp and clean. But the vibe is WRONG--no piano--just throbbing bass and rythm guitar. It just sounds sort of lifeless. Crisp and clear, but lifeless.

I was really looking forward to hearing this 69 material. RCA has never released a complete, unedited show from the 69 season. And they still haven't, as this show does have it's monologue cut and resequenced. Why would Jorgenson be so worried about people having to listen to a monologue? If he is, then why does each track number begin with talking and babble instead beginning with music? This seems inconsistent, and confirms that Jorgenson is perhaps not the best man to be producing Presley's posthumous legacy.

Disc 2. A very good show. Elvis was at a peak in Aug 70. This mix is well done. In fact, all the instruments are so clear now--compared to disc 2 of TTWII Special Edition. To hear how much Ferrante deleted from the mix of last years concert on TTWII, compare "Walk A Mile in My Shoes" with the one on this box. On this box, you can actually hear and follow the piano!! That surpised me. The backup singers are also audible in this box!! In short, the mix on the Vegas box in more honest and "accurate" than the one released last year for TTWII. In other words, Ferrante, "got it right" with his mix for Disc 2.

Disc 3. Nothing new. Same crap. The mixes aren't really that great. But not bad. You've heard it before. You've purchased it on "On Stage 99," and "Burning Love 2000." Now you are repurchasing it again. Isn't RCA great! These MIGHT be the same exact mixes Ferrante did in 99. Not sure about that though. The 72 material is better recorded than the Feb 70 date...but we already knew that.

Disc 4. Repurchase the 56 Vegas performance shall we? I'm not sure it sounds better than the 50's box version...they sure hyped it like it would be a massive improvement...but it's not. The mid 70's Vegas soundboards are interesting, but perhaps of lesser interest, as the King is not quite in his prime. Still some good performances here. Sound quality is better than expected, considering many of these nonprofessional soundboards were dubbed off a cassette by the house soundman at the Hilton.

Packaging is "nice." Includes several apparently rare photos inside, along with some that have been around the block a few times. The notes could have been more "in-depth." They were kind of "fluffy," considering the supposed "historical significance" of the box.

Overall, I'd give the box a 6.5 out of a possible 10.

Summary:

Disc 1. 1969 Mediocre, quasi-uninspired 69 show. Substandard mix. Remember, Elvis was in his prime in 69, so I have very high standards for this performance. This dinner show, doesn't even compare to some of the blistering performances from the Aug 23, which were included on the 1990 release, Collectors Gold. The disc is a let down. 32 years later and they still can't get the 69 material "right."

Disc 2. Excellent explosive performance. Excellent mix. Aug 1970--Elvis at his peak.

Disc 3. Feb 70 and Feb 72. Very good performances--but you've already bought it anyway. Why no alternates from the Jan 70 shows?

Disc 4. OK. More stuff you already have (Vegas 56 from the 50's box set), plus a host of rare performed, yet quasi-mediocre fidelity soundboards of respectable, but not exceptional performances--recorded in the mid 70's. Between song chatter shows Presley's sense of humore is still intact here, but his health and performances are audibly on the decline during this, the final phase of his drug-induced self-destruction supernova.