Here is what nobody wants to admit about Elvis Presley in 1975. But despite the rough start of the new year - skipping his 40th birthday and spending time in hospital trying to improve the state of his health - he was in better shape than we tend to remember him. Not the tragic caricature, not the jumpsuit, not the tabloid punchline and cartoon that American pop culture had already begun constructing around a man who in 1975, by any serious measure, still was one of the most gifted vocalists to have walked any stage in the world.
This double LP, containing Elvis's March 22, 1975 Midnight Show performance, proves this. It presents us with a focused performer, working hard to still be relevant, and willing to please his audience with new contemporary material, some of it recorded just a week earlier, that fitted his age and voice very well. This is something not everyone is aware of, or willing to acknowledge, simply discarding everything Elvis Presley recorded after the 1973 Aloha show.
This LP shows us that Elvis still mattered, as he personally made the effort to remain relevant with a new album and a new setlist, and he arrived with a better physique and a refreshed two-piece attire to match.
Design
The Millbranch record label knows how to take care of cover art. And they delivered again. Although not all of these two-piece suits are personal favorites, the photo on the cover is a great representation of Elvis on stage in early 1975. It perfectly illustrates that Elvis had made some changes for this engagement, not only musically, but also regarding his personal presentation. The typography is in line with previous releases from this label, creating a nice series.
Opening the gatefold cover we get a medley of two-piece suits worn during this engagement. The backstory for this 12th Vegas stint, placed in a 1975 context, is presented inside the gatefold and continued on printed inner sleeves with perspectives from a historian, a journalist and a fan.
The transparent violet vinyl only added to that. This is one of those colors that works very well on transparent vinyl and perfectly fits the color scheme of this set. Th LP was also released on classic black vinyl.
Content
The LP contains the complete March 22, 1975 Midnight Show performance. Just like previous releases of this show on albums like 'A Profile Vol. 2' (Fort Baxter, 1996) and FTD's 'Las Vegas 1975' (2016), the gaps in the tape were filled with missing songs to create a complete concert experience.
The Sound
The new Stereo presentation sounds good, but the separation of the musical elements doesn't yet match the level of the Memphis Recording Service when it comes to live concerts. This is mainly due to the compressed soundboard recording that was used; it lacks some clarity. Overall the sound is best on the performances with less orchestral backing. Just compare 'If You Love Me (Let Me Know)' with 'And I Love You So'.
The orchestra and band are positioned on the left, Elvis in the middle (but he is “drawn to the side” a little when the backing vocalists join in) and on the right side of the stage Ronny Tutt's drums, which are presented high in the mix.
The Concert
By March 1975, the Las Vegas Hilton engagement had become the central place in Elvis's professional life, a twice-yearly obligation that his management treated as a cash machine. But Elvis had quietly begun to treat it as something more interesting, trying out new material for a new show (or tour), just like he did a year earlier when Elvis had shown up with new songs, genuine ambition, and something to prove. Unfortunately the audience didn't respond as Elvis hoped, so he quickly returned to the standard show, giving the audience what they wanted.
And here, a year later, he picked up that thread and ran with it again. A setlist that actually reflects what was happening in popular music and a performer who, whatever was going on in his personal life, clearly hadn't given up on the idea of being relevant.
The setlist is proof of Elvis' ambition with more than a handful of new songs compared to a year ago.
Of course there is the inevitable concession to the room with a perfunctory 'Hound Dog' dispatched with the self-aware quip "I cannot read music!" after a fumbled ending. 'Teddy Bear' flows into 'Don't Be Cruel', and midway through, Elvis drops his voice to a whispered "wait a minute, baby!" to a front-row admirer that gets a bigger reaction than the song. But Elvis wanted more!
'And I Love You So' is delivered here in only its fifth live performance and months before its official release. It is not treated as a novelty, but as an intimate and unhurried performance. The performance builds beautifully for most of its running time, and then, in the final moments, he unleashes a sudden vocal burst that reframes the entire performance. You don't see it coming.
That's the thing about Elvis at his best, the element of surprise was always there, right up until the end. What's quietly remarkable is that Elvis never once mentions to the audience that the song is about to appear on a new album. Elvis just sings it, lets it breathe, and moves on. A if the music is enough of an explanation, he lets the songs "do the talking". And they could, as his repertoire matches the voice of a matured man: a warm, bass-heavy instrument with considerable authority that he uses with ease and confidence.
'It's Midnight' is the performance you'll keep coming back to. Elvis had been carrying this song in his set since the summer 1974 season, but by March 1975 he had completely inhabited it. Kathy Westmoreland's voice weaves through the arrangement beautifully, the orchestra is balanced just right, and Elvis nails it. At the climax he doesn't so much finish the song as confess through it: "Oh I miss you, Good God, it's midnight and I miss you!" By 1975, the line between what Elvis was singing about and what he was actually living - long-term girlfriend Linda Thompson was still with Elvis, but he also had begun to spend time with Sheila Ryan - had essentially disappeared, and you can hear that in every phrase. Fortunately the audience gives him exactly the applause he deserves.
Overall he keeps the between-song chatter short and funny throughout the concert, which is the right call. No long rambling speeches, just quick remarks and then back to business. After the last notes of 'And I Love You So' Elvis says "quick get on the next song" and goes into a rockin' 'Big Boss Man'. And at one point he surveys the audience and tells a girl he'll "let her be there!" before launching straight into the song. Elsewhere he jokes about J.D. Sumner's stature and brags about his size 12 shoes.
'Promised Land' really rocks with confidence. It doesn't quite match the explosive energy of the studio version, but he believes in it, and that counts for something. 'Green Green Grass of Home' is a genuine rarity in the live catalog, performed only a handful of times in concert, and this version is the only one to receive an official release.
'Fairytale', also fresh from the studio, gets the same treatment as 'It's Midnight'. "This song we've been doing a little bit," Elvis says about this recent Pointer Sisters hit, before he proceeds to perform it with the relaxed confidence of a man who knows exactly what he does. You can hear the pleasure of a performer who genuinely likes the material he's working with. It's one of the best live versions of the song in circulation.
The introductions section, set to a swinging instrumental version of 'Green Onions', gives Elvis room to work the crowd in the way only he could. He introduces the Sweet Inspirations with a story connecting them to 'In The Ghetto', banters with J.D. Sumner, and gets into a brief, fun snippet of 'What'd I Say' with James Burton before the usual round of band introductions.
'My Boy' gets an excited reaction from the audience the moment the intro begins, and Elvis rewards them with a beautifully measured performance. This was an old favorite from his summer 1973 season, brought back into rotation for 1975, and the crowd clearly remembered it fondly. Whether Elvis knew it had recently climbed to the Top 5 in the United Kingdom, giving the song a new commercial life he perhaps hadn't anticipated, we can only speculate.
What's not speculative is the rawness he brings to the final verse, pushing his voice to its upper limit in a way that feels less like singing and more like confession. By 1975, Elvis's personal life was an open secret in the industry, a complicated divorce; a daughter he adored and rarely saw as much of as he wished. 'My Boy' touches all of that, and he lets it do so.
The evening's most remarkable moment, though, arrives unannounced at the end. A fan calls out a request. Elvis, rather than deflecting, turns to his band and starts directing, calling chord changes, pointing toward the bridge, improvising an arrangement on his feet. What follows is two unscripted minutes of Bobby Darin's 'You're the Reason I'm Living' performed for what Elvis himself confirms was the first and presumably only time: "That was totally unrehearsed, we have never done that song before in our natural lives." It shouldn't work, but it does, completely. This perfectly illustrates that Elvis was at the top of his game, willing and able!
The label presents us a complete overview of Elvis' spring Vegas performances with the additional bonus tracks from March 19 to 31, 1975, which were not featured in the concert with 'Funny How Time Slips Away', 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and 'An American Trilogy', as well as some duplicates with 'Big Boss Man' and 'My Boy'.
Conclusion
So, sit with that for a moment. In a single Las Vegas show in March 1975, this audience had heard early performances of 'And I Love You So' and 'Fairytale', two songs that hadn't even been released yet. Added to that they get a rare performance of 'Green Green Grass of Home' and a completely spontaneous, first-time-ever run through a Bobby Darin classic that Elvis conducted from the microphone in real time. Most of them probably had no idea how extraordinary any of it was. To them, the unrehearsed Darin number was no more or less notable than the new album tracks they'd also never heard. Most of them, finishing their dinners and ordering another round, probably didn't register any of it as unusual.
That gap between what Elvis was actually offering and what his audience was actually receiving is the central - and perhaps sad - theme of this recording, and of this period in his career. The ambition was there. The talent was undimmed. The artist was willing, and he delivered: still reaching, still surprising, still capable of turning a spontaneous Bobby Darin request into a moment of genuine magic.
In this context, 'You're the Reason I'm Living' - debuting here on vinyl - becomes more than a spontaneous crowd-pleaser. It stands as proof that Elvis could rise to any occasion, even when the audience didn't fully appreciate what they were witnessing. It is wonderful to finally have this fan-favorite show on vinyl, with a beautiful gatefold presentation.
One can only wonder when the Follow that Dream collectors label will add live concerts like this to their lineup, rather than continuing to release an endless stream of mediocre soundtrack reissues on vinyl.
