Design
Nothing much to add here if you have seen any of the previous fourteen volumes, the designers stuck to the format with some great images of our man this time.
Reading Brenda Nielsen Murray she still loves Elvis, and still has a lot of respect for what he accomplished by “just singing”.
Content
This 15th volume opens with 13 minutes from The Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo in from March 1, 1970 as shot at the Houston Texas. Almost half of the footage is ‘holiday material’ from visitors filming the grounds ad events. Elvis entrance is OK. The quality of the concert footage of Elvis performing - shot from various angles - ranges from acceptable to a bit of a white blurb when shot from a distance at night.
But it is nice to see the stage and how fast it turns. This really must have been a strange experience for our man. It is funny to see that Elvis, dressed in white, stepped into the arena. The instrumental soundtrack does get a bit annoying; I want to hear Elvis!
Up next the first segment with audio, 3 minutes from the April 8, 1972 Evening Show performance as recorded on in Knoxville. Elvis looks slim and energetic, unfortunately the segment is a compilation of fragments in not too good audio and video quality. This is followed by 2 minutes of vague video fragments with an O.K. soundtrack from Little Rock, filmed a week later on April 15th.
Up to the Big Apple, 35 minutes from Madison Square Garden, starting with footage from the June 10, 1972 Afternoon Show. Again. O.K. footage but a lot of the footage consists of very short fragments cut together, unfortunately not really a pleasure to watch. The other footage varies from very bad – at one point I thought I was looking through a heat viewer - but other fragments, shot from the audience right in front of the stage looked great! It is hard having to create a concert experience from fragments. Sony chose to use a black screen for their ‘Prince from Another Planet’ set, the producers of this disc chose for a continuous experience. Later on they use the same technique.
The quality of the material for the Evening Show - segment two - is much better and gives a good impression of this show. Great to see the footage of the poses we know from pictures, like the picture used for the new ‘Elvis Rocks The Garden’ 3-CD-set. The last segment is of lesser quality and does have few black blocks in between the segments.
Up next a minute and a half of silent footage from Milwaukee, on June 15, 1972 with a little bit of Elvis, the producers could have skipped this fragment.
Fast forward two years, June 17, 1974 is Baton Rouge, LA. Good audio, but Elvis is mainly a “white singing suit” far away (the American Eagle jumpsuit). The footage from June 22, 1972, as shot in Providence is better. Shot from the side but the audio is very distant this time. You really see a different Elvis, compared with the 1972 footage. The clip show ‘See See Rider’ but Elvis is “parked”, there isn’t much difference from a non-rocker as ‘Trying To Get To You” of ‘Fever’.
The footage (4 minutes) from Philadelphia show one day later has pretty much the same angle, but shows an energetic Elvis doing ‘Polk Salad Annie’, our man still had it when he wanted to!
We continue to tour with Elvis, June 24, 1974 in Niagara Falls is nice footage (4 minutes); the quality is enjoyable and Elvis rocks ‘Polk Salad Annie’ again, followed by nice fragment of ‘Why Me Lord’ and the introductions of the band.
The first disc closes with footage from Milwaukee (4 minutes), but it is a very small man, dressed in white’ standing cutout in a black screen, popping in and out.
Disc two opens with 30 minutes from June 21, 1974, from Cleveland, OH. The footage opened OK, but pretty soon it looked very pixelated. Once I got used to it, I enjoyed the “mini-concert” with everything we have come to expect from a 1974 Elvis concert. Everything shot pretty much from the front.
From 1975 we get 3 minutes of footage showing ‘See See Rider’ again, shot nicely from the front on July 18th. This is followed by 3 minutes from March 20, 1976 from Charlotte, NC. A nice clip, shot from the left side of the podium, showing Elvis on what appears to be a small stage.
Back to Philadelphia for the June 28, 1976 Evening Show performance. The video (6-plus minutes) is shot from up-front and acceptable, but the audio features mainly the audience, although it improves during “You Gave Me A Mountain”.
Up next, Charleston, WV. June 24, 1976. Again, nice footage and audio, but unfortunately a bloated Elvis with a puffy shirt that doesn’t do him much justice. I got a little sad watching this 17 minute segment. On June 28, 1976 in Hartfort CT. he didn’t look much better, here we get Elvis shaking hands and leaving the stage, kind-of strange to film (just) that when you’re at an Elvis concert.
The set closes with five minutes from December 28, 1976 from Dallas, TX. The footage is average, but Elvis sounds good and seems to enjoy himself, a nice way to close the set.
Conclusion
Looking at the tracklisting I was glad to see a lot of 1972, but these clips were mainly compilations of short fragments. The producers have to work with the material available, but using all these short clips, it is sometimes like listening to a scratched disc, not really enjoyable. The set covers 1974, 1974 and 1976, watching the years go by you see the decline.
Overall this set was enjoyable, a bit too many clips with fragments to get really into the concert experience, but seeing the King in the Garden in New York or half an Elvis concert from Cleveland, make up for that.