The Millbranch Music import label re-visited ‘Kansas City ‘74’ once more with no less than 2 good looking LPs of Elvis’, June 29, 1974 performances.
Design
Just look at that gatefold cover, it is exactly as Steve Cooper observed for The SUN Telegram in 1974 in the liner-notes inside: “Imagine a hundred baby birds in a nest, all reaching for a worm dangling from the mouth of their mother. It was something like that around the stage at Municipal Auditorium yesterday as Elvis the Pelvis bestowed scarves damp with his sweat … His hairy chest showed the cleavage of his sequined white suit”.
Inside more pictures from his June - July 1974 tour (tour No. 13, the FTD label released 2 concerts from this tour earlier in 2023 on the 3-CD-set ‘Houston Fort Worth Baton Rouge’), the complete original review and interestingly, a picture of the original tape-box for the Los Angeles show. There is only 1 issue with the design; blowing up the pictures to LP-size makes them look a little grainy, unfortunately not enough to distract.
The design of the companion album with the Evening Show Performance mimics the first LP, but it omits a review, that would have completed and make it an exact match.
The LPs are available in classic black and clear vinyl. I got the latter and it is almost completely see-through, talking about transparency, very nice. The LPs come housed in protective plastic lined paper sleeves, adding to the overall quality feel of these albums.
The black edition comes with the two Kansas concerts on CD, omitting the bonus material from the LPs. Both have their individual design, but matching their “big brother”. But they don’t contain the bonus material.
Content
New here are of course the “upgrade to vinyl” and the bonus material on the “D-sides” of the LPs. The audio quality is really great, we knew that from the CD’s we already had, but playing these concerts from vinyl, gives them that vinyl audio boost, adding to a more dynamic listening experience (well at least to my ears).
On the Afternoon Show LP we get 3 performances from May 11, as recorded at The Forum in Los Angeles, and additionally ‘Big Boss Man’ from May 10th, San Bernardino, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ from June 19th, Amarillo and ‘Fever’ as recorded on June 15th in Fort Worth. Especially the LA performances are great. We knew them from the ‘City of Angels’ (Audionics, 2015) but there they sound very clear and powerful, I hope to hear more of this! The closing 3 tracks on this bonus side aren’t bad either, the ‘Big Boss Man’ rocks the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. And just listen to Elvis giving the Fort Worth audience ‘Fever’.
The bonus material on the Evening Show LP brings us 6 performances recorded on the road between June 14th and July 16th 1974. ‘How Great Thou Art’ (June 16th, Fort Worth), ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ (June 21, Cleveland), An American Trilogy (June 30, Omaha), ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ (July 1st, Omaha), ‘Steamroller Blues’ (July 2nd, Salt Lake City) and closing with a ‘Suspicious Minds’ (June 15th, Fort Worth). From these tracks ‘How Great Thou Art’ and ‘Trilogy’ stood out for me.
Conclusion
This new outing of these two concerts are a real upgrade; great looking and great sounding shows on a classic format. Added to that, we get two sides of bonus material. For me this was a great Christmas gift from Santa!