Title: All Shook Up (released in 2005)

Label: FTD

Date: August 26, 1969, International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada (midnight show)

Sound Quality: * * * * * / * * * * * +

Concert Rating: * * * * * / * * * * * +

Tracks: 1.Blue Suede Shoes 2.I Got A Woman 3.All Shook Up 4. Love Me Tender 5.Jailhouse Rock / Don't Be Cruel 6.Heartbreak Hotel 7.Hound Dog 8.I Can't Stop Loving You 9.Mystery Train / Tiger Man 10.Monologue 11.Baby What You Want Me To Do 12.Runaway 13.Are You Lonesome Tonight? 14.Rubberneckin' 15.Yesterday / Hey Jude 16.Introductions 17.In The Ghetto 18.This Is The Story 19.Suspicious Minds 20.Can't Help Falling In Love (Duration: 74 min. 55 sec.)

Elvis: Every time writing about this particular Vegas engagement we can't help but say the so common words as "marvelous" or "great" or "wonderful". We can't help but say them since this is true. Even when fooling around (Are You Lonesome Tonight?) or messing with the melody (This Is The Story) these performances are great and Elvis is unmatchable.

Highlights: We have a big part of the rare renditions featured in this release already from the collectors' gold compilation, but they didn't sound so great back then, since the mastering job was much poorer. Here we have a fantastic sound quality, shall we say marvelous? :)

Review: What in the world could have been better than Elvis in 1969? It is most probably the only Presley year we can't think of a bad side of - even his last motion picture was quite unique and it's soundtrack was of a very high level. Is there any need to point for the millionth and not the last time that Las Vegas' live performances that year were simply outstanding, any form, any day, every one of them?

First of all about the sound quality. There's been a lot of speculation in the Presley fans' circle that the previous releases from this engagement featured too little piano in the mix. This is more a question of taste - for example, we almost never get to hear John Wilkinson on BMG releases, but for whatever reason nobody complains about that. It seems that the producers of this CD have listened to some of the remarks that Elvis fans had in the past few years, so the mix has a lot of piano up. Is it good or bad - well, it's up for you to decide, as for us the quite unusual overall sound is always welcomed on our behalf.

A wonderful Blue Suede Shoes, with a few improvisations from James Burton during the solo, maybe just a little bit too much piano during it, but it's anyway far better than the great amount of orchestra featured in the 1970's release Elvis In Person. Elvis plays a while with the intro of I Got A Woman, Larry switches from piano to organ on this track, and on this performance you really appreciate it, it's higher in the mix and gives the song a contemporary sound. "Thank you, here we go again!" Elvis declares and urges his legs to wake up. Elvis delivers a fine rendition of All Shook Up and continues the show by greeting the audience with standard 69' jokes, but still nice to hear them again. Love Me Tender gives a nice country feeling, with some fine piano work. Elvis enjoys throwing both jokes of "you should have heard them sons-of-bitches singing let's rock" and "baby if I made you mad / you feel like you've been hit / please let's forget the past / before I kick your ..." in the Jailhouse Rock / Don't Be Cruel medley. His voice is clearly stronger than on any of the already released versions, so we don't fully understand why BMG decided to splice it from two sources for their Collector's Gold compilation, could a little mistake by Jerry Scheff at around the mark of 2:31 be an explanation? Following is a very fine Heartbreak Hotel. The emphasizing during the solo is brilliant, you have to listen to understand. He then throws himself into a long and funny (if a little bit rough) prelude to Hound Dog, and he laughs the heck out of it - a sign of things to come with Are You Lonesome Tonight? - and then goes into a moving rendition - the song never sounded tougher and greater than in 1969.

I Can't Stop Loving You continues the set, a wonderful rendition, less orchestrated and slower than in 1970 and later on. The organ during the first few bars of Mystery Train / Tiger Man medley sounds a bit strange - is Larry out of tune or what? - but later on it gives the same "froggy" sound David Briggs would add to the Presley shows in 1976, especially December 1976. Although Elvis can't stop laughing through the first two verses this is one of the finest versions we ever heard.

Elvis takes a timeout then to tell the story of his life - a hint of what his autobiography could have been had he decided to write it. A funny monologue, wonderful stuff. Having that out of the way Elvis asks the band whether they want to do Rubberneckin' and whatever the answer is he tries to explain it to the audience "What we're tonight, ladies and gentlemen, uh, we're recording a live album, you know, and uh there's a couple of new songs that I have to try so if we make a mistake we may go back and have to do it all over again or whatever, so we may be here all night..." and he then instructs the band to wait 'till later. A moving Baby What You Want Me To Do follows. Together with the following Runaway, Are You Lonesome Tonight? and Rubberneckin' we already had them but the sound is surely better now. Are You Lonesome Tonight? still brings smile on our faces, even 14 years after being first released. Rubberneckin' features a false start, a minute long, the song is played just a few beats per minute slower than on the version we have following it, Elvis messes the words in the very beginning, which leads to a restart. The following Yesterday / Hey Jude medley features some laughter as well, but all in all is a joy to listen.

Elvis introduces the band members then, and goes into a very fine In The Ghetto, followed by a rather mediocre rendition of This Is The Story, he even is out of tune at times, but it is nice to have (the only existing?) live version of this song in proper show order. Suspicious Minds brings the show close to the ending, a marvelous job, this song never sounded as in 1969 (both studio and live versions are great). Finally a sincere rendition of Can't Help Falling In Love ends the show.

1969 was surely a great year for Elvis Presley and we have to admit that we can't find any bad sides of it. This concert (as the whole engagement) is simply marvelous and it takes a while to have the will to listen to any of 'em '76 concerts after it. Coupled with the August 1970 concerts this engagement showcases Elvis at his best, so why wasting time on lower releases? We recommend you to go and get it, you will enjoy every second of it if you like Elvis at his best. As for FTD and Ernst, if you are for whatever reason reading this, give us as many concerts from 1969 and 1970 as you have in the vaults - we will truly enjoy them!

January 2007

A BMG / FTD releases index