Title: It's Midnight

Label: FTD

Date: August 24, 1974, Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, Midnight show & August 29, 1974, Dinner Show

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

Compilation Rating: * * * * + / * * * * * +

Tracks: 1.See See Rider 2.I Got A Woman / Amen 3.Love Me 4.If You Love Me 5.It's Midnight 6.Big Boss Man 7.Fever 8.Love Me Tender 9.All Shook Up 10.The Wonder Of You 11.I'm Leavin' 12.Softly As I Leave You 13.Spanish Eyes 14.Hound Dog 15.You Gave Me A Mountain 16.Polk Salad Annie 17.Introductions 18.If You Talk In Your Sleep 19.Why Me Lord? 20.Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel 21.How Great Thou Art 22.Let Me Be There 23.Elvis' Dialogue 24.Early Mornin' Rain 25.Hawaiian Wedding Song 26.Can't Help Falling In Love

Package: FTD always suffers from poor packages. This CD is no exception. But it's the contents that matters.

Elvis: He is a bit uninterested in the older numbers but he is out of sight on most recent recordings. During the second show, added to simulate a complete concert, he has a bit more powerful voice, but the first concert is filled with fantastic numbers (see below). 16 songs before the introductions - this is something unbelievable for Elvis Presley.

Songs: Among the highlights I would mention the fantastic renditions of It's Midnight, I'm Leaving, How Great Thou Art plus the rare The Wonder of You & Spanish Eyes.

Review: The summer 74' season was a time of contrasts for Elvis - he begun very strong with a fantastic opening night filled almost completely with new songs. However, on the next night the standard program was back. After experiencing some health problems (officially - because of flu, but most likely because of drug problems) he missed two shows on August 26. This release features the August 24 midnight show, which is very interesting, though at times Elvis seems to be a bit tired.

The CD starts directly with See See Rider, which is not the highest class work, at time it even reminds me the September 28 concert. "Thank you very much!" Elvis says, greeting the audience and going into the "Well, well, well" routine that every Elvis fan knows by heart. The following I Got A Woman is not a very good version, which is pretty easy to understand. Yet another of the hundreds of version. "My name is Fats Domino" Elvis says, and hearing Elvis' voice one can easily understand that the man is in trouble. It is very painful to hear this tired, slurred speech. Love Me is a yet another standard number. If You Love Me is not as great as one can expect knowing how much Elvis liked the number, but still it is above average. It's a relief to hear an outstanding version of It's Midnight following. Elvis gives every bit of himself on this number and you feel that he relieves every word that he sings. Big Boss Man is next. Of course this is a question of taste, but personally I do not very much like this 70-s versions of it. In my opinion they all lack the great Jerry Reed's guitar licks. It is a completely different number, only the melody remains the same. On the other hand this shows the creativity that Elvis' musicians and Elvis himself had. However, this song rocks and it is much better than other versions from the later years. Next is Fever. This one of the fan pleasers, nothing extraordinary here. What follows is Love Me Tender, which is another oldie, and is not among the best versions. All Shook Up doesn't rock anymore. "The wonder of you" somebody from the audience asks and Elvis responds to the request with a rare for this period version of the song. It seems that the orchestra wasn't expecting to perform this song, so the intro is played by Glen D. Hardin only. But anyway, this version is outstanding. It seems that Elvis is in a romantic mood, so he continues with I'm Leaving, anouncing: "This is a song we did a couple of years ago, called I'm Leaving". This is a very good version. It is followed by a so-so version of Softly As I Leave You. Another great song for this evening is Spanich Eyes. It contains a verse not performed on the Good Times LP. However, the trmbone during the solo is not a great solution, in my opinion, but still the song is great. "Ariba!" Elvis shouts during the solo. "O.K. I'd like to get sirious for just a moment" Elvis says and goes into Hound Dog. The introduction to this song reminds me of I Got A Woman "well - well - well" routine. However, this version sounds fresher than on many other concerts. You Gave Me A Mountain is very emotional, very good version. Polk Salad Annie suffers from the big orchestration, but the audience seems to enjoy it anyway.

The introductions are already pretty long, with Elvis telling the well known story about the decoration of the Hotel Room, the way he painted them and so forth. It is very painful to hear this speech, bacuse it is a story of an ill person. Next is a very funky version of If You Talk In Your Sleep. These live versions are much better than the studio master recorded some 9 months before, and it is very strange that they were not added to the live set prior this engagement. Next is Why Me Lord by the Stamps quartet which is from the August 29 concert. This is probably one of the first versions of the song when Elvis makes J.D. laugh after line "If you think there's a way I can ever repay all I've taken from you" by saying "No way, no way... It's just a joke!" After the song however Elvis says: "That was out of sight, J.D., I'm sorry, I didn't mean to brake you but I know you're the father figure out here and John is the mother figure, so..." Next is Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel medley, which is not as bad as always. How Great Thou Art is next. It is very close to the version released officially on the Mamphis concer. Personally I do not consider the 74' versions of this song as the best ones, the Memphis 75' is my favorite. Let Me Be There is next, and it is pretty nice. Next is a rare version of Early Morning Rain which starts from the middle, as the first half of the song seems not to be recorded. It has the piano upper on the mix than the bootleg collectors are used to. After the song Elvis asks: "How many of you saw Blue Hawaii, the movie Blue Hawaii? Probably the most reque... How long we've been on? Hour and twenty? They don't like me to be on longer than 55 to 58 minutes, really, they, uh, the Hotel doesn't like it because they can't get the people in and out, you know, sometimes I go over accidently, I don't where and what..." which shows Elvis as rebel in his own way one more time, as he would say later - "I want the people to get the best!" The Hawaiian Wedding Song is a very beutiful version. Following is a dialogue about the things that had happedned with Elvis' health and the concert ends with the usual Can't Help Falling In Love.

This release is among my favorites on the FTD label, because it contains unusual material. I hope that they have more such material in their vaults and will release it in the next years. On the Internet I read several times that the only reason of the addition of the August 29 concert is the rare version of Early Morning Rain. But in my opinion it is not the reason. In fact this second part is more dinamic and energetic, and the question that I had in my mind after hearing this release for the first was why hadn't they released the 29-th concert in it's entirity. Still the first part is very interesting and unusual too. This release is recommended for everyone who can get a copy of it.

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