Title: Lean, Mean and Kickin' Butt

Label: Fort Baxter

Date: January 28, 1971, International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

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

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

Tracks: 1.Opening Vamp 2.That's Alright 3.I Got A Woman 4.Love Me Tender 5.You Don't Have To Say You Love Me 6.Sweet Caroline 7.You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 8.Polk Salad Annie 9.Johnny B. Goode 10.Something 11.The Wonder Of You 12.Heartbreak Hotel 13.Blue Suede Shoes 14.Hound Dog 15.One Night 16.Teddy Bear 17.Suspicious Minds 18.The Impossible Dream

Elvis: When I'm writing this, we are celebrating the 30 anniversary of this show. I wonder if Elvis could ever dream that after 30 years some man in cold and distant Russia may write the review about the show he is doing? I think he never thought this might happen some day! Now, about the show itself. Well, this was Elvis 4 season in Las Vegas and the shows went one after another, braking all possible records of attendance, going nuts and Elvismania. Too bad Elvis did not realize that time that it was the beginning of the end. 1971 was the last year Elvis seemed interested and excited in what he was doing. After 1971 all standard songs went automatically and new ones were performed more and more rare. The day after, Elvis will perform Snowbird (released under 2001 label), however on January 28, 1971 he was not in the spirit of doing anything extraordinary. Nevertheless, this show is great from the point of the good sound and package. You will enjoy listening this well done CD with Elvis giving away standard jokes about the flu and "how all that started", and about making Love me tender when he was a baby. Great stuff!

Review: Probably, 1971 is the last really great year for Elvis. Since 1972 he made many good records and gave a lot of very good shows, but he never matched the power that he had in 1968-1971. I would name 1970 as the best year for Elvis' vocal - it never sounded and never will sound the way it did in 1970. But at least in 1971 Elvis still seemed to be inspired in what he was doing.

This concert seems to be an exception. It is very powerful - no doubt about it, Elvis sounds very good (if not great), but at the same time he sounds uninspired. He tries to finish the songs very fast, makes short versions and almost never speaks to the audience. Just 45 minutes and after that the show ends.

But as I said before, it is a very powerful concert and it deserves a track by track review. The CD kicks off with Also Sprach Zarathustra, probably one of the first versions ever. According to one of the stories, it was Joe Guercio who brought the song into the show, after watching the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. But according to another rumor, it was Elvis himself who loved the melody so much that he asked the orchestra conductor to write the arrangement of it. The opening number slowly transforms into That's All Right. You can't hear the audience, also the group is a bit way back, at least comparing to Elvis, who is too much in front sometimes. The performance is great, very powerful. The orchestra comes into the spotlight nearer to the end. "Thank you", Elvis says and launches into I Got A Woman, without any "wells". It is a very decent performance, but already not that great as it was in 1969/1970. Still, it is very nice, much better than the versions of the later years. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the International", Elvis says and makes a couple of short comments. He introduces Love Me Tender as his first movies and it contains the false start, Elvis liked so much to do. I don't why, but the band plays the song twice in E (the song begins from D, then goes up to D# and upper to E, but usually, when Elvis gave kisses in beginning of the 70's the band used to go up to D# stay there until Elvis asked them to change it and only after that the went up to E to finish the song). "I lost one of my chains!" Elvis says in a high falsetto after the song. "Give me an F", Elvis says and Glen plays an F minor, and Elvis asks "Is it an F?" and Glen quickly plays an F major, and Elvis says "No, an F!" and Glen again plays an F minor. It is the beginning of You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. It is a very good performance, close to the versions he would do later at Madison Sq. Garden. "Thank you very, you're a very good audience, thank you very much", and the band launches into Sweet Caroline, which is pretty powerful, but not seriously done, El seems to be forgetting the words. After the end of this song, the group moves to You've Lost That Loving Feeling. It begins very powerfully, Elvis is great during "..but baby I know it..." shout. But the song is too short, it doesn't contain the last part ("...Baby, baby, I would get down on my knees for you...",etc.). After that comes the time for Polk Salad Annie, which already is without the spoken intro, and also already contains the solo of Jerry Scheff in the middle of the song, which is not well heard because of the sound quality. It is pretty interesting to hear such an early version of the song with this treatment.

After somebody's request Elvis says "Yeah, I will sing all 420... 429 of them". He introduces the band and we get what what is probably the first band intro with the "solos". At least, after introducing James Burton, the last one plays Johnny B. Good, which is as short as the version in Aloha, and not very seriously done, but Elvis enjoys it and the guitarist's solo is very electrifying. After introducing Glen. D. Hardin, Elvis says "Something", and they make a good version of Something, which is some kind of a "solo" to Kathy Westmoreland, who is introduced after the song. Elvis thanks her and begins singing the line "Something in the way she moves, I don't need...", with Kathy singing with him. After introducing John Wilkinson, there is a feedback, and Elvis says "Hey you, noise making fool! Kathy, don't warm up while you're on stage!" After that Elvis introduces Joe Guercio and Charlie Hodge. "I had a record last year which did very good, anyone like this..." What comes is a strange version of The Wonder of You - Elvis begins with laughter to sing the song while the intro by the orchestra is still played, immediately after the first "That's the wonder, the wonder of you" asks James to play the solo. But Elvis himself is great during the "O-ho-ho-ho" part during the solo. "Thank you. Give me a G, I mean an E", Elvis says and he sings a good version of Heartbreak Hotel. "A... Thank you" and they launch into Blue Suede Shoes which is just a standard very short version, not much better than the versions he will do later in the 70's. Hound Dog is introduced the same way as half of a year ago, in August 1970, just shorter. The James' solo in the middle of the song is very electrifying. Next is a pretty good version of One Night. It is too short and fast, though. "Any more requests? Teddy Bear?", Elvis asks and asks Glen to play the intro. "I was only 12 years old when I did this!" Elvis says. The song is sung in a too low key, I think, Elvis doesn't reach some of the notes. "Suspicious Minds", Elvis says. The song is not as good as the summer 1970 version, also this version contains two already known jokes "So if an old friend I know - shut up your nose", which was probably first used in February 1970, and another joke - "Or let our love survive, or dry the sweat from your eyes". In a total, the version is something between the beautiful 1970 verion(s) and the later ones from 1972-1973 period. After the song, while Elvis relaxes, the band plays Coming Home Baby. "Just play it", he says. "You're a very lovely audience, I'd like to do this song specially for you", and the band goes into The Impossible Dream. A beautiful performance, including the lines "And the world, will be better for this, etc." song by somebody from the Imperials. After the song there is a closing vamp, which is in fact the same thing as the intro of That's All Right.

As a conclusion I can only say the same thing that I have written in the beginning of the review: the show is very powerful but uninspired. It doesn't come anywhere near to material just released by BMG on the TTWII update. But anyway, I think that the concert is much better than those from 1976-1977 period, and better than some of the shows from 1972-1975 period. It sounds unusual, and as in case with any 1968-1971 material, it is recommended.

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