Title: Let Me Be There (released in 2005)

Label: Memory Records

Date: February 8, 1974, Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, Nevada (midnight show) + bonuses January 27, 1974, Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, Nevada (evening show)

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

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

Tracks: 1.Also Sprach Zarathustra 2.C.C. Rider 3.I Got A Woman / Amen 4.Love Me 5.Tryin' To Get To You 6.Sweet Caroline 7.Love Me Tender 8.Johnny B. Goode 9.Hound Dog (with reprise) 10.Fever 11.Polk Salad Annie 12.Killing Me Softly (by Voice) 13.Spanish Eyes (incomplete) 14.Why Me Lord 15.Suspicious Minds (with false start) 16.Band Introductions 17.Celebrity Introductions 18.Blueberry Hill (false start only) 19.I Can't Stop Loving You 20.Help Me 21.An American Trilogy 22.Let Me Be There (with reprise) 23.Can't Help Falling In Love 24.Closing Vamp Bonus: 25.You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 26.Sweet Caroline 27.Long Tall Sally / Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On / Mama Can't Dance / Flip, Flop And Fly / Jailhouse Rock / Hound Dog 28.Spanish Eyes (Duration: 70 min. 48 sec.)

Package: For whatever reason Memory Records decided to put weird background effect on the package, the liner notes are fine as always, but most photographs are terribly edited. They are all taken from the Memphis' March 20-th concert. Also annoying is the fact that the show date is only printed inside the package, so you don't have the chance to know the date of the concert if you don't open the disc case and look inside the cover.

Elvis: It's his second week of the winter 74' engagement in Vegas, he seems relaxed and enjoys the show, maybe he's just a little bored, but it's not very obvious.

Highlights: Trying To Get To You is outstanding and the same goes for I Can't Stop Loving You. An American Trilogy is very accurately performed this evening

Review: 1974 was a year of high ups and low downs in Elvis' career. But early in the year there were no evident signs of upcoming lows, this concert is no exception.

Memory records provides us with a pretty low quality (regarding sound) "follow up" to their Something Old, Something New CD (which contained the opening night of the season). The cover states that this is a 2-nd generation copy of the original tape, and it says it all. The recorder leaves a feeling of being placed way back from the sound system and the hum on the tape bothers. But this doesn't eliminate the positive vibrations from Elvis - his voice is strong, the phrasing is flawless, and the energy level is very high, which is all evident from the first few notes of C.C. Rider. The "Well, well" intro of I Got A Woman is short but the song itself lacks the charm it had before, but the energy is still there. Elvis is not satisfied with J.D.'s hitting the low note in the end and asks him to do it one more time. Love Me is very well received and a thought comes to mind - Elvis still could deliver a fine version of this song in 1974. It may be uninspired, but his voice is strong at least. Trying To Get To You is the first outstanding song of the evening, Elvis' voice is fantastic here. Only saying "Thank you very much," Elvis launches into Sweet Caroline, which had been revived for this season. The back-vocalists are too much in front during the refrain, which is the sound engineer's fault, but still bothers a bit. The song is rather short. Love Me Tender is just a show pleaser, but it seems better than the so many versions we have from the later years. Johnny B. Goode is a good number, followed by Hound Dog, which features some fine guitar licks by James Burton and a long ending, with Elvis at first bringing the song to an end, than forcing the group to play the instrumental in the end (just like in the later years) and then repeating the ending one more time just to get it right. Duke Bardwell's bass is almost lost because of the sound quality in the beginning of Fever, while the song reflects the audience's condition - the crowd is going crazy. Polk Salad Annie brings the first part of the show to an ending, James gives an interesting solo in the middle.

Having to catch his breath back, Elvis asks his newly formed vocal group - The Voice, receiving an incredible $ 100 000 by their contract, - to sing Killing Me Softly. Spanish Eyes is incomplete, but features beautiful guitar licks by James Burton. "I'd like to ask J.D. Sumner and the Stamps to sing one of my favorite songs - Why Me Lord," Elvis declares. This version is slower than what we are used to, and it's really hard to figure out, whether Elvis is taking a part in the singing. Suspicious Minds is short and not as energetic as it had been before.

Elvis takes the time to throw a couple of jokes during the intros - "Duke Bird's soul," Elvis says instead of Bardwell, "Glen Campbell," instead of Hardin, "whatever he is - his name is Charlie Hodge," and "our conductor is Gatorade". Having the band and the present celebrities introduced, Elvis goes into a false start of Blueberry Hill and then a brilliant I Can't Stop Loving You. Help Me is the season's premiere and it is very well received and very well performed. American Trilogy is an emotional performance and taking in account that Elvis is in a fine mood this evening, the song's performance is outstanding. "Thank you, glad you liked it," Elvis says and the band goes into a very carefully delivered and devoted version of Let Me Be There. Can't Help Falling In Love brings the concert to an end.

But this is not all, as like in case with so many other releases Memory Records adds a few bonuses for us. They take us some 11 days back to the evening performance of January 27-th. The sound quality is even worse here, the tape speed seems incorrect also, but that's the price you have to pay for the rare 74' performance of You've Lost That Loving Feeling. It however gives an understanding of the Elvis-mania - the girl standing close to the recorder goes crazy just before the first refrain and later in the song, while Elvis throws himself so much into the song that it makes you scared and fascinated. Sweet Caroline is of the same level of performance as on the above reviewed February 8's midnight show, only longer, Elvis chooses to sing one more chorus after the group misunderstands him as he tries to sing the refrain one more time instead of ending the song. The rock'n'roll medley is very close to what we are used to, but very energetic. The set closes up with a complete version of Spanish Eyes, as a compensation for the incomplete version from the February 8-th concert.

As a conclusion we have to admit, that (even having said all this sincere good words about the concert) we won't listen to this CD often. Because it's got one big problem - sound quality. If this doesn't scare you - you've got to to get it, as the material on this CD is very nice, and it's a good addition into the documentation of the Presley-phenomena.

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