Title: Love Letters From Nevada

Label: Sundial Productions SP 601

Date: December 4, 1976, 9 P.M. dinner show, Las Vegas, Nevada)

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

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

Tracks: 1.Also Sprach Zarathustra 2.See See Rider 3.I Got A Woman / Amen 3.Monologue 4.Love Me 5.If You Love Me 6. You Gave Me A Mountain 7.Jailhouse Rock 8.It's Now Or Never 9.Tryin' To Get To You 10.Blue Suede Shoes 11.Fever 12.America The Beautiful 13.Bridge Over Troubled Water 14.What Now My Love (Spoken Version) 15.Introduction 16.Early Morning Rain 17.What'd I Say 18.Instrumental Solos 19.Love Letters 20.Introduction 21.Hail, Hail Rock And Roll 21.Introductions 22.Hurt 23.Hound Dog 24.How Great Thou Art 25.Can't Help Falling In Love 26.Closing Vamp

Elvis: This is the end of one of the worst years in Elvis' life. Elvis is not in his [very] top form on this concert, but still not bad at all for this year.

Highlights: A great version of Bridge Over Troubled Water and a very rare What Now My Love which is very emotional. And How Great Thou Art is great as always!

Review: Pretty sad, that it's an audience recording. Elvis surely felt, that the end was near. And the last shows of 1976 were just great.

The 2001 Theme is continued by an OK See See Rider. When Elvis gets on stage the audience shouts. The voice isn't as great as in the last tour of the same year (at least in the 1-st song), but still very powerful. Also, the speed of the tape looks to be the same as it was originally recorded (not faster, as usually). During the intro of I Got A Woman, Elvis fools around. When saying in one of the parts something like "Tch" you can hear the girls screaming. He was still loved by millions. Amen is featured with 2 modulations. After them James Burton as usually goes back to E, from F#. After Amen before the low notes of J.D. Sumner Elvis says something, but it's hard to understand it, due the sound quality. In an audience recording you understand how low are those notes. No repeats, everything is OK. After that Elvis thanks the audience, fools around. Elvis says that there's a guy who says "I will kiss you for your ring!", and other things. Love Me is a standard version, nothing else, with a lotta fooling. In the end there's some kind of noises, which are probably tape defects. The next one is If You Love Me. It hasn't got that great feeling of 1974, but is still good enough. After the song Elvis says "Mountain, baby", just like always, we have a very emotional version. We all know how significant this song was for him, after his divorce in 1973, though in a concert, September 2, 1974, in Las Vegas too (Desert Storm), he claims, that it is not personal. After that we have a rocking version of Jailhouse Rock. "In 1960 I did a song, taken from O Sole Mio, called It's Now or Never, so..." Elvis says, and makes the version of the song, yet without Sherrill Nelson's intro. The next in line is Trying to Get To You, which is similar to many other versions of that period. Someone throws a request of some kind of a song (It is hard to understand what exactly) and Elvis answers "Next year, honey, next year". But as we know, Elvis never came back to stage in Vegas since the end of 1976... But he does a request for Blue Suede Shoes, which is as short as in all late versions, but with 2 repeats (not 1 as always). "O.K.", Elvis says, "You wanna fever?" and does another version of the song, which I like pretty much. A good version, I can say. As in Aloha, The King probably moves his legs, which makes the audience go crazy. After that Elvis says, that he wants to do his version of America The Beautiful, before which he fools around, and says "It is a strange thing to do, just for to do America, The Beautiful". It is as great as always. Bridge Over Troubled Water is one of the highlights of the show, it is a very beautiful version, it brings tears into your eyes. Almost without any stop, Elvis does another great song, a wonderful version, - What Now My Love. Partly it is spoken, which makes it different from many other versions. The song looks to be a Jam. The song is followed by intros, most of the songs during which are standard versions.

After that intros Elvis introduces Engelbert Humperdink, and Roy Orbison, which were in the audience, also Vernon Elvis Presley along with Lisa Marie Presley. After that Elvis rushes a great version of Hurt, which is followed with less than OK version of Hound Dog. After that we have a very good version of How Great Thou Art. As usually, the show is closed with Can't Help Falling In Love With You.

My conclusion is: if you are a collector of bootlegs - this CD is for you, but since the sound is not good, in case that you are beginning your bootleg (or Elvis Presley) collection, it is better to buy something else.

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