Title: The Man In White, vol. 3

Label: Lone Star

Date: August 14, 1970, International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, Midnight Show + Bonuses (mostly from August 20-th)

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

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

Tracks: 1.That's All Right 2.Amen / I Got A Woman / You Don't Know Me / I Got A Woman 3.Mystery Train / Tiger Man 4.Folsom Prison Blues / I Walk The Line 5.Monologue / Love Me Tender 6.Johnny B. Goode 7.Whole Lotta Shakin' / Blueberry Hill 8.The Wonder Of You 9.You've Lost That Loving Feeling 10.Polk Salad Annie 11.Introductions 12.Oh Happy Day 13.All Shook Up 14.Blue Suede Shoes 15.One Night 16.Bridge Over Troubled Water 17.Suspicious Minds 18.Can't Help Falling In Love Bonus Tracks (August 1970): 19.Memphis Tennessee 20.Sweet Caroline 21.Sweet Inspiration 22.More 23.Bridge Over Troubled Water

Package: It seems that every Lone Star label release suffers from bad package. The back side of the CD is nicely done, while the front cover's photograph doesn't seem to be a good selection for a cover - Elvis surely looks strange on this photo. Also no additional information inside except the announcement of the 4-th volume of the series.

Elvis: He is much more relaxed than on the previous day(s) and lets himself do as many non-standard numbers as possible.

Highlights: Can I really pick up any highlight? All songs are great highlights and you need to listen to understand.

Review: The first days of the 1970' Summer Festival were marked by the filming of That's The Way It Is documentary which led Elvis to be very concentrated. This in turn led to very high quality concerts (maybe the best ones of his life).

This concert held on the next day after the filming was over is a yet another proof of Elvis' great state of spirit at this point. His voice is very powerful during this period, it is a combination of the sweet early 60-s voice and the deep late 70-s voice. He's so interested in the show, though at times it seems that he is a bit tired of some of the material.

The tape begins with Elvis singing That's All Right Mama. The sound quality at first seems to be a bit bad, but it becomes clearer a couple of seconds later. It is a pretty good quality recording for this kind of material, but not the best one. Elvis messes up the words in the song and sings the second couplet instead of the first one. "It was the first record I ever recorded when I was a baby" Elvis says after the great applauses he gets at the end of the song. After that he begins playing the intro of Mystery Train / Tiger Man medley at a very slow tempo, which leads him into singing Amen, and then he shouts "I got A..." and begins fooling around with the musicians which begin playing their parts and quickly stop. After fooling around a bit, however, he is at work again with a great and powerful rendition of I Got A Woman. Before singing the last slow part, however, Elvis looses himself in the music again and doesn't stop singing the last words with the group and says "Big show off! You thought that I was going too, and I just kept going, so you don't know me that well" which leads into a 20 plus improvisation of You Don't Know Me which is very soon ended with Elvis saying "I Got A Woman" at a low voice and Ronnie Tutt beginning to play his ending to the laughter of Elvis and the band. Next is the Mystery Train / Tiger Man medley which is as great as you can expect. "Good evening, ladies an gentlemen. Welcome to the International. I'm Johnny Cash" and Elvis goes into the short but interesting renditions of the rare Folsom Prison Blues and I Walk The Line. Next is a very long rendition of Love Me Tender. "I have out a new record, ladies and gentlemen, that's been out two weeks and I don't particularly want to sing it. I don't but it's on the schedule and I have to sing it. What's after that?" and Elvis receives a request of The Wonder of You to which he quickly replies "Let's do the Wonder Of You". But suddenly he says that he wants to talk to the audience and talking about his belt he suddenly says "Chuck Berry here" and asks J.B. "Show them Chuck Berry" and goes into Johnny B. Goode which is a fantastic rendition. Next are some seconds of Whole Lotta Shakin' and Blueberry Hill the last of which is so great that I was very upset to hear it ended this fast. "We're just fooling around and having a good time... The Wonder of you" Elvis announces as if he was asking to forgive him :-) The version is full of laughter and jokes which doesn't make it less attractive, however. Next is yet another great version of You've Lost That Loving Feeling which is followed but a "dirty" version of Polk Salad which is not of the highest class in my opinion, but makes the audience go crazy from the first notes played by Jerry Scheff on his bass guitar. To get back his breath Elvis goes into the introductions of the band which leads him into singing Happy Day (the first part of which seems to be from another tape, because the sound quality is much better, but it's back to the main source later during the song which is a bit annoying). Anyway the song is fantastic and it's a big shame that it hadn't become a regular of the set. Next are some oldies which are rushed and probably for the first time ever Elvis cuts J.B.'s solo in the middle of Blue Suede Shoes like he always did in the later years double ending it. One Night is still taken seriously and this is a yet another great rendition though a bit less energetic than on the previous days. In the middle of the song the source changes ones again. "Kill the lights" Elvis says during the intro of Bridge Over Troubled Water, during the first couplet of which Elvis keeps on throwing jokes and laughing at himself saying to himself "Like a bridge over troubled...Gone now... water... This is a serious song" and adding before the last "I will lay me down" "It's cold to stand still". The rest of the song is fantastic however. Suspicious is a great rendition as always during this Summer's Festival. The show closer is still great these days too.

The bonus tracks have been released in their majority on Midnight Inspirations - A Night To Remember and later on Bright Midnight With Elvis with the exception of Memphis Tennessee (if I am corect). This songs are a great addition to the set for those who do not own the above mentioned CD and for those who have it... Well, you can easily not listen them because they are at the very end of the CD.

As a conclusion I can say that if you are ready to face the mediocre sound quality of this audience recording then this is must have for you. In other case you can buy any of the three officially released by BMG live recordings from the four earlier days and enjoy the less relaxed but still great concerts of same level (if not higher) in fantastic sound quality. But this concert has a some kind "rehearsal" feel with everybody having a good time. This was more a show than a concert.

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