Title: Pearl Harbor Show 1961 (released in 1990)

Label: Golden Archives Series

Date: March 25, 1961, Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Sound Quality (Concert): * * - - - / * * * * * +

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

Tracks: 1.Heartbreak Hotel 2.All Shook Up 3.A Fool Such As I 4.I Got A Woman 5.Love Me 6.Introductions 7.Such A Night 8.Reconsider Baby 9.I Need Your Love Tonight 10.That's All Right Mama 11.Don't Be Cruel 12.One Night 13.Are You Lonesome Tonight? 14.It's Now Or Never 15.Swing Down Sweet Chariot 16.Hound Dog (Duration: 43 min. 04 sec.)

Elvis: He is wild and sounds great as well, he enjoys his last live appearance in 7 years, though it's hard to believe he could think of such a perspective at the time.

Highlights: As you can see - the set is simply great, representing both his pre-army rock'n'roll songs and his contemporary material - which was great. The older songs are not rushed - they are treated as if recorded just a day or two before the show. The band sounds close to his 50-s setup as well, you can't compare them to the TCB band of course - they are simply from different leagues - but this is what Elvis' band was at the time and they deliver their best.

Review: Since Elvis' return from the army a year before Elvis gave only three live appearances - at the Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home, Elvis TV special (a record, since he was paid 125 000 $ for a seven minute on-screen appearance) in May 1960 and two benefit performances on February 25, 1961 in Memphis. However, he managed to star in three movies during this period and record some of the best material in his career including the Elvis Is Back album and such hit-singles as It's Now Or Never, Surrender an Stuck On You not mentioning his first religious album His Hand On Mine. But it seemed as Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker forgot the way Elvis got into the music industry, as he himself jokingly stated some eight years later, namely - shaking.

A businessman on first place, Parker didn't seem to care of the Presley's own feelings about music. He would soon become a slave of the Hollywood industry, caught in the trap of highly paid movie contracts and bad movie scripts with few exceptions. When he was on his way to Hawaii in late March 1961 to begin work on his fourth post-army movie - Blue Hawaii - he most probably couldn't imagine that it would take another seven years 'till he would meet a live audience.

The live recording presented on this CD is the only evidence of what an artist Mr. Presley could have been had he continued performing live instead of starring in 22 remaining movies. The most common mistake when you read about this concert is the estimation of the sound quality. It is no worse than any 50's live recordings, for example, the May 1956 Little Rock concert, it is better than many of the 70's audience recordings. Elvis' voice is clearly heard most of the time, the guitars and drums are audible as well. It is worse with the low frequencies since Bob Moore's bass isn't heard very well, but still we should be thankful for what we have.

And what do we have? We have here a 26 year old performer who has changed the face of music history some seven years earlier, with the recording of That's All Right Mama, who turned everything that he touched into gold, a living example of the American dream. He takes the stage in his famous gold jacket to start his performance with a wild Heartbreak Hotel - his first golden record. This song was written by Mae Axton after reading a suicide story in a newspaper and was presented to Elvis who promised that it would become his first RCA single. The record company wasn't too sure of it's commercial appeal at the time - it was way to different from the happy love songs that were popular back then and Elvis' contract cost the record company too much to risk, but Elvis was in charge and he made the right decision. Floyd Cramer is barely heard here, but Elvis is clearly enjoying singing and the fan's reaction. He confesses that they ran out of electricity (or is he joking only? ) and launches into All Shook Up, a version close to it's original, Elvis delivers a great performance. Next is A Fool Such As I, where Elvis changes the lyrics to "You taught me how to milk a cow," to the fun of himself and the audience. Unfortunately a little part of the song is missing at the end, but then Elvis launches into I Got A Woman, which drives the crowd crazy and Elvis - wild. The crowd still is wild before Love Me, Elvis forgets the lyrics in the very beginning but this doesn't spoil the performance - it's not hard to imagine what he's doing judging by the fans' reaction. His voice is a mixture of the Cat he once had been and the vocal professor he was becoming.

"Before we go any further, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce the members of my, gang.. uh band, the unwashables," Elvis jokes as he introduces his band members and launches into a great rendition of Such A Night, no matter that he forgets the words, it is a great song, a wonderful performance. Same goes for Reconsider Baby - Elvis messes up the words, but the sax solo is great. I Need Your Love Tonight - one of the best Presley rock'n'roll songs - is next, and we really wish we were there - "Hank Garland!" Elvis shouts right before the solo - the performance is absolutely wonderful. He takes his guitar after the song to perform the first song he recorded and says "I hope you remember it's called That' All Right Mama," the energy is fantastic - the song is so close to the master, regarding the voice and Scotty's guitar, electricity, man! Scotty then tunes his sixth string down to D and Elvis announces: "My biggest selling record was a song called Don't Be Cruel," and launches into the song, which is close to master as well. One Night With You features a verse from One Night Of Sin, however Elvis throws out the line "I lost my sweet helping hand" in favor of "I want your sweet helping hand" and sings the more neutral lyrics then. Are You Lonesome Tonight is next and it is a beautiful performance though we have to admit that even in 1961 Elvis was already a bit jokingly approaching this song, announcing "You seemed to change - you got fat" and "This stage is bare and you lost your hair" but his vocal is great, and this could have been a reaction to the audience's never ending hysteria.

The concert comes closer to the end with Elvis performing It's Now Never. Even more tape problems on this number but the rendition is fine from what we can hear. Swing Down Sweet Chariot was an attempt to add some gospel material to his repertoire and could be voted as the only low point in the whole concert - it would be re-recorded in 1968 for his The Trouble With Girls movie in much better arrangement. As in the 50-s concerts Elvis finishes the concert with Hound Dog, a very wild performance, you simply have to listen to understand.

Besides this record all we have available as an evidence from this concert are a few b&w photographs, and we are never going to get a better sounding record from this show. This release represents a very important historic document and is recommended for study to any collector who wishes to touch the Presley magic besides his studio recordings.

February 2007

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