Title: Springtime In Nevada (released in 2005)

Label: Memory Records

Date: March 25, 1975, Las Vegas' Hilton, Las Vegas, Nevada + bonus tracks (25-29) April 26, 1975, Tampa, Florida, evening show

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

Concerts Rating: * * * * / * * * * * +

Tracks: 1.Opening Vamp / See See Rider 2.I Got A Woman / Amen (medley) 3.I Can Help (excerpt) / Love Me 4.If You Love Me (Let Me Know) 5.And I Love You So 6.Big Boss Man 7.It's Midnight 8.Dialogues, jokes 9.Promised Land 10.Fairytale 11.Band Introductions 12.What'd I Say 13.Drums Solo 14.Bass Solo 15.Piano Solo 16. Electric Piano Solo 17.School Day (Hail Hail Rock'n'Roll) 18.My Boy 19.I'll Remember You 20.Let Me Be There 21.Heartbreak Hotel 22.Hound Dog 23.Can't Help Falling In Love 24. Closing Vamp / Announcements Bonus tracks: 25. Help Me 26. Burning Love 27. My Boy 28. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 29. Hawaiian Wedding Song (Duration: 69 min. 21 sec.)

Package: A fine one, we are pretty used to the MR packaging style, at least it is much better than some of their poor CDs from earlier this year. Technical data, plus background information on Elvis' life in 1975 - a fine package with some fine photographs.

Elvis: He is very relaxed, offering a real Las-Vegas feeling of the show, which means getting in touch with the audience through monologues and jokes. Probably, the worst part of it all is the sound quality, but we can live it, or can't we?

Highlights: The middle part is simply great - both the powerful ballads and rock-n-roll numbers are very good.

Review: Having faced the problem of not being able to show up in time for the Vegas opening (on January 26) Elvis' winter festival in Vegas was postponed until March. In the meantime Elvis put all his effort on studio work resulting an underrated but pretty strong album - Elvis Today. Back on his way to the Vegas audience Elvis rehearsed some of the new material (around 6 songs from this album would appear in his live act in the following four months) plus old but not forgotten hits and new covers (of which apparently only You're The Reason I'm Living made it up into his act and unfortunately only once).

Curiously, the cover states that this is the dinner show of March 23, but most probably it is March 25-th dinner show, since both the press-release and inside liner notes indicate this date. This is a yet another average sounding audience recording from MR, we could have expected something better in the light of the fact that FTD has recently released a soundboard from this season, but most likely there are not too many tapes to choose from so they just put out what they had. Compared to a yet another MR release from this season (Aztec King) this tape seems a bit worse.

It starts from the middle of the intro of See See Rider. Elvis' voice is pretty strong - not too many voice improvisation here, but he is clearly strong in voice. Elvis talks to the audience all the way through the "Well, well" intro and laughs all the way through it as well. The song itself is a yet another uninspired rendition, but Elvis' voice is still pretty strong. He talks to the audience and throws some jokes before starting Love Me, which features nothing outstanding (although it seems that Elvis' voice is very well controlled). A little rushed If You Love Me follows, Elvis' voice is very strong here on the higher notes during the refrain, and less controlled during the choruses, whereas Duke's bass line looses much when compared to Jerry Scheff's from a month later. The first song from Elvis' new album follows - a wonderful and tender rendition of And I Love You So. Big Boss Man truly rocks, Elvis throws some vocal improvisation. It's Midnight is proceeded with some chatter, unfortunately, the sound quality doesn't let us fully understand everything. He throws some lines (and jokes) here and there during the song, loosing concentration but not power in voice. Elvis then takes the time to point at the keys that have been thrown onstage and entertains the audience with some jokes. David Briggs takes the electric piano intro of Promised Land, the only minus in which are the orchestra additions in the arrangement.

A part of the tape probably misses, since not even hearing the ending of Promised Land completely we get to hear the intro of Fairytale. This rendition is slower than it would become in the following years and Elvis' voice is fine. The following band intros are longer than previously, but thanks God they give no feeling of the never-ending ceremony from the later years. The following My Boy performance is very good too, even if we admit that we have heard similar (sometimes even better) performances from other concerts. The slow part continues with a fair rendition of I'll Remember You, a kind of revived song Elvis hadn't performed too often in the previous year and a half. Uncontrolled laughter finds it's way into the performance in a couple of lines, but this only adds something special to this version. A little rushed Let Me Be There follows, we have heard better versions. Heartbreak Hotel is a fine performance but it doesn't make our hearts break or even tremble. The concert comes to a close with a very poor Hound Dog and standard and uninspired Can't Help Falling In Love - both songs giving a rather bad taste after a fine concert.

The bonus tracks take us to the beginning of Elvis' spring tour just three weeks after the the Vegas closing. The biggest change was Jerry Scheff's comeback to the TCB band after a two years absence. Help Me begins the series of four songs not included into the March 23 concert. This version is very good. Burning Love was performed pretty often beginning from this tour often changing it's place in the song-lineup with Polk Salad Annie. This version as often features Elvis forgetting words. My Boy is a fine rendition which might explain it's inclusion into the set list - the phrasing is just great closer to the end. One of the first versions of T-R-O-U-B-L-E (though being a little unsure on Elvis' and even band's parts) only makes us wonder why hadn't it been added to the Las Vegas' performances. The CD comes to an end with a pretty rare Hawaiian Wedding Song.

We could have lived without the bonus tracks which however add something to the CD. The concert starts well, gets a great approach in the middle and looses it's appeal in the end. As you see, this is not a too bad scheme, however, the sound quality forces us to place this release into the die-hard fans' sector, since it's very similar to the few soundboards we have from the spring festival in Vegas.

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