Title: The Eagle Has Landed (released in 2002)

Label: Moon 1969

Date: June 4, 1975, Houston, TX, except tracks 1, 2 and first half of the I Got A Woman / Amen medley May 6, 1975

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

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

Tracks: 1.2001 Theme 2.C. C. Rider 3.I Got A Woman / Amen 4.Love Me 5.If You Love Me (Let Me Know) 6.Love Me Tender 7.All Shook Up 8.Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel 9.Hound Dog 10.The Eyes Of Texas (two lines) 11.The Wonder Of You 12.Burning Love 13.Group Introductions 14.Guitar solo 15.Drum solo 16.Bass solo 17.Piano solo 18.More Group Introductions 19.Orchestra solo 20.T-R-O-U-B-L-E (incomplete) 21.Why Me Lord? 22.How Great Thou Art (with reprise) 23.Let Me Be There 24.American Trilogy 25.Funny How Time Slips Away (with reprise) 26.Little Darlin' 27.Mystery Train/Tiger Man 28.Can't Help Falling In Love 29.Closing Vamp

Elvis: He is having a good time on stage, throwing standard jokes from this tour and enjoying every second of the show. He's in very high spirits.

Highlights: The program is pretty standard for this tour and the performances are mostly very good, if I could name any real highlights they would be as follows: Why Me Lord?, How Great Thou Art (though it's still not as good as on the Memphis show some 6 days later) and a very funny Little Darling. The show was re-released on the CD The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You.

Review: The May-June 1975 tour was one of the finest tours Elvis ever gave. He was full of energy, giving 200% on every concert. His voice seemed a little weak and thin at times, but the performances were great anyway. This tour was almost completely recorded (thanks God!) and now we have the opportunity to judge ourselves about these concerts. And I must tell you that it is great to review a damn fine concert!

The lights go down and 2001 kicks off. When Ronnie Tutt begins the opening vamp, the audience is already going crazy. When Elvis finally gets onstage a couple of beats later, the reaction is very warm. Elvis sings strong, and enjoys himself. "This place looks familiar to me, I don't know why it is. Have we been here before? I am only kidding". From the usual "Well, well, well" routine Elvis goes into a good version of I Got A Woman, though he sounds a bit weak on the high notes. It's obvious that he is having fun and that means a lot. During the Amen segment, the tape source changes and that's when the Houston concert starts in fact. The sound quality is a bit worse, there's a lot of noise and it's mostly Elvis and the back up groups, while all the musicians, especially Glen D. Hardin are way back. "Thank you very much, they have just ended the show also" Elvis says right after J.D. Sumner's low note and before the ending of I Got A Woman. "Hope you have a good time this evening, we're gonna do a lot of songs" he says and launches into the last part of I Got A Woman. After a laughing for a while he says "Good afternoon, good evening, whatever it is". After a little greeting dialogue Elvis goes into scarf - giving Love Me, which is a throw away, as always. If You Love Me is a standard 1975 version, Elvis' voice seems weaker than it had a year before during the August - September engagement in Vegas, but still you feel that Elvis really digs the song. After the song Elvis goes to the sound engineers and you can hear him saying off mike: "One more feedback, and this goes into your ass hole!" But anyway, back to the show, next is a series of oldies, starting with Love Me Tender, which is a "you have made my scarf turn blue" version, and also it is longer than usual, Elvis does a full version of this song. "Don't tell me what's next" Elvis says before Don't Be Cruel / Teddy Bear medley which, by the way isn't serious at all (was it really necessary to write that?). After Hound Dog comes a little surprise - two lines of The Eyes Of Texas, which Elvis introduces as "a song we had out about two years ago". Much to the fans disappointment it is really short and then Elvis launches into The Wonder Of You, which in 1975, in my opinion, sounded much worse than it had in February 1970. "Play something!" Elvis says to James Burton before his solo (as if James didn't know what to play :-)) Burning Love is next, and much to my surprise (as in case with so many other versions from that period) it is a very inspired version. According to a lot of people he didn't like the song very much at the time of it's recording and it is strange that he has started singing it again during 1975.

"Thank you very much, I'd like to introduce you to the members of my crew, before we go any further" Elvis says and goes into the intros. When introducing the Stamps Quartet, he says "I'd like to introduce you to them individually, but they ain't worth it" and he goes on introducing Kathy Westmoreland! Then he says that she is the girl "who laughs a lot". When he introduces John, he says "From Springfield Mess is it Miss? Missouri is John Wilkinson. Do something, John, hit it... Oh, you can't do, ha-ha". "My sound engineers - Felton Jarvis and Bruce whatever his name is, Bill Porter, have probably done one of the worst jobs tonight I've ever heard of, so..." Elvis says before introducing the orchestra.

"We have a new song that came out this past week it's called T-R-O-U-B-L-E". This version (as many others) is a bit insecure, but interesting to hear. Why Me Lord? is even more funny than ever, J.D. can't even go on, so the Sweet Inspirations have to help him! "Help me J.D., your soul's in your hand" Elvis sings. "I'd like to do a serious gospel song" Elvis says before introducing How Great Thou Art, during the intro of which he says "I hope, I hope". The 1975 versions of this song are very beautiful, but still this version doesn't match the beauty of the June 10-th Memphis' version (Let me Take you Home), which is one of the best live versions ever. Let Me Be There is the "shouting" version, not very good, but Elvis sounds great. American Trilogy is as good as always, very emotional. After the trumpet solo which has replaced the flute solo, Elvis shouts "Right, DAMN RIGHT!" After a standard Funny How Time Slips Away, Elvis goes into a very funny Little Darling. Next is a damn fine "Mystery Train / Tiger Man" medley, which is very well greeted. "I'd like to say that you've been a fantastic audience, you've been very responsive tonight and it's been a pleasure to be working for you, until the next time we see you, God bless you and be careful going home", Elvis says before Glen D. carries the band to Can't Help Falling In Love.

So, what I can say as a conclusion, is that this CD offers us a very good concert, but the sound quality of this recording is not very good, it is worse than, for example, the sound on Let Me Take you Home, which offers a similar concert from 6 days later. So if you already have other CDs from this tour - you should listen to this one too, if you don't, you'd better get others (if you have a chance) first, because this one has worse sound quality.

Review by Christopher Brown (witness of the show). The review is taken from his book On Tour With Elvis: The houselights dim, the band, orchestra and back-up vocalists perform the impressive and spine-tingling ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA. Elvis comes on stage to a thunderous, standing ovation. He's wearing the beautiful dark blue jumpsuit with silver eagle emblazoned across the front and back, with silver stitching down both legs. A really beautiful suit.

Charlie hands Elvis his guitar, which he prompty places over his head, and onto his shoulders. The guitar, though, would be unplayed, used only for effect, and punctuating the music.

Moving up to the microphone, which is standing alone near the front of the stage, Elvis takes the microphone in his right hand, leans back, and roars into the familiar, but still exciting, SEE SEE RIDER. By now, I have seen eight shows on this tour, and yet I still feel the same anticipation and excitement of seeing Elvis arrive on stage, and begin his show. I never, ever, grow tired of this song!

Near the conclusion of the 'See See Rider', Elvis yells out "... two ...", and slides his left leg out. "Three ..." he yells, sliding that leg a little further out. Elvis continues counting, up to "five", and ends the song by thrusting his guitar into the air and towards the back-up vocalists.

Smiling brightly, Elvis walks back to the microphone, and says, "... thank you very much. Well well well well well well, well well, well well well, well well well ..." and with J.Do chiming in with a 'well', Elvis says, "... that's it, thank you very much ..." As the crowd begins to laugh, he launches into I GOT A WOMAN, and finishes, as usual, with one verse of AMEN.

Pausing on the last 'amen', Elvis quickly snaps his head and hips to the left, and then in an effort to 'fix' what he had done, moves his head and hips slowly to the right several times.

As Elvis starts to move his legs faster, Ronnie bangs the drums in time. With his left hand, Elvis signals to Ronnie to stop, saying, "... wooh, that's enough of that. I just ate. Meenn ..e" Elvis sings. "Go get it, J.D." Standing in front of the drums, Elvis crouches slightly, raises his arms, and begins to lower and then raise them slowly as J.D. and the singers take the last note down, and then back up again.

Walking back to the microphone, Elvis comments about J.D.'s effort, but doesn't ask him to try to improve it. Elvis sings the famous slow ending of 'I Got A Woman', and with his back facing Charlie, thrusts the guitar back and forth in the air, stabbing the air while accentuating the musical finale of the song.

As the music and voices conclude, Elvis flings his guitar over his right shoulder to Charlie who catches it by its long neck. Setting it down beside the piano, Charlie quickly removes the microphone stand. Elvis, now holding his microphone, will not use the stand again.

"Thank you very much. Good aft .., good evening, whatever it is? Hope you have a good time this evening. I'll turn around, I'll turn around, just give me a chance ..." Elvis says in response to the many screams from the hundreds of fans seated behind the stage. They would continue throughout the show to ask/plead/demand that Elvis turn around, and give them some attention.

"We're gonna do a lot of songs, and ah, we hope that we do something that you like, you know. I'll be back over there, just hang on." Elvis begins singing LOVE ME, and the band is quick to join in after he sings "... treat me ..." Elvis again makes the back-up vocalists hold the last note for an extended period of time, having fun watching their reactions.

"Thank you very much." Responding to a girl down front he says, "I'll see you after the show." Turning to the band, Elvis commands them to, "... take it on ..."

As the opening bars of IF YOU LOVE ME, LET ME KNOW begin, Elvis hums along with the music for the first time on the tour. Midway through this terrific performance, some annoying feedback rattles through the speakers. Elvis turns his head to see the sound engineers, and says with an angry -- and I do mean angry -- expression, "Come on!"

"Thank you. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. Ah, my first movie was 'Love Me Tender' ha ha, 'Love Me Tender', so I'd like to sing a little bit of that for you. I'd like to tell you something. We played the Astrodome, you know, and, ah, this is a little big Astrodome, and it's nothing like that big dude. Whew! I'm telling you, I knew what the Christians felt like when they were fed to the lions. Ha ha. I was in the middle of the stage going like this ..." Eivis says as he spins quickly round and round. "I'd take a bow at the end of a song, swish!, I'd get back up, and I'd be facing a cow."

While talking, Elvis gives out several scarves. There is always a lot of screaming by women who are too far away to even have a chance at catching one -- but they scream nonetheless. It is always amazing to see the common reaction in the crowd to Elvis. "LOVE ME TENDER, love me true, never let me go, you have made my scarf turn, wooh!" Elvis exclaims, as a scarf is grabbed from him.

"Thank you. Well a-bless a-my soul ..." Elvis sings quickly, performing a brief version of ALL SHOOK UP.

"Thank you very much." Elvis comments about giving out scarves, and asks, "... can you imagine the Astrodome? Wooh, 14,000, wooh ..." Elvis says, joking about how much it would take to satisfy all those who would want scarves.

Elvis now begins a medley of TEDDY BEAR/DON'T BE CRUEL, which is sung quickly, but clearly. Elvis accentuates the line, "... PUT A CHAIN AROUND MY NECK AND LEAD ME ANYWHERE ..." Great!

"Thank you very much. You aaaaiiiinnnn't ..." Elvis sings, really stretching this word out, "... nothin' but a HOUND DOG ..." The crowd responds wildly as Elvis performs this, relying heavily on the band to carry it. With a loud "Wooh," Elvis concludes this short version.

"Thank you very much. Thank you. THE EYES OF TEXAS are upon us, all the live long day ..." Elvis sings, and the audience is quick to begin singing along with him. However, Elvis says "... that's it ...", and although the audience continues singing the next line, Elvis has already turned to the band, and can be heard telling them to play "... The Wonder Of You". Having ended 'The Eyes of Texas' at this second line, Elvis disappoints a lot of people who would have loved to have heard the entire song.

During THE WONDER OF YOU, Elvis receives some more feedback noise, which prompts him to walk over to his sound engineers, and say something to them. I can't hear what he says, and I'm probably glad I can't. At the instrumental break, Elvis, looking at James, says, "... play it James ..." Good strong finish, as the song is well received by the audience.

"Thank you. 'Burning Love' ..." A fantastic version of BURNING LOVE follows, with a very exciting and energetic ending. "Thank you."

"Ah, I'd like to introduce you to the members of my group before we go any further. You know it's funny, ha ha, all those binoculars, they look like frogs."

"First of all, the young ladies that opened ... They didn't open our show, they used to ..." Screams' "What's the matter with you?" Elvis asks a frantic fan down in front. "They've been with me for about five years, I think they're fantastic. The Sweet Inspirations. They used to be called the Crewcuts, did you know that?. You look like Flip Wilson ..." Elvis says to the Sweet he continuously calls Flip, "... I've already told you that."

"One of the finest gospel quartets in the nation, and some parts of Africa, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet. I'd like to introduce these fellows individually, but it, it ain't worth it, you know. Know what I mean? Ha ha."

"The little girl that, ha ha, the little girl that does our high-voice singing, she's from Los Angeles, her name is Kathy Westmoreland."

"On the rhythm guitar from Springfield, Mass., or is it Miss ..." at which point John leans over and tells Elvis, 'Miss'. Elvis goes on, "... Missouri! Thank you", he says to John. "Is John Wilkinson."

"On the lead guitar from Shreveport, Louisiana is James Burton. Play something ..." Elvis says, as James,plays some mean guitar licks, and Elvis joins in on a verse of JOHHNY B. GOODE. "Yeah."

"On the drums from Dallas, Texas, is hard-working Ronnie Tutt." Ronnie performs his solo, as Elvis stands by in wonder.

"On the fender bass, from up in Canada, is Jerry Scheff. Play the blues. Jerry." Elvis hums and 'ahs' in time with the solo.

On Glenn Hardin's piano solo, Elvis is so involved and excited at the performance, that he encourages the soloist with, "... one more time, Glenn."

"The guy who gives me my water and scarves, and the poor guy's going to go blind, he can hardly see me on stage ..." Elvis says, as he begins imitating Charlie by squinting his eyes, and extending his arm out as if groping in the dark for something.

While looking over at The Sweet Inspirations, you could almost see a twinkle in Elvis' eyes as he says to the Sweet, whom he calls Flip, "...hey, you know, you're not suppose to yawn on stage. Don't yawn, really. If you're tired, go to bed somewhere, but don't yawn out here."

Elvis turns to introduce Voice, and unfortunately misses seeing her get up from her stool, and pretend to leave the stage. Since Elvis does not notice her move, she sits back down.

"The fellows that opened our show tonight shouldn't have never done it ..." Elvis says. He is obviously grammatically incorrect, but each word is said as it came to his mind, and in his effort to be funny, the line simply comes out that way. "Not I mean ... my sound engineers over here, Felton Jarvis, Bruce what-ever-his-name is, are doing one of the worst jobs I've ever heard tonight."

"Our conductor is from Syracuse New York.No, no, Buffalo, New York."

Joe is playing with the Texas Longhorns ... I mean ... he's playing with the Joe Guercio Orchestra."

"We've got a new song out. Ladies and Gentlemen. And it is the kind of song that if you miss a word you might as well hang it up ..." which leads into a great version of T-R-0-U-B-L-E.

"Thank you very much. Thank you. Ah, I'd like to ask the Stamps, just a minute! I'd like to ask the Stamps Quartet to sing WHY ME, LORD? Fellows, would you sing it for me?" he asks, very politely. As J.D. sings 'tell me Lord, what did I ever do,' Elvis responds with, "... not enough ..."

Elvis gives this version one of his better efforts on the tour, holding several of the notes a little longer than usual. Following the first chorus where Elvis joins in, he looks at J.D., and with a mischievious smile, says, "... sing it, J.D. ...", using his high Geraldine voice.

Elvis proceeds to place a scarf over his head, and standing beside J.D., carries on in that voice, trying to make J.D. laugh. Elvis is successful, and J.D. cannot sing several lines because he is laughing so much. At the conclusion of the song, Elvis sings, "... so help J.D., your mouth's in your hand ..."

"Don't go away, you're not finished yet ..." he says to the Stamps who are returning to their stools. "I'd like to ah, this features the Stamps, HOW GREAT THOU ART." During this truly outstanding number which is one of the highlights of any Elvis concert, and maybe THE highlight, Elvis motions for the band to watch him closely.

At this time in Elvis' concert performances, he is just beginning to experiment with holding the notes in one of the lines of this song. This evening is no exception. Elvis reaches down, and turns the volume up on the line, "... then I shall bow, in humble adoration, and there proclaim OH MY GOOOODDDDD HOW GREAT THOU ART ..." Wow! It sends shivers up and down my back, and from the response that Elvis receives, many in the crowd must experience the same sensation!

During the chorus, many of the fans are clapping, and about half of them are standing and clapping. Everyone is standing when Elvis hits the final note, rewarding him with a justified standing ovation. And, they do not stop applauding. He has given us an amazing performance of one of his favourite songs, and the crowd wants more.

Of everything I have heard so far during this twelve day, seventeen show tour, this is the best! Such emotion! Elvis has put everything he has into this particular performance, and much to my joy, he repeats the chorus again from the line, "... then sings my soul, my saviour God to thee ..." and on the last few lines, "... OH HOW GREAT THOU ART, HOW GREAT THOU AAAAARRRRRTTTTTT ..." This second effort takes a lot out of Elvis. I know, I am very close to him, and I can see the strain on him, and the sweat pouring down his face.

"Wooh. Thank you. Take it on." Yet, he pushes on with a stunning and powerful performance of LET ME BE THERE. During the song, it is very easy to see the sweat pouring down his face, particularly when he shakes his head, accentuating many of the lyrics. Elvis really rings out many of the lines for all they're worth, almost shouting them as he performs this song.

"Thank you very much. Trilogy." Elvis now takes an opportunity to settle the audience down a little. He really has them (us) in his hands, and things could get out of control. Elvis has learned by now how to work an audience so they don't become uncontrollable. He performs a medley of 'Dixie,' 'Battle Hymn of the Republic,' and 'All My Trials' -- better known as an AN AMERICAN TRILOGY.

While the Stamps sing the line, 'oh I wish I was in Dixie,' Elvis blurts out "... you are!" Unlike some previous shows, very few stand up and applaud his comment.

Elvis plays with the phrasing of the lyrics, accentuating several lines. For example, he quickly sings, "... glory glory ..." almost as if it was one word.

While the trumpet solo plays, in place of the flute solo all fans are familiar with, all of the band members, with some of them crossing their heart with their hand, turn and face the soloist -- including Elvis!

As the crescendo builds, Elvis doesn't sing 'Glory Glory' because, again, he is looking angrily at his sound engineers. When, however, he hits the last note, he reaches for his highest note possible -- and again sets my spine a-tingling. To really dramatize this, Elvis uses his falsetto on the very last note, after already hitting it authoritatively within his high range. (Elvis' range still amazes me.) I have never heard him do this before.

"Thank you very much. I tell you what I'd like to do now. Now that you've had a chance to see, look at us, I'd like to turn the houselights up ... " As usual, this request is always greeted with a tremendous screaming response from the audience. "I love you too, honey! ..." he says.

A girl in the fourth row wants a scarf, and Elvis tells her, "Honey, I'll try!" Walking to the back of the stage, which was the highest I'd seen him perform on to date, Elvis looks over the screaming throng who are seated behind the stage. Responding to the screaming, Elvis says, "Honey, I can't. There's no way I can get down there. I mean, I can, but I won't! Well, hello there ..." he begins singing.

During FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY, Elvis walks to the far side of the stage from me, and sits down beside Glenn on the piano bench for about thirty seconds. As Elvis sings, the demand for scarves is never ending. But as he's passing out some more scarves, he recognizes someone requesting a scarf, and says, "... you've already got one ..."

"Never know when I'll be back in town ..." he sings, mocking himself by saying in a very low voice, "... tomorrow night, you goof!" Again, Elvis uses his falsetto on the word 'you' in the line, "... but I remember what I told y-o-u ..." Elvis draws out the ending of the song to highlight J.D.'s voice.

"I'd like to do just the end of that song again, listen to our bass singer, he goes down, to ah, a low, what?, low doe? Anyway, just listen to him." Quickly, Elvis repeats the last line so J.D, may sing, but he fools around by singing "... ain't it funny, ha ha ha ha ..."

Turning to the band, Elvis says, "LITTLE DARLIN' ...," and quickly the band begins playing. Elvis sways back and forth across the stage as if he is drunk with love, satirizing the fifties and having a ball. Each time I see Elvis perform this, he appears to enjoy it more.

During the recitation portion of 'Little Darlin',' Elvis plays with the line, "... to hold in mine, your little ..." short pause, "... hand ..." Elvis then laughs through the remainder of the recitation. Still ad-libbing with the song, Elvis sings during the chorus, "... my dear, I was crazy, wrong!, to try ..." Elvis concludes with a high falsetto.

"Do you know what that song says? I have no idea what that song has to say. Ha whoopa hoop hoopa hoopa hoopa, wella wella wella wella la la la ...", and sung real high, "... was just .,. Let's do MYSTERY TRAIN ..." which of course is done in a medley with TIGER MAN.

During the instrumental break in 'Mystery Train,' Elvis plays his imaginary guitar. He tries to move like he used to, but the strobe light needs to compensate for some lost years. The crowd is really roaring, thoroughly enjoying watching Elvis have so much fun on stage.

"Thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you. Let me tell you that, you're a fantastic audience, you really are. You were with me right from the first, and until we see you again. God bless you." Elvis begins his closing number, CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE, and with hands reaching and pulling, Elvis gives out his last few scarves.

As usual, Elvis stays on the stage as the CLOSING VAMP is played for several minutes -- shaking hands and waving goodnight. A great show! Great seats! And, amazingly, there is still more to come.

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