Title: Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 4 (released in 1993)

Label: Yellow Dog

Date: December, 13 1975 Las Vegas, Hilton, Evening Show

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

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

Tracks: 1.C.C. Rider 2.I Got A Woman / Amen 3.Love Me 4.Tryin' To Get To You 5.And I Love You So 6.All Shook Up 7.Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel 8.You Gave Me A Mountain 9.Help Me Make It Through The Night 10.Polk Salad Annie 11.Band Introductions 12. Just Pretend 13.How Great Thou Art 14.Burning Love 15.Hound Dog 16.Welcome To My World 17.Softly As I Leave You 18.America 19.It's Now Or Never / O' Sole Mio 20.Little Darling 21.Little Sister 22.Can't Help Falling In Love

Package: Since this is the same concert as presented on "Just Pretend" (released 2 years before this) the producers did not care much about the package. However it looks nice, especially the picture printed on the CD.

Elvis: He seems to be on drugs and tired. Nevertheless he does a great concert with awesome slow numbers. He is tired while speaking, but when singing his voice becomes very powerful. No usual jokes, just serious work and bad health.

Highlights: Although I said Elvis was tired, my favorites from this concert are, of course Just Pretend, Help me make it through the night, Burning Love and (how it is not strange) - I Got A Woman (rather quick number). Also Elvis tries to sing "O Sole Mio" in Italian and Welcome To My World: too bad that he does not succeed. This release also contains Shoool Days which for some reason was not on Just Pretend

Review: This is a great CD, though Elvis sounds very weak at times, but in a total we have a great concert.

This CD doesn't contain Also Sprach Zarathustra, like on many other concerts recorded in Las Vegas. So it starts directly from C. C. Rider, which is a very good version. The next performance is I Got A Woman, which is a standard version. The next is another version of Love me, which is a little different in the end, when the Sweet Inspirations an J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet sing the last note for some 20-30 seconds, which is very hard to do. After that Elvis begins a very powerful version of his 50-s classic Tryin' To Get To You, which is followed by a very slow and lovely And I Love You So. After that we have a "medley of some of his biggest hits", which means All Shook Up and Teddy Bear/Don't be Cruel, and they are very weak... He really had grown tired of singing this old songs time after time, year after year... After that Elvis says "Let's go on a Mountain", the orchestra begins the intro, and Elvis quickly stops everyone and begins singing the first lines of Welcome to My World, but as long as it isn't rehearsed, they can't do it, so the Band returns to the Mountain. After that Elvis says that Mr. and Mrs. Thompson threw the request of Help Me Make It Through The Night, and he sings it... After that he does a great Polk Salad Annie, which in my opinion is better than the 1972 versions ( I don't compare them with 1970 versions, 'cause I am sure that the first versions were better...).

The Band intros... I think that to describe them is the same thing as to tell how many love affairs Elvis had during his life... But anyway, he gave the intros and sang a great version of Just Pretend. Then comes the time of How Great Thou Art, which is really great... After ending it Elvis insists in doing the last part one more time, and it is even greater than the first time... It is followed by a strong version of Burning Love.

After all this Elvis asks if anybody wants to hear anything special. First of all he does Hound Dog, and after that somebody shouts "Welcome to my World", and Elvis sings it one more time. It is very sad that it was not rehearsed, so they do only the first verse. After that he does a version of the beautiful Softly as I Leave You, which was first used on a single, with the flip side America, The Beautiful from this concert. What follows is exactly... America. Then Elvis does a good version of It's Now Or Never, which is followed by O' Sole Mio, sung by Elvis. He didn't know the words, so he asked somebody of his group if they had the Italian version of it. And Elvis sings it. After that we can have fun with Little Darling, which is funny, just like always...

After that The King Is Back, with his Little Sister. It is a great rocking version, which is sung probably the last time so good. The concert ends with Can't Help Falling In Love, like always.

As a conclusion I can only say that this concert shows Elvis in good form. It is worth listening!

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