Now about the most important on this 2CD-set: the music. Of course (almost) everything is released before on bootlegs and it is very well known material. Why should you buy it? Except for the booklet the quality might be the reason. This CD-set is in one word great. For people only buying the regular stuff there are 22 previously unreleased tracks. The other group of fans still have the quality left.
On the first CD there are 16 tracks, all from the studio recordings and the standup-shows. It starts with the Trouble/Guitar Man medley which started the special itself too. Then we get a mixture of the two standup-shows, all songs once: Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up, Can't Help Falling in Love, Jailhouse Rock, Don't Be Cruel, Love Me Tender and Baby What You Want Me to Do (!) from the 6 P.M.-show and Blue Suede Shoes and Trouble/Guitar Man are taken from the 8 P.M.-show. It is almost impossible to name a highlight from these tracks. When I really have to do one, it should be Baby What You Want Me to Do because of it's rareness but mainly because this is just one of my favorite Elvis-songs. This 3 minute plus version starts with a pretty long and heavy intro. But as I said, all songs are great and the fooling around during Trouble/Guitar Man is fun to hear.
Then we get the complete Gospel Medley, including the vocals by Darlene Love on Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child and a marvelous finale of Saved. The studio version of Memories is next up. This song needs no extra words, just one of the best songs ever. A Little Less Conversation sounds a little strange because of the overdub, but when Elvis gets loose in the second part it's a rockin' diamond. Now we get the Road Medley, listed wrong on the cover. It is the complete 15 minute version of the original scene, including of course Nothingville, Let Yourself Go, Big Boss Man, Little Egypt and Trouble. All songs were built upon an extended version of Guitar Man. CD1 is closed with the studiomaster of If I Can Dream.
CD 2 gives us some dressingroom rehearsals first: When It Rains, It Really Pours, Lawdy Miss Clawdy and Baby What You Want Me to Do show us why Steve Binder wanted the informal part in the special. Adjectives describing Elvis in this shape are not made yet. Or does anybody have a word for better than best? Last month's Tiger Man gave us the 8 P.M. sitdown show, and Memories has the full 6 P.M. show. A little more nervous this time, but I'll never get enough of these recordings: That's All Right, Heartbreak Hotel, Love Me, Baby What You Want Me to Do, Blue Suede Shoes, again Baby What You Want Me to Do, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Are You Lonesome, When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again, Blue Christmas, Trying to Get to You One Night, another Baby What You Want Me to Do, and an extra One Night and finally Memories. All songs can't be heard enough and especially Trying to Get to You and One Night show us why Elvis was, is and will be The King of Rock and Roll and that Artist of the Century certainly isn't too much for our man. The version of If I Can Dream used in the special is closing this CD.
I wouldn't be myself if I can't find any negative (next to the list-error) about this release. Mainly because I never get enough of this material, but I think a lot of fans think the same. Why didn't BMG release a 2 CD set like this (or even a single CD) for the common buyer and a 3 CD set for the collectors? Together with Tiger Man we have the two sitdown-shows complete now, but why not the complete standup-shows? They are getting so close... but still not perfect for me!
