The main negative of the album were the number of shortened, quick presentations of his classic songs. “That’s All Right,” “Hound Dog,” “Teddy Bear/Don’t Be Cruel,” “What’d I Say” and others had been performed hundreds of times by Elvis and he is not vested in the performances but rather just wants to satisfy the fans. I also could have lived without the fan comments interspersed between the tracks. They are unnecessary, untrue and hurt the flow of the music.
There were a few other representative performances. “O Sole Mio/It’s Now Or Never” is a unique presentation of these two songs that share the same musical structure. “Early Morning Rain” is given an understated vocal by Elvis that fits this folk song just right. “Hawaiian Wedding Song” is resurrected for a nice performance.
Elvis In Concert is by no means a great album but is certainly representative of Elvis near the end of his life.
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
Isn't there an album that's just the King's onstage banter - and did I miss the review already?
2 - David Bowling
Greetings. "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage" was issued in 1974 and contains 37 minutes of banter and jokes. There is no song to be found on this album. I just could not bring myself to review the worst album of Elvis' career. How it reached number nine on the country charts I will never know. Thanks, David
3 - Nina
Fairytale is the song that always got me on this recording and Elvis seemed to be having fun with it.
I agree the fan comments were pointless - they ruined the tv broadcast, as did the endless audience cutaways.
They filmed three shows for the special and picked the worst one to broadcast.
Elvis' final show, uninterrupted by the cutaways, is not as painful as the tv special - and he has more energy and put more effort into the show.