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Burning Vegas Down

By Loes de Vries, May 26, 2002 | Music
This release was part of five rush releases in the first quarter of 2002. All digi packs from Teenager Records, mostly released before on CDR.

Design

A “new” release from Rex Records…….yes what can I say? The whole CD was released as a CDR a while ago so this version doesn’t bring us any surprises at all. To put it stronger: it gives us an awful looking digi pack CD with almost zero information, what I personally dislike very much.

They used almost the worst pictures ever taken of Elvis and in a bad quality. The colours are sober and not tasteful. It looks like they made a colour copy of the previous cover art and stuck that on the digi pack.

Content

But let’s listen to the show: Las Vegas Nevada, March 27, 1975, MS. Oh boy, is my stereo broken or what ?!? “Zarathustra” begins, but it’s such a skinny sound. It really brings me back to the stereo I had in 1975. But I must say I have no trouble at all to hear the crowd.

“CC Rider” is done in a quick way and hearing Elvis’ voice in the distance makes me shiver. “I Got A Woman/ Amen” swings like always, but I am still trying to survive this sound quality. Some guy in the audience is laughing so loud it gets annoying. Through some talking by Elvis we move to “Love Me”. There is one remark I would like to make: “no comment!”. Then “If You Love Me Let Me Know”, no surprises either. “And I Love You So” a very beautiful song in my opinion, but Elvis can do better then here. “Big Boss Man” follows. The band is playing in a hurry. Please give me the NBC version instead.

“Talking About The Whistle” is a short talk by Elvis. Nothing too special. “It’s Midnight” starts .. I do hope the technician got fired for making this recording. “Burning Love” should make me wanna dance, but I pass on this one. “Fairytale” is up next, this country song was never one of my favourites and this version doesn’t change my mind. Again some talking by Elvis called: “Fooling The Audience”. Then “My Boy” ; I hate it when he fools around with this song, but towards the end I finally hear some emotion coming through. “Help Me” is not inspiring either and “Let Me Be There” goes on in the same way.

My very personal favourite: “Until It’s Time For You To Go” follows, but please give me the studio version. Although I’m grateful Elvis doesn’t fool around on this one. With two lines of “The Lord’s Prayer” and some audience shouting we move to “Heartbreak Hotel”. A good version I even might say, but not as bluesy as in the good old days. “Hound Dog” is sung by Elvis, but that’s all I can say about it. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” starts strong … could there be a surprise after all on this release? Considering the bad sound quality this must be the highlight of this show. But sorry, towards the end it gets a bit messy and it ends disappointing. With “Can’t Help Falling In Love” there comes an end to this CD and I must say not a minute too late.

Conclusion

This release should have stayed a CDR. I am sure every show of Elvis was a big experience for the crowd while attending the show and actually see Elvis on stage, but to listen to it in this quality doesn’t live up to the real excitements. Personally my advice would be 'burn this CD down".

I would not buy this CD, but for the squirrels beyond the fans it is a chance to get a hold of yet another concert. Don’t expect too much though.

Playing time: 56'26/ Sound quality: 4/ Content 5/
Cover art: 4

As with all imports, we don't sell them. Neither do we know where you can order them.