Recently released on the Crown label is the 3rd version of the New Year’s Eve concert of 1976 in Pittsburgh. Was this release really necessary?

Design

We can be very short about this. There is no design, the only thing that this digipack can go for is the ugliest cover ever. Bad quality pictures, most not even from the show itself, while there are many of those available.

Content

We won’t go into detail on the content, since after the original release on vinyl (“Rockin’ With Elvis On New Year’s Eve”), its incomplete CD-version from the late 80’s and the 1995 release “Auld Lang Syne”, many fans will be familiar with the show itself. It’s enough to say it’s a high quality show, certainly for a post 1975 show. The sound quality of this audience recording is improved over both predecessors, although taste can differ in comparison with “Auld Lang Syne”, where Elvis’ voice was more upfront and on this one some irritating clicks can be heard.

Conclusion

We see this release as nearly unnecessary, if you already have “Auld Lang Syne”, you can easily skip it and keep hoping for a soundboard release of this show. If you missed the former one, you might want to add this one to your collection, and also keep hoping for a soundboard release.