Thanks to the mail services at either side of the pond it took a while before the most recent FTD-releases arrived at our place.  Was it worth the waiting for Elvis In West Texas that brought the Odessa, May 30, 1976 (evening) show?

Design

They tried to do something with the design, but the shape of Elvis prevented it from becoming attractive. The fontsize is terribly small, a pain in the behind to read, even with glasses.

Content

During Zarathustra there is some distortion, probably because of a damaged tape. In the intro of See See Rider David Briggs is VERY present and since I hate his instrument I feared for the remaining of the disc. Gladly it turned out that it isn’t that bad… regarding Briggs’ presence in the mix. After deciphering the text I found out it is because it’s not from the same show as the main part (but the afternoon show).

As soon as Elvis opened his mouth to chat it sounds as if he is practicing one of his better 70’s recordings… Talk in Your Sleep. Unfortunately the singing is not much better. Even If You Love Me (not one of the strongest songs, but uplifting most of the times) sounds dull and completely uninspired. Love Letters sounds so bad that it really hurts (since this week we say “Where is Giel when you need him” in cases like this in Holland).

The most positive thing that can be said about this show is that Singing Saw Nielsen didn’t ruin It’s Now Or Never further.

Conclusion

I can’t say if this is one of the worst shows Elvis ever did, because I tend to forget the bad ones as soon as possible. I can say that this one will be forgotten before the end of the year.