Is this Fairytale release with Elvis' December 6, 1975 Dinner Show a dream come true?
Design
The two pages booklet has very little design; Elvis against the background of the Las Vegas Hilton marquee and two other pictures on the inside and back cover where you also get the track listing.
Content
It is a bit tricky to talk about content here; Elvis is vaguely audible in the background. This is a real pity. This 14th Las Vegas season got rave reviews from the press. In this dead period of the year for Las Vegas Elvis sold out every of his sixteen concerts while the other shows on the strip rarely attracted more that fifty people per show according to Stein Erik Skar’s “The Concert Years”. Elvis was still overweight but his voice was strong again and Elvis was in a good – humorous – mood. One of the few advantages of this release being an audience recording is that you do hear the crowd’s reaction to that guy in the background. This release could have been a dream-come-true to hear a good and humorous Elvis in good quality … but I guess we’ll have to wait for a better release. Until then we can still enjoy the “Dinner At Eight” soundboard release on the Follow That Dream label or the soundboard import releases “Just Pretend”, “All Shook Up” and volume four in the “Unsurpassed Masters” series. With five other audience recordings available this engagement has been covered very well.
Conclusion
This fairytale release is probably a dream come true for those who were there, to relive - as far as possible – the fairytale of seeing Elvis life in concert
Track listing
2001 Theme / C. C. Rider / I Got A Woman - Amen / Happy Birthday Lisa / Happy Birthday David / Love Me / Fairytale / And I Love You So / Trying To Get To You / All Shook Up / Teddy Bear - Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog / Sweet Caroline / Polk Salad Annie / Introductions / Johnny B. Goode / Band solos and Introductions / Hail Hail Rock'n'Roll / Elvis Introduces Mrs. Parker, Lisa Marie & Vernon Presley / Just Pretend / How Great Thou Art / Burning Love / Softly, As I Leave You / America The Beautiful / Can't Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp