Last week FTD released High Sierra and Showtime! Let’s have a closer look on the first one.

Design

Sit down and fasten your seatbelt, so you can’t fall off of your chair. This regular release has a booklet, a thin one, but still… it has a booklet. The booklet contains the basic info on the CD and some (amateur) pictures of the engagement. All together it is a nice gesture and finally something extra for the buyer.

Content

The main show sounds a bit smothered at the start, as if there’s a huge blanket over the stage, but I was either used to it fast or it did improve soon. Elvis does sound a lot more tired and has less fire than during the shows only 2 months earlier. Especially songs like Steamroller Blues and Tryin’ To Get To You suffer from it. On the other hand the set list is quite varied and as a matter of fact, from I Can’t Stop Loving You on the show gets a lot better. Bridge Over Troubled Water and Help Me (certainly not my favourite) get a fine treatment by Elvis and the band, but highlight of the main show to me is a beautiful rendition of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

The six bonus songs are all from the same engagement and a nice addition to the main event, and Spanish Eyes live is more or less a rarity, certainly to those that do not own imports.

Conclusion

It is not Elvis at his very best, but still an entertaining show and thus CD.