The Night Time Is The Right Time For A Perfect Gift

Since FTD announced they will finally (a track from this show was on the first FTD-sampler a few years back) release the soundboard recording of the “Mother’s Day” Show in Lake Tahoe from May 13, 1973, this review seems a bit superfluous. For those that want to know everything and those that took the effort to produce these CD’s, we do it anyway. Time for a little correction on the last sentence, since “The Perfect Gift” on the Triangle label is a manufactory made CDR, while Lone Star’s Volume 4 in the “The Man in White”-series is a real CD.

Cover art

Both releases do not stand out regarding design, although the Lone Star CD looks a bit more “professional”, while “The Perfect Gift” has a touch of devoted “home cooking”. The first CD has a small booklet in opposite of the plain inlay of the second, but that one has a advantage on the back: the track numbers are included.

Content

Both discs have the same content that was already released on a silver disc called “Live In Lake Tahoe” years ago. So this show will be known to a lot of fans, for the others: it is a fantastic one. Without kidding, Elvis really did a hell of a job that night, with regulars but also with some more or less rare songs, like a short version of “Release Me” and “Faded Love”. Since this review is meant to be a competitive examination we do that part of the work now. We can be very short about it: both CD's are better than the release from years back. But it is like listening to a real good audience recording ("Man In White") or like listening to the same show by telephone ("Perfect Gift"). The dynamics and depth of the first are so much wider that there can’t be spoken of real competition.

Conclusion

A few months ago we didn’t understand why “The Perfect Gift” was released like a rush release, while the Lone Star label had already announced its release for some time. And now the Lone Star (finally) arrived, we still have no clue about it. If you had to choose between these two releases, it would have been an easy choice in our ears, the Lone Star wins hands down. Since FTD announced the soundboard release for October, most fans probably will wait for that one, although we know that a lot of colleagues like the “closeness” of an audience recording. For them “The Man In White, Volume 4: Night Time Is The Right Time” is a perfect gift.

Track listing:
See See Rider - I Got A Woman/ Amen - Help Me Make It Through The Night - Steamroller Blues - You Gave Me A Mountain - Love Me - Blue Suede Shoes - Long Tall Sally/ Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On/ Mama Don't Dance/ Shake, Rattle And Roll/ Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On - My Way - Hound Dog - What Now My Love? - Suspicious Minds - I'll Remember You - I Can't Stop Loving You - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Funny How Time Slips Away - It's Over - Release Me - Faded Love - Can't Help Falling In Love - Closing Vamp - Space 2001 - Announcement