This FTD was really the first that gave me heavy doubts whether to buy it or not, is it really a buy against better knowing?
Design
You can really speak of a design. The front cover is just a (pale) picture with name and title on it. The picture itself isn’t too bad for 1977, and at least it fits the period of time. Elvis didn’t look like “I’m almost going” as he does on many other 1977-shots.
The back and inside are a bit messy because of the way the small pictures are presented, it just doesn’t fit. All in all, one can’t blame the photographer (Keith Alverson) for the way Elvis looked back then… and whatever design efforts one puts in it, it can hardly get any better.
Content
All though I knew a lot of the material from bootlegs – and yes when I got them for the first time I was pleased with them. That was probably because it was new, and there wasn’t too much in such sound quality. Unfortunately that sound does show very effectively that Elvis shouldn’t be on stage, but in a hospital. This time I could leave the skip button for one and a half song, Elvis sounds completely out of breath, hoarse, totally uninspired and sometimes completely out of tune. No wonder; it must be a hell on stage if you are feeling as good as he looks, but it is a bloody shame that he needed the money so hard that he kept on going.
Skipping through the content and listening to everything for not more than a handful of seconds I got sadder and sadder. I never understood why “Where No One Stands Alone” is so much praised… I only feel sorry for the guy trying so hard and still being unable to deliver a decent job like he used to do only a couple of years earlier. This time the track is distorted with quite some cracks, due to a bad recording according Ernst Jorgensen. I really doubt if that is the reason – I guess Lene Reidel (who mastered the CD) felt so sorry she added an extra reason for annoyance, just to take the attention from Elvis’ failure. It’s funny and fitting that the only acceptable track to my ears is a real blues… “Reconsider Baby”.
Anyway, if FTD decides to replace the defective release with a new one, I’ll save my dealer the money for sending it. My audio equipment doesn’t deserve the punishment to have to play this thing ever again.
Conclusion
Looking at the poll on this site I have to conclude that 79% of the voters is either deaf or fanatic like Al Qaeda followers – although less harmful. C’mon everybody… you can’t be serious by voting this escape “a great release”, to me it is the worst official Elvis release ever.
Tracklisting