SR Records will release the second volume in their The Sound of Vegas-series, December Night, halfway November. The disc will contain the complete Midnight Show of December 4, 1976.
From the press-release:
As everybody knows SR concentrates on the early 70's live period of Elvis' activity; however in the past we pressed The Sound of Vegas vol.1 with focus on August 1973. This time, after fans requests, our tenth release will be a concert from the Vegas December 76 season, we are proud to present a very rare and complete show. Despite 1976 being not a great year, Elvis' love of singing is clear in this tape and we are glad to give you the opportunity to listen to it.
The Midnight Show from December 4th, as presented on this CD is a great show, with a great variety of songs, all performed with quality in a very high standard. If we look closely at the last Vegas season, we can see that Elvis although a little tired is still able to concentrate on the music to produce great shows. Elvis sings straight to the audience with pauses and jokes, but the performance is still solid; the variety of the repertoire is presented superbly. Songs like I got a Woman, You Gave Me a Mountain or Polk Salad Annie sound great; he presents some good oldies like Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Trying To Get To You and Jailhouse Rock which are performed well. The vocal power is demonstrated in the last single Hurt where Elvis’ voice reaches practically the sky, followed immediately by Hawaiian Wedding Song one of his best ballads. With the exception of some jokes like It’s Now Or Never or Hound Dog the show is perfect and is a pleasure to hear over and over thanks also to the fantastic audio quality that gives us the possibility for a hour to go back to the past .The best song from this midnight show is very hard to find, because the repertoire is solid, however we think the middle of You Gave me A Mountain and Polk Salad Annie has the right spirit of the show and the season.
This recording came from an early generation copy of the master tape; the sound quality is Very Very Good considering the limitation of the Audience Tape. The sound is clear with no audience background noise, the mix is great with practically all instrument presented in the original balance without any manipulation, a great tape for a great show a rare combination that we hope you can enjoy. The sound was restored in a studio to achieve the best possible result s. We have spent hours in the studio over the digital restoration of the sound, to achieve the best possible results and to give you the chance to listen with pleasure.
For the Fourth time from this label, this new CD will come in a deluxe digipack, containing a collection of live nice unreleased photographs of the December season, with a wide spectrum of jumpsuits included.
Tracklisting:
01. 2001 Theme/Opening
02. C.C. Rider
03. I Got A Woman/Amen
04. Love Me
05. Fairytale
06. You Gave Me A Mountain (spoken version)
07. Jailhouse Rock
08. It's Now Or Never
09. Lawdy Miss Clawdy
10. Trying To Get To You
11. Blue Suede Shoes
12. Fever
13. Softly As Leave You
14. Polk Salad Annie
15. Band Introduction
16. Early Morning Rain
17. What'd I Say
18. Drum Solo
19. Bass Solo
20. Piano Solo
21. Keyboard Solo
22. Love Letters
23. Hail Hail Rock 'N' Roll
24. Hail Hail Rock 'N' Roll (featuring Tony on Lead Guitar)
25. Hurt
26. Hawaiin Wedding Song
27. Hound Dog
28. Danny Boy(Sherrill Nielsen)
29. Walk With Me (Sherrill Nielsen)
30. Can't Help Falling In Love/ Closing Vamp
Approximate Total running time: 73.00
Granted ,...the shows from this day belong to the best of the whole season...so good choice.....at least.....
these shows just remind me how the Colonel grinded him into the ground -- 2 shows a night for 2+ weeks straight!?!?!?!?!? Why ???
Vegas was part of the problem,he didnt know when to say enough was enough,so much talent,wasted time after time!
This is good news! Another unreleased show for my collection and many other Elvis fans. If this show is as good as (one of my favourites) the import Love letters from Nevada (soundwise too) this is going to be a winner! This is the show before he injured his ankle the next night, so this show must be worthwhile.
On the contrary, this is not good news. This only shows how far the man had fallen since bursting onto the Vegas scene and those great shows of 1969 & 1970. How any fan can look forward to this stuff is beyond me. What superstar constantly grinded out 2 shows a nite for so many years? I suppose the ones that look forward to this release also look forward to next years Christmas compilation. Thanks Colonel for making Elvis a zombie in Vegas and a joke in a jumpsuit. Your ass should have been fired instead of Red West's
Another release of the same old songs sung without much inspiration or enthusiam. And the faithful (getting smaller by the year) consider this release as good news. And you get very unflattering pictures of Elvis for your $. I just don't get it. I'd love to know the % of the people who are on this website who just buy Elvis & nothing else.
and those two at the top are starting to sound like a broken record. not everyone has to agree with you two
Steve V, while there is an element of truth in what you say, shame on you for repeating some of the nastiest comments ever leveled about Elvis, particularly since his death - an era when impersonators are often confused with the real person's mostly-perfect musical and entertainment legacy. "Joke in a jumpsuit"? Save it for the Elvis-haters, please. Most of us ran out of things to say about the same studio hits a long time ago and live concerts provide an outlet for pent-up fandom -particularly those who weren't so lucky to see him live more than once as you were.
A tip-of-the hat to SR for what looks like an interesting release. Like many die-hard Elvis fans, I find the December '76 shows to be fascinating - excellent at the end and wildly (and yes, sadly) erractic early on in Vegas, but at the same time these shows sound very intimate and at times his voice is richer than ever. Keep 'em coming folks.
. Greg with all due respect to you & others who were probably too young to remember 1975-77 that well, this was how Elvis was perceived by the general public then, not by me. Every week there was a tabloid that brought this to light by running the most unflattering jumpsuit photo they could find. Anyone remember National Lampoon's horrible cartoon 1976 cover? Dont know what it was like overseas but here in the States, Elvis became more known as the hasbeen Vegas performer making only bouffant middle aged women swoon, no longer a force in music. Yes I blame the Colonel for a lot of this and because it hurt so much to see the guy I grew up idolizing being exploited this way, a release of this kind is so non essential. You know Elvis hated Vegas by Dec 1976, its well documented he did so why do fans get excited over these shows? There may be some truth in what the oldscudder implies. There could be folks on this site that have never bought music by any other artist since August 1977 and that is kind of sad
Steve i think what your saying is some of your comments come out of aggervation and not an attempt to belittle Elvis,there was just no reason to be playing vegas in 76,i find most of the recordings from vegas expecially after 70 to be laciing energy,the crwods were probally half tanked,,it was fine wihen he came back,but it was 7 years later,and this guy got payed to manage.and sadly Elvis would go along with anything he said!
With all my typos,it might appear i am half tanked,but im not, i have sobered up quite nice today!
mature - exactly! total fustration at what happened to a once brilliant career.
The best part of a lot of these type of shows are the band solos.I play drums so I always look forward to Ronnie's drum solo.You also get the odd gem now and then.
Steve_V: There goes a lot of insight. That's intresting to hear. So in '77 there were no Vegas shows scheduled as he was to go on tour starting in New England. Did Elvis finally have spoken a serious word or would he have been scheduled to do another December stint? Thank you for any hint.
Just look at those d*mn pictures of the cover and the over-repeated tracklist, Steve V is right, some collectors do need help and understanding in determing the value of these kind of releases..
sitdown - Im not sure but I think the Colonel was trying to score a new Vegas contract but Elvis was against the idea. I cant be 100% but I thought I read that once.
I dont mean to be harsh but is this the kind of cd you really get hooked on and call one of your favorites ?(A)The tracklisting is the same (B)Its in vegas (C)Its a audiance recording! Steve i feel the same way,it has taken sol ong for him to gain any of the respect back that he lost,and cd's like this dont help the effort for me,no offence to anyone who likes it,but enough is enough!
Once upon a time import LP's were rare, unusual, and very hard to find. Finding one was half the fun. Even less than best performances were welcome when only a handful of folks had it in their collection. I can remember buying my first import LP in 1977. It was of the New Years Eve show in Pittsburgh 1976. What a gem! A great show in a great package. The show was re-released countless times on CD by various importers. Finally, it came to rest in the hands of FTD. It's funny, but hunting down imports has kind of lost it's appeal. They're everywhere! Just about everyone and his brother seem to own the master tape of this or that! There is very little that is new or unusual. For collectors, December Night is probably a good find, but it's nothing remarkable. If it had been released in the 80's or 90's, it maybe would've been more newsworthy.
Steve_V: Thank you for this information. That's essential to me. Had the man only whitdrawn from touring for a while to get his life reshaped, as his health was severely suffering at the time. Swiss artist who saw his last Vegas were shocked about his pure health while he was performing and shared it during a TV documentary in 1997.
Quite right, Lefty. I still recall my succes in hunting down the Dorsey Show and the Burbank Sessions. The only positive thing nowadays is that the cds are durable.
"Thanks Colonel for making Elvis a zombie in Vegas and a joke in a jumpsuit." Very nasty words, Steve V. Elvisfans are the worst just as well the most faithfull fans. But it doesn't matter where the money comes from, the Colonel liked to say. But no, it hadn't been the manager, who made him sick. Because even in sickness he loved his job and did it in an awesome way. As you can listen it on this CD.
For the Rev and those who were not around in 1976 or aware of the Elvis situation, dont take my word for it. Go on Ebay right now and do a search for National Lampoon Elvis. There are 6 of them out there. You'll see what Im talking about then.
