Elvis Presley: On Stage - 1969/1970
This Elvis On Stage Deluxe Edition includes the full fourteen track version of 1970's On Stage and eighteen tracks from Elvis In Person from 1969.
The two concerts have a different emphasis on their set lists, which makes for a varied, interesting listen. In Person is still hanging on to the coat-tails of the leather-outfitted 68 Comeback gigs and Elvis and his band are on fine, upbeat rocking form as they run through rock'n'roll hits like Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up and Hound Dog. The set is a mix of this sort of material, older ballads like Are You Lonesome Tonight and new, but becoming popular songs like the wonderful In The Ghetto and the rousing, singalong Suspicious Minds. Elvis is chatty and enthusiastic and the band seem very "up for it". Backing vocalist Cissy Houston seems a bit too committed on Are You Lonesome Tonight with some pseudo-operatic additions that sound as if they were done as a joke. Unfortunately they were deadly serious and the vocals grate throughout the entire song. Not as much as the member of the audience at the end of I Can't Stop Loving You though.
A thumping My Babe is an excellent inclusion and Elvis really rocks out as do the band. Good to hear.
As with all Elvis live performances, however, there was always, even on the 1968 material, an overbearing essence of cabaret/"supper club" to the whole thing. The flow of the concerts is usually broken by Elvis's between song chatter. Many find this an endearing characteristic, and I can understand it as he seems a fun kinda guy, but in terms of live performance, I would prefer more music and more continuity. As soon as the music kicks in, it is mostly superb. The band are not too overwhelmed by orchestral brass, but they still are just a little. It was always that way. When they strip it back, as on Mystery Train/Tiger Man, that is when it becomes raw and essential. The musicianship on this is top class. Imagine a whole concert played like that.
On Stage was from 1970, the leathers had gone, the suit started getting white and spangly. A new era was dawning. The album does not include the classics, concentrating mainly on covers such as Del Shannon's Runaway, Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline, Paul McCartney's Yesterday and Little Richard's Long Tall Sally. The album is notable for a live cut that became a hit single in Elvis's atmospheric cover of swamp bluesman Tony Joe White's Polk Salad Annie.
Although it is interesting to hear some different songs, they are mostly all covers and some of them pretty cheesy ones, and many of them are not as good as the versions done by the original artists. Of the two albums, I much prefer Elvis in Person. There are more appealing rarities on there like Baby, What You Want Me To Do and the bluesy Reconsider Baby. On On Stage, Elvis was doing Release Me. Elvis did not need to do Engelbert Humperdinck songs, surely?
Some have had problems with the sound, particularly on In Person, but as far as I'm concerned the sound is fine. There is a "live" feeling to it, but, for me, that is as it should be. On Stage, however, has superb sound.
