What can I say...? I'm speechless. It's what I had dreamt of ever since I watched "That's the Way It Is" at the Movies.

As I stated in my review to "That's the Way It Is" (Special Edition), the two compilation sets go together.

The original "From Memphis to Vegas", "On Stage" and "That's the Way It Is" (Original Album) left me disappointed, even though I loved to listen to the King in any form.

Chopped performances with no dialogues in-between, nor jokes, nor interaction with the audience.

While the NBC-Special Album was a smashing hit, even that one was marred by deletions and it did take years for anybody to realize that it would have been a good idea to re-release the entire uncut session.

The very first complete live recording I bought was "Elvis Live at the Madison Square Garden", but it was two years later than "That's the Way It Is" and the sound was mediocre to say the least.

Then came "Aloha from Hawaii", "Live in Memphis" and the sad "In Concert" (his last Live album). Amazingly though, if one was a mole digging deeper than official sources, one could find complete and uncut concerts on Bootleg record labels throughout the world. Unfortunately, they were all dreadfully bad in sound and recording techniques. You would hear hisses and roars throughout the performance.

The only other complete recording of a Concert I could get my hands on, just after Elvis' death was contained in a silvery boxed LP set called "Elvis Aaron Presley", but we never got to know where and when exactly it was recorded...

Then we finally got "An Afternoon at the Garden" and "The Alternate Aloha" Concerts which were, in my opinion far superior to their "original" counterparts. "The Lost Performances" was another good release although belonging to various unconnected Concerts (the recording quality was excellent though).

And now we've got them: the most memorable live performances in Vegas. Finally!

As usual BMG, thinking it's quite clever, decided to release this four CD set separately from "That's the Way It Is" (Special Edition)(3 CD set), which in my view should have been integral part of this specific Concert Festival.

Anyway, "Elvis, Live in Las Vegas" adds to the August 12, 1970 Concert included in "TTWII" (SE) one of the very first recorded live performances there on August 24, 1969, outtakes recorded live on February 16/17/18/19, 1970 but cut together as one single performance only to reach the one preceding the above mentioned by one day (08/11/70).

If you have never witnessed Elvis on stage, or if you simply never heard Elvis sing at all, start here and you will never regret it.

If you're not an Elvis fan yet, you'll become one for certain after having heard these recordings.

Nothing, ever recorded before can compare with these two sets.

Remember:

"Elvis Live in Las Vegas" should have provided a four-CD wealth of never-before-released material, but inexplicably comes up short. There are no complaints about the first two discs. RCA opens the vaults a crack by presenting excellent shows from August 1969 and August 1970, which feature Presley at his peak. Unfortunately, RCA waters the cream by adding a third disc of PREVIOUSLY RELEASED material from 1970 and 1972. To make matters worse, part of Disc 4 rehashes the same songs from Presley's 1956 Vegas engagement. We've heard this stuff before! Why didn't RCA release a set of previously unissued concerts and give Elvis fans value for money? Instead, we're asked to pay a four-disc price for what is essentially a 2 1/2-disc set. No wonder the bootleg market continues to thrive.

Like many Elvis fans, I purchased this 4-CD package the minute it hit the sales floor. And anybody who knows or has followed Elvis' career, will never deny the sheer power, charisma and excitment he brought to the Vegas stage. Every CD in this package is fantastic. Discs 1 and 2 have alot of unreleased versions of all his great classic Vegas material. The sound is absolutely fantastic. Disc 3 is mainly composed of the "On Stage: 1970" Album, with some few added extras like Kentucky Rain, and Long Tall Sally. Disc 4 has somewhat less sound quality, but has a real historic presence for the true Elvis fan. He does what I feel is a unique version of "Little Sister," that has somewhat of a twist from the norm. To say this CD Package is "good," would not even begin to do it justice. The material is energetic, powerful, and sung by one of the best male vocalists who ever breathed oxygen. Disc 1 also contains a segment of Elvis talking for about 6 minutes about his career and how he started which is also interesting. I can't see how anybody would be disappointed with this album. Elvis fan or no Elvis fan, the material in this CD set without a doubt, has something for everyone.

To be honest (and we all know it's easy to say) but this box is not what it could have been. No complaints about the first two discs (24 August '69 and 11 August '70), which are outstanding documents of Elvis at his best: vocally unsurpassed, committed for 200 %, completely in control, vibrant, exciting, hard-hitting, raw, risky, and tongue in cheek. Of course, one can always prefer a version of a song done on another date, but the main thing is that these discs allow us to get a very good idea of the power and magic of these often sneered at Vegas performances. (At the end one can only say: "Man, I wish I was there".) Quality of the discs is excellent. (Why they have placed Elvis' funny monologue at the very end of the disc will however remain a mystery.)

On the other hand the third disc (February `70 and '72) is a complete disappointment. It duplicates the recently issued "On Stage" and "Burning Love" CDs, and RCA may well argue that the new remastering is of better quality than the previous one (which claimed the same thing), for most buyers this will be of very little importance. Nothing to say against the performances on this disc (they are great), but we know there is a lot more in the vaults than this.

Disc four is interesting, but we could have done without the inclusion of yet again the recording of the ill-fated 1956 Vegas stint. The rest of the CD emphasizes the decline of Elvis along the seventies. The contrast between the last recordings from `74 and `75 with the first CD's in the box is huge. It's a sad witness of how fast a man can loose himself. Some of the songs are still great - "I'm Leavin'", "Green, Green Grass Of Home" among others (although here again in bootleg land there are much better versions from other shows around) and Elvis obviously still had a lot of fun on stage with the band, but no one will remain deaf to the fact that something essentially went wrong in the previous years and that this is a different guy singing. The recordings of `73-`75 are soundboards, but sound reasonably well.

The booklet is appalling. Artwork is tasteless, the notes are mostly redundant, some of the photos are badly printed (on one of them there isn't even a face of any description) and they will only help to increase the number of those who think that Elvis' best time was before he got trapped in the Vegas world. Yet, if they ever listen to the music in this box (especially discs 1, 2 and 3), they will definitely start to reconsider.

In all, some great stuff, but we haven't been exactly spoiled by RCA/BMG. Five stars for Elvis and his music, but only three for the package.

This is a great box set and if you are a fan of Elvis's music, one for your collection. Recently I watched a DVD of Elvis from this period and thought - how come there aren't decent recordings from shows like this? Now there are! The first to cd's are complete concerts from 69 & 70 and a great. You can hear the power of Elvis as a performer... he doesn't seem tired/washed/drugged out as he does in the cd Elvis in Concert (from 1977). After reading some reviews on this page I was almost scared to listen to the third cd - boy what a treat! Some of these were apprantly used on the cd Elvis Live 1970, but that is something like ten songs, this is 23! Quite a difference. Plus the sound quality is fantastic and still this was when Elvis was still with it and really working as a performer and you can hear it! The final disc has lots of gems from earlier and later years that nicely round out this package. If you are a casual fan, like me and don't have "everything" including bootlegs - then this item is a must for your collection.