In early 2019 Follow That Dream Records
released a double-disc called "St. Paul To
Wichita - October '74", which featured -and
that's a surprise- concerts Elvis gave in St.
Paul/Minnesota and Wichita/Kansas in October
1974. The sound carriers are housed in a 5",
fold-out digipak. As usual this FTD release is
physical only, so there's no need to look for it
on the various streaming platforms.
Both concerts were recorded through the
mixing desk of the sound engineer. He omitted
the usual introduction "Also Sprach
Zarathustra", in St. Paul the tape ran out after
"You Gave Me A Mountain", so the ending of the
show is missing. But I guess we have to do just
without the usual closer "Can't Help Falling In
Love", so it's no big loss at all. To use the
space of the discs FTD has included three bonus
tracks, which were recorded on October 4th in
Detroit/Michigan.
For reviews and details about the shows just
tap on the links.
CD 1 (St.
Paul - October 2nd)
CD 2 (Wichita - October 7th)
Verdict
On all occasions the king appears to be
"medicated". His voice doesn't sound good
and his singing is sloppy. If pressed, I'd
say the show in Wichita is the better one,
because Elvis acts less hyped-up.
(C) Follow That
Dream Records / Sony Music
Entertainment