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The ultimate site about the king of the analogue age

 

FTD's double disc "St. Louis / Spokane" features two concerts from the short blitz tours, that Elvis undertook in March and April 1976. The sound carriers are housed in a fold-out digipak, whose design is reminiscent of the singe "For The Heart" / "Hurt". I like inside-jokes of this kind and to be honest, the singer looks much better here than on the cover of the RCA release. Follow That Dream Records issued "St. Louis / Spokane" in May 2020, but even though streams had long surpassed the sales of physical records, Sony's own collector's label didn't bother to give this one a digital outing.

Both concerts are the closing shows of the accordant tours and during both of them Elvis wore the "Chicken Rib Suit". He had ordered the outfit in the summer of 1975, but would wear it just four times in 1976. The first two usages were during the concerts on this release, the other two were during the following stint at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel in Stateline/Nevada. After that he'd never wear the outfit again.

As usual the concerts were recorded in mono through the engineer's soundboard. The St. Louis tape sounds very good, whereas the recording made in Spokane is average. The mastering was done by Jan Eliasson.

For detailed reviews, just tap on the links:

St. Louis/Missouri (March 22, 1976)    Spokane/Washington (April 27, 1976)

 

Verdict

The digipak is nicely designed and the recording made in St. Louis sounds very good considering the source. Unfortunately Elvis appears worn-out and tired in places, whereas his condition and/or motivation was better in Spokane.

 (C) Sony Music Entertainment / Follow That Dream Records