RCA Records synchronized the release of "Elvis In Concert" to the airing of the tv special and put the double album in the stores on October 3, 1977. With preorders of over a million units the set entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart" on October 29th, stayed for 18 weeks and finally reached number 5. On the same day the release also made it into the "Hot Country LPs Chart". Here it was listed for 37 weeks and became a number one hit. Because of the preorders the RIAA honored "Elvis In Concert" with a Platinum Award as soon as it was released, in 2002 it was updated to Tripple Platinum. In Europe and Asia the double album also sold very well and made it into the Top10s of many countries. In total "Elvis In Concert" sold 4.5 million units, which would be 650 million paid streams of the album, respectively 6.5 billion paid streams of individual tracks today. Nowadays the release isn't requested too often, on Spotify it accumulates just 10 million streams.

Thus it sold three times as much as "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974), it still failed to match the sales of "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973, 10 million units) and "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972, 5 million units).

Even though Elvis' recent condition was obvious in the tv special, Colonel Parker and RCA Records stuck to their procedure of using older pictures for the packaging. The photo on the front cover was made in 1975, the one on the back in 1972. The image used on the inner sides were taken in 1974. Combined both records of the set have a running time of 71:41 minutes.

In contrast to the other live albums of the king "Elvis In Concert" was neither scanned with high definition equipment nor even remastered. The release is available on various streaming platforms, but at best it sounds like the old cd from the early 1990s.

The tracks were recorded on June 19, 1977 in Omaha/Nebraska and on June 21, 1977 in Rapid City/South Dakota. The live sessions were produced by Dwight Hemion, Gary Smith and Felton Jarvis, Bill Harris and Dough Nelson handled the engineering. The band was made up of James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Jerry Scheff (bass), Tony Brown (piano), Bobby Odgin (keyboard) and Charlie Hodge (guitar & harmony vocals). Joe Guercio conducted a ten-person orchestra, harmony vocals were provided by J.D. Sumner & The Stamps (Larry Strickland, Ed Hill, Ed Enoch and Gary Buckles) and The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell and Estelle Brown) as well as Kathy Westmoreland and Sherrill Nielsen.

On August 29th and 30th additional harmony vocals were recorded at the Young 'un Sound Studio in Murfreesboro/Tennessee, after that further instruments were added at the Soundmaster Studio in Nashville/Tennessee.

The first longplayer contains the soundtrack of the television special minus "Early Morning Rain" which had been added at the last minute. The second disc features additional live recordings. Most of the tracks had been recorded on June 21st in Rapid City, just the medley of "Teddy Bear" and "Don't Be Cruel", "How Great Thou Art", "Can't Help Falling In Love", "Fairytale", "Little Sister" and "And I Love You So" came from the Omaha show on June 19th.

The album starts with various statements of enthusiastic fans with the "Opening Riff" edited in-between.

The orchestra performs the "Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang" from Richard Strauss' classical opus "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Elvis uses this piece since half a decade, it's also featured on "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972) and "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973).

As soon as the final note of the famous piece is played the band takes over with the rhythmical "Opening Riff" to which the king enters the stage and collects his guitar from Charlie Hodge. As he walks to the microphone in the middle of the stage, his musicians move seamlessly to "See See Rider", the first song of the show. It can also be heared on "On Stage - February 1970" (1970), "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973) and "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974). Compared to these performances Elvis sounds considerably older, at times with a nasal and tired undertone.

On "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972) the singer delivered a punchy high speed-version of this song. By now he has reduced the tempo and the arrangement tends more to be country & western again. I like this more basic, less vegasy style very much. Elvis also seems to enjoy the song, he's very much into it. But it's still not very good, because Elvis' bad condition is very obvious in his voice.

A live recording of this one had already been featured on "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" (1969), but here Elvis has returned to the original arrangement, too. It's a nice performance until he reaches the spoken part and gets muddled. He tries to make fun out of the situation, but sounds somewhat helpless and out of breath.

This medley is well known from the album "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" and without doubt the fans must have asked themselves what had happened to the king in the previous five years. All of his energy is gone, his voice sounds powerless, bored and nasal. It's a piss-poor performance.

Now the live recordings are interrupted by statements of fans. One example is a lady who tells the people about Elvis' honesty.  Well, after his death many incidents became public that demonstrate the opposite. 

The power ballad was featured in the movie "Elvis On Tour" (1972) and was also part of the album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973). Nowadays the singer cuts several lines short to give himself an opportunity to take a breath. But he does it in a very skillful way and one has to know the earlier recordings to realize the regression. Elvis performs the song in a very emotional way and his voice also sounds stronger and warmer than on the preceding songs.

Finally we get to hear something not included in one of the king's many previous live albums. The "Jailhouse Rock" is presented in a fast, Vegas styled version. It hasn't much to do with the agressive studio cut from 1957, but it works well if you consider it just a reminder of the good old days. At one point Elvis messes up the lyrics and seems to be amused by his memory lapse. With this performance we leave side a of the record.

Whereas the fans believed in Elvis' honesty on the last comments-clip, they are now sure of his religiousity.

Of course a statement like this has to lead to a gospel song. In early 1975 the king had received a Grammy Award for his performance of "How Great Thou Art" on the album "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis". Unfortunately Elvis doesn't even come close to what he had delivered on March 20, 1974. At times his voice lacks control, he misses several notes and tries to cover his fatigue by singing some lines very loud. But everytime he does, the strength soon leaves him and he has to catch his breath. Here and there he still manages to sound impressive, but in total he cannot compete with his previous effort.

Now Todd Slaughter, the president of the British fanclub, tells us about the trip of the fanclub to America and of his impressions of the king.

This is the second song that wasn't featured on any of Elvis' previous live albums. The studio recording was released in 1971 on "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old". At the time the singer sounded very powerful, almost angry. Now he appears to have given up, just accepting that his lady had many lovers in the past. It's a short, but nevertheless great performance. Elvis' voice sounds very good here and he sings with a lot of emotion. To me this is the highlight of the album.

The king introduces Vernon and explains that he was sick and couldn't accompany him on tour for a while. He also introduces Ginger Alden, his girlfriend.

Here we have the third new live song of the album. The power ballad was released in 1976 on a single and on the album "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee". On stage "Hurt" is played at a faster tempo, but the king delivers a very emotional and  well sung version.

The rock'n'roll classic "Hound Dog" is another matter altogether. Elvis just repeats the same four lines over and over again, his voice sounds weak, tired and bored. Thankfully it's only a sound recording and we didn't have to see him shaking his hind end.

Elvis has presented this song in 1973 on his album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite". Vocally he cannot compete with his previous effort, the performance  obviously costs him strength and at times he even sounds out of breath. But the new arrangement offers more drama and the knowledge of Elvis' soon demise extendes this effect.

Because a lot of radio stations started to play "My Way" to commemorate the king, RCA Records also released the recording on a single. It was a clever move, because the 45 sold over 3 million units.

As usual Elvis closes the show with the classic ballad from his movie "Blue Hawaii". This version, however, lacks all the beauty of the studio recording. The king is just going through the motions and doesn't seem to care at all.

The closing is followed by a short message from Vernon. He is obviously devastated by the death of his son, but still he takes some time to thank everyone for the flowers and cards that were sent to Graceland. With this message the first record of the set ends.

The second longplayer of the set contains additional recordings from June 19th and June 21st and can be regarded as some kind of bonus. The first song was also included on "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" and once more one cannot avoid to realize the difference.

The entertainer welcomes the crowd and remarks that somebody (it was the major of Rapid City!) had mentioned to him that he was the first person to perform in the new building.

This song has been a part of Elvis' three previous live albums and this version is the worst. He just sounds old here.

A performance from April 1977 can be found on "Moody Blue" and I have to say that "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" doesn't sound all that different in June. It's an acceptable performance, but nothing to write home about.

Even though "It's Now Or Never" is Elvis' best selling record, it hasn't been included in any live album so far. Sherrill Nielsen sings "O Sole Mio", the classic Italian song Elvis' hit is based on. It's not a serious performance, Mr. Nielsen howls the highest notes for comical effect. The audience and the king seem to enjoy it. Then Elvis takes over with "It's Now Or Never". The arrangement is a little overblown, but Elvis sings well.

The SUN classic was also featured on "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" and so I cannot help to compare the performances. Just three years ago the king sounded powerful, vital and flexible. Now his voice is tired and has a nasal undertone. He more and more gets going and sounds even impressive at times, but in total he neither sounds like a man of 42 years nor like a healthy man at all.

Elvis' is breathing heavily and his voice has a fragile touch. Once again he appears to be much older than he really is. It guess the reason for putting this track on the album was the simple fact, that the "Hawaiian Wedding Song" wasn't included in the previous concert releases.

Because Elvis had released the peppy country song in 1975 it can't be found on any of his live albums. Felton Jarvis tried to cover the tired and nasal vocals of his employer by recording additonal harmony voices, but he couldn't save the track. It's tolerable, but nothing more.

This classic from the early 1960s had also not been released on a live album before. Unfortunately the performance lacks the drive of the studio recording and Elvis sounds almost twice is age.

Here the king delivers an atmospheric and believable performance. But honestly I think his condition just fits the song by coincidence.  "Early Morning Rain" wasn't part of any live album before.

The same applies to this classic by Ray Charles. Unfortunately Elvis does just 45 seconds of the song and sounds bored to death.

Now the king butchers a Chuck Berry song. On "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" he delivered nothing but the ultimate performance of that tune. His rendition on the album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" already left a lot to be desired, but this one here takes the cake. Pure embarrassment.

This beautiful ballad was released in 1975 on an album called "Elvis Today". Once again the king is unable to match his studio effort. He sounds uncontrolled, old and tired. At times one might fear that the singer falls asleep in mid song. Felton Jarvis once again tried to save the track by overdubbing voices and instruments, but unfortunately he was just a producer, not a magician.