Recently another SR release saw the light of day: September Nights. Is it worth buying?
With Elvis in 1970 you can’t go wrong with cover art, one might think. Well, SR records nearly could… nothing wrong with the front, great picture, stylish title and info. On the inside they mess up… a collage of three black and white pictures, two of them with a kind of pink feel, and one plain white. And there is something wrong with the intensity… on second look it seems they wanted to create an effect with a word (I guess Elvis), but that doesn’t work at all.
The same goes for the picture behind the CD… it is very dark and again messed up with their logo. The back is much better again…. Unfortunately they don’t know how to write song titles, very annoying.
I used to love audience recordings in the 80s and early 90s, but nowadays I hardly can listen to them. Still one of the few audience recordings that I give a spin every now and then is from this engagement: Double Dynamite. Therefore I was a kind of looking forward to play this CD when I got it.
I got over that feeling very quickly. The first show (September 4, D.S.) is sounding like it is recorded through a telephone, and not a modern one, but Mr. Bell’s first proto type. I managed to listen to it for exactly 20 seconds and then I got the urge to turn off the CD completely. Still I found the power somewhere to press the skip button a few times hoping for improvement, but every track sounded as poor. Sorry, but I get no listening pleasure from this quality at all.
Since the second show (September 7, Closing show) looked to be more complete (but still isn't), and I am hard headed I skipped to track 16. Indeed this source turned out to be slightly better, at least you can really recognize Elvis now, and not just guess it’s him. Still for me no listening pleasure at all, so I stuck with listening to I Walk The Line once again, a part of I Just Can’t Help Believin’ (without the G), You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (again no Gs and no capital V- even the capital for That can be discussed ;-)), Polk Salad Annie and Bridge Over Troubled Water. Those songs make you wish the show was in above very mediocre sound quality… on the other hand they are not as strong as earlier that season, and soon we will have 6 complete shows in top notch quality (as promised)…
Music lovers probably want to skip this completely; collectors might think otherwise… anyway, it will not find its way to my player again.
01. Opening Vamp 0.38
02. That's All Right Mama 1.37
03. I Got A Woman 2.31
04. I Walk The Line (exc) 0.11
05. Monologue/Love Me Tender 6.53
06. I’ve Lost You 2.29
07. You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin’ 4.09
08. Polk Salad Annie 4.12
09. Band Intro 2.34
10. Hound Dog (exc) 0.05
11. Johnny B.Goode 1.37
12. Band Intro 1.49
13. The Wonder Of You 3.07
14. One Night 1.37
15. Opening Vamp 0.31
16. That's All Right Mama 2.20
17. I Got A Woman 2.36
18. I Walk The Line (exc)1.54
19. Monologue 3.07
20. I’ve Lost You 2.33
21. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ 4.37
22. You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin’ 4.44
23. Polk Salad Annie 4.46
24. Introductions 8.05
25. Blue Suede Shoes 1.50
26. All Shook Up (inc.) 1.21
27. Hound Dog 2.01
28. Bridge Over Troubled Water 4.59
29. Can't Help Falling In Love 1.55
30. Closing Vamp. (inc.) 0.14