Search - Elvis Presley :: Southern Nights

Only for diehard fans who want to have it all

Marc Haegeman | Gent, Belgium | 01/22/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Even with the knowledge that the Follow That Dream label is attempting to chart the whole of Elvis Presley's career, "Southern Nights" still sounds as a rather insipid and colourless collection of songs taken from different shows from his Spring 1975 tour. Now presented as a companion to the earlier released "Dixieland Rocks" from May 1975 (which in fact rocked a lot less than the title suggests, but at least was in acceptable sound), "Southern Nights" makes even less sense as yet another compilation of tracks that Elvis had done much better before - live or in the studio.



Fans will undoubtedly be comforting themselves once again with the idea that Elvis was in a good mood during that gig through Dixie, but that shouldn't make them deaf to the cruel but simple fact that the quality of his voice left a lot to be desired - his rendition of songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Help Me Make It Through The Night", "I Can't Stop Loving You" or "Trouble" was now only a pale shadow of what he could do a few years earlier. And we weren't really waiting for those 36 secs of "Jambalaya".



"Southern Nights" is taken from soundboard recordings, which in the case of this release seems to be synonymous for a dreadfully unbalanced soundpicture with Glenn Hardin's (otherwise magnificent) piano and the background vocalists towering over all the rest, and rules this CD out for repeated listening. In case you were wondering, Elvis did have a full band and even an orchestra in these days.



Only for diehard fans who want to have it all."

Not Quite THAT Bad

SEAN MCATEER | Cranston, R.I. United States | 09/24/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Decent sound, unbalanced as prior reviewer pointed out, but still better than any audience recordings of Elvis in that period. The setlist is very good and the band is still super, even if Elvis is down one or two notches from the previous years. For fans, not just die-hards."

A very entertaining CD (if you know what you're getting)

Isaac Laughhunn | Victoria TX | 12/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Please note that this is a soundboard recording and not as crystal clear as some other live recordings. If you are familiar with soundboard recordings, however, this CD is among the best soundboards I have heard. This isn't Elvis live in 1970, but for Elvis' 1975 live recordings, these are also the best performances I have heard. A minimum of joking and flubbing lyrics during songs (Elvis joked during songs more frequently in his later performances) and overall, a very listenable and varied songlist. If you are not a fan of Elvis' live performances in 1975, then you probably won't enjoy this CD, but otherwise, I would recommend it."