Review by Geoffrey McDonnell
New Haven '76 represents Elvis' Summer tour from July 23 to August 5 1976. Many Elvis fans consider this to be Elvis' worst Summer tour (apart from abysmal performances in late August before things improved).
The tour, coming straight after the three bodyguard sackings, finds Elvis on auto- pilot and (mostly) singing the absolute minimum of songs in a lacklustre manner. Therefore, why would anyone in their right mind want to listen to this FTD? Illustrated by Steve Barile's liner notes and photos - I quite liked the art work, and rate it as better than normal half a dozen pictures and track listing. Elvis' worst performance on FTD to listen to is actually the America FTD representing the April 1976 tour. The BEST sounding soundboard from 1976 is the Tuscaloosa August 30 1976 show, but that night Elvis was far, FAR from his performing best.
On this New Haven CD we get a seventy minute mono soundboard in really, REALLY good sound!
Not quite as good as Tuscaloosa, but a pretty good balance all the way through - the back up singers, instruments and Elvis seem even and clear in the mix. So bad was this tour that Elvis only really performed to an acceptable standard during three shows and (fortunately) this July 30 show is one of them.
Indeed as ‘2001’ blends into a just passable ‘C.C. Rider’ and we hear Elvis it’s clear he is medicated, but NOT overly so and knows where he is and sings a full show. Immediately, during ‘I Got A Woman’/’Amen’ and the ‘Amen’ reprise, J.D. Sumner’s voice comes across with a very deep bass, which is pleasing to hear.
Elvis is clearly in good humour as he describes J.D. as “the worlds lowest human!”
Elvis notes that it's a very high stage and then proceeds with a fair version of ‘Love Me’. Before the next song, Elvis asks the audience all crowding upon one another below the stage to calm down and not get hurt. During ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’, Elvis makes some amusing word changes, but cannot disguise his voice sounding tired and strained. ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’ is performed above average and James Burton's guitar clear in the mix sounds just like the 1977 Elvis In Concert version. ‘Help Me’ is next, and is certainly sincere, if not his best version.
Assessing his own poor state, Elvis says he'll do a medley of his records next, but whether he can or not is a different matter, making it clear the roasting he got from the Colonel two days ago in Connecticut about poor performances was still fresh in his mind.
‘All Shook Up’ and ‘(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear’/’Don't be Cruel’ are all the usual lacklustre 1976 performances. ‘And I Love You So’ is certainly NOT as good as the superb Tuscaloosa 1976 version (as Elvis is not focused at the start), but Kathy Westmoreland can be clearly heard at the ending despite never getting introduced in this show. ‘America’ is a decent version and amusing line change to “fruits and plains”! This features a decent reprise ending. ‘Jailhouse Rock’ next is a typical poor, short, 1976 forgettable soft version, and yet ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ is a concert highlight as Elvis sings well, including nice falsetto and timing.
The introductions are mostly very boring but ‘Early Mornin’ Rain’ is almost a complete version, which it seems John Wilkinson himself ends abruptly, one verse short of the end. This is another concert highlight to my ears because of the mood it conveys so well.
The Stamps get amusing intros, then the usual 1976 ‘What'd I Say’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’ by James Burton, with minimal Elvis contribution. Ronnie Tutt's long boring solo fills in more time before Jerry Scheff plays his version of ‘The Battle of New Orleans’, then Tony Brown's piano solo and David Briggs' solo and ‘Love Letters’, with Elvis giving us a one liner 'Albatross' before his lacklustre performance. After the Joe Guercio orchestra and a bit of ‘School Day’, it’s two performances of his latest record ‘Hurt’ with the second version getting a nice “up higher” ending from Elvis - another concert highlight. ‘Hound Dog’ is ultimately a throwaway before a decent version of ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’ (apart from one odd word change) just before closing with ‘Can't Help Falling In Love’. In a few words, Elvis shows how absolutely tired he sounds - but it’s still certainly a listenable show with a few highlights. Elvis didn't have the energy to do ‘Polk Salad Annie’ tonight or bend over low reaching the fans below the high stage.
The bonus track is THE performance highlight from his Hampton Roads show two days later. Thankfully it's a reasonably performed “request” for the 'Return To Sender' fan club, and I'm sure they must have been delighted. I recommend this CD because the performance is just passable from a dreadful tour but the sound balance is impressive in its clarity - far easier on the ears than listening to FTD’s America. I'll certainly be playing this CD a few times before I stack it away on the shelf.
