Unless the spangled-jumpsuit-era Elvis is an affront to everything you hold near and dear about rock and roll, this compilation of live cuts from EP in Sin City circa ’70-’72 isn’t the audio Hindenburg it could have been. Even though the full orchestra and squadron of backup singers threaten to turn every note into the thickest, whitest processed cheese, there are flashes of ’68 Comeback and Memphis ’72 cool in rips through Tony Joe White’s swamp-soul hit “Polk Salad Annie” (“gators got yer granny – chomp, chomp”) and opener “See See Rider.” Unfortunately, you’ve first gotta wade through a lot of overwrought inspirational tunes (“The Wonder of You,” “Let It Be Me,” and an indigestible quartet of “You Gave Me a Mountain,” “It’s Impossible,” “It’s Over,” and “The Impossible Dream”), and strained, square covers like “Proud Mary,” which Elvis should’ve knocked out of the park. I dunno – while there’s been enough ink spilled about the moving tragedy that was Elvis in Vegas, on Live, he doesn’t sound like he’s suffering under the weight of his wasted potential (judging by his consistent wheezing, the buffets were a bigger problem) – Elvis is giving the material his all, or at least, what constituted his all at this point, so you can’t really enjoy this as total camp (it doesn’t begin to approach from the horrifying Elvis’ Greatest Shit bootleg LP). I guess this one is for Elvis completists (though you can already find a lot of it on the Live in Las Vegas boxed set), but I can see it being useful for scaring straight your favorite (or least favorite) self-indulgent rocker type (“You wanna be singing “In the Ghetto” when you’re 40? Then get your shit together, pal!”).

Live in Las Vegas is part of a series of live CDs that Capitol/EMI is releasing this year to coincide with Las Vegas’ 100th anniversary on a new imprint, Las Vegas Centennial Records. The collection includes albums by Vegas staples like Frank Sinatra, Wayne Newton, as well as wildman Louis Prima and Dean Martin, the latter of which may be the greatest party/comedy record ever released (seriously, he sings like four songs and cracks drunk jokes for the rest of the album – it’s incredible). Me, I would’ve put out the Prima and Martin records first, but hey, Elvis pays the bills.

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