'ELVIS - Fort Worth, Texas 1974'

This FTD double-pack features two more concerts from Elvis’ third tour of 1974. Elvis started his third tour of 1974 with four concerts at the Tarrant County Convention Center,  Fort Worth, Texas and this FTD double-set features the two performances Elvis gave on Father’s Day Sunday 16th June 1974. FTD have already released seven concerts from this particular tour, can there really be anything new to discover from another two concerts?   Elvis soundboard super-collector Geoffrey McDonnell & EIN's Piers Beagley shell out some hard-earned cash to give you the low-down on this new FTD double-pack .....

In 1974 Elvis focused on a hard touring schedule and never once went into a recording studio.
June 1974 was Elvis' 13th tour of the USA and he was back on the road after finishing his third Lake Tahoe season. As always freed from the constraints of the casino crowds, Elvis was still in fine form and putting on great shows.

In 1974 Elvis added the new songs 'Help Me', 'Let Me Be There' and ‘Why Me Lord’ to his regular set-list and the old SUN classic ‘Trying To Get To You’ would also become a regular feature. ‘Big Boss Man’ was also added to the set-list in May 1974. Not only that but Elvis started working on that old 'Polk Salad' again having left it off the set-list for the whole of 1973!

Released back in early August, this set has taken a while to get to Australia.

Elvis started his third tour of 1974 with four concerts at the Tarrant County Convention Center,  Fort Worth, Texas and this FTD double-set features Elvis’ two shows he gave on Father’s Day Sunday 16th June 1974.
A bootleg of Elvis’ very first Fort Worth show, 15th June 74’ A/S, was released as ‘The Man in White Vol. 1’ soundboard by Lone Star records back in 2002. The reviews included “a show with less energy than the fantastic ones from March 1974 but far more enjoyable than the latter September, October 1974 shows where Elvis seemed to have lost confidence”

Elvis’ Father’s Day afternoon show has only been bootlegged as a very poor sounding audience recording while the Father’s Day evening show has never been released in any form before.
With FTD releasing both of these concerts from soundboards and with the evening show being totally new there is a real interest for collectors here.

It’s interesting to note that at every Father’s Day concert that Elvis performed on tour during the 1970s, including June 18th 1972 also in Fort Worth, Elvis always sang ‘How Great Thou Art’ so the astute Elvis collector could have predicted the unknown E/S track listing!

'ELVIS: FORT WORTH, TEXAS '74' - FTD review by Geoffrey McDonnell & Piers Beagley

The Design. Released as a regular 5” double-digipack the cover features six photos of Elvis in his light blue Phoenix suit from the 16th E/S and two photos of Elvis in his ‘Inca’ suit from the 16th June '74 Afternoon Show. In the pictures Elvis looks energetic and in fine form. The fact that he was so awake for his early afternoon concerts also helps demonstrate his better emotional state than he would be later in the year.    Very unfortunately a printing error means the cover states that the photos are from 16th January 1974! The cd tracklists are on the back cover, whilst on the inside cover notes the show dates and times and musicians. Disc 2 shows track 14 coming after track 18, another ridiculous typo.

AUDIO.
The audio was mastered by Jan Eliasson.
The audio quality is fairly “thin” with obvious cassette tape hiss and with almost no orchestra in the mix at times. With songs such as ‘Polk’ it’s almost a rhythm band only mix.  The audio is nowhere near the quality of the FTD Cleveland June 21 show but of course a massive step up from the very poor bootleg audience recording.

This set is also very similar to the 2018 FTD 'ELVIS: Omaha, Nebraska '74' release (see below) which also featured a double-set from Sunday two weeks later in the same tour - and with the evening show never having been released previously.  The audio mix from those two shows was however far better with audience reaction, band, orchestra, brass and vocals all nicely audible.

Disc 1- June 16th, 1974, Afternoon show - 58 minutes
Kicking off straight into ‘See See Rider’ without any 2001 the first song which reveals a Bassy sound, lacking top-end, and fans will recognize Elvis in fine ‘1974’ form sounding awake for such an early afternoon show.

Afterwards Elvis jokes, “Good Evening all you Fathers” typically making a joke out of the day instead of saying ‘Good evening all you Mothers!’- “It’s Father’s Day, really, you know”.

‘I Got A Woman’ features the slow well, well, well intro with Elvis joking, “Standing in front of 14,000 people, gonna’ laugh my career away”. Kept short and under 4 minutes and with thankfully only 1 dive-bomber Amen ending running, it is business-as-usual, pleasing the fans and fine for an early show.

Keep up the pace Elvis gets on with the show, saying ‘Good Afternoon’ and straight into a very routine ‘Love Me’.

The crowd is certainly appreciative and Elvis notes “You are a good audience” before an excellent cool-and-cruisy ‘Trying To Get To You’ including the usual 1974 “streaking all the way” line.

By 1974 the fifties oldies were pure crowd-pleasing throwaways All Shook Up  / Love Me Tender / Hound Dog and this show was no different.

‘Fever’ is routine with Elvis teasing the crowd “when you call my name - ELVIS” but sounds fine with the prominent walking-bass, courtesy of Duke Bardwell.

‘Polk Salad Annie’ next is fairly routine, but with hardly any orchestra in the mix you can really hear more of how Elvis worked together with Ronnie Tutt, Duke Bardwell and James Burton on wah-wah guitar to rock the crowd.
Elvis walks around to get his breath back “can you see my breath over there?” he jokes.

Elvis then asks J.D. and the Stamps to sing ‘Why Me Lord’, which is well done and gets a deserved reprise ending. Elvis’ participation is nice and high in the mix and you can clearly hear his enjoyment of  singing with the choir. With no JD teasing this is one of the best versions we have.

A very short routine ‘Suspicious Minds’ follows.

The Introductions which are quick and perfunctory. Duke Bardwell is jokingly noted as being from “Missouza, Kansas” and being in Fort Worth Texas, Ronnie Tutt who was from Dallas gets a big applause - “are they all your relatives out there Ronnie!”  (This would lead Elvis on to the Texas joke intros later in the evening show!)

A fine ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ follows with James Burton chickin’-pickin’ plus big Ronnie Tutt drum roll before a satisfactory end.

‘Heartbreak Hotel’ sounds fairly routine although Elvis seems to be enjoying it more than usual. Possibly because it was a fairly rare song choice for early 1974, this being only the third time Elvis had sung it since his Las Vegas August 1973 residency.

“A new one that we have out”, ‘Help Me’ is another highlight, sincerely sung and a very tender performance. Glen D Hardin’s piano is mixed low and there is a lovely blend of Elvis’ and The Stamps vocals. The audience also shows its appreciation. 

‘An American Trilogy’ is performed pretty well although, with the orchestra absent in the audio mix, the Flute solo sounds as if it was being performed in the next paddock. Again interestingly this track demonstrates how Elvis’ core musicians provided the backbone of the performance. The song gets a duly earned ovation.

‘Let Me Be There’ is strong but gets no reprise this afternoon.
Elvis then gets the house-lights turned up to check out the crowd,

‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ is fine with Elvis changing the line and neatly noting, “Never know when I’ll be back in town – about 8.30 tonight!” and also featuring J.D “this crazed bass-singer” on a reprise - which Elvis says is like a B52 bomber!

A strong ‘Big Boss Man’ features a quite unusual dramatic drum beat plus some rhythmic drumming at the ending. Elvis really digs in this afternoon.

Elvis then says ‘Happy Father’s Day everybody’ and hopes that everyone had a good time before closing with the usual ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’, closing vamp and ‘Elvis has left the building’ announcement.

Compared to some later Afternoon Shows Elvis was on good form from the start. To be honest, this tape provides us with a very workman like show with nothing to complain about, some highlights and without any messed-up performances. If you were lucky enough to be there in 1974 it would have been a blast. Looking back however it doesn’t add anything particularly new to our collection.

CD 2 June 16th 1974 Evening Show - 61mins
Elvis’ fourth and final show from his two days in Fort Worth Texas.

Some fans are suggesting this show runs a little slow and compared to the FTD released Cleveland show from the same tour – and also mastered by Jan Eliasson – this is certainly true. Once again the recording is fairly “thin” sounding and with the orchestra almost absent from the mix, so again the recording shows more of Elvis working with his core band.

Again like the A/S recording, it is straight into ‘See See Rider’ and with the audio featuring a pretty similar bass-emphasis to the A/S except the drums are not so loud and you can hear the guitars more. Elvis, understandably, appears to be putting in more energy than the afternoon show.

The crowd roars its approval and Elvis jokes, “I ain’t done nothin’ yet, wait a minute!”
Throughout the performance it’s obvious that the evening Fort Worth audience is louder and more appreciative of the show than the afternoon crowd. 

Elvis must be feeling happier that it’s the evening show as there’s laughter in his singing. ‘I Got A Woman / Amen’ kicks off nicely and includes Elvis saying during ‘Amen’ as he flexes his legs, “Shouldn’t  laugh at a handicap folks, I can’t help it, I was born this way!”. With more accentuated leg movements Elvis jokes, “I always wanted to be in a gospel quartet folks, but it wouldn’t work”. With one J.D. ending it’s a good start to the show and the crowd screams in delight.

Elvis then reads a sign that says “England Loves You” with Elvis noting “I thought I was in Texas!” Showing more good humour Elvis also introduces himself as “My name is Arvis Paisley, would you believe Alvin Paisley?”

‘Love Me’ is routine and ordinary and also suffers some feedback, but there’s no mistaking the evening crowd lapping up every moment.
Elvis even comments that, “You seem like you’re in a good mood and we’d like to keep it that way”.

‘Trying To Get To You’ - “A song that I did when I first started singing, about three years ago” - again features the “streaking all the way” line with Elvis once again being more ‘loose’ during this evening’s performance.

The oldies All Shook Up / Love Me Tender / Hound Dog are throw-away crowd pleasers as always. ‘Fever’ is similarly routine this night, but again the crowd laps up every move.

As they go into ‘Polk Salad Annie’ Elvis kicks that band along saying, “ride that horse!”  The version tonight is similar to the afternoon show and pretty ordinary compared to the classic 1970 versions. However The Sweets push the ending along, “Go,Go, Go, Go” as Elvis throws in some karate workouts. Elvis feels the effect commenting, “My belt is falling off, my suit’s getting too big.” 

‘Why Me Lord’ has Elvis in a teasing, goofing around a bit to change the name ‘Jesus’ to ‘J.D’ and, apart from including Kathy’s piercing vocal at the ending, it’s not as serious as the A/S but does get the reprise ending.

In a more up-beat mood ‘Suspicious Minds’ gets a much stronger and satisfying performance from Elvis than earlier in the day. Afterwards Elvis thanks the audience adding, “Those binoculars, is that what it is, look like a bunch of frogs”.

The Introductions tonight are very different from this afternoon with Elvis in great humour and deliberately introducing everyone as from different parts of Texas apart from James Burton! He jokes about the ‘Sweet ‘OLD’ Inspirations’ and J.D. Sumner and the Jolly Green Giants. There's “John Wilkinson from Waco, Texas, Ronnie Tutt from Dallas, Texas, Duke Bardwell from Abilene, Texas, Charlie Hodge from Decateur, Texas, Voice from Nashville, Texas and Joe Guercio with the all-Texas choir band!  And I’m from Tupelo, Texas."

‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ is again stronger with Elvis pushing his vocal more than in the A/S, “and Lord, I can’t stop loving you…” a great version for 1974. 

As earlier in the day ‘Help Me’, released the previous month, is a touching version with a closely matched duet vocal between Elvis and Sherill Nielsen.

‘An American Trilogy’ – again without the orchestra in the mix – is a fine version even if Elvis jokes in his high voice “sing it”. The audience laps up the theme and also the flute solo (sounding very, very distant) with the song having a truly powerful ending. “Hot damn, right”. Without the orchestra you get to appreciate how much Ronnie Tutt put into these shows.

A fine ‘Let Me Be There’ gets the crowd moving and deserves its reprise, while a cool ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ again features J.D. Sumner with Elvis teasing, “This big old weird bass singer, he goes down and hits a whales belly or somethin’!”

‘Big Boss Man’ sounds a bit ‘thin’ as it starts but soon picks up and after Elvis asks “Play it James” Elvis kicks in some extra vocals “Yeah, baby, yeeeah all right” and there’s no doubt he’s enjoying himself and the Father’s Day crowd.

Elvis then introduces his own father “Daddy please stand up…  He’s more of a ham than I am, that’s where I learnt all of this stuff from when I was two weeks old!”

‘How Great Thou Art’ is a very pleasing extra song tonight and although Elvis’ voice sounds fractionally ‘nasal’ it deserves a reprise and the final high power-ending is excellent.  “Whoa Baby, Lord have mercy”.

Elvis then touchingly tells the audience, “All kidding aside, we’ve done four shows here and the audiences we’ve had in Fort Worth have been the best audiences we’ve ever worked to, in these last few days. Thank you very much it’s been a pleasure working for you, be careful driving home and adios”

He then closes with a fine ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ with some final higher power notes. The recording immediately ends after just 5 seconds of ‘closing vamp’

There is no doubt that if you had been at this performance you would not have been disappointed.

Overall Verdict: There is no doubt that these shows are a very similar experience to the Omaha, Nevada 30th June shows and with very similar 1974 content. The real question is whether anyone but hard-core fans needs to buy both, especially as the Omaha audio mix is better. However with the vault of quality unreleased Elvis concerts nearly bare, for Elvis completests like me getting these new performances with Elvis in good form, enjoying himself and entertaining his loving fans, it actually is a very nice addition to the collection. While the Afternoon Show is more routine, the Fort Worth Evening performance does capture Elvis having real fun and entertaining his fans. It is worth noting that this was Elvis’ last tour before the Las Vegas ‘Desert Storm’ after which things would radically change and not for the better. I wonder what the next FTD release from 1974 will be?

Note - if you don't own the 'Classic Album' 7" SOLD OUT double live set from 1974 please read the review below. A real classic 1974 collection from FTD.

Review by Geoffrey McDonnell / Piers Beagley.
-Copyright EIN September 2021
EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.

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