Glimmers Of Hope From Elvis 1976

My Dad was at a record shop in Germany and bought an Elvis CD called One Night In Alabama. He gave it to me to add to my Elvis collection. I thought it was a Follow That Dream release (the internet only mail order BMG run Elvis CD store that specializes in releasing archival material). But it wasn't. It turns out to be a typical Elvis concert from his last years. This from August 1976. I've got a FTD CD called New Year's Eve which was from 1976, and the track list is similar. Here we have Elvis giving half-hearted reenditions of his big hits, going through the motions on covers of others and trying to stay awake during band intros. So why do I care? Because like all of music's great creations, even Elvis at his worst will give me moments of genius. Half through "I Got A Woman", the band finds a groove and Elvis wakes up with them. And on a typically over-the-top "Hurt", he outdoes his album version. Hints of what might have been, had he not given up on life. 29 years later we still can't give up on him.