Elvis Live is one of six thematic compilations released by RCA in 2006, and whereas many of its five companions explored a specific musical theme, this 20-track collection, as evidenced by its title, focuses on live recordings. Of course, most of Elvis' recorded live work dated after his 1968 comeback, since he returned to regular live performan...

Elvis Live is one of six thematic compilations released by RCA in 2006, and whereas many of its five companions explored a specific musical theme, this 20-track collection, as evidenced by its title, focuses on live recordings. Of course, most of Elvis' recorded live work dated after his 1968 comeback, since he returned to regular live performances the year after that legendary television special, so don't go into this disc expecting to hear anything from the Louisiana Hayride or highlights from the late '50s. This is devoted to latter-day live recordings -- all but four tracks date from the '70s, 14 of the 20 were recorded in Las Vegas, where he had long-standing concert gigs, four are from his popular 1973 Aloha from Hawaii special (the other two songs were cut in Memphis in 1974 and Ann Arbor in 1977). Although this isn't sequenced like a typical '70s set list from Elvis, it does have many of his '70s staples -- "See See Rider," "In the Ghetto," "Walk a Mile in My Shoes," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "An American Trilogy," "Burning Love," "Steamroller Blues," and "My Way" among them -- and it provides strong evidence that Elvis often was a compelling performer in concert during the '70s, which is what makes it one of the stronger compilations of this 2006 series. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi