***1/2. Diehards will love it, casual listeners may not

There are some real gems scattered throughout this interesting and primarily acoustic June 27, 1968 performance.

The atmosphere is warm and relaxed, and Elvis Presley sounds like he is having a really good time. Good for him, but his performance is suffering. He flubs songs, forgets lyrics, banters excessively with the band and the too-noisy audience, and appears to treat the entire show as a super-relaxed jam session rather than a performance.



Presley does catch fire on occation, though, and there are several worthwhile moments here...a great "One Night" which would have been even better if the audience would have shut up, a ragged but powerful "Trying To Get To You", and a pretty tough "Blue Suede Shoes" among them. And the fact that there are no backing vocalists and no string orchestra is a very welcome change!



Anyway, I like most of it. And I'm sure that most serious Elvis fans will love it. For everyone else, it's simply too disjointed and incoherent, especially when compared to the original Elvis TV Special album.

Don't listen to the other reviews

If you are any kind of Elivs fan, and especially a musician like myself, then this is definitely a CD worth picking up. I never used to like Elvis until I went to Graceland (cheesy, I know), but I started buying some of his stuff and finally picked up the '68 Comeback Special. I loved the first disc, but it was disc 2 that really hit me. As a musician and having played countless shows, it's always refreshing to see a band you absolutely idolize and find out after playing with them that they are, in fact, very down-to-Earth people and quite genuine (most of them, anyways). That CD did just that for Elvis and I wanted more! It displayed his true personality and went beyond just the idol that was The King and let you into a person that could have very well been your next-door-neighbor.

Tiger Man, to me, picks up where the Comback Special disc 2 left off. It's the whole 8 p.m. show stright through and is, quite simply, amazing in all respects. Many of the people who posted previous reviews griped about all the on-stage banter and the other musicians yelling while Elvis is performing, well, don't forget they are ALL performing, not just Elvis. Until you've been onstage and have been totally wrapped up in the music and completely forgetting the audience sitting around you, you'll never understand. This CD picks up on the rawness of a true "live" show and exemplifies just how great a performer they all were, not just the King. To be this rock-solid after all those years of not performing live is a true testament to all of them.

In short - Buy this. It's so much more real than anything else I've ever heard (although I'm still a huge fan of Comeback Special disc 2) from Elvis, especially his studio work. You can do take after take in the studio until you get it right... but it's a live performance that is a true test of a musician's skills. I'm happy to say that Elvis, Scotty, DJ Fontana and the rest of the crew get a solid A+!!

LOVE ELVIS...DISLIKE THE BANTERING BAND & SCREAMING GIRLS!

I love this album because I believe that this is the TRUE Elvis. He shows his charisma, charm and awesome voice. He is truly THE BEST! There are only two things wrong with this album, the screaming girls in the background, and his chattering band. They are very annoying, but who could blame them? I would have more than likely done the same thing if I were there! (Screamed that is) More annoying and distracting than the girls are the, "awwww, get its!" and "awww yeahs!" and "one mo time's" of his band while Elvis is singing. I wish there were a way to delete or muffle them. If that were possible, this would be a truly outstanding album because NO ONE can sing like THE KING. It is a shame because their constant need to make noise detracts from his beautiful voice and guitar playing. If you can totally focus on just Elvis and ignore the the girls and his band, then you will love this album because his voice and song selections are awesome!