This wonderful DVD has been in my collection for a while, but I haven't watched it until now.
What you get on this disc is a collection of TV performances and parts of his movie acting career where he sings. This means that some of his best stuff, the stuff he did at Sun records, before he got a chance to be on the telly, stuff like my all time fave Elvis tune, Mystery train, isn't included. That's a pity, I'd love to see someone unearth old amateur films of his performances from the mid-50's, if they exist.
There are 30 numbers apart from two bonus material-press conferences on this disc. Most of the stuff is from his hey-day, the 50's TV performances and his many films from the 60's. This fact means that you get a lot of material which harks back to the days when the establishment tried to tame him and make "safe" numbers about teddy bears, but, sure enough, Hound dog and Heartbreak hotel are included.
You also get a few cuts from his comeback in 1968, as well as some of his 70's stuff. Now, I like the schmalzy side of Elvis too, his ballads and his teddy bears, but there is something wrong when he performs with a big band. Rock'n'roll was meant to be played with guitars, bass and drums. Not, as I said, with a big band and a million background singers. Most of the stuff made by the king in the 70's is just the antithesis to what one appreciates in Elvis. The one big exception vein Suspicious minds, of course. You can try to tame Elvis and give him a rhinestone jacket, but in the end, a rebel remains a rebel and Elvis was, as top UK punk band What A Riot put it, "born a rebel".
When Elvis performs Suspicious minds, a tune that will go down in music history as one of the best tunes ever made by any human being, you can glimpse a bit of 50's Elvis, dancing, singing and joking. Top quality! It doesn't get much better than this!
Apart from the "true" numbers, you get some of the most joked about Elvis tunes too, like Are you lonesome tonight?, which I won't comment and In the ghetto.
The ghetto tune has been ridiculed, but I don't find that funny. Sure, Elvis was rich and famous by the 70's, but he had a background in deep poverty and knew what he was singing about. I appreciate Elvis, cos he was very much an antithesis to the pot-smoking hippies at the time (sorry, Willie Nelson, you still rule!) who didn't know what they were singing about, but trying to make a stance as radical as possible. The fact that Elvis, icon of another generation, takes his time to write a protest song, which he pulls off with full credibility in my book, speaks more to his favor more than any MC5 tune.
If you're an Elvis fan, you're gonna like this. True, there's a zillion Elvis clips on youtube, but this a movie and well worth the investment. Any Elvis fan should have it in his or hers collection.
A great DVD like this naturally get's a high rate of satisfaction, 96,7%, to be precise!
