Rating: 
Summary: The ultimate package of the Singer Special
Review: Seven hours. That's how much material you'll find on this DVD set of the Elvis Singer Special of 1968. I was absolutely fascinated by the various takes for some of the songs and sequences. You even see the clapboard and listen to onstage chatter.
I've read numerous Elvis biographies (the best: Peter Guralnick's two-volume set, LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS and CARELESS LOVE) and this TV special was one of Elvis' defining moments as the king of rock. After 9 years of cheap movies that squandered his talents, he found the raw, emotional energy he'd tapped into at Sun Records the decade before. There are moments when he's putting so much into a song that he's really shouting, "No, this is me!"
Now I've got to check out the special edition of the ALOHA FROM HAWAII concert.For the Elvis fan, it's a must-have.
Rating:
Summary: The Best, At His Best!
Review: The special is a watershed moment in the life of Elvis Presley. Being an artist, Elvis communicated to us through his art. In this special, Elvis uses lyrics, dance, performance art, wardrobe and music to tell us his life story. Many feel that this performance of "Baby,What You Want Me To Do" "That's All Right Mama" "Blue Christmas" "One Night With You" "Tiger Man" and "Trying To Get To You" are the best rock and roll ever recorded. If you are not an Elvis fan, watching the sit-down jam with Scotty Moore playing his famous rockabilly licks and Elvis just being Elvis will make you a fan. I have wathced this special hudreds of times and love it more each time. My six year old son, Alec, runs in everytime I turn it on and watches enraptured. Alec says it best. "Pap, I bet all the guys wanna be like Elvis, and, all the Girls wanna be with Elvis."
For me watching and listening to the Prophet that God chose to introduce the world to rock and roll is a sacred, spiritual experience.
******Commonly referred to as The '68 Special or The '68 Comeback. The actual name of this landmark television special is ELVIS. The sixties had brought about great change in music and pop culture. Change for which Elvis helped pave the way over a decade earlier when he exploded onto the scene with his unique blending of pop, rock, country, R&B and gospel influences. Focusing on his Hollywood movie career in the sixties, Elvis has become less a part of the current pop cultural scene. He has been making one movie after another, and many of the records he has put out in these years have been movie soundtrack albums. In the fifties and early sixties, the films and film-related records were wonderfully successful, but as the sixties have worn on, the movies and records, though still profitable, have not been nearly so successful as they were before. Elvis has reached the supreme level of frustration with the state of his career and all its limitations on his creativity and artistic expression. He had hoped to become a serious actor, but Hollywood had other ideas and Elvis went along with them. His opportunities to show his true talents as an actor have been few. He is beyond ready for a change. By now, it has been more than seven years since Elvis has appeared in front of a live audience. Elvis has missed the closeness of his audience, the energy and excitement of live performing. The '68 Special opens with Elvis singing a hot new version of the gutsy "Trouble", from his 1958 film King Creole. This segues into Guitar Man, which, with its semi-autobiographical lyrics, becomes the underlying theme of the show. Then, Elvis is reunited with two of his original fifties band members, guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana. (Bass player Bill Black has been deceased for several years by this time.) They sit together on stage in the round, along with several other friends and associates of Elvis for an informal session of singing, jamming, and swapping stories. Parts of this jam session are woven throughout the show. There are also sequences of Elvis taking the stage alone and performing many of his greatest hit rockers and ballads, and he introduces a new song, Memories. One can surmise that he pours out years of career frustration and pent-up creative energy into the performance of these songs. His natural talent, charisma, sensuality and stage presence have not been diminished by the years in Hollywood. In fact, he looks, sounds, moves and grooves better than he ever has. At 33, he is better than he has ever been. Better than anybody in the business. For the group jam session segments and solo stage performances Elvis wears a two-piece black leather outfit specially designed for the show by Bill Belew, who also designed all the other wardrobe Elvis and the cast wear in the show. The look evokes the era of James Dean and the Marlon Brando type motorcycle films of the fifties, the era when Elvis was first proclaimed the King of Rock 'n' Roll. In one of the jam session segments, Elvis speaks of the gospel origins of rock and roll. This segues into the gospel music portion of the show, which has Elvis wearing a two-piece burgundy suit, singing "Where Could I Go But to the Lord," "Up Above My Head" and "I'm Saved," backed by the female vocal group, The Blossoms, and accompanied by a troupe of dancers - all of this for a rousing gospel production number. Toward the end of the special Elvis appears in a lengthy production number that, through song, dance, karate, and various situations, traces a young man's journey from a struggling guitar player, through the challenges, dangers and compromises on the path to his dreams of success and superstardom. Something is lost along the way. Once the dream is achieved, the man realizes that he remains unfulfilled, that he has abandoned his true self. He decides to return to his roots, doing what made him happiest, what he does best. He sings "I'll never be more than what I am... a swingin' little guitar man." The parallels to Elvis' own life are clear and deliberate, and his doing the '68 special represents his own return to his true self, to his roots. Free from the confines of his Hollywood grind, this is Elvis the singer, the performer, the musician, the man - the real Elvis. At the end of the special, Elvis appears alone wearing a simple white two-piece suit, standing in front of the towering backdrop of red lights that spell ELVIS. He sings a brand new song, "If I Can Dream," especially written for the show. The writers created the song based upon conversations with Elvis about his own thoughts on what was happening in the turbulent sixties. It seemed appropriate that he close the show with a personal statement. His powerful and passionate performance of this song of hope for mankind is one of the most brilliant moments of his singing career.
Rating: 
Summary: not worth the money they're asking for
Review: This dvd should have been 1 disc instead of 3 and therefore priced that way. Instead greedy NBC wanted to make a big profit and added all this extra footage of outtakes. Please the comeback special broadcast would have been sufficient. If you like to see Elvis start a song and then stop because of some problem then you'll like this dvd because most of it is just that but I found it was very annoying and unnecessary. Hey NBC are you not making enough money that you have to suck every dollar from poor hard working consumers. Shame on you.
Rating:
Summary: If You Only Get One Elvis DVD, This One Should Be IT!!
Review: This DVD shows Elvis at his Best! You can just see the music flowing through him by watching his face and his whole body. Then, you have an insight into why his voice has so much strength and feeling. You can listen to and enjoy cds and albums, but you don't get the total picture until you see him sing. It's like going to a live Elvis concert in the comfort of your living room, with the ability to play it over and over. This is the one to have!! I'm writing this having watched ONLY ONE of the three included dvds. If this first dvd was the only one in this package, it would have still been well worth the price. Personally, I like the unedited 'sit-down' and 'stand-up' performances BETTER than the edited, packaged TV Special. But, it's all here, allowing you to pick and choose your own favorite cuts. Buy It!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother....
Review: This is highway robbery! The original show was lame for it's time and NBC (or whoever) is charging WAY TOO MUCH for this set. Do you want to see Elvis the right way? Buy the deluxe version of Elvis Aloha From Hawaii (money is much better spent for quality and quanity). Pass on this one!
Rating:
Summary: "The PGA, YMCA, or somebody, they thought I was...something"
Review: This is one of the greatest music DVDs of all time. It chronicles Elvis Presley's 1968 NBC special with beautiful picture and sound to compliment what are the best performances of his life.
The first disc is my favorite of the three. The first thing on the disc is the orignal 1968 special, which despite it's somewhat dated editing cannot be forgotten. For the special itself was what the public saw in 1968 and what revitalized his career.
The second things on disc one are the two sit-down shows. During both of these shows (and both of the stand-up shows on disc 2), Elvis wears a black leather suit which has since became his trademark. The music consisted of an electric guitar, two acoustic guitarsm two guitar cases used as drums, and a tambourine. These shows were also the first time Elvis played electric guitar in public. During these two shows Elvis made the best music of his career. He performed his already classics such as Heartbreak Hotel, One Night, and That's All Right. He performed his lesser known songs such as When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again and Trying To Get To You. He performed songs he had never done such as Baby What You Want Me To Do and Tiger Man. He performed like there was no tommorow.
Disc two is my second favorite of all of the discs. The two stand-up shows begin the disc. In these shows, Elvis occasionly would play guitar, but he was also backed by an offstage band and horn section. In these two shows he performed classics such as Hound Dog, Love Me Tender, and Jailhouse Rock, which were not found on the sit-down shows. He also performed the criminally unknown peace anthem, If I Can Dream, the best song he ever recorded.
The remaining contents of the second disc include a special 2004 video of If I Can Dream, an session for an intended promotion for the special, and all the takes of the Trouble/Guitar Man opener of the special, which provided the tone for the special perfectly.
The third disc is last as well as least. It is mostly the same things over and over, but it does give an interesting look at the real Elvis. It contains all of the takes for both of the production numbers in the show. The first of these us the gospel production number which contains Where Could I Go But To The Lord, Up Above My Head, and Saved. The second is the Guitar Man production number, which has the song Guitar Man as a running theme, but also includes the funky-country Nothingville, the too hot for TV (back in 1968) Let Yourself Go, the blues classic Big Boss Man, the ballad It Hurts Me (with a visual showing Elvis' karate skill), the Egyptian-flavored pop Little Egypt, and the 1958 Elvis classic Trouble.
My final word on the DVD set is buy it. Whether you are an Elvis fan or not, buy it. If you like music, buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Great late 60s TV
Review: This program was taped at the NBC studios in Burbank. If you notice, some of the shots are clearer than others. This is because NBC was transitioning from one (older) set of color cameras to a newer set of color cameras. This was a real shift in technology at the time.... from tube cameras to transistorized cameras. You can see the different cameras in the background, behind the audience.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Must Have!
Review: This three dvd set is amazing! You get to experience all four live NBC studio performances. (The 2 complete sit down jam sessions and 2 complete stand up performances) The highlight of the first stand up performance is when Elvis asks for his electric guitar, starts strumming the blues riff to "Baby What You Want Me To Do" and all of a sudden, the house band joins in for a smoking jam session! Elvis, being a total Rock Star, in black leather, playing lead guitar in an unplanned blues jam! How cool is that! Most people don't realize that Elvis is actually a descent guitar player. The sit down performaces clearly prove this. Elvis plays Scotty Moore's electric guitar throughout most of the two shows, while the other guys play "unplugged". Other highlights include the extra, unused footage to the production numbers. You get a sneak peek of serious flirtation between sexy actress/dancer Susan Henning and Elvis. (Something was going on there!) Seven hours of historic Elvis at his coolest!
|
