Elvis Presley - '68 Comeback Special (Deluxe Edition) > Reviews > Truly amazing performances by Elvis at his peak

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Soundtrack	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Incredible, passionate performances,a revelation
Disadvantages:	too many out - takes, fluffs etc

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

If you haven't seen any of the footage in these discs before they will be a revelation!

What do you think of when you think Elvis? Do you think young Elvis when he first became famous, recorded records like Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes and Hound Dog and appeared on american tv shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show? Maybe you think of the rather wooden actor Elvis who starred in countless, often very mediocre movies? Or maybe you think of the older, increasingly overweight Elvis performing in Vegas wearing rhinestone studded white jumpsuits?

To my mind none of these come close to the Elvis you see in these discs. Here is Elvis no longer a boy but a man: healthy, happy, handsome, and with amazing vocal power. In these discs he gives renditions of all his best known classics, but he performs them with such passion, energy, sex appeal and charisma that if you have only ever heard the original recordings before you will be stunned.

These must rank as some of the most charismatic, inspiring performances made by any performer in any genre of music or entertainment. Before I came across these performances I had always tended to discount Elvis as being a bit corny: seeing them instantly changed my mind. Before I get carried away however let me tell you in more detail what you get.

Setting the scene
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Elvis had a meteoric rise to fame in the 1950s. He released many of his most famous records and appeared on american T.V. and in front of countless live audiences.

During the 1960s however Elvis concentrated on his film career, to the detriment, in the opinion of many, of his music and performing.

After a number of years Elvis became bored of making these formulaic films. He had not performed in front of a live audience- what he did best- for more than seven years.

In 1968, however, Elvis and the american T.V. station NBC decided he should perform live again in front of an audience in a televised special. Elvis trained to get himself ready for the performances both vocally and physically. He wanted to prove both to himself and the world that he could still perform as well as he had in the past: and he could. In fact he was better than he had ever been. The passion, excitement and charisma he showed in these performances was amazing.

The format of the 1968 Comeback Special
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The show is made up of 4 different elements cut together.

The first element is footage of Elvis (with guitar) performing live with musicians on a small stage surrounded on all sides by audience. This is a very spontaneous, unplugged style performance with Elvis chatting informally between numbers. What is great is how "live" and raw the performances are: Elvis is full of excitement, energy, sex appeal and spontaneity.

The second element is similar to the first except here Elvis is alone on the stage, without his guitar, although he is still singing live, surrounded by the audience. Elvis is wearing the iconic leather suit, and performs with great dynamism, moving how only he can, at times sinking to his knees in dramatic fashion, but always singing with huge energy and passion.

The third element to the show is a more produced "studio" sequence. This features Elvis singing a medley of gospel style songs while dancers perform around him.

The final element is another "studio" sequence. This time there is a bit of a narrative mixed in with dancing and acting and another medley of songs: Elvis is the "guitar man" who breezes into town, has a scrape with the local "mr big" and falls for a beautiful woman.

What you get
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Disc 1
This has the original show as it was shown on U.S. t.v. which is a combination of all the elements I mentioned above edited together.
It also has all the unedited footage of Elvis performing with the musicians on the small stage (element 1 mentioned earlier)
Excellent.

Disc2
This has all the unedited footage of Elvis performing alone, standing up, on the small stage (element 2 mentioned above). Excellent, once again.
It also has all the unedited footage and out-takes of the opening and closing sequences of the show.

Disc 3
This is all the unedited footage and out-takes of the two "studio" production sequences (elements 3 &4 mentioned earlier).

Verdict
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Amazing. If you don't think you're an Elvis fan try watching this. What I cannot overemphasise is how raw, passionate, sexy and spontaneous these performances are.
The highlight has to be Elvis performing live on a small stage surrounded by the audience, wearing the leather suit that he made famous, performing with incredible charisma and energy. Brilliant.

The only criticism is that unless you are an Elvis fanatic you won't want to sit through all the out-takes and fluffs on disc 3. However at least you get a real feel for what it must have been like to be there at recording, and you know that you're not missing any good footage that had to left on the cutting room floor.

Strongly recommend.