The CBS Special stands as a piece of history which I think has not received the care and respect it deserves from EPE. The badly-edited footage (you have to see the unedited footage to really appreciate Elvis' work) has been relegated to the Graceland attic and that's a shame.
The emotional punch this production packs should be enough to warrant an official DVD release. I think that to any Elvis fan, Elvis remained Elvis. EPE seems to think that it's OK to write off the last three years of his life, which to me are as important as any other.
The Elvis that appears in the CBS Special, is, and this has been said ad nauseam, in bad shape physically, sometimes slightly incoherent but he is possibly the most "human" Elvis ever caught on film. He is flawed, he is shy, he is hokey at times (in the way that a teenager would find his/her dad hokey) but he is humble, and remarkably likable.
Being an E fan, I enjoy watching his concert documentaries and I must say that I much prefer 1977 Elvis to his previous incarnations. Of course, as a showman, he was truly dynamic and possibly at his best in the 68 Special and "That's the way it is", but in 1977, he had lost this arrogance that characterized his late 60s/early 70s persona and was obviously comfortable sharing himself, as he was, with his audience.
His voice is as powerful as ever (perhaps more), he enjoys his audience. You can plainly see and hear that he is bored with some of his older songs (I can't blame him - how many years can you sing Hound Dog at every single concert without getting absolutely sick of it), but watch how his face lights up when he sings "Hurt". Through the first two lines of the song, he's looking back at the band and grinning with joy. Same thing for the extremely moving "Unchained Melody" (which was inexplicably NOT included in the final CBS footage but is available in the unedited concert footage). He ends the song with a final flourish and you can just see how pleased he is, grinning, loving what he is doing.
EPE is doing the world of Elvis fans a great disservice by refusing to re-release this amazing production. It has much more "meat" to it than the blah Aloha Special where Elvis, while looking superbly iconic and in fine voice, is wooden and emotionally removed from the whole thing.
One final word: if you watch the CBS Special, you will notice that the use of the word "fat" is unwarranted and incorrect. Elvis was certainly bigger by then, and he has the typical middle-aged sedentary guy "spare tire", but he is otherwise not particularly big. His face is not as much fat as it is bloated. But if you watch the Unchained Melody footage, make sure to catch that brief moment, about halfway through the song, where he pauses for a second, turns to the audience and smiles. In that one instant, you can plainly see Elvis from 10 years before, and, in this context, it'll both break your heart - knowing that he has such little time left - and make you love him.
What a great guy. I still miss him.
The emotional punch this production packs should be enough to warrant an official DVD release. I think that to any Elvis fan, Elvis remained Elvis. EPE seems to think that it's OK to write off the last three years of his life, which to me are as important as any other.
The Elvis that appears in the CBS Special, is, and this has been said ad nauseam, in bad shape physically, sometimes slightly incoherent but he is possibly the most "human" Elvis ever caught on film. He is flawed, he is shy, he is hokey at times (in the way that a teenager would find his/her dad hokey) but he is humble, and remarkably likable.
Being an E fan, I enjoy watching his concert documentaries and I must say that I much prefer 1977 Elvis to his previous incarnations. Of course, as a showman, he was truly dynamic and possibly at his best in the 68 Special and "That's the way it is", but in 1977, he had lost this arrogance that characterized his late 60s/early 70s persona and was obviously comfortable sharing himself, as he was, with his audience.
His voice is as powerful as ever (perhaps more), he enjoys his audience. You can plainly see and hear that he is bored with some of his older songs (I can't blame him - how many years can you sing Hound Dog at every single concert without getting absolutely sick of it), but watch how his face lights up when he sings "Hurt". Through the first two lines of the song, he's looking back at the band and grinning with joy. Same thing for the extremely moving "Unchained Melody" (which was inexplicably NOT included in the final CBS footage but is available in the unedited concert footage). He ends the song with a final flourish and you can just see how pleased he is, grinning, loving what he is doing.
EPE is doing the world of Elvis fans a great disservice by refusing to re-release this amazing production. It has much more "meat" to it than the blah Aloha Special where Elvis, while looking superbly iconic and in fine voice, is wooden and emotionally removed from the whole thing.
One final word: if you watch the CBS Special, you will notice that the use of the word "fat" is unwarranted and incorrect. Elvis was certainly bigger by then, and he has the typical middle-aged sedentary guy "spare tire", but he is otherwise not particularly big. His face is not as much fat as it is bloated. But if you watch the Unchained Melody footage, make sure to catch that brief moment, about halfway through the song, where he pauses for a second, turns to the audience and smiles. In that one instant, you can plainly see Elvis from 10 years before, and, in this context, it'll both break your heart - knowing that he has such little time left - and make you love him.
What a great guy. I still miss him.